Promoters

What happens when most your mates would go twos up? lol

Can someone take Scotty to Stowell Street or Shields Road.

Our survey said:

What happens when most your mates would go twos up? lol

They probably went to a brothel ran by a certain London agent..... (Joking). But said mates probably lack the discretion to go elsewhere.

Can someone take Scotty to Stowell Street or Shields Road.

And how many of them are constantly busy? Yes you've got plenty of choice but at the same time they all love gambling... Location Vs. Nearest Casino. Case closed. (They probably wonuldn't go and see Erika either)

Is it really about gentlemens agreements ... or is it because the numbers in newcastle are so small, that people end up defending their own target market and target DJ's in any ways possible.

Hi Brid Not about gentlemans agreements. Its about general politeness. If you're going to start a club night that operates on a regular basis are you a) starting it because there really is a lack of choice for people going out b) do you feel there are alot of DJ's who arent getting booked that you would like to put on or c) are you going to put a few larger scale nights on and then realise that you have nowhere else to go except maybe putting on an act that played a few months ago, therefore adding absolutely nothing and just doing it for the (so called) props?

Not about defending anything either. Using the Funk D'void booking as an example. Someone (who posts on this board) but who isnt a promoter added to the event page on Facebook "So who you booking next? Ame or Simon Baker?". Its how it looks to other people.

If it was anywhere else around the country, would it be like this?

Nah its probably dealt with alot harsher than a discussion on a local messageboard. Wasn't so long ago I heard a horror story about someone caught taking a poster down in Manchester. God knows what would have happened if it was anything beyond that.

What constitutes a booking thats 'regular' enough to make that DJ somehow 'their' property?

Not slagging any of this off ... just trying to understand the motivations behind this all. Are DJ's any different to any other trade out there - they sell themselves based on their skills, and pick their gigs/contracts according to whats best for them (repeated bookings versus more money etc etc etc).

As stated earlier a DJ/act isnt really any nights property to claim ownership to. Its just about applying common sense in its simplest form, especially when you know that a certain person plays at least once a year for a particular night.

For example If we went and booked Danny Howells I'd fully expect Scott to be straight on the phone asking what the fuck I was doing. Its the same when they have had DJ's play for them for over 10 years and all of a sudden they are getting snapped up elsewhere. Yes you can argue its partly down to the agent. But DJ's dont accidently get booked by a promoter. You dont just fall onto your laptop and go "FUCK! Its just typed out a whole email and offer for (enter DJ name here).... I really didnt want that to happen".

There really isnt anything stopping every person on this board from starting a club night. Its not exactly rocket science. The whole point is this; when you fill in one of those forms that it has several sheets of carbon underneath it you're always left with very little on the last page. The more carbon you add, the less impression is made.

The carbon bit was meant to highlight that if everyone started a club night with very little to distinguish between them (apart from a name) & they were booking the same regular guests as somewhere else then how does that make it a different experience for a punter or indeed their respective promoter?

ie. If say 4 months down the line someone put Motor City Drum Ensemble on, I would be pretty baffled because they had just played for Jaunt and I really wouldnt be able to picture how that particular night was offering me anything different to what had been done a couple of months earlier.

Then you've got more money than sense, clearly havent been out very much and you really shouldnt be thinking about running a night! Ha ha ha

But you can put Desyn on mate thats fine with us. I can get you everyone else's email if you want to check their respective plans

Myself with Citric acid and Backlash with rest of the lads always contact promoters who had booked an artist before us to see if they were cool with us booking the artist again to play in newcastle.

More often than that it led to collerbarations with other nights, what we booked was pretty niche music any way so most of the promoters of similar events come to our nights and became friends anyway.

With House/trance/hard house i surpose its much more an industry with higher crowds but sometimes the lack of orginality with the amount of arists out there sort of seem to me that Promoters use Dj's that have worked for other nights to make sure there nights are full as they brought a crowd last time.

Seems it would be good manners at least to consult the nights that booked the artist first to see if they have any plans to bring them back soon.

With regards to Shindig, they've had djs play for them for years but because they've went to a 1 or 2 night's a month then surely alot more promoters are going to end up booking said djs unless alot of them aren't going to get the chance to play up here anymore, ie. Woolford

Quality read this by the way lads!

I think one of the problems is that there's a lot of house nights in Newcastle for one city and a limited crowd to sustain them. Only a matter of time before somone double books within a couple of months where neither promoter knows until the dates are announced. Can't see most agents being that bothered about having their artist play here more than once in a few months, or in fact realising that its a small city with a fairly limited audience for dance music.

One of the other things that this thread brings to mind is that maybe the established promoters have brought this level of competition on themselves to some extent? Most bigger or monthly nights have a guest, their residents and some of their mates doing the pre party/back room. I think most of us are aware of how enthusiastic people get about dance music, particularly when they first get into it and particularly the djing aspect of it but its pretty hard to get any gigs at all, let alone ones where you might be allowed on the decks when there are actually people in the club dancing and stuff- a lot of people seem to use promotion as a means of getting more opportunities to DJ to an actual crowd instead of their mates at a party or to play alongside some of their favourite artists- fair play to them really if those opportunities aren't available elsewhere without being a part of any kind of established clique

Too true

I think this is quite possibly the BEST post that I have ever read on a message board ever!!!!!!!!!

(and I am being serious on here for once)

scott , can i pay you a fee for you to explain this to certain other "promoters" in newcastle as I am getting sick of agents ringing me up constantly and telling me that other nights are wanting to book exactly the same djs that detox have been working with for the past 5 years since 2005, 1-2 months after we have had them.

no one owns certain artists but seriously what is the point of any dj from whatever genre playing a city town or otherwise for 4 different nights like 6 times in 1 year...it may pay the bills in the short term but the artists chasing the pound sign will have very short lived careers.

the worst instances are when you've spent time and effort taking a risk / punt on a relatively uknown artist, showcased them first in a town / city and then as they become popular thru mainly playing for your night, a plethroa of other events want to come along and book the artist cos said artist has now come to prominance. Thank fuck that there are dj's out there that still value loyalty to nights and events that booked them in the first place.

I never came back to NECL because the company i work for started monitoring NECL board lol

but thats a good point regarding people being courteous but in my experience it doesnt happen, there's too many wanabees chasing the fame game and "i want my name up in lights" syndrome.

word to that brother