Burn Studios Ibiza Residency

Hello All,

This is the second year I've submitted a mix for the Burn Studios Ibiza Residency.  Last year, I did not use any original material and noticed that was what separated the winner from the other contestants.  This year, I have two original tracks on my mix, and this should help.

The residency involves the entire summer in Ibiza, which includes a sort of boot camp for DJs, as well as many other events throughout the summer.  If I win, I will be the resident DJ at one of Ibiza's most renowned clubs.

Thank You for you help.

Cheers

Mark

The voting link is on MY LINKS under my bio.

Movie Production

The most detrimental thing in movie production today is the runaway production from Canada and other foreign countries.  This practice lures away films produced in the US, and the film-labor groups are what suffer by foreign tax incentives.  I am a member of IATSE and have worked for the union on and off for about a decade.  Every now and then I still get a call for production work, although those calls are not as frequent as they once were.  I understand that films cost more in the US, but there have been recent amendments that allow filmmakers to benefit from certain tax advantages if they keep the production in America.  It only makes sense in this economy to bring jobs back to the US.

For the independent studio, pre-sales are a great financing option because the revenue stream is seemingly endless.  Home video, foreign distribution, pay-per-view, cable TV, and network TV, all add up to substantial revenue for a film.  This could cover up to 60% of the cash needed but also act as collateral for bank loans.  There is some risk involved, but I think this would be a great financial tool because the terms of the distribution can be defined, and the studio gets to keep the rights to the distribution that it doesn’t sell. 

With the way the music industry is going with UMG's takeover of EMI, leaving only three majors, I think we’re seeing something similar with movies studios.  As far as the independent studio, coproduction of a portfolio of films may be the only way to get a film financed.  Unfortunately, I believe venture capitalists and angel investors will be more likely to back a major that an independent.  The completion and performance risks are just too great with an independent, and the return on investment isn't high enough.   There is so much unpredictability in film, and it comes down to the relationships of the producers, talent, and the financiers.  Of course, there are independent blockbusters like 'Sideways', as well as major studio disasters.  Take Disney’s recent movie 'John Carter.'  It cost Disney $200 million in operating losses, and it did far better in foreign theaters than in America.  Just goes to show how lucrative those pre-sale distribution rights could be.   

Sampling and Beat Jacking

Hip-hop artists have traditionally employed a norms based approach to things like sampling, quoting, and the levels at which these are accepted.  For much of the 90s, imitation was considered flattery, and instances of hip-hop artists suing each other over copyrights were rare.  Then, hip-hop became popular, and popular music is largely owned by corporations. 

Hip-hop recognizes ‘biting’ as the appropriation of another’s lyrics and passing off such lyrics as their own.  Acceptable ways in which an artist may quote another artist are out of respect for another’s skill, and when an artist uses another’s lyrics as a springboard for their own creation. 

Beat jacking is the appropriation of another’s beat, the non-vocal equivalent of biting. Sampling is the borrowing of other beats and combining them into a new whole, and the appeal is in how it’s combined.  Sampling is among the highest form of flattery within the culture, but with caution.  If done without permission, it can lead to a lawsuit under copyright law.  

The case of Jarvis vs. A&M Records in 1993 was a landmark in the industry.  Boyd Jarvis’ song, “The Music’s Got Me,’ was sampled without authorization.  The defendant’s attorney argued that it contributed to fragmented literal similarity. The court rejected the argument on the basis that copying even small portions may diminish the original work.  Sampling penalties softened over the next 10 years and the hip-hop community became too comfortable with the law’s seemingly open policy.  Then In 2004, The Sixth Circuit made it clear that there is no exception for unauthorized copying of a sound recording without permission in the case of Bridgeport Music vs. Dimension Films. 

Obviously, these suits could have been avoided by clearing the samples before production.  In 2005, the Beastie Boys were sued over the use of a three bar sample. They won the case because they obtained a license from the record company for the use of the sound recording in question.  

