This blog is always happy to remind rich DJs and the like of things they’d rather forget. It’s with this in mind that I mention the defunct, short-lived Tour Managers Not Touring movement. Born on the 27th April 2020 and dead by May 4th 2020.
The idea of the movement was simple. It was to raise funds for tour managers, who’d suddenly found themselves out of work after Covid-19 struck earlier in the year. People donating more than $5 would receive a DJ set or some unreleased music. And the campaign started well enough.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for someone to point out that Tour Managers Not Touring was about as palatable a prospect as Colgate Lasagna. DJ John Askew pointed out in a video that a number of people behind the campaign were filthy rich themselves – and the fact the public were expected to stump up money whilst the aforementioned filthy rich DJs did not went down pretty badly…
As a result, the campaign died on its own arse around a week later. There was barely an attempt to defend itself – everything was taken offline quickly in the hope no one would notice. Those who tried to defend their involvement, such as Carl Cox, soon found themselves wishing they hadn’t, as people pointed out a DJ worth around £12million just came across as grasping.
Now, we know that Dubfire’s tour manager is able to keep earning money – because Dubfire has been doing plague raves in Tulum. But what about Carl Cox’s tour manager? Other than a reassurance by Cox himself last May that his tour manager was being paid a wage, we’ve heard nothing. I do hope that he’s alright.
But since I’m on the subject, what happened to any money that was raised? Was it returned to the people who donated it? Or was it given to the long-suffering tour managers who work with these entitled DJs?