Following on from the 'Where Are All The New Discoveries" thread it occurred to me that things are much more difficult these days in terms of 'breaking' a new tune. In the 1970s we had a 100,000 strong highly focussed, passionate and youthful crowd on the scene and big new tunes could break in a couple of weeks all across the country. A decent bootleg could sell 20,000 copies and a UK release of an in-demand item could even hit the UK charts and sell over 100,000.
But times have changed and the scene has naturally evolved.
So who's responsible for establishing the 'big' new tunes these days?
This generally narrows down to who are the DJ's who are actively 'breaking' new tunes on the scene as it exists these days? And how do they manage to do it? Do they play at a major gig every week? Do they 'cross-over' to larger crowds at bigger events? Are they deejaying with like-minded DJ's and an encouraging promoter with a good crowd?
Or is the scene made out of a 10% elite who see the top DJ's regularly and know who's playing the good stuff and a 90% audience who just want to hear oldies? Plus 10 zillion private collectors with decent collections who just want to play their favorites to their mates?
It must be tough. Right now Butch seems to be No.1 and seems to command universal respect from all quarters, so how do his plays impact on the rest of the scene? Does a great Butch play mean that most DJ's will then beat a stampede to get hold of that tune? Can a Butch play accelerate a record's value 1000% in 3 months? What level of demand these days makes a record worth re-issuing?
Questions, questions......
In short, how do you break a new Northern Soul tune these days and get it popular with the total audience that's out there? Can it still be done?
Bang on Byrney, mainstream is a safe environment and not the place for anything unknown. There is very little tolerance out there these days and very little appetite for anything new. T
Following on from the 'Where Are All The New Discoveries" thread it occurred to me that things are much more difficult these days in terms of 'breaking' a new tune. In the 1970s we had a 100,000 strong highly focussed, passionate and youthful crowd on the scene and big new tunes could break in a couple of weeks all across the country. A decent bootleg could sell 20,000 copies and a UK release of an in-demand item could even hit the UK charts and sell over 100,000.
But times have changed and the scene has naturally evolved.
So who's responsible for establishing the 'big' new tunes these days?
This generally narrows down to who are the DJ's who are actively 'breaking' new tunes on the scene as it exists these days? And how do they manage to do it? Do they play at a major gig every week? Do they 'cross-over' to larger crowds at bigger events? Are they deejaying with like-minded DJ's and an encouraging promoter with a good crowd?
Or is the scene made out of a 10% elite who see the top DJ's regularly and know who's playing the good stuff and a 90% audience who just want to hear oldies? Plus 10 zillion private collectors with decent collections who just want to play their favorites to their mates?
It must be tough. Right now Butch seems to be No.1 and seems to command universal respect from all quarters, so how do his plays impact on the rest of the scene? Does a great Butch play mean that most DJ's will then beat a stampede to get hold of that tune? Can a Butch play accelerate a record's value 1000% in 3 months? What level of demand these days makes a record worth re-issuing?
Questions, questions......
In short, how do you break a new Northern Soul tune these days and get it popular with the total audience that's out there? Can it still be done?
Ian D