Rhymefest Guest Blog: Entitled DJs are Creating Cheap Disposable Music

Filed Under: Exclusives by Rhymefest on May 04, 2010

(Editor's Note: This is the third entry in an ongoing series from Rhymefest. Click here and here to read previous entries.)

Earlier today, a DJ/Blogger came to me with his great new idea of creating a mixtape with all Chicago artists that he would release via his blog. He was very excited when explaining to me his team’s preparation for this upcoming release and how it was in the last week of planning and “Oh by the way, I think we’ve still got room to squeeze you in Fest, if you send us an exclusive song immediately!” I explained to him that my Dangerous 5:18 pre-album was just released last week, as well as the two singles Say Wassup and How High featuring Little Brother that I’m trying to get rotation for.

All in all, within the last 3 weeks, I’ve put out about 22 new songs, all of very high quality. His response was, “Yeah that’s great, but that’s all old music now, we want a new exclusive track that we can put on the internet.” At that point, I couldn’t take it anymore, lost my head and spazzed out on homie. “Look dude, it’s hard enough trying to get radio to rotate your record, but if all you want is disposable music, then I suggest you go somewhere else and try to find it. And by the way, I get two to three requests a day for exclusive music from people like you who believe that they are doing me a big favor.”

No one is thinking about the cost associated in creating new music: studio, engineer and time. Although you may be getting the music free, it is not free to create. I went to this guy’s blog site and it was created in 2010. Without even carrying major weight, so many DJs and bloggers feel that it’s okay and within their right to continue demanding exclusive music from artists who already have material out that they are trying to promote. I understand that one of the major issues with terrestial radio is its imbalance and how a billion times a day it spins one song, but it seems as though internet DJs are being extreme in doing the opposite. How in the hell does a song become old six hours after it is posted? Especially if it’s dope?

This bubble gum way of doing business and music makes the artist’s product like new cars that are pushed and devalued as soon as they leave the lot. Whatever happened to you wanting someone to download a CD that they played in their car over a road trip, family reunion, picnic or while just cleaning their home. When times get rough, they pull the CD out and listen to it again. Hell, I’m still spinning the grooves out of my Fugees Score record.

In my opinion, real DJs don’t only break records, but they advocate for the longevity of good ones. Here are some ideas for you new DJs to help you stretch the life of a record. Let’s say you love that new Rhymefest Vibin off Dangerous 5:18… You can call me and request an instrumental, play a little Drake over the instrumental or take the acapella and play it over Drake’s track or just play the instrumental by itself as you set up your next record. Bloggers you can run an artist’s song one week as you accept comments and their video the next. In between time, I’ve got an idea, how about stop biting other people’s blog sites and come up with some other unique material besides just music: hmmm… political reporting, social commentary, fashion, etc. That’s the great thing about the world; there is lots of stuff to talk about. Don’t mean to come off like an ass or sound so cynical. But look at what we’ve done to our most precious commodity. We treat music like a cheap, wet, whore.

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DJ Z
DJ Booth Crew

Total Ratings: 5540

We all know Fest and I share the SAME exact thoughts on this topic, as I often get furious in the comment threads when I see members of our site deem a record "old" if we post it a week after it leaked to the net. Back in the day, a good record could carry the attention span of fans for a good 3-6 mo. (or longer if the song was dynamite). Now, it seems this time frame has been cut in less than half. So, who is to blame? Well, Fest is right in that there are a lot of outlets who are doing a disservice to artists by making their hard work seem disposable. However, there are also thousands of talent-less artists (Fest doesn't have to worry about this one), whose cookie-cutter music is less than satisfying. This need for new music stems from a unfavorable experience from listening to previous "online" leaks. Sadly, there is no way to prevent this from occurring, but we can remind artists to always make quality music and only release non-filler material to the net.

DJ Booth on Twitter

Posted on May 04, 2010

richard DJ Booth Crew Total Ratings: 53	One hundred percent agreed... I would rather hear full use made of "old" material than hear a dozen tossed-together "new" records that sound exactly the same Hopefully we at DJBooth and Refinedhype are doing a good job of playing the role described in 'Fest's closing paragraph - I think we are!
	Posted on May 04, 2010

Matty K
DJ Booth Crew

Total Ratings: 116

If a (new) DJ doesn't have the ability to distinguish poor from high quality music, in that DJ's mind, what's the difference between one song and the next? Do they have to become numb to the fact that many artists are trying to get their music spun? For DJs, is telling a good song from a bad one a learned skill? If this skill does in fact have to be learned and most people aren't making an effort to learn it, then I guess this really isn't a problem that's going to be solved anytime soon. What makes things worse is that there will always be artists trying to push garbage, so if every song is like the next, an unsympathetic DJ will have his/her choice of garbage to rotate well into the future. In other words, they will never run out of songs to play because there will always be something new. In that sense, stretching out a song past a certain time wouldn't be sensible because trash-quality cuts STAY in stock. That's not cool, but what can be done about it?