File Sharing and Digital Downloads

In today's market, artists are not making money in the same ways they used to.  The album is really just a promotional tool for the accompanying tour because that is where the money is today.  Even though streaming on sites like Spotify is way up, digital downloads are also up by 7% from the same period.  Though illegal downloads and streaming are at an all time high, digital sales have remained stable, if not increased.  The research suggests that streaming music services such as Spotify and Rhapsody does not kill digital download sales.  Although correlation is not causation, it may just simply show that there is no smoking gun. If digital downloads remain stable, touring will remain unchanged.  If sales drop from streaming and file sharing, you will see band tours increase to make up for the lost revenue. As technology becomes more advanced, file sharing and stream ripping will certainly negatively affect the purchase of digital downloads. 

Commercial Dance Music is Necessary

Commercial dance music is a necessary entry point for newcomers who will gradually tire of the gaudy superficiality of chart-friendly fodder and become valuable fans of the less wealthy, more underground artists and DJs. My guess is that something else will come along to overtake cheesy house as the teenage genre du jour and it will fall back into general indifference, much like with disco and punk. Barriers to entry have certainly fallen in recent years, and it’s demonstrably possible to attain commercial success by producing and performing lowest common denominator dance music.  When things do inevitably move on, it will be interesting to see which artists currently living the high life stick around. The underground core of the industry has always been remarkably resilient through the various cycles of popularity, driven by people who don’t mind unsociable travel itineraries and inconsistent pay to make and play the music they love. So regardless of what nonsense is going on at the surface, I know there will always be a small dark room somewhere where the DJ will be playing new, exciting electronic music.
Promotional Mini Mix - for download

Synch or Mix

Much has been said about the future of electronic music.  When I first started DJing, it was about finding that obscure piece of vinyl and dropping it on the crowd at the perfect time.  There was always an ebb and flow to the set.  The rise would be followed by a subtle shift, only to then slowly build back to a frenzied mass that would ignite the crowd into bedlam and mayhem.  Now, it’s all about glitz and glamour.  The bottom line, commercial DJs are getting too comfortable and the diehard fans like me are noticing. 

House Music, now called EDM (Electronic Dance Music), has gone from the underground raves of the 90s, to DJs with rock-star cred.  DJs like Tiesto, Skrillex, Afrojack, Pauly-D, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, and now Paris Hilton (insert gag reflex) all command fees upwards of $250,000 per show.  These DJs aren’t even DJing in its truest sense.  They are simply hitting play and have become a glorified jukebox or iTunes playlist.  “What worries me is not that DJs are simply ‘pressing play,’ but that they’re pressing play on the same tracks in the same order night after night after night,” said writer Jacob Schulman of Rolling Stone.  During Paris Hilton’s first ever gig in front of a huge crowd in Brazil, she couldn’t even press play and a tech had to come on stage to do it for her. 

The Wall Street Journal, of all places, stated in a recent article that there has been a ‘dumbing down of electronic music’ with these cliché ridden performers that do not represent the best of this genre.  House DJ legend Mark Farina was recently asked to leave the booth in the middle of a set in Las Vegas because he wasn’t playing recognizable music.  This is just another example of how club owners are paying huge fees for these douchebags to play to the champagne crowd. 

Full disclosure: I am 42.  I started DJing in 1990, which is about the time that most of the attendees of the Electric Daisy or Ultra Music Festivals were born.  I come from a time when DJs would program sets lasting 8-12 hours.  I was a frequent patron of NYC's infamous 'Twilo' in the late 90s and early 2000s. Granted, I knew the DJs like Sasha and John Digweed personally; they would take the club on a journey, sometimes playing til noon the next day.  In the Wall Street Journal’s article, superstar DJ Avicii said, “I just can’t play house for two hours.” Really? Then how would you possibly program a set for 8-12 hours? 

DJing is about taking risks.  If I were your age, I would listen to the older people talk about the stuff they used to do.  Granted, this may have little to do with the music you love now, but taking risks with the music is what made me fall in love with this genre.  If you’re a DJ, then think about skipping that big tune and tease the crowd with little to no regard for their reaction.  Make the crowd not only go bananas, but make them weep, yell, and question the very nature of their existence.  So, gather round the campfire, children, I have hundreds of dancefloor stories to share.  All of them starring you, but not really meant for you at all.  I am the DJ.  I do not take requests.  I am in control. Not you, silly dancer.