14 MusicWeek 25.05.12 DANCE SPECIAL SECTORFOCUS
“The fact David Guetta has to get over 30 million Facebook fans and millions of record sales before The Observer puts him on the cover is okay with me. Did it hurt him? I don’t think so.” PETE TONG
www.musicweek.com
outside of music. Jho Oakley manages the platinum-selling Chase & Status – whose own MTA Records label works in partnership with Mercury, and counts No.1 artist Nero on its books. “History has shown that investment can
massively help companies to develop,” he reasons. “If I could cut a deal with big business that didn’t mean giving up any control or changing my core business values - but meant that I could hire more brilliant people and sign and develop more brilliant artists - then I would.” To recap: kids are dealing one-to-one with dance
artists and discovering their music online; DJs are moonlighting as producers, songwriters and label owners; and serious money’s being thrown around. Meanwhile massive dance artists - from Tiesto
to Diplo; SHM to DeadMau5 - are stuffed to the gills with business smarts. They know that their pay-cheque comes from a range of avenues, especially a rammed live circuit and merch sales. DeadMau5 – real name Joel Zimmerman –
explains his appeal: “[Imagine] you have a rollercoaster in your backyard… it’ll be the hot thing in the neighbourhood for about a week. But once everyone’s had a go, they’ll lose interest, go home and play Sega instead.
CREAMA LESSON FROM HISTORY
Cream founder James Barton on watching dance music’s popularity tumble…
“People were looking for something new when the page turned on the Millennium; dance music had dominated for a long time and there was a reaction. “There are definitely some
lessons from the Nineties we need to heed. If we jack up prices and become fat and bloated on our success, the kids buying the music will rebel. “The values in
dance music are
very different to, say, hip-hop, which is very aspirational, flashy and about the bling. “That doesn’t work in dance;
kids feel like they’re part of a sub- culture, and seeing their heroes fly round the world in private jets and play private parties for Madonna back in the day probably turned them off. Ticket prices went up to pay for all that. “In the club world, perhaps
towards the end of the Nineties, we and our competitors lost our way a little bit in the race to stay
No.1. And we all certainly learnt a tough lesson in 1992 to 1995, when clubs went to the wall and brands disappeared. We’re all older, we’re all wiser and we’re all better at what we do.”
ABOVE LEFT Chase & Status: The British duo have formed their own label but work with Universal- owned Mercury
ABOVE David Guetta: The French DJ has cracked the sales charts in the US and the UK
“What you need, is a fuckin’ theme park –
[where] you AND your music are the theme. Buncha rides, no two the same, some merch here and there, special events, dolphins through hoops and all that whack shit. You want people to come to your theme park and feel like they’re a part of this world of yours.” Little wonder that traditional labels are working
‘360’ contracts with electronic artists; promising to take their career to the next level around the world - in return for a share of everything their ‘theme park’ has to offer. Some claim this results in majors taking a scoop
of income they’re not entitled to - but others with a more level head can see the benefits. Pete Tong observes: “When the time is right,
these deals can work really well. Swedish House Mafia got the extra investment and marketing push from EMI just at the right time. They will sell out Milton Keynes Bowl and haven’t even released an album yet - although I’m sure EMI would love one! “The electronic scene worked out that live was
‘where it was at’ back in 2000 when the labels were shutting down dance departments. “The perfect ‘360’ model is still to be found, but
you have to give credit to labels like EMI for getting involved. The Warner group has a pretty advanced take on 360 as well.” Not every dance act is the same, however: some
of electronic music’s modern day icons have enjoyed huge success - and royalties - just from the studio side of their career. Calvin Harris, signed to Columbia, was recently
named the most successful songwriter in the 2011 UK sales market by Music Week; whilst tracks from David Guetta’s recent Nothing But The Beat album, licensed through EMI, have lifted the entire UK market to new heights this year (see analysis, page 16). Indeed, another sales superstar, Avicii, recognises that Guetta has “started a dance revolution in the mainstream”.
Yet perhaps the
biggest indicator of electronic music’s recent success hasn’t come via the sales of ‘dance’ tracks at all. “Bass and dance culture has completely
infiltrated the pop charts,” acknowledges Labrinth, whose smash hit Earthquake borrowed heavily from dubstep’s sound. “It’s everywhere, on every single advert – it’s killing it.” Killing it everywhere, that is, but the mainstream
media. Dance acts still struggle to garner the same national press as their guitar-wielding peers (except in specialist titles such as MixMag, above), while the 2012 Brit Awards were criticised by the likes of DJ Fresh for skipping over electronic music. “Maybe it’s an advantage not being over-exposed,”
says Tong. “The fact David Guetta has to get over 30 million Facebook fans and millions of record sales before The Observer puts him on the cover is okay by me. Did it really hurt him? I don’t think so.” Jho Oakley adds: “I’d like to see more commercial
radio stations follow the likes of Radio 1 and Kiss in playing more dance music, and I don’t just mean pop music with dance backing - I mean the music played in the clubs, and listened to by millions online. “You hear time and time again that these radio
stations and TV channels want the 16-24 demographic; that’s exactly who listens to this music. “I’d also like to see more print press embrace
dance music. You could count on one hand the number of times a dance act has had an NME feature in recent years. “I know historically NME has been more of an
indie-based music publication, but that’s the point… dance music today is to kids what indie music was in the Nineties. “I’m sorry, but the days of just associating
dance music fans with nightclubs and glowsticks are long gone. The dance music producers of today are the new rock stars – and I’ve got the hotel bills to prove it.”
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