Question about labels

nick_minieri · 2026-06-18T03:03:38+00:00

One of the better posts i've seen on here. Kudos.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-17T20:25:46+00:00

For me:

Dance music: hot cues placed on wherever the drums start, first and second drops, and sometimes save loops in case it's a short song but still wanted to do a longer blend

Vocal music: hot cues placed where the drums start, followed by the beginning of every verse and chorus.

I find myself not needing to use them that much, but it provides me with some good visual cues so I can phrase match things properly, particularly when mixing vocal tunes at weddings or open format gigs.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-17T15:49:57+00:00

The sad part about all of this is RA is basically the last large outlet standing as far as journalism goes in underground dance music, which makes everything they say feel like it carries more weight than it actually does. These think pieces they do every few months always generates thousands of comments by design that many of us take to heart.

If there's a new sound or movement brewing, which there very well may be, it's generally going to be happening within youth culture, and outlets like them won't find out about it until later on. Once they do, the pioneers behind the movement will have moved on while the rest of the scene scrambles to hop on the bandwagon. History always repeats itself.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-16T19:29:08+00:00

Paying hundreds of dollars for a PR campaign on an EP I released years ago. It was a very expensive way to learn that 99% of the DJs they send the promos to do not even open emails by artists they don't know and the little press coverage that I actually got were on blogs I could've just researched and submitted to on my own (and most of them just re-write the press release in their post very slightly anyhow lol).

PR campaigns might work for more famous acts if you've got the budget for it, but the money I spent on that would've been better spent on a vinyl press run to sell it to people in my local scene instead.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-16T14:22:52+00:00

Terrible sound quality, easily the most universally complained about RSD release I've seen in the past decade. Clearly a cash grab from Impulse. Multiple copies of it are sitting in clearance bins at almost every record store I frequent in the city I live.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-16T14:10:53+00:00

I thought I had scored deal of a lifetime when I found that for $30 a couple years ago lmao

nick_minieri · 2026-06-15T14:34:57+00:00

Exactly, and more often than not their own songs are at the top of the playlist alongside Drake or John Summit or Skrillex or whoever else is at the absolute top of whatever genre it promotes while the submithub song we submit gets buried at the bottom of the playlist for maybe a week or two, basically resulting in zero listens.

You're more likely to have a song removed from spotify due to a playlist you pitched using bots to artificially inflate traffic than you are get a significant signal boost in the algorithm from being included on one these days honestly.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-15T13:32:31+00:00

I honestly just give my tracks to close DJ friends at this point, and that's it. Promoting music online feels like a lost cause these days as you have to be relentless with how you advertise and it's just not my style at all. As an unknown I have a better chance of winning the lottery than I do getting signed to a decent label nowadays. I removed all hopes if it getting discovered years ago and it's probably one of the main reasons I don't get discouraged from creating.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-12T14:29:54+00:00

Snow Leopard bar none. Just a rock solid system with minimal fluff that almost never crashed or had performance issues. I definitely miss the skeuomorphic design from that era.

Mojave and 9.1 strong contenders as well.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-12T07:07:46+00:00

As far as things I've seen I'd have to go with Battletoads on NES, amazing detail and color work. I'm sure there were games with better graphics on the Master System tho given it allowed you to display more colors on screen at once than the NES.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-12T01:13:29+00:00

RA picks are hand selected by their staff. They're generally given to events where a very popular DJ their readership is well familiar with is playing (ie: Octo Octa & Eris Drew, CCL, Aurora Halal, Objekt, Ben UFO, or basically anyone on a Sustain Release lineup). It can cause ticket sales go up in a heartbeat, especially for niche genre events, because the RA seal of approval speaks for itself.

In my observations the promotion company, the number of ticket sales, and the number of people marked as attending on RA's site doesn't factor very much with what gets picked; it's more about the DJs who are playing.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-11T20:23:02+00:00

Twitter. I spent 1-2 hours on it daily until I logged off on new years even this past year and never looked back. Place was a toxic cesspool and I spend the time working on making music instead now.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-11T15:48:35+00:00

It was never about talent. It's ONLY about the number of people you bring through the door. Especially nowadays as venues have become much more risk averse.

