August 27th, 2007 by Sean Gallagher
Hooj Choons: After more than 10 years of rocking dance floors and making DJs smile, Hooj Choons have proved to be one of the more influential labels that has pushed the progressive genre into bigger and better places. Hooj has been behind some classic releases in the last decade, notceably from legend producer Oliver Lieb, Energy 52, Medway and Tilt just to name a few.
Hooj Choons
July 17th, 2007 by Dan
There are a number of dance music record labels out today that do a tremendous job of consitently releasing top shelf music. Good labels showcase a sound they know and love and each of their new releases are almost guarantee’d to be in your crate. We trust these labels to introduce us to new artists and emerging sounds. I’ve picked up a few tracks that I wasn’t totally sold on, just to find that they destroyed the dance floor when I played them that night. (I trusted that label and the label was right!)
So I guess this is a thank you to the efforts of the Record Labels, we are in an ever-changing industry and you inject a level of confidence in to the community. Your hard work is appreciated.
3 Of My Favorite Labels:
Get Physical
Great Stuff
Wagon Repair
July 10th, 2007 by Dan
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.
July 10th, 2007 by Sean Gallagher
My name is Sean Gallagher and I will be one of the contributors to this dance music blog. Since I will be talking about various different music industry topics I feel that it is important that you guys know a little about me before doing so:
I have Dj’d all around North America and Mexico for the past 6 years. I have been heavily involved in the music industry for the last four years from a business standpoint and produced for two.
I have played with some of the biggest names in dance music including:
Sander Kleinenberg
Max Graham
Andy Caldwell
Armin Van Buuren
Hybrid
Colette
Steve Angello
James Lavelle (UNKLE)
Scumfrog
Oliver Smith
Gareth Emery (GTR)
Miss honey dijon
Dayhota
Niklas Harding
Now I am the CEO for Play It Tonight http://www.PlayItTonight.com ; the world’s best dance music download store. On a daily basis I deal with executives at the biggest record labels in Dance Music including:
Defected
Om Records
Global Underground
Armada
Black Hole Recordings
Get Physical Music
Ministry of Sound
Toolroom Records
Little Mountain Recordings
Alternative Route Recordings
Southern Fried
Finger Lickin’
Stoneyboy Music
Nettwerk Records
Nordic Trax
I look forward to sharing any late breaking industry news and insights that come my way as we get deeper into this digital music revolution.
July 9th, 2007 by Dan
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.
