And another DJ gets removed from the booth for not playing commercial music. If you're not familiar with Nick Warren, he's a long-standing veteran in progressive house circles that helped blow up the late '90's/early '00s Global Underground mix series, and has been a member of the successful production duo Way Out West since the jump. Probably not the biggest or most relevant DJ to ever hit your radar, but he's someone who's definitely earned his still globe-trotting status. Recently, he posted this Facebook status about being kicked off the decks during his set:
The real issue, though, is becoming such a depressing broken record that it's no longer just a concern for dance music lovers in the United States. We've seen a number of these cases over the years, and the majority of them where primarily in Miami and Las Vegas, where bottle service is king and those dollars have been proven to have the power to dictate who's playing what kind of music. But this was at Club Vanguard in Seoul, South Korea, with the exact same set of reoccurring circumstances. Where's the ultimate disconnect that's putting niche DJs into megaclubs where they obviously want an open format, top 40-driven type of performance?
As a working local and regional DJ for a number of years, I see it all the time where the owner or GM at a given club comes and gives you their $.02 about what they want going on with the format. It's honestly a nightly conversation for me with my regular residencies. That's why I think these are such a headscratcher for me. You've got so much money on the line with bottle service sales being of such importance with these megaclubs and whoever's booking these shows for these niche DJs to continue to get booted - obviously these bookers have very little knowledge of what they're doing. If I'm small-time and can get the communication right between agent (me) and the club management, I could use a good explanation as to why this is happening on a fairly regular basis on such a larger level. These individuals in control of club calendars and the agents representing these DJs need to get on the same page and quit fucking each other over. If not, the amateur business practices and deficiencies will just continually get excused and swept under the rug, creating an ongoing embarrassment. It's a crock, and something that should be easily fixed. There's this greed thing, though, that just seems to continually get in the way and make everyone look bad.
