This thread reminded me of this post earlier this year!
"Following on from the debates what should get played originals or not and the interesting, if not very intelectual, debate on the Grapevine 2000 thread. How about a registration scheme where DJs and Venues can commit to playing originals only. I'm not a world authority on originals or a paid up member of the 'soul police' but a couple of us gave this some thought a while back. A number of relatively big DJs thought it may not be a good idea. Dunno why
Just to get the debate going here is a summary of our thoughts as I remember them: (acknowledgement goes to messers Murphy, Ferguson, Hayes, McWilliams et al)
Soul Probity
What is it?
It is a sort of "kite mark" to indicate to visitors to particular venues what they are buying with their admission fee.
Why has it been developed?
The venue competition within the Northern and Rare Soul scene has grown tremendously recently. The proliferation of tracks available on CD, bootlegs and legitimate re release has facilitated this and it is now possible to play many of the top rarities at minimal cost.
What's wrong with that?
On the face of it nothing and for some dancers particularly this is something positive allowing them to dance to sounds that they would have had to travel miles for previously unless of course they have a dance floor in their front room. However without the massive investment, financial and otherwise of some DJs and promoters how would these sounds develop and without that continued development what is the future for the scene?
Isn't this just elitist snobbery?
Far from it. It is more about allowing everyone to be more discerning in their choices if this is important to them. There are venues that have solid and long-standing reputations with dancers who want to hear the stock oldies; and who can argue with their success. This scheme will not impact on such venues at all. If however hearing a balance of classics with some new and different sounds is important then the 'Soul Probity' logo will provide some assurance to the punter.
Who benefits from this?
The punters - Through the ability to make more informed choices and knowing in advance what to expect at, even the newest of, venues. The diversity of sounds heard will increase as the rarity of some sounds has a natural limiting effect on the numbers of DJs that can play them. This will encourage creativity and imagination in those venues, in those DJs, that adopt the scheme.
The promoters - There will be a better match between what is expected and what is delivered and that can only help build the satisfaction of the customer who pay the bills. Building a following and reputation for a soul night can be costly and time consuming this mechanic helps speed this process up.
DJs - This will encourage a greater degree of professionalism and offer up some recognition for those who invest heavily. There is a widening gap between what is invested by many DJs and what income they can expect by way of fee from promoters. This provides a way for some, albeit non-financial, recognition to be had by those who follow an originals only policy. After all it must be annoying in the extreme to pay £400+ for an original "Rita and the Tiaras" only to have the DJ before you play the £5 "Joe Boy" copy.
Collectors - Record bars are the place where most of the "Oh God I'm sick of hearing this" comments are heard. New and varied sounds on play lists is what many collectors want particularly if the latest sound to be broken or reactivated is one they own.
Dealers - These have most to lose from the bootleg CDs or acetates made from mini-disk recordings of mega rare tracks. We often hear of the damage caused by bootleggers sometimes through "poachers turned gamekeepers". Whatever the rights and wrongs of this market, whether the CD are sold or given away this initiative will limit their use, publicly at least.
Vinyl will be the only medium used, except where the recording was originally released only in an alternative format e.g. Ivan Matias "Somebody Knows How You Feel" on C.D.
Original releases will form the content of all DJs sets.
"Original" will include:
· The first local and national U.S. label releases.
· The first U.K. or foreign label release if contemporaneous with the U.S. release, e.g. The British Soul City release of Gene Chandler's "Nothing Can Stop Me" would qualify but not the British Soul City release of Jack Montgomery's "Dearly Beloved".
· The first foreign label release where the track was not released in the U.S. e.g Doug Parkinson's Aussie release of "I'll Be Around"
· Album tracks are permissible where they appear on albums released at the time of the original release of the 45 e.g. Ace Spectrum's "Don't Send Me Nobody Else" from the album "Inner Spectrum" is permissible however any track from a "Various Artists" album would not be allowed.
· Acetates can be played but only if cut from original masters; EMI discs are not allowed.
Who Can Get Involved?
Promoters and DJs
If a promoter chooses to operate an "originals" only policy they can become "Venue Members". This will entitle the venue to use the Soul Probity logo on their publicity material for events where they only use DJs who are current members of the Soul Probity scheme.
If a DJ commits to an "originals" only policy he / she is eligible to become a member of the scheme and have the Soul Probity logo displayed after his / her name on any publicity material whether playing at a venue that is a "Venue Member" or not. "
