Evolution

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Now before any of you send me ugly emails regarding the title of this entry read the whole thing. The evolution I am writing about is of the love of music. Almost everyone on the planet loves music in some form. There is only a small portion of the population who find music unappealing.

Every DJ can trace their evolution into a DJ from their love of music. If you were to survey any DJ you know he would say that it was their love of music that inspired them to become a DJ. For most of them being the guy that plays the music that makes people dance is enough.

For me it was different. My love for the music was my inspiration to become a DJ. The rush you get when people are caught up into the mood is like no other drug you can take. The problem was when I realized that being a DJ is expensive. If I was to continue as a DJ I would need to make money doing it. I then realized that I was one out of thousands and we all had the same music sources. Some of us had hard to find remixes and they were the ones that stood out and commanded the highest fees. If I wanted to make money I had to get away from the pack.

Enter producing my own songs. It became the logical next step if I wanted to make a living at something I loved. Ask any producer and he/she will likely tell you how they started as a DJ. Now remember how I stated that you get a high while DJing. It's like mass hypnosis and you are the leader. Well you get a different high when you enter a party and the DJ plays your track and the crowd goes wild. The problem is the type of high. While DJing you get a smooth mellow high that lasts the evening and into the next day. The high you get when your music is played is fast, hard and fleeting. It leaves you wanting another hit. You become an addict and you have to get more. And the sad part is there is no detoxt for this type of high.

Masterbeat

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Whenever I find new stuff I try to share it. This time I found Masterbeat.com where you can get remixes of the popular dance tracks out there. If you are a DJ like me this can come in handy especially when it comes time to stand out from your peers with the new music. Don't say I never did anything for you.

DJ Funk is not dead

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Twitter, Twitter , Twitter. Remember when gossip took weeks to get started and circulate? Now it takes a day. I'm checking my Twitter account and I see an update from DJ Gantman exclaiming "For everybody's info. DJ FUNK IS NOT DEAD! I talked to him yesterday. He's at home. He was asleep!! Stop spreading fucked up rumors!" Hell, I didn't even know the rumor was going around.

Blip!

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So I was on last.fm listening to some classic House music and I was thinking to myself that I would have loved to program the song list. Then It hit me that I could do that on Blip.fm and broadcast what I wanted to hear. These are the songs that inspired me to become a DJ.

Last FM

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You can now find me on Last FM and broadcast my tracks!

When your hand is forced

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I've been putting together a lot of things over the past few months so that I can go home to Chicago. I thought that I had a few months left to get things together but one my roommates has moved up the timetable. This is a valuable lesson. You either have someone holding your plans back or you have someone rushing your plans. You are rarely on the same timetable even if you discuss it with them. Sometimes I regret even taking this on.

WTF

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So I'm checking my Twitter account to see what nonsense Diddy has said today and I see that Beatportal (a side project for Beatport) has a new remix contest and I'm thinking "Great! Here's an opportunity to flex my skills!" I'm searching the rules to see what I can win and what is being offered. The first part is some piece of equipment that I'm sure I can use that I've never heard of and a $200 gift card to Beatport which would come in handy for my next 5 mixes. The winning remix also gets released by the label which means possible future remix work that will also fame within the industry. I then check the article for the song sample to see how it sounds and what I have to work with. I don't notice a link but what I DO notice is that, in order to enter the contest, I would be required to download the parts of the song I need for the remix and PAY for it at $3.99. Way to go, Beatportal!

Looking for my muse...

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My frustration with making music has always been trying to cater to the general public's music taste.  I have worked on some songs for months where the nuances and structure where tweaked until I was satisfied but the track would get mediocre response.  Cut to my garbage tracks where I would spend all of 10 minutes composing it and recording took the track length and people would go nuts over them.  I just don't get it sometimes.

The Present and Future Of Music or "In Search Of Beatport"

Record Union

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|I was attempting to sell my music on Beatport.com which is arguably the premier site for purchasing House and Dance online.  Needless to say I was not successful as they were not open to adding new content unless you belonged to one of the labels that already existed on the site.  As I researched how to get my music on the site I found that online music has gone to the distribution model that the music industry had adopted with records, tapes and CDs long ago.  At first I was disappointed and thought that I would have to go with one of the labels.  I did not have a good experience with the last time I was on a label as I was left to accept what news I received on sales as true.  This is sometimes the standard with Indie labels and when I asked about royalties I would always get the standard number of sales that everyone got even though my independent numbers on my mixes where 5 times that number.  Granted the record sales represented what the DJs in the world purchased versus the number of mix sales which represented the fans.  Since I was making money doing what I loved I was not too upset with the process.

Forward to the present  where I have my own publishing, Halsted Street Entertainment (ASCAP), and several people who write songs that I publish.  Records still get pressed but only after a strong showing on digital sales unless the company that is maunfacturing feels that the music will justify a pressing .  This is fine but there has been a resurgence of record pressings by the industry and a number of DJs who refuse to use digital files or CDs to ply their trade.  Ever since there were record players that played all three formats (33 1/3, 45 and 78 RPMs.  You have to be older to remember these), Music has been sold in multiple formats and House producers should get used to this.  The lucky few that have been assimilated into the mainstream got there because somebody responsible for putting music on a soundtrack or commercial stumbled upon the track and thought it was cool.  Since the newcomer will unwittingly work for cheap, the process has become a good way to fill a soundtrack and still have money for the big name act or producer to legitimize the soundtrack and assure exposure and sales.

More and more producers are going the way of independently putting out music for a chance at signing with a big company while building their fan base.  In my search for a way to get onto the elusive Beatport roster I stumbled upon the new trend in music which is digital distribution.  Like the original idea of distribution, a central organization would represent multiple labels and distribute the music to multiple outlets.  This is beneficial to both the labels and the outlet channels normally but at the advent of this "new" aspect of music distribution it has become advantageous to the independent artist like House and Dance producers like me.  Not only did I join bt I became an A&R for the company which provides distibutiion as well as UPC codes which are necessary to sell your music to the outlets and to count your sales towards RIAA certification.  One of the sites that allow this is Record Union.  You can sign up and get started immediately.  Use code DF1aa94e72 for two free UPC codes so you can post and distribute your music immediately.


P.S.  If you are unfamiliar with publishing your music with a music society like ASCAP or BMI please contact me and I will point your towards a society.  It is very important to be published as many companies won't consider your music for things such as movie soundtracks and commercial use without it.

Been a long time....

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Well how do I start?  After a long absence from the music scene I get a message from my partner, DJ OpM of Halsted Street  Entertainment.  He tells me that our small two man crew which has seen plenty of people come and go including the other two founders and the crew that made our names is now populated with people I don't even know.  All of a sudden I have people promoting the name of HSE all over the USA.  The only problem being that I don't have direct access to these hew DJs and anything that I want to do has to go through my buddy and is left up to him if the messages will be communicated.  Should I abandon the project that I've given nearly 15 years and start over or do I come back not unlike the King of Stormwind and take over things sight unseen?