Recession hitting clubs

[infernal.techno]

During times of recession, people don't like repetative music?

no they prefer really awesome stuff, like celebrities and under produced rap

[PsyTox]

I'm looking for a (cheap) place to rent for a couple of nights, but everything's still expensive as f**k.

a few months ago we asked around in Brussels to rent office space to do a thing like weekend club or club 11 f.e., but no one wanted to rent us anything and I also heard it wouldn't be possible within belgian law. A shame, because 20% of offices are empty in brussels and one of the benefits of partying so high up is that people don't have problems with sound etc... bummer.

[maxeinsoul]

Well. Saw Parrish in December, Moodymann and MCDE on saturday, Ron Trent was playing on Sunday in another club, might be in front of Derrick May tomorrow... Shed at the end of the month also.

So I don't really feel like I can complain. Bookings are awesome in Paris those days.

[dsat]

if people would stop wasting their time complaining and put that energy in making something happen, we'd be far better off...

seriously... stop complaining all the time

things could be much worse

[thom]

Maybe the internet being flooded with dj mixes has watered down the interest people had in going to a club to hear that music and feel their chest vibrate to it. They were satisfied with that 2004 grimey 128kbs Hawtin trainwreck they downloaded ... for a while, then lost interest.

Maybe.

People use iPods (and similar portable devices) massively... more so than they used cassette walkmans back then. Their relationship with music (and it's associated party scene) is way different now.

Also, a lot of people can't stand techno anymore while they loved it 8-10 years ago. I've spoken about this with many friends and there is a general loss of interest for anonymous/bleak/loopy/cold/repetitive/machine music.

"Yeah... it's good but I dunno man... I'm tired of it... it's like I heard it all twenty times before."

I hear that a lot.

[karmapolice]

That's a good question in fact .

I'm an experienced promoter brought to my country people like Carl Craig, Joris Voorn, Monolake, Omar S, 2000 and one, Paul Kalkbrenner or the Wighnomy Bros but at the same time - Jackmate, Tobias, Butane, Shackleton, Appleblim, Ion Ludwig, Someone Else, Ray Okpara, Lee Curtiss, Agaric and many "smaller" names.

the fact is - it's pretty easy to get reasonable fees for the big names, as long as you run really special night and it pays off. the 2nd fact is - big names bring quality and professionalism. Always - and that's the fact.
Also the big name guarantee big crowd and media interest, that's so simple.

As somebody mentioned before - fidget bullshit still runs high and those fluo blog kids come to play for 200 eur, so the promoters make parties with 2,50 entrance, which doesn't really leave much space for the techno promoters.

I remember end of the 90's when I was based in Stettin, which is 100 km east from Berlin in Poland, I was helping out some buddies with bringing peeps over, we had Sascha Funke, Kiki, Martini Bros, Phonique, Landsky, Dixon, Sasse and more and the deal was simple 500 DM flat, which is equivalent of 250 eur nowadays. All of them were beginners those days and nobody even tried to discuss about money, more often they resigned on parts of it after checking the drinks bill.

And the electronic techno/house music was THE music back than.

The reality is - if you're not part of the "mainstream underground" movement, like Pheek used to be - 2 years ago and now Nick Curly and friends is, or you're not comitted to a really good agency, you're kind of lost on the market.

So seroiusly Patrik, what are your expectations for a gig ?? 300 eur ?? Makes absolutely no sense to me as a promoter, Id rather invest 300 put some more on top to bring Sienkiewicz, Czubala, CatznDogz or some other big polish name to pack the club full. Sorry man, but that's the fact.

I don't see your releases in charts, I don't see your labels smashing big releases or setting new trends. In a way I don't see any point in promoting night like this. Well I might try to go with - one of his labels uses the logo of Desolat, but don't know if it would score.

