On Discovering DJs in 2023
Search algos meet sex appeal on the platforms.
We tend to keep our musical tastes separate from this newsletter because, well, there are enough other places trying to tell you what to listen to. But we actually consume a lot of music here at The Cadence, and as you might have guessed if you follow our Instagram, our personal tastes lean toward the techno-house spectrum of a couple of (semi-)reformed Gen X ravers.
That’s not to say we’re micro-dosing while watching Sasha and Digweed sets on YouTube all of the time (we’re not not doing that some of the time). But in addition to the old heroes, we’re equally interested in discovering sets by new DJ whose mixing style and track selection falls in our preferred 4/4 BPM. And with house and techno having a mainstream moment, there is a lot content to choose from. And that’s where this week’s insights emerge.
Earlier this week, in a moment of active listening, we decided to search Mixcloud for DJ sets labeled “Panorama Bar” in the hope of checking out what the post-pandemic generation is playing at the legendary Berlin venue (other than the much meme’d “Cotton-Eyed Joe” incident).
This query proved not particularly fruitful because the first several dozen search results were all sets ten years old or more (shoutout to Sasha’s beloved set from 2011). So how were the results ranked?
To investigate, we first made a new account to eliminate any bias from previous listening. Nothing changed, indicating that there is no personalization of search results. So what did make a difference? Total plays clearly played a role, but it wasn’t a straight ranking. So perhaps shares matter? Comments? The overall popularity of the user account that posted the set?
We ran another test, searching for “John Digweed,” whose been posting his weekly Transitions show on Mixcloud for almost a decade. There, the results were near absolute in preferring a high play count. This works against recent mixes (nothing newer than five years old made the top pages of results). How does a platform counter this anti-recency bias?
On Spotify, an artist’s Popular Tracks playlist is “automatically generated based on the number of all-time and recent streams,” which is a surprising amount of candor from a company that claims a superior discovery algorithm as its biggest differentiator from the competition. This tends to balance out an artist’s all-time hits, with recent songs getting a bump from playlisting. But no such counterbalance appears to exist for DJ mix platforms (FWIW, we ran similar searches on Soundcloud and got similar results).
Is it too much for a little more control over search parameters? YouTube lets you filter by recency. Why not let users filter for the same on streaming platforms? Maybe even situational factors like tempo or mood could be brought into play.
Back to our original search. After much scrolling, we found a set by an unfamiliar DJ, Jin Shi, from 2020 that ticked all the boxes for being an upbeat, sophisticated hybrid of techno and house (don’t call it tech house). We went about our business as the set played. Then another. Then another. By the time the autoplay coughed up the third “live at panorama bar” mix by Jin Shi, our suspicions were triggered. Turns out Jin Shi is a regular DJ at Panorama Bar Lounge (or Panorama Lounge Bar, depending on the translation) in Kirov, Russia, 1,000km east of Moscow.
Bamboozled? Perhaps. Plenty of ambitious DJs have been known to game the system by stuffing keywords into the titles of their mixes (usually dropping the names of artists whose tracks appear). Heck, gaming SEO has let third parties hijack everything from online ticket sales to restaurant online ordering. But in this case, the music was good and no one was losing streaming revenue to imposters. So no harm, no foul.
Just prior to starting this week’s newsletter, while watching a fan documentary about beloved Detroit nineties shoegaze band Majesty Crush on YouTube, we noticed a thumbnail a video from Berlin-based streaming series HÖR. This was the solution we’d been looking for. HÖR offers a consistent collection of primarily-new DJs and offers a good look at what is happening in that scene post-Pandemic. Plus, age bias aside, HÖR’s booking policy is as diverse in terms of race, ethnicity and sexuality as one could ask for in 2023.
If Boiler Room’s innovation in the early 2010s was placing the dancers behind the DJ to give viewers something to watch online, then the familiar tiled “bathroom” of HÖR has become its own unmistakable branding. The thumbnail that caught our eye was a set by Mabel, an Australian DJ whose blond hair and youthful attractiveness were more eye-catching (for this male audience, at least) than any other combination of physical traits that could be presented in a still image. Don’t male gaze shame us!
