One constant in the ever-changing dance music world is the ability of DJs to keep finding new ways to make money. Examples of this came about during the pandemic – such as Derrick Carter choosing to sell entire swathes of his music making equipment, whilst Steve Lawler offered people the opportunity to have him critique their music for $31 a time.

More recently, Danny Tenaglia has decided to sell almost his entire collection of hardware – including a Roland TR-909 and an EMU SP-1200. A sale of his extensive vinyl collection is due to follow in the New Year. And only last week, Detroit’s very own DJ Rolando – real name Rolando Rocha – announced he was putting some 600 records out of his collection of around 5000 on the market.

Which brought us to the question – who was going to be next onto this apparent vinyl selling bandwagon? Well, we hear from our sources in Detroit that none other than the 60-year-old occasional DJ Derrick May is considering following the same path – and all because he needs to keep the lights switched on.

Now, Ears To The House takes absolutely no pleasure from anyone having financial difficulty – although Derrick May has hardly covered himself in glory over the past few years. His response to the sexual abuse allegations made against him in 2020 was a meek denial issued via his lawyer – with no further comment made since.

Not only that, but this year saw the truly desperate Derrick May European Coming Back Tour, as it was called. The idea was cooked up by May himself, Idriss DiB, manager Hagi Craig, and plank lover Mike Weston – one source in Detroit’s blunt assessment of how the tour went was “about as well as Derrick expected. You work it out.”.

So what’s May’s latest idea on how to make some money? A few weeks ago, Ears To The House reported on how he was thinking of taking up the podcasting mantle – with one source at the time saying “he thinks there’s a gap in the dance music market for a podcast that talks about all the big issues.”.

Well, his new proposition is to follow DJ Rolando’s footsteps and put his vinyl collection up for sale. One of our regular sources who knows May personally told us that “Derrick floated the idea a while ago, but mentioned it again last week. I’ve seen his collection, and there’s a lot in it, including a few things that never got released. However, there’s one big problem.”

“Derrick doesn’t even know what he owns anymore. In short, he barely knows what’s in his collection. It would take a while to sort it all out. There are records in there that he’s borrowed and never returned. Like most DJs, he’s also had records stolen from his own collection over the years. He doesn’t want to sell something, only to find out it was never his to sell in the first place.”.

May’s sudden concern for other people’s property is a little bit mystifying, to say the least. For instance, he had no qualms at all when he effectively stole “Nude Photo” from Thomas Barnett and released it under his own Rhythim Is Rhythim alias. Nor did he ever have an issue with taking other people’s money in a 1980s credit card scam – which raised the money for the equipment used by the so-called Belleville Three in their early days.

We also wonder whether any of the mainstream dance music press outlets will be stupid enough to provide him with a friendly puff piece to help with the sale. This one might even be beyond plank lover and apparent PR man Mike Weston’s abilities…