PLUS
I also enjoy the "friends-only-during-the-day-parties" most nowadays. Maybe this is the way to enjoy music for us veterans.

well you are a typical mainstream promoter. the name and the media sh!t count for you. but in the end most people in your party dont know who is coming. i think its also job of the promoter to make things work with quality artists. that makes good promoters and partys. and not going for the name thing. cause in the end its just a big fake. so promoters who dont have a clue look at charts and a magazine articles. it doesnt mean anything in the end.
so everyone can book big names with the right money. doesnt make your partys special. if i look at the charts. most of them have sh!t music in it. going the save way.
move d havent been in any big charts for some time and i would prefer him every time to book before i take some hype half ass beatport chart hit guy. nick curly? gets produced by another guy all the time with the same boring beats. wow. a reason to book him? those mainstream crap is killing itself. nobody can stand the overflow of mediocrity for long. thats why minimal killed itself. and that toolhouse sh!t will kill itself also. quality will stand the test of time. i heard loco dice on a thursday in san francisco. he got a lot money for that and he played soo bad. some people just where excited that dice was there but it was so rubbish. he couldnt handle his loop device right and trainwrecked every 15 min. lets talk about professionality. and did i mention the boring tool music he played with every 7 minutes a noice / fx reverb break following with a bassdrop?

[dyte]

"Yeah... it's good but I dunno man... I'm tired of it... it's like I heard it all twenty times before."

I hear that a lot.

Is that from your group of friends or people of the same age? I'd assume that would be a part of growing up, your tastes changes....hated brussel sprouts when i was a kid, can eat them now!

there's still loads of kids getting into electronic music, going to clubs and partying

[stevësto]

During times of recession, people don't like repetative music?

Please expand on this, i'm confused.

theres a huge difference in music PLAYED during the recession in the 90's and what you hear now. the raves during the 90's recession had a happier vibe and wasnt as repetitious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jd7zbScttQ

vs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-l6EgwgdA

but its not like they didnt have dark repetitive music back then, they did, its just that most djs didn't play a whole set of it to a room full of happy people looking for escapism.

thom brought up something i forgot about. i always have said money ruins art. in the 90's when people had little money, djs were doing it for free, in a warehouse with no cover, no promoters trying to make a profit - thats when it was pure. (no offense to any promoters in this thread). as the years went by, the music got more attention and the prices kept going up.

by the time we got to the peak of prosperity, which is what? like 2005-2007? you saw cool shoes, big glamour sunglasses, designer shirts+jeans, shitty abstract music to go along with it ("oooh this is soooo underground, this track has a vocal of a guy burping and an alarm clock going beep beep beep. what? you dont get it? that's because your not elite. go back to your happy house that the simpletons listen to. you dont belong here with the smart people that get it"). now compare this scene i described to what you saw in the early 90's - it was the complete opposite, people dressed like sh!t and they didnt give a fuk!

some of the minimal truthfully was excellent though, but over the years it just kept getting more extreme, focused on the core/elements, it got more prententious. the first definition of the word pretentious in the dictionary describes it perfectly - people think they understand and have appreciation for something when really they don't. this is because with dance music its a copy of a copy of a copy. the original source material was way back long time ago that young people today were never even around for to begin with to experience it!

that's why ive been saying dance music needs a big huge reset button. its gotten way off track and the wheels fell off this thing a long time ago. its time to start over with NO RULES, LESS BUILDING ON THE PAST. stop looking at the past and romanticizing the dug up dusty rare forgotten robert hood or plastikman tracks. that sh!t wasnt even on the radar back when it came out, it wasnt appreciated for its genius really until much later when minimal had all the attention. im not saying completely no influence of the past, that's impossible, but less of it would be great. and im not saying great music was not made along the way, because new takes on the past does create good music, its just theres less and less of it as time goes on.

when the economy gets so poor that people cant afford to go to clubs there will be more non-profit word of mouth parties, that's when you'll see like what you saw in the early 90's all over again. its like a cycle. it will go back to the clandestine: a field in the middle of nowhere, a warehouse, etc. some place free from "looky loos" - the ever present watching, judging eyes and ears and free from pressure of promoters/club owners because their profit is on the line.

theres so many other factors, its not a simple one answer, its complicated. recession is just one factor.