Posted on May 04, 2010

THE A.J. Crew
DJ Booth Crew

Total Ratings: 9

I highly advocate for the idea of having these blogs post things OTHER than new music EVERYDAY. The thing that people don't understand is, not everyone WANTS new music EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. It gets tiring. I go to a site like 2dopeboyz and there are 5 new updates every hour! I can never keep up with the speed of the material dropping, let alone digest it all and form a solid opinion on it. Post stuff other than music. Let the best music last the longest. And there are other ways to promote yourself as an artist, if you're trying to get on a blog, than dropping a song a day. You're watering yourself down... that's why I took a year off ;)

Posted on May 04, 2010

appleweed DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 16	It gets frustrating looking for new beats only to find the same stuff presented differently but the same. This would be the tossed-together stuff. I'm good with old stuff being presented with a different beat. Like I used to tell my parents, "I don't listen to the words." I want something that I can listen to 6 months later and still like the beat.
	Posted on May 04, 2010

Nathan S.
DJ Booth Crew

Total Ratings: 1789

I feel like it's limiting to see the "disposable" trend as being somehow particular to the music industry. Across media, particularly in the news industry, the demand is for quicker turn over. It used to be you got your news once a day via the paper, now you've got Twitter updating you literally seconds after an event unfolds. Much like music, this has obviously decreased the quality of news we receive. The real culprit? The internet. Back in the day it'd take months for a record to find its way onto the radio, then into stores. Now? Even a 24-hour cycle is considered slow. The plus side of this climate of more is we're exposed to more new music than ever before. The down side, obviously, is the decrease in quality. So is this a pandora's box situation? Is it too late to go back? I honestly don't know.

Posted on May 04, 2010

AaronB DJ Booth Crew Total Ratings: 424	Three words all Artists should live by. Less is More. Marketing 101.
	Posted on May 04, 2010

8attack DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 20	I agree with the AJ crew, blogs flood people with so much material its hard to keep up. But thats why djbooth is here right? To weed out the unnecessary stuff. Good article
	Posted on May 04, 2010

Akshan DJ Booth Member Total Ratings: 3	BIG UP YOSELF Rhymefest ==> Real DJs don’t only break records, they advocate for the longevity of good ones. <<== HELL of a quote.
	Posted on May 04, 2010

huangxiaohan
DJ Booth Member

Total Ratings: 0

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Posted on May 04, 2010

Ivan Ibarra
DJ Booth Crew

Total Ratings: 27

I agree with what Fest has to say. The whole idea of a "record getting old after 6 hours" is ridiculous. Some of the blogs I respect the most are the ones that don't post 45 threads in one day. They leave it to 5-10, and keep it at that. You shouldn't have to go back 4-5 pages to see all that's been posted in a day... quality > quantity...but married together where it's good quality whenever it's supplied.

Posted on May 05, 2010

J Worthy
DJ Booth Crew

Total Ratings: 327

I think the only reason that they would throw out quick, cheap, low quality music (Artists) is because they think if they stay putting out material they can't go unnoticed and you can't ignore em (They think). I feel you should try you hardest to make a good song that's gonna last. If you're talented enough it doesn't matter how consistent you are, Good music is Good music Period. And as far as Blogs/Dj's go, Everyone wants to have that "Exclusive" or "New Hotness" before anyway else does. So they post/spin just to say that they had it 1st. Them saying a record is old after a week kinda makes sense. If you're a top Blog site (DJBooth.net)you get so much music constantly (I know DJ Z Feels me)So if the song was Spectacular it does kinda get old because all of all these others songs...I would think. (But I'm not a DJ So...)

Posted on May 05, 2010

josehg DJ Booth Crew Total Ratings: 1	At the end of the day, it's supply and demand. You're only a victim of the devaluing of music or any other intellectual property if you choose to lower your own value by giving away your stuff that freely.
	Posted on May 05, 2010

Azox
DJ Booth Member

Total Ratings: 2

Didn't you make a record called "Brand New"? Music is a catch 22. Everyone LOVES new music. They also like the feeling of breaking music to new people. I don't know how many times I have heard people say things like "I've known about Kanye since..." Good music will always be in rotation. The problem is the taste of the music industry. DJ's are on a surf board, and the industry controls people like a tidal wave. We just go where the wave crashes. I think every DJ has their perfect mixtape. It has all of their favorites on it. Unfortunately that tape only speaks to the DJ. We want something to speak to the masses. A Catch 22. ~azox~

Posted on May 05, 2010

JookS DJ Booth Crew Total Ratings: 11	Beautiful. To be honest I understand exactly what you are saying. Artists now a days put out so much music that the DJ's and Bloggers believe the only way to stay relevant is to continue putting out music. However, instead of working tracks and allowing them to grow, they are flooding the game with more nonsensical music. "We treat music like a cheap, wet, whore". Fantastic quote
	Posted on May 05, 2010

Ru DJ Booth Crew Total Ratings: 9	I have to agree with Nathan. He hit the nail on the head with his comment. The internet is the culprit here and because of it music is not exclusive anymore because anybody can gain access to it just as soon as its made. The days when new music used to be considered as "highly sensitive information" no longer exists
	Posted on May 07, 2010

The5JAY13 Resident DJ Total Ratings: 268	Well Z I don't know if a song is hitting this site late cause this is the only place I come for music lol. But I agree completely with Fest as most (if not all) here do. Eventually we get 50,000 artists making the exact same song to make a dollar, hip hop is dead completely, even hip pop is dead, its all pop. Great.
	Posted on May 10, 2010