Your thoughts??

IMO DJs should spin with nrgy and passion! Same with producing. Producers should seek new elements, listen to their fans and only make music when they feel like making it. So smth good and creative will come out. Dont sit on your studio on a rush because you "need another release".. make smth you want to listen to in your car and you think clubbers will freak out!!. Regarding labels, only release the good stuff... although everyone has got to make a living,  fuck $ the whole popularity stuff, Tripoli and Vicious are doing well. Check Dave Parkinson ep, fricken quality! Not the "newest" "most different" Hard House out there but a lot of nrg and originality! Keep it real! Only Hard is real!   And party up Hard!

I think everyone should stop whingeing about how shit the scene is, people just need to stop picking faults with everything and get on with enjoying themselves. after all, thats what its all about isnt it? The only thing wrong with the scene in my oppinion is every fuckers negative attitude towards everything. If u dont like something then thats fair enough, u cant like everything. how boring would the scene be if every track was good? no track would ever stand out. but that doesnt mean u have to continuously moan about things. just dont listen to it. simple as that.

off course bourne/glazby would want to please people when they play tunes in their sets or they wouldnt be popular to have so many bookings and to suggest they dont try to please the clubbers infront of them is about as dumb ass a statement as you could possibly make, the point is when they make a track they make it in a style they like first, ie they wont throw a trance riff or hardstyle bass line in to please whats in vogue if they dont like that particular sound

cant please everyone i guess

this topic comes up all the time haha!

write tunes, get em signed!

if they dont get signed.. write another one!

stop moaning if u cant get a deal and just keep plugging!

same shit different day!

That's because you understand that alot of this is a business first and foremost.

These free parties are all well and good, but I dont see many of them round my end, and Im pretty sure as Toomz said, someone needs to be pressing these records to be played at these parties.

Its all well and good local people throwing parties for them and a handful of their mates, but when you are trying to pull in the crowds, that requires capital. Justin Bourne, Glazby and the like aren't going to come from where ever just to play this party because it's underground and a rockin night. They have bills to pay too.

There needs to be a fine balance between doing what you love, and being able to support yourself at the same time. That's true for both club night promoters and record labels.

Stop the endless remixes of old tracks! The reason that the scene isn't progressing is because everyone is buried in the past. People talk about the scene progressing but there are no new sounds and half the releases are remixes of old tunes! It's all getting very safe and comfortable. Nobody seems willing to take a risk.

To take an example from another genre, look at John B. At the time, drum and bass was all about trying to be darker than the last release to the point where it was looking at degenerating into some willy waving competition. John B injected some fun back into the scene and made incredible drum and bass that was different to all the other releases around at the time. He highlighted the irony of Twisted Individual's "Bandwagon Blues" tune where Twisted Individual was basically complaining that everyone was trying to sound like him.

I think the scene just needs somebody who isn't afraid to stick two fingers up at convention and actually do something refreshing and different.

Now let’s look at the reality of the situation from a business perspective. Record sales are falling and people are leaving the dance floor. This isn’t a case of trying to break open new markets to increase revenue, it’s a desperate bid to keep hold of what little market share is left. No matter how you want to spin it, something is wrong. You can stick your head in the sand and pretend that it’s normal but clearly it isn’t. It seems that consumers have rejected the direction the scene is heading in.

Now this isn’t really surprising when you consider that most labels do not attempt expand their existing market, only satisfy demand within it. Over time that market attenuates through attrition and unless you drive new growth through expansion you will be left with nothing. In our scene, nobody has been driving new growth. We are not attracting new consumers.

Go to a bank and try to get a business loan with a market outlook like this and they will tell you you’ve got more chance getting start-up capital for time-share vacation apartments in downtown Baghdad.

Cheers,
Matt

I think Vicious are leading a prime example of how things should be run, exploring new avenues and attracting lots of new people both to hard house promotions and their forum.  Not suggesting a bandwagon jump, but a lot of thought into how labels could take it one step further.