Well, it happened. Friday I literally ran to the bank before it closed, so we could open the LLC account and begin to work with our potential investors. It was a glimmer of a future where Speaking in Code, the film, becomes a reality. To learn how to invest in the film, which will be a unique film about the world of electronic music, email the director. Like we said sometime last year, it’s The Techno Movie That’s Not About Techno.

In the meantime, the record business is in such turmoil the Wall Street Journal described it as “convulsing,” Wal-Mart is forcing companies to give them MP3s, and Warner Music is no longer a functioning record label (who’s next?). After this holiday’s MP3-player super spree, there may be no more CDs to buy and MP3 blogs are becoming labels themselves. It’s a free-for-all. It’s no no longer a spiral, it’s a plummet.

The success stories are many, for sure, but the real question is: How do you know what’s popular? We are of the mind that electronic music, and specifically DJ sets and remixes, are vastly more popular than can be measured, being traded on IM, uploaded to huge archive sites and so on. If the wealth of dance music blogs doesn’t tip you off, what will?

When the Basstown scene discussed bringing Simian Mobile Disco to DJ in our city (something we did a few years back) it was nearly impossible to discern how popular the group is. Some thought not very, some thought they were very popular. The latter argument is bolstered by the fact that you can buy a new Apple touch player that is pre-loaded with the band’s album.

It’s very much the same way with Modeselektor and others featured in the film. We got a glimpse of Beatport in our lenses when it was a pretty meager organization. Now it’s empire is vast (subscribe to their new-release podcast here). It so happens just recently SiC’s MySpace page became the #1 link for a speaking in code google search.

Things are better than they seem.

Though you’d never know it from what’s been playing on constant repeat in my iPod. Burial, Skream, Pinch and more Ricardo Villalobos than ever. The genius-level producer is quite simply one of the most important artists of the decade. Read a rare interview with the man here.

His remixes are amazing, and earlier this year he teamed up with dubstep producer Shackleton for his “Apocalypso Now Mix” of the already gloomy “Blood on our Hand” track. It’s a killer, and a top contender for song of the year. It is 18 minutes long.

Shackleton - “Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Apocalypso Now Mix)”

In a few weeks, the dance-music party team Spank Rock revisits our hometown Milky Way club, this time with MC Pace Rock and XXX-Change:

Come pour one out for the Record Business.

The BBC DJs - The Pool Party Part 1

 

 Shackleton - Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Apocalypso Now Mix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The BBC DJs - The Pool Party Pt. 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 8:24 pm and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.