DJ Highline
03-19-2013, 08:14 PM
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151312022086044&id=136742636043
An open letter to VH1’s Smirnoff’s Master of The Mix & Winter Music Conference Spinoff:
Let’s get this out of the way: I did not win the Master of The Mix WMC Spinoff. In fact, the judges actually stopped me to tell me that I was not very good. Now, admittedly, my set was not without flaw and the judges and I had a lengthy, very public, and somewhat heated conversation on stage. But that is not the genesis of this open letter, nor is any perceived jealousy or hating toward any of the other DJs. In fact, big props to all the DJs who competed and congratulations to the winners. You had great sets and were worthy of your victories. The origin of this letter has to do with how this competition was set-up, run and some of the Judges’ behavior towards the contestants.
First WMC, please work on getting everything together for the next WMC spinoff. I know that putting on an event like WMC is a major undertaking and that the spinoff is just a small part of the overall event. But make sure that the people at the registration desk know where to direct the DJs to check in. Many people wandered the halls aimlessly looking for any information on checking in. Next, if the spinoff is supposed to start at 2pm, equipment should not be showing up at 1:50pm. And when the equipment gets there, let’s make sure that it is the equipment that we were told was going to be available. DJs have worked hard to prepare their sets for the equipment you specified and to have sudden changes in equipment is completely unacceptable. Also to speed things up, having 2 identical DJ rigs would be ideal. Finally, follow your own contest guidelines and formats. Make sure that the DJs who have worked (and paid) to perform at your event have the uninterrupted time allotted to them and also make sure that if you say this is a two round competition, that there are actually two rounds. I talked several DJs who didn’t do all they could in their first set saving things for the possible second round that never happened. If they had known it would only be a single round, maybe there would be a different outcome maybe not.
Secondly, Judges, the contestants have come from all around the world to compete, please do not disrespect the contestants by cutting off their time. We were all promised 5 minutes to perform, by cutting DJs off (good and bad) you rob us and the audience of the most precious thing in life: TIME. If you do not like a set or if you love a set, give the DJs and the audience the respect of letting the DJs finish their performance. The fact is that if a DJ is having a great set you ROB the audience of a great performance and if a DJ is having a bad set, you ROB the DJ of a chance at redemption. After the Djs set, feel free to do your job and critique and/or praise all you want, after all that is what you are there for. If you are too busy to give the DJs their allotted amount of time, then maybe you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you should be off doing whatever it is you think is more important than what you signed on to do. And also judges, can you be more consistent in your judging? This panel was all over the place in my opinion, maybe others will have a different opinion and that’s ok.
To VH1’s & Smirnoff’s Master of The Mix’s Kid Capri specifically, the disrespect you showed me both publicly and privately was unprofessional and you have lost all of my respect, whether that means anything to you or not, I don’t know or care. Karma has a way of working things out though, and I will leave it at that.
This is not meant to be a blast at the WMC spinoff but rather constructive criticism that I hope you will listen to and take to heart and make the changes that need to be made to make next year’s even bigger and better. Will I be back again? Maybe…but until then, May the DJ Gods take you all to bigger and better places and make you better tomorrow than you are today.
An open letter to VH1’s Smirnoff’s Master of The Mix & Winter Music Conference Spinoff:
Let’s get this out of the way: I did not win the Master of The Mix WMC Spinoff. In fact, the judges actually stopped me to tell me that I was not very good. Now, admittedly, my set was not without flaw and the judges and I had a lengthy, very public, and somewhat heated conversation on stage. But that is not the genesis of this open letter, nor is any perceived jealousy or hating toward any of the other DJs. In fact, big props to all the DJs who competed and congratulations to the winners. You had great sets and were worthy of your victories. The origin of this letter has to do with how this competition was set-up, run and some of the Judges’ behavior towards the contestants.
First WMC, please work on getting everything together for the next WMC spinoff. I know that putting on an event like WMC is a major undertaking and that the spinoff is just a small part of the overall event. But make sure that the people at the registration desk know where to direct the DJs to check in. Many people wandered the halls aimlessly looking for any information on checking in. Next, if the spinoff is supposed to start at 2pm, equipment should not be showing up at 1:50pm. And when the equipment gets there, let’s make sure that it is the equipment that we were told was going to be available. DJs have worked hard to prepare their sets for the equipment you specified and to have sudden changes in equipment is completely unacceptable. Also to speed things up, having 2 identical DJ rigs would be ideal. Finally, follow your own contest guidelines and formats. Make sure that the DJs who have worked (and paid) to perform at your event have the uninterrupted time allotted to them and also make sure that if you say this is a two round competition, that there are actually two rounds. I talked several DJs who didn’t do all they could in their first set saving things for the possible second round that never happened. If they had known it would only be a single round, maybe there would be a different outcome maybe not.
Secondly, Judges, the contestants have come from all around the world to compete, please do not disrespect the contestants by cutting off their time. We were all promised 5 minutes to perform, by cutting DJs off (good and bad) you rob us and the audience of the most precious thing in life: TIME. If you do not like a set or if you love a set, give the DJs and the audience the respect of letting the DJs finish their performance. The fact is that if a DJ is having a great set you ROB the audience of a great performance and if a DJ is having a bad set, you ROB the DJ of a chance at redemption. After the Djs set, feel free to do your job and critique and/or praise all you want, after all that is what you are there for. If you are too busy to give the DJs their allotted amount of time, then maybe you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you should be off doing whatever it is you think is more important than what you signed on to do. And also judges, can you be more consistent in your judging? This panel was all over the place in my opinion, maybe others will have a different opinion and that’s ok.
To VH1’s & Smirnoff’s Master of The Mix’s Kid Capri specifically, the disrespect you showed me both publicly and privately was unprofessional and you have lost all of my respect, whether that means anything to you or not, I don’t know or care. Karma has a way of working things out though, and I will leave it at that.
This is not meant to be a blast at the WMC spinoff but rather constructive criticism that I hope you will listen to and take to heart and make the changes that need to be made to make next year’s even bigger and better. Will I be back again? Maybe…but until then, May the DJ Gods take you all to bigger and better places and make you better tomorrow than you are today.