Interesting thread and I thought I would add my piece - qualifying for a young DJ
Loads of interesting points and can't really add much to what Steve, Paul and Callum have said but...
I find it interesting that people think that there has to be such a sharp distinction between what will become of soul nights in the future and their current status. I appreciated it maybe a difficult ladder to climb, but why can't you have older DJ's at events aimed at a newer fresher crowd? For example Callum's choice of Karl Heard I reckon would go down well with any crowd up for a dance!
It maybe different as you travel around the country (speaking from limited experience) but I think that in London/Brighton you are able to have a good mix. For example at Crossfire/The Brighton "Mod" weekender you had all the older bunch DJing to a crowd that was mostly under 30 and they were dancing all night... surely that is a healthy sign? Personally I do think that the "mod scene" is healthier than (what I have seen of the) soul scene with alot more people coming onto it all the time and attending events. But people move from one thing to another and tastes evolve.
I think as Callum said it is alot to do with the venues, their location and to a certain extent the people attending. Sometimes when at Radcliffe for example I think, what the feck am I doing at 19 with all these old c**nts (no offence ), but then you hear a record your love and thats all that matters...
I know also that its well trodden ground but the topic of "its hard to build up a collection if your a new DJ" seems to come up all the time. Every fecker does want to be a DJ (me being part of the problem ) - but why should this be such a problem? Surely competition is a good thing. I mean its not hard to build up a collection of good records anyway - you just got to have your ear to the ground and your ear to the tunes and pick up things that you like and get people dancing! Doesn't have to be the same fucking records from the Wigan vaults every bloody time! There are hundreds of good records for under £50 and probably hundreds more still to be discovered - thats one of the things I love about the soul scene. I don't think original vinyl should ever be phased out either and I hope this is never the case - not only do I love it from a nerdy collectors point of view, but it also it forces DJ's to be creative with their sets and keep them trying to be original...
However without nights such as Soul or Nothing, The Beat Boutique and Pow Wow I think it would be hard to attract new people into digging soul... its a difficult one!
Maybe I am contradicting myself at some points here, but oh well!
Tomas