How was it? Well, if you like jacking techno combined with booty tech in the spirit of the late, great DJ Deeon (and who doesn’t?), then you’re in for a treat.
Youthfulness and good looks have been used to promote music for about as long as promoting music has been a concern — from Nancy Sinatra and Stevie Nicks to Britney Spears and Beyoncé. And lest you think it’s just the male gaze at work, remember that Nancy’s father, Frank, was considered a major heartthrob a generation before his daughter.
Underground dance music has been largely immune to looks-centered popularity — Fatboy Slim is hardly a pinup. But that didn’t stop label owners and party promoters from using images of sexy gals to sell their products throughout the 90s. Look no further than the vinyl dress-clad babe on the cover of Deep Dish’s DJs Take Control mix, otherwise one of the best CDs of the era.
Despite this undeniable history, there’s been a great deal of handwringing in recent years based on the premise that young and attractive DJs (mainly women) have risen to the top of the rankings solely because of their look, and at the expense of talent. But can you really tell us that Charlotte de Witte is any better or worse musically than any recent set by Green Velvet?
Nevertheless, some veteran DJs seem to be feeling new pressure to present themselves in ways that might seem at odds with the trad aesthetic of techno-house. Nina Kraviz is the Godmother of modelesque DJs and has been attacked for her looks for as long as she’s been playing credible — some would even say adventurous — electronic music.
Nina caught some shots this week when a clip of her playing her new remake of the Spanish-language hit “Baliando” surfaced on TikTok, along with some playful backstage footage. Filmed at EDM mega fest Tomorrowland, it was the combination of cheese euro-trance and Kraviz strutting and lipsyncing that caused some ire, even from peers.
It’s admittedly not our thing, but if performative gestures are becoming more commonplace in dance music, well, that just puts it on par with Elvis, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and, ahem, Daft Punk.
The fact is, artists wanting to present personality along with their music is nothing new. Nor is the expectation of audiences that their fave figures be young and hot. The tactics evolve with the platforms, but these norms are nothing new.
This is your weekly reminder that The Cadence now offers premium content to paid subscribers.
Next week (we promise), we’ll be dropping our Atmos Producers Roundtable, featuring three of LA’s best recording professionals — Kevin Moo, Dean Reid and Steve Genewick — discussing what’s next for spatial audio. Here’s a SNEAK PREVIEW.
Right now, we encourage you to watch full-length video interviews with recent guests like Bustle Digital Group president Jason Wagenheim, Vevo founder Rio Caraeff and Beatport CEO Robb McDaniels.
TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music news.
1. 5 Ways AI Has Already Changed the Music Industry
"Fake Drake" and similar controversies have gotten most of the attention, but not all uses of artificial intelligence in music are cause for concern.
Takeaway: While some applications of AI certainly present urgent legal and ethical concerns, there are also many applications that give musicians and rights holders new creative opportunities from the way it’s created to how it’s released and beyond.
2. Would It Be Worth Spotify Shutting Down Its Free Tier in the US?
Spotify loses money on its ad-supported free tier. So why keep it up?
Takeaway: Within Spotify’s annual report, it part-justifies its ad-supported tier’s existence with the following words: “Our Ad-Supported Service serves as a funnel, driving a significant portion of our total gross added Premium Subscribers.” That argument struggles to hold water in territories where there are no new Premium subscribers to attract – except, perhaps, your own existing ‘free’ users.
3. As Objects Fly Onstage, Stars Become Part of the Audience’s Show
Disrupting a celebrity may now be the ultimate concert souvenir. No pop star wants to be unsafe, but some are increasingly making themselves part of the crowd.
Takeaway: Audience members have been throwing things on stages as long as there have been stages, and stage crashing is not a new phenomenon, but this recent cluster of incidents feels like a game of stuntlike one-upmanship, designed to go viral.
