How Dance Music Producer/DJs Connect With Their Producer/DJ Fans

from the sharing-is-caring dept

Fri, Mar 18th 2011 1:45pm — Bas Grasmayer

One of the spectacular developments in music in the last 20 years or so, has been the democratization of the means to produce music. Combined with the internet and the social web, this democratization has enabled a lot of people to create and publish music that probably wouldn't have been able to otherwise. As Seth Godin says:

"This is the greatest moment in the history of music if your dream is to distribute as much music as possible to as many people as possible, or if your goal is to make it as easy as possible to become heard as a musician."

So what some producers do when they blow up, make it big, or (for the 'haters') sell out, is they start sharing their expertise with their ecosystem of fans. Being a professional DJ/producer is very intense and time-consuming, so I figured I'd highlight some exceptional cases of DJs that free up their time to engage with a part of their ecosystem in a language they all understand: that of making music (and English).

The first is simply connecting with fans by asking them to send in demos which will be critiqued publicly. There are a couple of examples I've come across, such as dubstep-producer Plastician, Steve Angello's Size Records (apparently), but most notably Swedish electro house producers Dada Life. The latter replied to their fans via video, shown below, but also via a much more detailed blog post.

Prior to this, Dada Life encouraged fans to remix their work, featured their favourite results on their blog and spread them via social media.

A second way in which some producers connect with their fans is by actually revealing their production methods. My favourite example of this is dubstep-producer High Rankin's 'sub bass tutorial', which isn't just a good lesson in production, but also highly entertaining like all of his YouTube videos (even for those that have and will never produce music, so check it out!).

Finally, there is a more DJ-specific way of connecting with fans. Dutch house-producer Chuckie recently did his second 'DJ drops' (embedded below, warning: NSFW). On Facebook, he asked DJ fans to drop their names and he'd give them shout outs that they will be able to use for their own mixtapes.

What these guys are doing is building a very strong connection with an influential part of their fanbase. Personally, I prefer the phrase 'ecosystem' since fanbase suggests a distance between fan and artist, whereas an ecosystem places an artist right in the center of it. They are not just "connecting with fans", as Mike would put it, but they are participating in their own ecosystem. As said before, when you have a strong ecosystem, that's when business opportunities start presenting themselves.

Some call it a tribe, others say 1,000 true fans, but it all boils down to one thing: finding original ways to engage with the most valuable people around you... your fans.

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Filed Under: connecting with fans, djs

17 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2011 @ 2:10pm

It's all good, and at the root of it is someone else's music, not their own.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2011 @ 2:29pm

Re:
Welcome to the arts. Ecosystem is a great word for what the arts are, although some feel that it's not so much an ecosystem as theirsystem.

Which it ain't. Never has been and never will be. Exhibit A: Reality
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 18 Mar 2011 @ 2:34pm

Re:
And Lo, God spake to the Greatest of Human Scientists saying:
"We shall have a contest, making a sentient human being with only dirt as the starting material."

And the Greatest of Human Scientists agreed.

Soon, each had begun to work when God spake yet again saying "No, that is my dirt. You'll have to create your own."

The moral of the story: Nothing YOU or anybody else does is made of 'new' material. It's the same recycled matter & energy which has been floating about the universe for billions of eons.

'Nuff said. Quitcher'bitchin.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2011 @ 2:36pm

Re: Re:
The raw material for new culture is, in fact, old culture.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Mar 2011 @ 2:38pm

Re:
I've been listening to Techno, House, and Drum and Bass for at least 20 years (as well as DJing for 10,) and I can tell you the days of the DJ just playing records (or cds) are virtually over, at least for the ones big enough to make a career out of it.

DJs are so ubiquitous that producing is one of the few ways to distinguish yourself. Regardless of what you may think, a significant number of the ones you hear about are classically trained musicians, and are putting out multitudes of original works.

Queue "Electronic music isn't 'real' music" comment in three, two, one...
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Matt (profile), 18 Mar 2011 @ 2:49pm

Steve Angello is also famous for anti-piracy rants on twitter, he noticabley annoys his fanbase whenever he does it though
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The eejit (profile), 18 Mar 2011 @ 4:07pm

Re: Re:
But it isn't. It's all digital, therefore not original.

Sorry, had to do it before the trolls do.
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Bas Grasmayer (profile), 19 Mar 2011 @ 2:10am

Re:
Not all producers are remixers, sir Troll.

Unless you meant that all creative work builds on the past. Then I apologize for calling you a troll.
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Gizlireklam, 19 Mar 2011 @ 3:51am

"Electronic music isn't 'real' music"
what is real?
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PaulT (profile), 19 Mar 2011 @ 4:32am

Re:
OK, please tell me how electro house built around original compositions and using no samples is "someone else's music". I will be fascinated by how you twist your response in a way that can't be applied to every other form of music.
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Bas Grasmayer (profile), 19 Mar 2011 @ 1:25pm

Re: Re:
Maybe we've mistaken him for a troll and he actually meant to ridicule strict copyright laws by arguing that all creative work is based on what has come before.

;-)
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Gene Cavanaugh, 19 Mar 2011 @ 1:36pm

Music and other art
Ronald Reagan's biggest "contribution" was he "taught us to be stupid; to 'think with our hearts'" (quote from a Reagan advisor).
We learned it in spades. We disdain important things and get all gushy over someone plinking on a keyboard.
Well, for me, I am a Heddi Lamarr fan. Not because she was the most important actress of her time, but because she developed the basic technology for today's cell phones.
People say, "but she had help" - relying on an expert for advice does NOT make that expert an inventor; she was the SOLE inventor!
Bet many of you never heard of Hedi Lamarr; but everyone knows about cell phones - and that is the way it should be!
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philadelphia disc jockeys, 24 Oct 2011 @ 2:29am

I want to know how electro house built around original compositions and using no samples is "someone else's music" and how you twist your response in a way that can't be applied to every other form of music..
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Multimedia Studio, 11 Nov 2011 @ 1:28am

I have a DJ group. You have provided useful information about how to rock the party atmosphere. This will really work for me.
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LuxSauna Reviews, 7 Dec 2011 @ 8:58pm

LuxSauna Reviews
I Love dance music. This blog inspire me about dance music.Please send me some rock music for dance in the party.
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Mortgage, 20 Dec 2011 @ 9:58pm

Mortgage
Many of them post on YouTube, have Facebook Fan Pages, a substantial amount of followers on Twitter and every other social media site as any other in the entertainment industry.
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shameka, 3 Apr 2012 @ 2:41pm

hi my sister is the best dancer you ever saw you need to see here
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