Every week I’m constantly impressed by the caliber of music being produced. On top of that, every week I find another 10+ artists that I’ve never heard of before that are creating freakin’ incredible tracks!

One of the greatest aspects of technology is the fact of how inexpensive it has become for a person to be able to produce their own music. 15 years ago you had to be signed to a big label who paid for your studio time, or have fat pockets of your own, just to be able to write a track. Nowadays, you can buy a laptop for under a thousand bucks and it comes with production software. You’re off to the races. Creative minds now have an outlet. Imagine all the musical geniuses overtime that had beautiful music in their head, and nowhere to get it out, just because they weren’t wealthy. Thankfully technology has cured this.

This ample access to ‘studio time’ has its drawbacks as well.

The industry is now flooded with music. Even within one sub-genre, there can be upwards of 500+ new tracks every week. The role of the DJ has become that of professional sifter. It takes hours and hours of preview listening to filter down to the tracks you like.

There are a few ways around this. For one, your favorite labels are only going to release music they feel is worthy. Checking charts of the DJ’s you like will also guide you in the right direction. Reading the recommended releases in our Newsletter and Blog will surely help too. Taking the time to read music forums about your preferred genres will have a global overview of what’s hot. We all have a formula that works for us. And at the end of it all, it’s a pretty good life listening to music all day long in search of your new favorite floor fillers.

People involved in pop music often look to the dance music scene to see what’s going to be next. They look at fashion trends, hair styles, industry moves, and of course, the music. (Madonna had her ear to the ground when she hired on Stuart Price to produce her latest album.)

In dance music, it is widely accepted (preferred really) that producers release 2 or 3 tracks at a time. No waiting around for a full album to be completed. EP’s are released every 2 months or so keeping the fans & DJ’s happy, and also allowing the artist to release timely music. The industry changes so fast that a track written a year ago could sound dated by the time it’s released.

The pop music world should adapt this trait and labels should make their artists release a couple tracks at a time, every 3 months or so.

Another fascinating aspect to the dance music scene is that producers are able to release their music on a multitude of labels. This is unheard of in pop music. Sure it may make sense for a major artist to stick with one major label, but the indie scene should put some serious weight to this possibility. Some of the advantages to this include a) having a multitude of labels’ infrastructures working to promote you, b) label climbing; associating your name with different labels, c) affiliations, having your music on the same label as other popular bands/ artists.

The dance music industry is ran by some pretty innovate individuals. We have to be quick thinking and ground breaking to forge ahead, to break ground, to survive really, damn. I’m proud to be part of a culture that is constantly looked at for future forward ideas. It’s Ok if the pop world borrows our ideas, remember, being copied is the ultimate compliment.