It’s January 1, 2005! Happy New Year!
Lot’s to do, so let’s get started.
2005 is the year that Netmix jumps back in to the game to bring you topical editorial commentary on the state of the dance music industry and the growth of its online arm. For too long, dance music has been relegated to the back of the music industry bus and it’s about time that changes.
How you ask? Well, get the RSS feed for this blog and I’ll try and keep you updated everyday on my conversations with terrestiral and online dance music industry DJs, broadcasters, record label honchos, marketing people, promotion execs and A&R types to give you an inside look on what’s happening in the world of dance music today.
We all know the DJ rags like URB and web sites like Raves.com, Dancemusic.about.com and DJTimes.com will continue to be the leaders in the space. My goal with Netmix is to get to the root of the dance music industry. I’m going to put the DJs on the backburner while putting the industy on the frontburner to shed some insight, a little leadership and lend my personal experiences to those who want to learn and grow the industry.
I’m not so knowledgable to think that I posess quick solutions to the industries woes or that I know the magic in maintaining it’s success. My goal with this column is to reach out to the community and find what brings us together, and also what tears us apart. It’s also to impart a little business savvy and technical expertise, along with social and ethical commentary to help the new jacks find their way. It’s about giving back to the youth who have no idea how the pioneers of the dance industry paved the way for their succees today.
Over the past 4 years, many dance music record labels shut their doors, draining the talent pool of leaders who jumped to other industries to survive the economic downturn. A few weeks ago, I ran into former Eightball Records GM, Ramone Wells, who found a way to survice the downturn at Ross Ellis, a large music industry packaging company. He’s still putting out records once in a while under his .dotdotdot record label, but generally he’s working at Ross Elllis while keeping his head in the game, so to speak.
People like Ramone were the quintessential promoters of dance music and can never be replaced. They worked for indy dance labels run by guys with no business experience and were always one step from the door. I’ve run into so many “wanna-be” DJs, producers and record industry “newbies” who came of age during the dotcom boom and don’t know what it’s like to fight in the trenches everyday for what you believe in, for what you’re born to do. They’ve been layed-off by the HR department with a nice letter and severance pay. Back in the day, you weren’t layed-off. Even though you had their best interests in mind, you would have been fired on the spot after arguing a point with the owner of label. And you had no lawyers, no money and therefore no recourse. As were so many others, Ramone Wells was born into dance music. It was something he learned. It was something he was bred to do. I can’t say that about too many people in the music industry today.
There’s a lot to learn about the international dance music industry from guys like Ramone, who’s depth of experience and connections spanned the globe. Lord knows, I learned some things from him, as I’m sure he learned from me as well. But, I will admit that the industry is changing and a lot of those guys from the old guard were so afraid of the digital music business that they failed to take advantage because of fear and now they’ve been replaced by others who are changing the shape of dance music.
With change comes new blood and new ideas, but the history should be understood and respected, because at the end of the day it’s not the technology that drives sales, it’s the passion for the music that moves people. The old guard knows this, the new soldiers need to learn it.
Tony Z.
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