08.04
Here we go again, another year of the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll. Many of you may be wondering what the hell this is, while others may already be sick of the twitters, banner ads, and reminders to vote on every page you see affiliated with every DJ. Sander Van Doorn, for example, was nice enough to release a free track today (a nice gesture, even though its 128kpbs and can never be played live… grr).
I am not calling him out for any sort of unethical behavior but that is, in fact, one step short of saying “vote for me and get a free track” which would be a pretty sweet deal. For the record… I planned on voting for him anyway. But some people surely could have used a nice little reminder! An even dirtier trick is this one posted on Twitter by Marcus Schossow (@marcusschossow) which plays on his beef with Deadmau5 a year ago. (read about that here and here):
Damn, just found this video where im fighting with deadmau5… glad that never came out before: http://bit.ly/3ni72k
– By the way if you want to follow us on Twitter check out @LaBeatCo –
Wow. Talk about dirty. (In case that link is dead, it goes to a youtube video reminding you to vote for Marcus in the DJ Mag top 100). Read on to learn about the importance of DJ Mag Top 100 and how it affects the DJs, clubs, and raves in Los Angeles.
So are more and more DJs urging you so strongly to vote? Is it because they have inferiority complexes and want to be able to say they’re 58, not 72, so they’re better than another DJ? Not really. Especially since all kinds of EDM djs are on there, who probably don’t compete with each other. The reason they care is much bigger – they want to get the top slots at clubs, events, and massives. When you see a poster for an event, especially a big one such as Monster Massive, it is very likely that the names in bigger font, at the top of the list, or in the better time slots are dictated by this poll. Promoters generally look at the DJ Mag Top 100 and use it as guidance for the pricing and booking of events. Of course, DJs can charge more than others but it’s not likely that a #10 DJ will be charging less for the same event than a #40 DJ.
A funny side-note: If you listen to live mixes from around the world, many clubs or events introduce DJs. It is very funny when they announce “Ferry Corsten! The #6 DJ of the world!” I say “if you ain’t first, yer last” but that’s just me. You can also see promo posters, etc. etc. listing random rankings of DJs. Besides the actual booking, I doubt it influences fans’ desire to go see a particular DJ. Especially if it’s… “OH MY GOD #49 DJ MARCO LENZI IS COMING TO TOWN! SURELY HE WILL BE BETTER THAN #59 – SANDER KLEINENBERG!”
But what we do have to keep in mind, as the EDM nightlife-minded of Los Angeles, is that if a particular promoter is going to fly over a DJ from Europe (as the majority of them are), he wants to make sure he’s getting his money’s worth. And seeing as how each promoter hosts 2, at most 3 DJs per week in the clubs, and maybe 20 at most at the massives, they want to leverage the money they are putting into the events against having DJs that are worth having. That is why we very rarely see an international DJ around here that’s not on the list.
This list is equally, if not more important, for the DJs in Los Angeles. The closest we have on the list, to my knowledge, is Donald Glaude, whose whole website right now consists of a huge banner asking people to vote for him.
So what does this all mean? It means go vote!
Go vote for who you want to see around here! Had enough of PVD, Armin van Buuren, etc.? Vote for other DJs to rise higher to the top and come visit our city more. If you want some local DJs such as Reza, Kristina Sky, Fei-Fei, Glaude, etc. to have some international success, I HIGHLY recommend putting in a vote for them, because this is really one of the most important determinants of bookings worldwide. Don’t be selfish and keep them all to ourselves here in LA – getting our artists around the world will help us gain fame and status as one of the world capitals of electronic dance music!
I know what you’re thinking… who will Misha and Rob vote for?
Don’t worry! We will post our Top 100 picks sometime later this week! Check back for that as well as our weekend warmup tracks – sure to get you going for the weekend!
© 2009, M Silin. All rights reserved.
