If you use Google to find out the meaning of the word “forlorn”, one of the definitions comes back as “(of an aim or endeavour) unlikely to succeed or be fulfilled”. Which is how we suspect DJ Sneak is going to feel within the next few minutes.

Unlike the dance music press, we at Ears To The House remember things. Especially when people make promises – such as the one DJ Sneak made in early January 2021. After a number of social media posts expressing deep dissatisfaction with the digital model of selling music, he promised to remove all his music from the likes of Traxsource and Beatport.

Now, we’re not naïve. Removing the vast amount of music which inevitably comes with having a long career in house music wasn’t going to be an easy task, or one which could happen quickly. But even so, we’ve found ourselves astonished at just how badly the task was going – frequently noting the progress generally not being made.

At the last update on January 5th, DJ Sneak still had 594 releases on Traxsource and a whopping 791 on Beatport. For some reference, Sneak – real name Carlos Sosa – had 613 releases on Traxsource at the time of promising the digital detox was soon upon us. And as far as this site has been able to establish, there hasn’t been a single new release on his beloved vinyl in that period either.

So how’s progress now that May 2022 is upon us, a full 16 months after the vow was made? Well, a quick check reveals 603 releases are now on Traxsource and 797 on Beatport. That’s eight additions on Traxsource and six on Beatport, featuring releases dating all the way back to 1994.

In other words, only ten tracks have been taken down from Traxsource in 16 months. Meaning it will take him until the year 2102 to have all his music removed at the current rate. It seems the digital detox has hit that classic stumbling block of not owning the master rights on your recordings…