Ah the summer! What a wonderful state of mind and feeling! The best job in the world seems to have now changed its wardrobe from swimsuit to moonboots. Goodbye Ibiza, goodbye beach clubs, goodbye pool parties and sun. I was touring for about 10 weeks in outstandingly beautiful places and was able to escape the miserable German weather for the right cause of course! From Croatia to Turkey, from South of France to Morocco, from Miami to Ibiza, without forgetting a great Swedish Tour, none of my gigs were surrounded by a bad weather which at the end of the day made my come back to rainy Germany quite difficult to swallow. But even in a dark cloudy sky, there’s a ray of light, and that was without any doubt the excitement about the upcoming ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event).
What started as a little music convention for fans and friends of electronic dance music 16 years ago became one of the biggest but THE most important music conventions for DJs, producers, labels and more. Fitting to the charm of Amsterdam, ADE is a perfectly organized happening where everybody can listen to the best DJs, join the craziest line-ups, meet with partners from other countries, label owners, producers and DJs during 5 days, and plan new hits, collaborations, participate in great panels and discussions or simply party. It’s the best networking place and THE meeting point of the year. Really happy to catch up with all my friends!
My expectations this year were even more intense than ever before since it was our very first label showcase: Kingdom Kome Cuts presents ADE Essential DJs 2011. The party was gentled by DJ Mag and officially ADE labeled. We were confident that our event would be a success. Ok, I admit the day of the event, I can’t say I wasn’t nervous. The party competition that day was particularly strong: the DJ Mag Top 100 party, Toolroom nights, Chuckie’s Dirty Dutch, Afrojack, and many more… But we definitely wanted to achieve what we have on the Miami Music Winter Conference all those years: a successful party. With the energetic support and work of my manager Noa Lindberg, we have gathered a sensational line up: Ron Carroll, Baggi Begovic, Olav Basoski, Mikael Weermets, Gregori Klosman, Jesse Voorn, Rob Boskamp, Brown Sneakers, Farren Amani, and last but not least Seany B who gave an outstanding live performance during my back to back set with Mathieu Bouthier. Club BlinQ was packed and the atmosphere was one of a kind. We had fantastic guests such as CeCe Peniston as well as some members of the press such as Only For DJs, SoonNight, Virtual Nights, Urban Rebel PR, the KKC staff, all in all a perfect ADE Prelude.
After quite some meetings, interviews, cocktails, beers, amazing parties and DJ sets, there were some detunes into the music vibe. I couldn’t help it but I had the feeling that they were triggered by the DJ Mag Top 100 results, announced right before their party. During this year’s voting period there was already a controversial discussion: the spirit and purpose as well as credibility of the election was questioned by many. This lack of faith lead to a lack of campaigns this year, at least this is how it looked to me. To conduct the voting via Facebook only, assumingly to avoid voting manipulation, felt quite limiting. The voting ability was directly related to the increase of DJ Mag’s page Likes, which definitely excluded the old-schoolers and elder generation of house music lovers who won’t necessarily like a page and authorize application spamming just to be able to vote for their favorite DJ. However, the increase of Likes did not necessarily increase the amount of Likers taking the voting seriously. It was therefore no surprise that the laughters and sarcasm were denser than previous years. Some legendary DJs, having a fully booked tour schedule, seemed to have been completely excluded or far at the end of the Top 100 and producers who have barely ever DJed are in. So you can certainly be upset about it or you can simply let it go. I personally think the whole voting should just be readapted and renamed the DJ Mag Top 100 music brands. This way, nobody will be able to betch about quality, less people will feel treated unjust, and more serenity will surrender the issue. However, just a very last question: How is it possible to appear twice in the extended results each time with the wrong spelling?
The biggest scandal at the DJ Mag Top 100 award for me was the reaction of the audience when David Guetta was announced #1 DJ, even though he faced it in a very cool and smart way. After all it was an Amsterdam event, and most likely fans of four consecutive year winning Armin Van Buuren, who were hoping for another victory, even
though DJ gossips tend to tell he still did. But how could it be a surprise for anybody that David may get the most votes with almost 25 million Facebook likes, more than the 9 following DJs combined? May David be controversial in what he does, he’s been in the circuit for twenty years, has produced world dance hits for years, appeared in music videos already in 1989 while probably most of people booing him were still (excuse my Francais) shit in their diapers. For me, it was a pure disgrace and a significant lack of respect.
There was another detuned sound at ADE this year. I had the feeling that some of the older generation of DJs reacted with a certain kind of bitterness towards the upcoming young one. Some of these kids do not seem to show any respect. They water the classical spirit into a marketing monster machine. Skills do no longer seem to be correlated to fees. Mash-ups become more important than productions. Confidence justifies attitude. But I am not sure you are willing to read a column that would be as long as a novel, so I will refuse developing any further in this one ;)
Bitterness, but also fear from the pushy and the ambitious, the young and the upcoming, the new and the unknown, the sparkling and the beautiful. But this fear has been existing for millenniums and in all the other branches and business models, so why not in ours? It is completely natural to have these fears and interrogations. But is it really justified when the development of the Industry was profitable to all generations, and the elder tend to see paychecks today they would have never dreamt of two decades ago or when they started DJing? In all developments, even the less fortunate ones are winners. But do you have time to waste on complaining? This time could be used for creativity and new developments. Take advantage of this new flow to reinvent yourself and revive. After all, how can you blame somebody for being ambitious, confident or successful, when you know you were just as much at their age, which is actually what brought you where you are today? I’ve been there too. When I got my first residency 26 years ago, I was thinking exactly the same about that older one “I can do so much better!” and that drop of confidence is probably what guided me throughout my career. The young does not necessarily need to replace the elder, both can co-exist. Don’t get stuck in the past, create the present for a better future. Go to the studio, create the next hit, get on collaborations, improve your DJ sets, and so what if you still have things to learn? The worst mistake is to think you don’t. So go out there and grow with the flow!
I personally love discovering and supporting new talents and therefore love parties such as the one of 1Management at Escape Lounge Amsterdam where mainly upcoming young talents played and presented their skills, new trends and sound. I really like watching their sets, a spoon of excitement, a sip of perfectionism, some drops of insecurity, and a slice of innocence, the best recipe for genuine music.
I certainly believe that we all started this way and after all these years of routine we shall revisit our roots and ask ourselves the question one more time: Why did we start music and what does it mean to us? There might be different reasons today for some but I love my job, and that is, besides the applause of the audience, my best reward and award.
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