The cost of living has been going through the roof in recent months, with the price of food being especially high. This is something we know all too well at Ears To The House – not least because our editor has been ranting angrily about “the f***ing price of coffee” again. But it’s not just us mischievous scribes who have this issue.
For it turns out that the highly paid (some might say highly overpaid) DJs in dance music’s higher echelons are having the same problem. Apparently, jacking up their fees by far more than any rate of inflation still hasn’t been enough to immunise themselves from rising prices – so what are DJs in this situation meant to do?
If your name is Louie Vega, it appears the answer to this question is to hawk some hideously overpriced merchandise. Just like Carl Cox, Danny Tenaglia with his massive trunk and even occasional 60-year-old Detroit DJ Derrick May – Vega took to Facebook last week to state that merchandise was “available from London”…
And indeed they are – Above Board Distribution’s registered office is on London’s Curtain Road, just a three minute walk from the Defected Records HQ. Amongst items currently for sale include an Expansions NYC branded shirt for £30, an Expansions NYC branded hoodie for £60 and er, not much else – we also note the curious absence of any Masters At Work branded merchandise.
The good people selling cardboard cutouts of Richie Hawtin at £46 each have nothing to worry about – with the printout being almost as entertaining as the man himself. But there’s just one awkward problem – the weather. A quick look at the weather forecast reveals Britain is currently basking in temperatures of over 20°C – that 68°F. And much of the United States right now have daytime temperatures between 25 and 30°C (77-86°F).
Not exactly the sort of conditions anyone would be seen wearing an overpriced black hoodie, we would suggest…
