|
Winter NAMM
2003 DJ Roundtable
DJ Haole- Club Editor
NAMM '03 brought many of the DJ's
that represent our industry manufacturers we have grown to trust. DJ
Zone brought many of these DJ's together for a short roundtable
discussion about the direction our industry is turning with the
introduction of digital turntables, the effects that downloading
music has hurt not only the music industry, but the DJ'ing industry
as well and how as DJ's we can convey to the Labels what needs to be
done to turn the industry back around.
Attendance at the roundtable
included Roonie G of Pioneer, 1PhatDJ and Silvio Zeppieri of Dennon,
Shingo2 and DJ Icewater of Vestax, DJ Spider and myself, DJ Haole of
DJ Zone. We began with by talking about the impact of the digital
turntables working their way in the industry. At first when the
pioneers of CD Mixing entered the industry, they were laughed at and
ridiculed. 1PhatDJ has been in the mix with CDs longer than any one
in the room, and talked about the days when he first hit the streets
with CDs. Roonie G talked about the days that tomatoes became ketchup
when he would show the worthiness of the CDJ-1000's. Now days you
really can not go into a club with expecting to see a CD Player or CD
Turntable in the DJ Booth. Everyone agreed that the implementation of
the digital turntables into our industry has actually given our
industry room to grow. And as I have mentioned before, the digital
turntable brings a new media into the art of turntablism.
As our discussion progressed we
worked our way into the controversial topic of downloading music. Now
don't get me wrong, I will admit that we all download music. And we
are all in agreement that it has had a tremendous effect on the music
industry. Many of our manufacturers have designed the mp3 capable
players for DJ's. This will open the door to many DJ's to flood the
industry. To prevent this we will have to make our skills and
experience to prevail over these DJ's that will come in to make a
quick buck. The roofing industry is a great parallel to this. In the
time of a major storm that causes damages to roof, all of the sudden
everyone is a roofer. With the ability to download music is causing
the same situation where everyone can play music and pretend to be a
DJ. But the skill and experience can never be replaced.
With that said we finished by
pointing out what the music industry should do to become competitive
in the lives of their customers. It is obvious that kids are not
going to rush out to buy a CD for that one song anymore. The labels
are going to have to make their products more appealing. One such
instance is using DVD's in addition to the CD at no extra cost. I
have seen several artists providing DVD's with their albums. This is
direct marketing to the fans, and a fantastic move. To make this
point short, it is imperative that labels make the products appealing
to customers using today's technology. Computers have become a common
amenity in today's household so why not use it.
Over all we were all in agreement
on all of the topics brought up, and look forward to watching our
industry expand this year. Digital turntables and MP3 players will be
the focus of sales this year, and the expansion of these will be the
focus of our leaders. DJ Zone would like to thank all that attended
this roundtable. We have more to come from the roundtable; this is
only the beginning covering the conversations held at NAMM '03.
|
