[Dynagroove] House Discourse 101/house music scene at large

[scottfindl at earthlink.net]

You Wrote:

<<<<<<<<

While I see how it could be interpreted that digital music is threatening
vinyl, I have much praise for the CDR and the Pioneer CDJ 800.  I am not a dj,
but I know that a professional cd player enables a dj to do really cool things
that can't be done on vinyl, like running an exact 4 bars of a track on a
loop.  And honestly, can you hear a difference in the club between a cd and a
record? Probably not.

This is not to discredit the importance of the 1s and 2s, but technology
allows musicians and djs to do more creative and innovative things in the mix,
more easily.  There is nothing wrong with that.
I think the problem is that there is a shortage of house djs that are
turntablists.  Everyone is a dj, but not many play their tables like
instruments.

FUNKY, FRESH, NEW, HYPE, DOPE, more more more!  Digital music also allows a
producer/dj to cook up a track at home and have it out in the club that same
night.  They dont have to wait to get it pressed to test its effects on the
floor.  I love CDRs.  If I weren't for the CDR, I wouldnt have had The Freaks
cd 8 months before it came out.  Uhh, yeah, I AM a snob, too.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Here's what is oh so wrong with that statement and one of the biggest problems
we face today. The truth is - you *shouldnt* have the freaks CD 8 months
before it came out unless you got it directly from the label or justin harris
himself.

Ask yourself - do you love the freaks cd? did you pay for it? does Justin
Harris and his production team get JACK SHIT for his hard work and efforts
when you just burn up the CD for yourself and everyone else who wants it? No!
Does he deserve to? hell yes. And for those of you who will inevitably say "it
shouldnt be about the money" Think about where that money goes. house
producers and labels are not exactly what I would call 'rich' in most cases.
by and large that money goes to the artists - so they barely can pay their
rent and focus on music full time in many cases, the labels, so they can
barely put out the next release and hopefully break even, and the
distributers, so they can barely get that release out to stores. If the money
dries up, so do the full-time artists, the distributers and the labels, and so
goes your vinyl records, which trickle down to your DJs and party scene, where
everyone has the same shitty records because there are only a handfull of
labels releasing shit. :) knowwhatimsayin?

Im not knocking you personally - Im sure we have all burned CDs for buddies
myself included. BUT this practice (and many other factors - like the economy
and what seems like across-the-board burnout w/ dance music) have REALLY taken
its toll - 10 fold in the dance music world than the majors.

for those who might not know - the music production/indy label side of things
is on its last legs. I have never seen the kind of universal fallout that we
are experiencing right now. labels, stores, and major distributers are
dropping like flies and it is almost impossible to make a living making under
the current climate. Just off the top of my head - Prime Distribution (one of
if not the biggest dist.) , Hooj (the label and the stores), groovetech US and
UK, UCMG, higher source, have all gone under in the last 3 months.

So in my eyes, the problem w/ digital music, mp3s, cd-turntables, is not the
technical implications for the DJ crowd, but what it does to the 'little guys'
who are generally barely breaking even in the first place and dont have a pot
to piss in for all their hard work producing the music you and I love.

So if you love it enough and want house music to be around 5 years from now,
BUY THE SHIT otherwise it goes away.

/s