Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

“Don’t blame the artist, blame the scene, the fans turned their back on drum and bass”.

So like many mornings when my Twitter feed gets the best of me, I came across a tweet that stood out from the rest. It was someone that called two influential artists who were once popular in the drum and bass space, but are now in the bass music space the amazing term of “Sell Outs”. Usually I hold back and keep on scrolling but, I replied to this person with “Don’t blame the artist, blame the scene, the fans turned their back on drum and bass”.

I found myself going back to this thinking, if I believed in that reply I made to this person. It was 5:30am and my caffeine levels weren’t high enough. Then also thought how I, or others, could help the scene flourish even if it meant leaving myself in the background.

So here is my thought – If a fan base of a given music dwindles down in size because of a lack of support then how can a music genre grow. I will say to my fellow Junglists that they sure love to talk. However, when it comes to doing what they preach they remain idle. Venues around North America remain to hit low numbers on drum and bass events and it is because the fans don’t practice what they preach. With such a massive movement you would think every show would be packed.

So what can one do.

Ok so here is my story, I have an 18 month little girl at home now, and I moved to Hamden, CT years ago. My closest drum and bass nights are over an hour away and they usually aren’t my artists or anyone that would make me leave my house to be away from my wife, daughter, and work. So I do not support my local scene by showing face, buying a ticket, tipping the bartender etc. What I could do though is when I am excited about a show and would go out to it, I could hype up the show via social media, or texting a couple of people who I know that are close to the location of the show to make sure they know about it. I am a terrible example of someone who would build local hype since my social media pages are industry people from all around the globe so this is why you will never see an event invite from me.

So call to action people. Do what I am suggesting here. I will also pledge to do the same in some capacity.

Do what is best for your genre, even if it means supporting your competition if you are an artist, a promoter, an agency, or a manager. As you all know, I am an agency head, so promoting an act on Circle Talent Agency, or AM Only isn’t something I want to do in my day to day. My artists wouldn’t enjoy it either since at the face of it, it appears non supportive. However, if it will mean that a given genre will increase in popularity then it presents more opportunity for everyone involved in that given genre, I believe it is worth it.

So let’s keep these great artists stick to what they were meant to do. Before you call an artist a sell out, ask yourself what have you done to support the genre or even that artist. I know both of the artists personally that he was speaking of, one more than the other of course, and I saw with my own eyes that they went into a different genre because they couldn’t support themselves if they stayed in drum and bass. These artists do music full time, so there isn’t a desk waiting for them in an office building so it was either ride the wave or wipe out. These artists made the necessary pivot, for them, and it was because their fans didn’t have their back. When they came to their city, they remained home, saying I’ll go out next time. Remember this, there might not be a next time, so support it to make sure if you aren’t going to be there, two people will take your spot.