MUST READ: DJ Mag Top 100 - Dont Believe the Hype by Mikey Lavery As the dust slowly begins to settle after the announcement of Hardwell winning the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list, and the civil unrest on the streets and uproar on social media fades away, the dance music community is left wondering if there is either a huge amount of injustice in the scene we all know and love, or if it was a fix from the start. Well, rest easy music fans; simply put, the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list is something that should never have been taken seriously from the outset. Ive never voted for anyone in the polls. I dont say that because Ive taken a stand against it. Its just something thats never appealed to me. Even when I was a young clubber who would travel all over Europe to see my favorite DJ play, I was never really drawn towards it. I let the 1000s of miles I clocked clubbing each year and all the money I spent on hotels, tickets and vinyl/CDs do the talking for who my favorite DJ was. Back then - before social media ruled our lives - the Top 100 voting was done via email or by logging on to DJ Mags website and filling out an online form. DJs and their management teams would spam clubbing message boards (forums) -- the Facebook of their time - with a link to their voting page at djmag. Even back then, after the results were announced, clubbers went into melt down on message boards as to why their favorite DJs were not in the top ten. I look back fondly at it being the one part of this club scene that has never changed. As long as there is a DJ Top 100, there was always going to be controversy. My stand against the poll has nothing to do with DJ Mag either. The publication always was, and still is, one of the more credible news sources in this scene. It doesnt jump on any bandwagons like other media outlets; it always covers a wide range of musical genres in a significant depth; and it features in depth interviews with the biggest DJs out there. Ive also had some great nights out with some of the editorial team from the magazine down the years and have the utmost respect for them. When they first came up with the DJ Top 100 list, Ill bet they would never have known how successful it would become when it comes to generating ad sales and bringing a huge amount of traffic to land on their site. Its actually quite genius. Since the first DJ Mag Top 100 list back in 1997 -- when Carl Cox won - and people behind the scenes realized they could profit from it, a chain reaction started and the worlds leading DJ agencies and management teams had one goal and that was to get their artists, at the very least, into the Top 10. This way, they had the perfect tool for getting the DJs booked, and an even better excuse to bump up their fees. Lets all be honest with each other here, it doesnt take a genius to work out that, looking back on every poll, the placements of the DJs are not for their technical ability. Anyone who thinks it is should stop reading right now and stand in the corner, facing the wall. The DJ Mag Top 100 list always has, and always will be based on how hard the PR and marketing team for each DJ works at pushing their artist and how many votes they can get for them. It also comes down to how much money the management/label/DJ spends using outside marketing companies to generate votes. Its well known that in the last few years, social media marketing companies were hired by certain people to target potential voters based on their demographics and likes on Facebook in order to get a larger volume of votes. Why do you think there are DJs on that list that youve never heard of? Tenashar at 87 anyone? Sure, shes a popular DJ in Asia, but so are Paul Oakenfold and Matt Darey and they placed behind her. Dont be fooled though. Tenashar is the one laughing here. Pre-poll results, if we heard her name wed scratch our heads and ask who she was. Im willing to bet each and every one of you have Googled her by now. Lets just say Tenashar spent $40,000 on aggressive online marketing and made the Top 100 list. She can now market herself as the Number 87 DJ in the world and increase her fee. From there, promoters will book her and plaster all over their advertising that the Number 87 DJ in the World is playing at their event. The ticket prices go up and everyone is happy. Except, of course, the clubbers who have to pay the increased fee. Another example would be the placements of the big name DJs who need no introduction. Richie Hawtin is at 76, Eric Prydz is number 54, Carl Cox at number 46, Kaskade is 36, Calvin Harris at 15, deadmau5 (12) and of course, Hardwell is number 1. Looking at those DJs and their careers sees Richie Hawtin as one of the biggest DJs on the Planet who sells out every gig he plays, while Eric Prydz EPIC 2.0 tour has sold out every venue its appeared at. Carl Cox, arguably one of the greatest DJs of our time sells out the worlds most famous club, SPACE in Ibiza, every week during the summer season. Kaskades Atmosphere tour has sold out every multi-capacity arena it was held in and Calvin Harris - apart from David Guetta -- is the worlds most successful crossover DJ and the highest earning artist of this year. Then theres deadmau5 who is, well, deadmau5. And of course Hardwell who is nominated as the Number One DJ and had, like the aforementioned, a sold out arena tour earlier this year. Now look at some of the DJs between these names; Tenashar at 87, Blasterjaxx at 71, Mike Candys at 67, Coone at 45 and Andrew Rayel at 29. I say this with all due respect to them; when was the last time they sold out arenas and headlined a festival? Are we to believe that Andrew Rayel is a bigger and more successful DJ than Steve Angello (38) and Diplo (64)? Or could it be that his label, Armada, and his management pushed his marketing and PR for votes so hard, and put so much money behind him that he jumped FORTY NINE places up the list from last year without headlining a festival or having a solo sold out tour? And to take it further, could it be that the powers that be are in fact grooming him to be one of the worlds biggest DJs in the next few years? Ill take off my tinfoil hat now... Did you vote for any of those artists? And answer truthfully. Because Im going to go out on a limb here and say that, on any day of the week, in any club in the world, someone like Paul Oakenfold (90) is going to sell more tickets than Omnia (48). And I say that with every bit of respect to Omnia and the other DJs on the list. Ill go even further out on a limb and say that almost every person reading this, and your friends, and your friends friends have not only never seen some of those DJs on the list, they most likely have never heard of them. I work in this scene and its my job to know who they are and I had to google some of them! Make no mistake about it my friends, all the screaming and shouting youre doing about the results and how its a travesty is all for nothing. Youve been played. Your vote means nothing. So what does that mean for the poll? Well, nothing. We will be having this same conversation next year, and the year after that, and social media will, again, be in uproar at why a DJ who can play on four decks without the aid of a laptop, and sells out a 6,000 capacity club in Ibiza every week during the summer is number 46, while two guys who had to tell a crowd at Ultra this year who they were when they came on stage with Laidback Luke are number 6. You see my point? One suggestion would be not to vote at all. Did I say that out loud? But hey, at least we all kept Paris Hilton off the list.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 20:19:23 +0000
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