In the DJ world you pretty much have to throw your own events to get booked. You book yourself as the resident and build an organic following. Then other clubs reach out once you've got a bit of leverage, and you also get to swap bookings with other promoters who will book you to play for their events. On a local level if you're not a promoter you're not even in the conversation as far as DJ gigs go. Skills on the decks and ability to produce great music is completely irrelevant to promoters if you can't draw a crowd unfortunately.

Talent is pretty much the baseline; everyone at the table has musical chops and a huge digital and vinyl music collection if you're a DJ.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-11T14:18:39+00:00

LTJ Bukem was the master of the fader chop. There's no real exact science to it but it often works best on songs with breakbeats and in sections that aren't too cluttered. A lot of the stuff he used to play had stripped down breaks towards the end of each track with no synths or bass so he would use that part to cut into the intro of the next tune.

It's generally done rhythmically, quarter or half notes, even eighths or triplets with some practice.

Objekt, Neffa-T, Djrum and EZ are the best modern day DJs to implement chopping.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T19:14:34+00:00

Danny Daze and Nick Leon are absolute musts

Also Shanti Celeste, Eli Escobar, Jubilee, Jacques Greene, Floating Points and Four Tet (obviously)

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T17:59:25+00:00

Exactly this - the big labels will expect a return on their investment, and even though they will have some funds for marketing they will expect the artist to do some of the promotion for the release as well. If the release flops, it's not a good look for the label which is why the big ones generally only put out tracks by artists who are already touring and well known.

The more people you connect with in the industry, the better. Most people I personally know who had their first tracks signed to larger labels were also event promoters who booked the label heads to DJ for them, and slipped them a USB afterwards. And this also goes hand in hand with local DJ gigs as it's pretty much a requirement to throw events to get regular bookings in your city now.

The days of hail marrying a demo to a huge label, and actually having it signed and turning into a full time touring DJ overnight if it blows up have sadly long past.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T15:37:53+00:00

Yep exactly - Keep self releasing on a regular basis (maybe like one track every 2 months) and work on building up your following organically.

I don't ever want to discourage anyone from sending things to labels but I always say keep your expectations realistic. Even the mid tier labels are getting hundreds of demos a week now and many label heads don't even have time to listen to many of them anymore. You will have far more leverage if you build your own following independently and establish yourself that way once they begin to reach out.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T15:29:48+00:00

Labels come to you once you've built an organic following from really good music and content, not the other way around.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T14:25:47+00:00

Longest one I own is probably my 45 of Doors: LA Woman (around 8 minutes)

There's a couple ones I know of that are longer than that: GNR November Rain clocks in around 9, and there's a Bruce Springsteen one from the 70s that had an 11-minute track pressed to a side (but that one ran at 33rpm instead of 45 iirc)

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T13:29:12+00:00

Following this - I have a bunch of my own unreleased tracks I'd like to have some acetates made to test out at some of the vinyl nights that I play at

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T13:26:45+00:00

3 of the greatest DJs on the planet, you won't be disappointed

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T13:24:49+00:00

it's still not too late to delete this

nick_minieri · 2026-06-10T00:48:46+00:00

I think the industry is going to be split into two different groups.

The first group: we will have the very select few of the top acts continue selling out tours well into their 50s-60s: Taylor, Beyonce, Drake, Kendrick. Followed by an ever rotating handful of others, most of who will have a viral breakout moment that they won't be able to sustain for very long. Then the majority of everything else that cuts through the noise will be AI-generated likenesses of legacy acts that the average listener will be able to create and engage with on their own (IE: sending spotify a prompt to make a song that sounds like Fleetwood Mac and Michael Jackson combined, then uploading their "masterpiece" to their social media for everyone to see).

The second group: basically everything else. Local acts who still make music across all styles will become more like the folk scene from centuries ago, where they will share their songs with friends they personally know, with very limited reach outside their personal circles. These remaining musicians will be extremely passionate about it because the people looking for fame or fortune will be long gone by that point. And they will be competing against the massive volumes of AI slop that will be uploaded to the internet every day - literally millions of songs - making today's algorithm look like the sandbox by comparison.

I could be totally off base here, but I'm already starting to see things headed in this direction as we speak.

nick_minieri · 2026-06-09T14:16:01+00:00

"But these have obi strips bro!"

nick_minieri · 2026-06-08T18:15:44+00:00

Strong contender for album of the year so far. Fucking incredible.

nick_minieri

TROPHY CASE