Back in the 90s, two of the powerhouse clubs were Ministry of Sound, based in London, and Cream, based in Liverpool. Rumours kept persisting throughout the decade that Cream was going to launch a...
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As 51st State announce vaccine status or negative test will be needed to get in, will Hannah Wants exercise her principles – or does she happily “comply” for a fat pay cheque?
Hannah Wants gets very ratty with people who suggest that her views are motivated by money. When someone claimed her stance on lockdown was based entirely on her desperation to start charging extortionate fees...
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Streaming up, downloads down: the state of music according to MRC Data – just don’t expect the dance music community to benefit from it!
MRC Data have just released a new report in the past few days, analysing trends on in the world of music. I’ve downloaded the whole report and found it quite fascinating reading – and...
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Has anyone checked in on Carl Cox’s tour manager lately? A reminder of Tour Managers Not Touring, the movement Cox, Dubfire, Joseph Capriati et al would rather forget…
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...
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Make music all your life and earn a pittance through Spotify, or sign a $25million deal for 35 minutes work? With rules like that, artists should designate their tracks as podcasts!
Daniel Ek infamously said last summer that if artists and labels wanted to be paid more money by Spotify, they should make more music. He particularly took aim at artists who only release an...
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Are Universal, Warner and Sony facing an anti-competition probe? If a UK parliament’s streaming enquiry has its way, major label bosses won’t be sleeping easy!
The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee have filed their report on streaming, and my goodness – initial impressions are that it doesn’t hold back. 50/50 pay for artists and labels, equitable renumeration, issues...
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Were they running a two for the price of one when you did the bookings, Simon? People going to Defected’s London and Manchester events might experience a touch of déjà vu…
First thing’s first. I’m sure Defected are very keen to get back to running events. They are an events company with a record label business attached to these days, ultimately. But I can’t help...
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Lockdown hasn’t affected their finances much! Gorgon City have a billboard up for a show… that you already can’t get tickets for
DJs whinging they’ve lost money due to lost gigs and work during the pandemic is nothing new. Some of them even have a fair point – you know, the ones who weren’t doing plague...
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Daniel Ek pleads poverty when saying he can’t increase artist royalties – yet opens a big chequebook to get exclusive podcasts (with the latest getting a whopping $60million!)
Here’s yet another reason I’ve pretty much stopped making music to concentrate on this blog. Making me music was costing me money. I couldn’t even break even or make a small profit. And when...
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Is the course not selling that well for you, Gary? Take That crooner and tax dodger Barlow has cut price for his songwriting course by 25%…
Is this dance music related? Well, Mark Picchiotti once remixed one of his songs back in 1999… so no, it isn’t. But this blog exists partly for my own personal enjoyment, so I’m writing...
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“Music melds the classes”, said Ricardo Villalobos – so why did he do a plague rave in Covid-denying Zanzibar for the ultra-rich?
There was a time when Ricardo Villalobos was something of an idealist. Apparently. Speaking to the Guardian back in 2017, he said “The music manages to meld the classes together, as long as the...
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As Sony Music wipes the debts of its legacy artists, is there any chance the likes of Trax Records and other early house labels could do the same?
When you stream music from the likes of Spotify, you expect that abysmal $0.0038 royalty rate to go to your favourite artist, right? Well, you’d be wrong. In a lot of cases, that money...
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“$ (That’s What I Want)” indeed! Danny Tenaglia has a shop aiming to extract cash out of bottom heavy wallets during the pandemic – but would YOU pay $85 for one of his hoodies?
These days, it appears that DJs must have a range of merchandise to sell. With a pandemic having been on for the past year and a bit, no opportunity to make extra money must...
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How could you make Daniel Ek look good? By having YouTube take the top spot in the streaming world – shame they pay even less to artists than Spotify!
Things are happening in the world of music streaming. You should be very excited if you’re a multi-millionaire who already makes lots of money out of streaming – but if you’re an artist and...
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Gay Tony would be proud of the interiors – but does new London nightclub Glam REALLY need to rely on the same old DJs as everyone else?
During the pandemic, an idyllic story started to gain traction. The dance music world needed to change, they said. The future was all about smaller nights with lesser known DJs cutting their teeth in...
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As Paxahau put on a Micro Movement event over the Memorial Day Weekend with only Detroit artists on the bill, take a guess which one is missing?
Normally around this time of year, the Movement festival would be taking place in Detroit. The festival has roots going all the way back to 2001 and obviously could not go ahead last year....
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