Mixmag Declare DJing No Longer Enough
Mixmag's News Editor Nick Stevenson chatted to Skrufff this week about the
magazine's annual Best of 2007 awards and revealed that they no longer cover DJs who
fail to do extra activities alongside spinning.
"To get Mixmag's attention these days a DJ needs to have more strings to his bow
than just being able to DJ," Nick explained, "Having more DJs out there is all very
well but it's those that produce themselves or establish sounds or scenes that will
get noticed," he said.
The UK's top dance magazine selected LCD Soundsystem's 'Sound of Silver' as their
album of the year and the Chemical Brothers' Saturate/Battle Weapon 8' as their
number one tune, a choice they admitted was controversial as the EP was never
commercially released.
Nick also spoke ominously about the effect free downloading is having on the
business, pointing out that while many producers still make money from making music
for computer games, films and adverts, others could soon struggle.
"Music is gonna' have to become more of a hobby than a business for a lot of
producers who will get their main source of income from the gigs they get off the
back of their tunes, as opposed to selling the music itself," Nick predicted.
"But that's how most dance musicians get into producing anyway," he pointed out.
"Few sit down in front of a laptop and go 'Right, how can I make the tune that makes
me rich?' Most are more interested in just making good music. Labels are still
important though and if they have control over their artists' music they will
continue to do well. Labels like Ed Banger (Mixmag's label of the year) have had an
amazing year," he added.
http://www.mixmag.net
