Our friends over at www.datatransmission.co.uk will celebrate their third birthday this week.
Following their third rammed session at The Silver Bullet with Beardyman and Grum, their 3rd Birthday party held this Friday 21st January sees the DT crew head to the hospitable Old Queen’s Head on Essex Road in Angel for Data Transmission Presents…The Class Of 2011 – a chance to check out some of their hot tips for the new year and celebrate the 3rd Birthday at the same time.
Headlining is the excellent Hijack, hero of the chunky ‘n’ filter house scene and head of Jack Union Records, with two first-rate other DJs in the form of Ninja Tune’s future garage signings and remixers to The xx Dark Sky and Rinse FM’s eclectic bass hero Marco Del Horno, with his potent blend of house, dubstep, electro, garage and UK funky.
Entry is free before 8PM (the venue is open all day) and just £4 (no advance tickets) with the event running from 8PM – 2AM.
Get yourself in the mood with DT’s podcasts from Hijack and Dark Sky and look out for Marco’s Podcast, coming mid January…
For full events details, visit Datatransmission.co.uk
Good afternoon! As promised here is part 2 of our interview with Andi Durrant where he gives his thoughts on the music industry in 2011.
How easy/difficult was it to be a music artist in 2010. Do you think it will get easier/harder in 2011? Why?
I’d say it was very difficult – especially if you’re just starting out and trying to get recognized for your work. It used to be the case that only a very small amount of people could use a recording studio, or even afford to hire one. Now for around £200 and a laptop you can do virtually everything, which is why I’m now receiving an average of 400 new tracks a week to listen to. Trying to stand out from that huge crowd is no mean feat.
Social Media has exploded over the last few years. Do you find tools such as Twitter and Facebook useful as an artist or just something you have to be on these days?
I absolutely love Twitter. I was scathing at first (“Who wants to know what salad Ashton Kutcher had for his lunch?”) but then I got the point of it – you only follow the people you’re genuinely interested in and its opened up a new world to me. I’m on there all day every day catching up and chatting with the rest of the electronic music community. I actually think it’s brought us together a bit more and strengthened the scene. DJs and dance music artists have really embraced Twitter and come off all the better for it. As for Facebook, I see that more of a promotional tool. It often seems a bit too personal sharing all your pictures with the world, and is ruined by people spamming your wall and trying to make you play imaginary farm games.
2010 has seen a rise in the popularity of cloud music services such as Spotify. Do you see them breaking in to the mainstream in 2011 and becoming the new way we consume music?
I’m sitting on the fence on this one – I really wouldn’t like to guess. The Spotify business model isn’t working for artists at the moment, and I don’t see that changing very soon… but then a new service might pop up next week and change the whole thing again!
How important do you think mobile technology and apps will be for the music industry in 2011?
VERY important. We’re nearly all living our lives through iPhones, iPods and Blackberrys these days, so those artists who have the best online presence, the most up to date and interesting Apps and websites, and make their music the easiest to access will come out on top.
Finally, do you think 2011 will be the year that the music industry will ‘get fixed’?
The music industry was probably broken the day it began. It’ll never be fixed and I’m not sure any of us want it that way even if it could be.
Some great insights from Andi. Share your thoughts with us about the state of the music industry in 2011 on Twitter @pokerpr
Happy New Year one and all!
We kick start 2011 with a special guest blog interview with Andi Durrant. As presenter of the biggest dance music show in the UK on a Saturday night – formerly on Galaxy FM and today rebranded to Capital FM – and one half of DJ and Production duo Riley & Durrant; we couldn’t think of anyone better to provide their insights into the music industry for 2011.
Who do you think really made their mark in 2010 / who impressed you in 2010?
In terms of dance music, 2010 was the year of the Swedish House Mafia – Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. From their massive Monday night residency at Pacha in Ibiza every week over summer, to selling out clubs, stadiums and festivals all over world, to collaborating with some huge A List singers and stars.
They went from being three relatively unknown DJs from Sweden to worldwide Popstars, so whether you like their music or not, you’ve got to respect their drive.
What’s your stand out album/track of 2010?
The tracks we’ve played most in our DJ sets and on my radio shows all seem to have been by Thomas Gold this year. He’s a DJ and Producer from Munich and is behind some brilliant dance floor destroying weapons at the moment.
My favourite non-dance floor track was probably the Shazam remix of Bertie Blackman “Black Cats”. I must have played that 100 times and still not got bored of it.
On the album front, I think it was pretty spectacular for Daft Punk to score the Tron movie. They came up with something I wasn’t wholly expecting, and although the soundtrack album isn’t an easy listen, it represents how far electronic music has come in the last 20 years.
What Producer or DJ do you have your eye on in 2011?
Dirty Secretz - a male/female DJ and production duo from Leicester who’ve been sending us LOADS of brilliant house music over the last 6 months. We asked them to remix a track for our Electrik Playground label, and we’ll be booking them for our events in 2011. I really hope they break through and get the recognition they deserve.
What new musical trends do you see coming through in 2011?
I think they’ll probably be some more dubstep tracks and acts crossing over into the charts as we see that scene go much more mainstream. It’s never worked that well in the clubs outside of London (except for 3 or 4 specialist nights that do really well) but it seems to have found its feet on the radio so I reckon people like Katy B will become big pop stars rather than niche urban acts.
Do you think there’s any room for dance music to go any more mainstream in 2011 than it has already in 2010?
The weird thing with electronic music is one man’s “dance” track is another man’s cheesy pop record… is another man’s underground… Take the Black Eyed Peas “Dirty Bit / Time of My Life” thing. I really don’t like that track – it’s a simple mass-market product for children or people who don’t really like music very much, but some people will say it’s “dance” music because it’s got electro synths and a big kick drum. It’s not though. Real dance and electronic music is thriving and more popular than ever.
Stay tuned as tomorrow we’ll be posting part 2 of the interview where we will be looking forward in to the state of the music industry in 2011.
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