Quote:
Originally posted by Jim Casey@Aug 18 2005, 06:27 AM
Let's be real...this does nothing more than divide our industry into an us vs. them mentality.
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Hi Jim, As for the plug - I try to keep it real... Hope you don't mind, lastnight I sent out an email promoting this topic on your board and you'll find a plug at:
http://freedjamerica.com/DJ_News_Industry_...ent_Events.html
Us & Them - Pink Floyd Song about the Civil War!
When there's 2 sides one always wants to be stronger. It's a matter of survival. It's only when there's enough indpendent parties with similar yet different interests that things seem to keep equal footing. Imagine if in the 80's Europe had decided to join the US and China had decided to become part of Russia...
Actually I didn't realize that there are "two camps". I'm trying to figure out what those two camps are and does it help to be with one or the other. I have my own ideas and I'll try to use the K.I.S.S. principle to explain my point of view:
1) While I know all of these organizations and companies exapand into the brick and mortar world, the common denominator and the primary source of revenue and growth is the Internet.
2) In 2002 when I launched my site, there were a handful of DJ directory type sites. Today there are gobs of them.
3) Because of the competition on the Internet, it's tough for an individual site to remain strong in membership and remain effective for it's members. By co-branding and "joining forces" these sites have a better chance of staying in the game and producing revenue. (notice that there is always a DJ Directory involved with the conglomo). DJ Directories provide the "strength in numbers" and can effectively pitch the benefits of Club organizations to the other __% of DJs who don't currently belong to clubs. The __% who do belong to clubs can cross promote the directories. It's really a sweet deal for the directory and the club... Now throw in a value added service (like a nifty software tool or affiliate store) and it becomes more appealing and appears to have a "You in Mind" structure.
4) Take away all the politics and glitz and what are you left with? That's my question... I know that over 50% of DJs utilizing these sites and services are technically Part Time, (they do something else to pay the bills). If things are so tough for 50% of Internet DJ Population, why force feed them stuff to buy or subscribe to which they probably can't afford anyway? How is that helping them?
5) Does all of this matter anyway... Will it help or hurt the industry? Only time will tell. I don't think it will cause any harm and it will evolve naturally. Several years from now things will be as different as they were three years ago. I have some plans of my own to grow, but they don't include jumping on board with other companies or clubs. I do not believe this strategy is the long term key to survival. I think the only sure fire key to success is to serve those who support you. Give people what they need at a fair price and they'll keep coming back!