05.17
Armada Music
News from the DJ realm: Armin van Buuren’s mega-label Armada has recently released some new rules regarding their tracks being played in podcasts by other DJs. The new rules are reproduced at the bottom of this post. This has some implications for dance music fans and DJs around the globe. I’d like to first start with a general discussion of the EDM scene.
The EDM Organism
Electronic dance music, at least initially, has and has had many differences from other types of music.
First there is the fact that it is fairly easy to create at a high level (I mean besides being musically skilled). With the right software and equipment, all of which cost less than a thousand dollars, you could create a studio-level track that can be played at massives and clubs with no problem. Furthermore, creating this music can all be done in the bedroom. There is no studio necessary (although it would be nice) to create a dance music track. Hence, with so many different genres and players in the scene, tons of new tracks come out every day. Armin van Buuren’s radio show, for the most part, has a weekly dose of around 20 brand new tracks to play, and that’s just trance. And that’s just Armin. Markus Schulz, Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, and other DJs all have different tracks in their weekly radio shows. Then there are the house djs, techno, electro, progressive, and oh-my-god-it-gets-crazy. Long story short, a ton of new music comes out all the time.
The next difference comes from the fact that this genre has not been largely profitable or focused on money. Yes there are huge labels such as Armada and Black Hole and yes there are huge hits such as Pjanoo, Sexy B**ch, etc. but the large majority of these tracks that I am talking about don’t go “platinum” or anything close. In fact, only recently with Beatport has electronic music sold well at all. Most of the money has been in live gigs and album sales, and even those have been historically slim . In the past there were a lot of issues with privacy and as far as royalties go… well you can forget it.
Many bedroom DJs download the tracks off the internet for free, play them in their mixes, and slap them online or play them at live gigs. I would be willing to bet that the majority of clubs that allow electronic DJs to play do not insist on them using legally-obtained music. Whether this rings true for hip-hop or not, I am not sure. But I can tell you that hip-hop songs that make it into the clubs are generally huge hits anyway, and we’ve all seen how P Diddy and 50 Cent roll. They’re not hurting for royalties from small-time DJs playing clubs in Nowheresville, USA for a few hundred people.
But EDM artists are. It’s not easy to make money in this field, and yet so many people enter it because of their love for music…
Sharing is Caring
So therefore it seems to me that this has led to a much more open attitude among EDM artists in the past. Since you’re probably not going to make the big bucks with a smash hit on television unless you are a front-runner in the dance music scene like Armin, Tiesto, Guetta, or Prydz for that matter, I think most producers are happy enough having their tracks heard in radio shows and live sets around the country. They probably don’t immediately think “hey… where’s my royalty check from that spin?” Just having Gareth Emery or Markus Schulz drop a track that you produced into one of their sets is good enough! That will let other people know about your music and hopefully bring in side revenues and more DJ dates as well as credibility for future releases. Furthermore, before digital music, this didn’t matter that much because people couldn’t go clip out the song and download it to play themselves. But lately, there’s been a problem.
More people are getting into dance music.
A lot more. And now it’s not just Gareth Emery or Armin van Buuren dropping your track into a podcast or radio show, it’s DJ Johnson from San Francisco! (fictitious name, no real implication intended) And DJ Johnson isn’t just dropping a piece of your track into the podcast, he’s bangin the whole damn thing! Beginning to end! And now instead of just getting your track some exposure in San Francisco, DJ Johnson uploads his/her podcast onto the internet and people can download the podcast, cut out your entire track, and basically pirate it for free at, very likely, a high quality. And here’s where Armada steps in.
Armada has, apparently, decided that they are going to put a stop to other DJs playing nearly the entirety of tracks from their label. This is hurting their revenue streams, and now that EDM is more popular, they know they can get that revenue! Whereas before they might be thankful that their tracks are being played at all, now they know that they are missing out on Beatport Sales… and people are dropping tons of money there.
So while some people may be saying that this is ridiculous and unfair, to me it seems at the least a very logical step in a growing scene. Dance music isn’t just all about “sharing the love” anymore when there’s money to be made. And although some might say that’s a greedy way to look at it, my answer is that this decision was probably made not to just benefit Armin or people with big names whose tracks are getting stolen. It’s to benefit those up-and-coming DJs who need that money to pay for stuff in their life and grow as artists so they can later step up and become the next big thing. And I am all for that. When there is no incentive to buy, something’s gotta be done.
Let’s not forget that Armada is one of the biggest dance-oriented music labels out there. It has a ton of sub-labels, including those of Markus Schulz (coldharbour), John O’Callaghan (subculture), MIKE (Club Elite), Roger Shah (Magic Island), and other DJs who have great influence in the realm of dance music and consistently put out well supported releases.
Some DJs, such as Daniel Kandi and Activa, have already come out in support of this.
Whether this will become a trend and other labels will make similar demands remains to be seen. But I have a feeling as EDM gets more and more popular, more labels will begin to look at ways to plug blatant revenue holes such as podcasts which play 90% of a track that has just been released.
Conclusion
Ultimately, this is an interesting first move and it will certainly make other labels think about doing the same. I will certainly be on the lookout to see whether they do. As for myself, playing 2 minute clips of trance tracks is nearly impossible, so I do think Armada over-reached in that aspect. I hope that the labels find some sort of middle ground that’s not as harsh as the Armada rules but certainly not as lenient as it has been. The artists need their money too, and this is an interesting first step. We’ll have to see where this whole thing goes!
Oh and if you’re particularly unhappy about this… you can go and boo Armin at EDC this summer. He is playing Saturday. 
Dear producer,
Herewith you will find the outlines which are based on the terms which were set out by the Dutch Dutch Neighbouring Rights society SENA for podcasts. Below you find the guidelines for usage of our tracks in Podcasts
* A Podcast is a specific Radio program, which is broadcasted on a FM station, with music use not over 80%. The other 20% should be filled with jingles and talking with some degree of editorial / journalistic content
* The podcast should be offered to consumers on a website for not longer than one month.
* The podcast shall not be a full dj mix with only talking and jingles in front and/or at the end of the podcast. The music should be interfered within every 20% of the full length of the podcast.
* Armada tracks used in the podcast may not be longer than 2 minutes.
* The consumer shall be able to download the podcast as one full file, BUT shall not be able to download, burn, copy or scan the tracks as a independent file(s). The podcast may only be offered by the use of a special podcast program (not to be able for copying etc).
* The list of titles including time usage should be published with the podcast on the website.
* You are not allowed to use more than 2 tracks of one album within one podcast.
* You are not allowed to use 4 tracks of one artist within one podcast of which maximum 2 tracks in a row. Not to use bootlegs or other illegal recordings, or pre-releases of Armada’s tracks , with the exception that this has been allowed and cleared by the original owner.
* This approval only regards master usage and has no relation with the copyrights which belong to the composers and/or lyricists of the music compositions.
* You need to pay to SENA (Netherlands) or to a similar organization who collect the moneys for Neighboring rights, subject to local laws, the but at least with the minimum compensation asked by the Dutch SENA for music usage
© 2010, M Silin. All rights reserved.
