dj headphones
The European Parliament are to announce a new Bill on Sunday which will in effect ban the use of any digital music in nightclubs, pubs or hotels. This includes the use of CDS, laptops using MP3s or Wav files or any other form of digital music.
The European Directive known as Article 45 or the Guetta Bill (named after famous French DJ David Guetta) was passed ostensibly in order to protect the recording industry but it is feared that it will greatly affect the way that music is currently played by DJs in some European countries.
Many DJs have welcomed the change saying that it offers them the chance to get back to mixing with vinyl like “what we did in the 90s.” Others fear that the Euro nations dancefloors will suffer as some DJs couldn’t mix a pudding.
A recent trial in Germany found dancers unable to move to the scrambled beats offered by the DJ causing the massive Eine Kleine nightclub in Stuttgart to close early as music lovers left the dancefloor in droves when the DJ behind the vinyl decks was unable to beat match and finally turned all the house lights on.
DJs like Guetta, Tiesto,Armin Van Buuren and Paul Van Dyk have come to dominate house music in the last ten years leaving many UK DJs stacking shelves in Tesco and one expert felt that it was a conspiracy amongst a cult of Euro DJs currently dominating house music that first raised the possibility of a Euro wide ban on digital music.
In the UK there have been a number of questions asked in parliament about the impact that the return to vinyl will have on the UKs night time economy with some night club operators already beginning to outsource their DJs to India and China where there is a strong tradition of mixing on vinyl.
David (call me Dave) Cameron stated, privately, over a really nice dinner at number ten with a wealthy Foreign DJ Agent, that he thought it would be okay for clubs to outsource their DJs as we are all in this together and in this time of austerity its perfectly acceptable to buy in cheap labour especially if they can beat match.
Although the focus has so far been primarily on the impact upon House music DJs the ban will surely also affect party DJs many of whom like to “cross cut” a technique which is considerably more difficult using vinyl. One party bar chain has , allegedly, been trawling the DJ wedding circuit for old school DJs who can lift the needle off the record during Come On Eileen and shout “get Your Hands In The Air” before dropping the needle back down in the same place without incident. Its a technique lost amongst younger DJs but still exciting to watch when done by a vintage disc jockey.
One unexpected result of the return to vinyl has been a reported increase in the sale of vinyl bags (and not just the ones which poseurs use to pretend they have some records…..real bags that weigh a ton when fully loaded with 12 inch singles.)
The full details of the European Directive will be announced on Sunday April 1 but until then many DJs are holding their breath hoping that this is just a wind up.
