Alliances - Helpful or Hurtful?

[SirWolfy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>
Please let me add that I do not censor ANYONE here unless you break the TOS
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Let's not forget that a good deal of this exclusive networking going on is built right into many of the sites TOS mentioned throughout this thread (not saying that you do or would Jim). The TOS / TOU on these other boards are both used as a smoke screen and as leverage to further their own agendas. Whether it's having certain terms or comapny names astericked out or deleting / editing of posts on a regular basis, censorship is being used as an ends to their means.

As Jam mentioned above, I have seen it used to push people / businesses away as well. I've personally witnessed it happening to another individual who would not sign an exclusive agreement with a particular company / site and have been watching this individual being slowly but surely drummed out of one community because of it. It's not real hard to figure out who the paying advertisers are either; the rules tend to heavily favor or are at least very lax in being applied to them.

Similar tactics were used by most dictatorships throughout history...

[DJAlan]

Can't we all just get along??

No.... Duh!! If you get a room with 3 people in it, more than likely 2 will gang up on the other... It's called nature... Human nature, whatever...

So, we can't all get along... But we should still TRY to!

I am a member of ADJA and up until this spring of NAME also. Why did I quite NAME? Well because they really didn't have anything *different* to offer me than the ADJA did (BTW I get my insurance elsewhere). So, I figured I would save myself some $$. Also, I didn't agree with some of the NAME politics.

ProDJ or WeDJ? Well, I advertise on BOTH!! Why? Because BOTH give me pretty good leads! However, I "currently" am hosted with WeDJ and also use Gigbuilder (mostly because it's free with my advertising).

HOWEVER, I really like ProDJ and feel their site has much more traffic (By DJs) and postings which I can LEARN from! Also, my wife and I are the 'originators' of the West Coast Mobile Entertainers Cruise which this past spring 'merged' with Paul Beardmore's "DJ Cruise" (at ProDJ).

Who do I hate? Well, I am not going to go into that kind of crap here... But if that guy down the street doesn't clean up his yard.... Well, anyway...

I think it's fine for folks to get together to make things better... That's the American way!

There should NOT be fighting amongst folks though... There's plenty of work AND money for all!

Does ADJA, WEDJ, PRODJ, NAME and all the rest want to increase their 'membership'? OF COURSE!! And as far as I can tell, not ONE of them says you CANNOT be a member if you belong to one of the others!!

Who's got the best cruise? *I* do!! hehe... Why? Well, because it's the one that *I* am going on!!

[Professor Jam]

Many names are flying on this thread and I would like to be clear I've made no direct reference to a specific group or Association... My responses are to reflect my personal opinion of when networking groups implode and the main destructive reasons...

"Exclusive" in networking is a recipe to failure...

[Free DJ America]

Originally posted by Professor Jam@Aug 18 2005, 10:21 AM
I'm a believer when you enter into "EXCLUSIVE" arrangements you "ALIENATE" all other resources... As an example if you visit CLICK HERE TO VIEW I have an extensive Vendor Link area where any legitimate industry resource can be listed and within the press release area of the site you will find news from official event sponsors and non-sponsors.

Right On Professor Jam!

The question was "Does a conglomerate like this... or the WeDJ-NAME-Fame DJ School actually BETTER the industry?" It seems we've all spun-off a bit on our own tangents here, but they are all somehow intertwined... I would like to make one point that coincides with Professor Jams statement: The couple of long-winded posts I made earlier don't touch on my view of networking. I have always felt it's beneficial to my members. I also have a link page which is setup at http://discjockeyshop.com/ and for a a few years I ran a mirror of it at FDJA... I have openly promoted some of these other sources in forums and in email blasts. Truthfully I'm not against any of these companies and orgz and I've also done my fair share of cross promotions, industry networking and so on. I have tried striking up cross ad campaigns and I've pitched cross advertising promos for several others like ProDJ and ADJA Disc Jockey America, but the idea was met with luke warm enthusiasm and even flat out rejected or ignored by a few. I've never had any interest in co-branding though.

The whole conglomo affiliation deal, one after the other is a bit mind blowing though and makes even the most trust worthy people a bit skeptical. I'm curious to see how it all works out. I share the same feelings as several who have posted on the topic... If it's genuinely good for the DJ Industry it will prosper, and members will benefit - if not we'll see it become something else or fizzle out. No biggie.

[Professor Jam]

http://www.computerdjsummit.com/directory/...list&cat_id=109

OK Todd I had to check mine to see if you were listed lol

[Professor Jam]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>I'm a believer when you enter into "EXCLUSIVE" arrangements you "ALIENATE" all other resources... [/b][/quote]

Hi guys -- Take a moment and give me your opinion on the above comment...


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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>We also accept sponsors/vendors for our cruise. While they are exclusive on our end (We have agreed that each will be the only sponsor in their industry), we do NOT ask for the same from them exclusive endorsement.[/b][/quote]

I'm listed as a sponsor of the WeDJ cruise and for the record if Breakthrough Marketing or a competitive printing and/or markekting company wanted to be a sponsor I would have no issues at all...

[SirWolfy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>
Hi guys -- Take a moment and give me your opinion on the above comment...
[/b][/quote]

I couldn't agree more with that statement Jam.

A prime example would be a recent seminar that I participated in where some individuals were exclusively mentioning / promoting certain manufacturers and their products; the results were amazing by the end of that discussion in that more than half of the people there for the event walked out before it was over.

[dreamweaverdj]

This entire "alliance" thing is a joke. It's kinda like "You are either with us or with the terrorists" remarks made by President Bush.

While WeDJ.com did enter an agreement with N.A.M.E., it was a marketing agreement -- that is, we'd promote N.A.M.E. and they would promote us.

Any other agreements that have been made are for the cruise. Because space is limited on a cruise ship, we needed to make sure there was no more than one vendor in any particular category.

While searching for vendors/sponsors we made offers to many companies, but only took the first response from a particular category.

This entire WeDJ versus ProDJ stuff has to go away. The only thing it does is tear us apart and make us look like a bunch of babies.

[Cap]

The great way to evaluate an organization is count the number "I" "we" and "you" s in the preamble/mission statement or when the "leader" speaks. Same with any posting. The number of "I" "we" and "you" s is inversely proportional to value and knowledge base of content.

One major benefit of belonging to every group possible is to expand friendships, find like minded comrades, and to be able to cross all the borders of intrigue and political skulduggery invisibly. It's in the shadows of all these states one finds the real truths. It is in friendship that one finds solace from the damned shadows.

Although many of his observations (theories) have been adequately challenged, when it comes to entertainers, Freud was pretty well right on. Money, power or sex. It'll be one of the three that drives the so-called leaders, not the common good of the industry.

As DJ's tout and get paid for reading people, it doesn't take a great deal of experience to see who's who, why and for what. It's what is not seen or heard that concerns me.

[Professor Jam]

Wow,

Everyone is being draged into this one... :nope

For the record I edited the posts above...

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Scott,

I know how tough start ups are and the temtation to make offers is and can be overwelming...