3 ms·

I feel like we are close to the endgame. Sure, learning to DJ and even buying DRM-free music is easier than ever in 2022, but actually performing as a DJ? Have

I feel like we are close to the endgame. Sure, learning to DJ and even buying DRM-free music is easier than ever in 2022, but actually performing as a DJ? Have fun dealing with licensing. The labels have been enjoying this transition from music as part of a huge remix culture to music as a strictly personal medium of entertainment, as something you passively listen to exactly as Spotify wants and occasionally embed as-is into your 10 second TikTok video. Discovery now happens primarily through personalized algorithmic "radios" (read: echo chambers), along with the occasional excessively overhyped 80s song artificially brought back by being featured in an episode of a Netflix series. The equipment used for listening of course followed this trend, with horrible-sounding-but-convenient true wireless earbuds and portable speakers becoming ubiquitous and displacing pretty much everything else in sales numbers. Where did all the creativity go? Some of the more niche platforms like SoundCloud are absolutely full of highly illegal mixes and mashups waiting to be taken down... but I haven't yet seen anybody seriously considering listening to SoundCloud daily instead of just consuming Spotify's prepackaged playlists. Even piracy doesn't seem to care; just go to TPB and see how large its repertoire of DJ mixes, EDM or non-mainstream hip hop is (hint: not very large). And let's not even talk about the minefield of doing anything related to music on YouTube. Remix culture is not yet fully dead, but it might as well be.

crtasm 4y ago
I'm not that surprised TPB is lacking in that content, rutracker and soulseek may be a better indicator.
fragmede 4y ago
> actually performing as a DJ? Performing where? Doesn't a venue's ASCAP license fee cover that? If I go out on the weekend, there's gonna be a DJ at the bar/club and most of them aren't playing exclusively their original tracks. I'm sure some of the smaller venues are skirting the law but anywhere notable isn't going to be able to get away with that, and be paid up on their licensing fees. As far as just listening to SoundCloud, maybe my cohort is more musically adventurous but there are a ton of 3 hour mixes that are on heavy rotation, with Spotify a distant second.

crtasm 4y ago

I'm not that surprised TPB is lacking in that content, rutracker and soulseek may be a better indicator.

fragmede 4y ago

> actually performing as a DJ? Performing where? Doesn't a venue's ASCAP license fee cover that? If I go out on the weekend, there's gonna be a DJ at the bar/club and most of them aren't playing exclusively their original tracks. I'm sure some of the smaller venues are skirting the law but anywhere notable isn't going to be able to get away with that, and be paid up on their licensing fees. As far as just listening to SoundCloud, maybe my cohort is more musically adventurous but there are a ton of 3 hour mixes that are on heavy rotation, with Spotify a distant second.