Know what you mean Des, but personally from a promoting point of view & again wishing no particular venue or promoter ill, its just a case of giving any new venture I get involved with a fighting chance...........if stuff falls by the wayside naturally, so to speak & there's a niche for me locally I'll have another crack...........this isnt about DJing particularly & definitly not about money (other wise myself & a couple of other locals could have jumped on the oldies band wagon ages ago & cleared up financially) its about promoting obscure soul music & artists, hopefully bringing lesser known, new discoveries from all decades & genres of soulful dance to an open minded crowd, I also think that the mix should include some classics & anthems too for good measure, generally speaking nationally & locally IMO we could do with more venues with this music policy, at the end of the day its about what the punters want & also there needs to be choice, so Im not knocking anything or anyone, but the original ethos of the NS/RS scene seems to be taking a back seat at many venues in favour of populist play lists were personal ego's & money appear to take provenance over musical integrity.
Not sure whether the answer is venues closing or not, but in my case it would enable me to at least give a venue with this music policy a chance to work, thing is through venues closing you cant guarantee that they will be replaced & if they are replaced who is to say that said venues music policy regardless of what it is will suit the majority of punters...........maybe we should be careful of what we wish for, spose at the moment at least we have choice, generally speaking Im happy with the venues I attend at the moment, just cant get rid of that promoting gene that seems to niggle away at me constantly, I just want one last crack.
Russ