Commercial vs underground

So the great debate is weather to be underground and "keep it real" or go commercial and make money. Theres a lot of talk around this city about who's who as far as DJ's are concerned. Some say "DJ SO&SO used to be dope but he sold out" or "he used to be a good D&B dj but now he (or she) play commercial stuff downtown. I can only speak for my crew on this matter. Fact: the "crew" Nova Soulz is as real as it gets, theres no need to keep it real if you stay real. Fact: "The Nova Soulz" the group yes we do play downtown venues and yes we do play commercial stuff often. Does that mean we sold out? No, what it mean is that yes we play commercial stuff, but at the same time we put that "underground' flavor in as well. We r introducing "our" music to an audience that might not ever hear it any other time. These people haven't been to a rave, party or an "event". Now when I say "our" i don't mean just Nova Soulz, I mean everyone that makes up the entire underground scene. Music is intended to be shared, and the more people its shared with the more the scene grows as a whole. Plus as working DJ's having these "commercial" gigs allows us to do the smaller underground events where money isn't always an option. This doesn't happen to us often, but for those that it happens to i say this. Before you call someone a sell out, or knock them for where or what they play think about this, sometimes making a commercial living allows them/us to play the events and parties that we love, your parties and your events.

Comments

[Derek Carney]

Well, this is complicated. There are different levels and perpectives to consider. I think first you every DJ needs to examine why they do what they do. I've kind of broken DJs down into two categories: 1) DJs who are trying to be "cool" and 2) DJs who are trying to make a room more fun (and that broad statement can cover any range of venues from weddings to clubs to lounges to a house party!) Then you also need to consider that there are many components to DJing: selection, programming a night, programming a set, technical mixin ability, thinking outside the box (incorporating a drum machine, live drummer, singers, singing into the headphones while mixing a la Alexander East or Collette, multiple turntables, effects, video-audio possibilities with Ableton or other programs like Kevin Saunderson, surround sound mixing a la Richie Hawtin or Junior Vasquez, etc.), reading the crowd, keeping the crowd interested by giving them some of what they might now and then pushing new sounds onto them once you have their trust, and you also need to ask if you are playing for a heady, intellectual techno crowd, people at a lounge that just want some light background music, ravers who want to rage, or your average club-goer who works a 9 to 5 all week and just wants to let off some steam. So, you see how complex this gets? What is a sell-out? How do you define that? From whose perspective? Can the answer be different considering different people's perspectives? I think so. DO NOT CARE WHAT THE HATERS THINK. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE HATERS. If you are having fun, making money, and bringing a good vibe to a room, then I say keep doing what you are doing.