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Era 7
05-12-2013, 10:54 AM
From his Facebook page:


The end?

I count myself as very lucky to have been part of the Trance scene from its infancy. It's something that enabled me to experience things and see places I could only dream of but in those 16 or so years the music business in general, has changed out of all recognition.

Writing and producing music has been a part of my life for as long as I care to remember. It's something I am passionate about and it's given me a career that was (at the time when I started) only open to a few but there comes a time when the realities of life become more important than how successful your next release is. Besides, success, popularity and money was never my reason for making music, it's just a very nice bonus!

Music can pay and pay big to those wily enough to market themselves better than the next guy. There are so many bedroom producers out there now thanks to the technology becoming cheap (or even free by some means), that the quality and quantity of music has rocketed. It's boom time but very few will ever get noticed. The ones that do will have to be clever.

Unfortunately the music itself is IMHO, no longer enough to sustain yourself, especially in dance music genres, without becoming a PR and marketing expert and that is something I was never really any good at. It's also impossible to compete with the vast numbers of hungry newcomers who don't yet know their own potential and who are willing to work for nothing. There are many who will be only too willing to exploit them too.

Most successful artists have big teams of dedicated people working for them and have become brands themselves and, these brands do carry weight, enough weight to mean they are first choice when it comes to DJ bookings etc. Beneath the top flight there is another level and I've recently come to realize that it's no longer about your music or how good you are as a DJ. It is purely about where you are in the Beatport charts, the DJ mag Top100, how many likes and followers you have (real or fake), having the support of certain top DJs on their radio shows and how far you will bend over to secure a gig. It's become purely a business based on perceived popularity and that popularity is easily manipulated and faked if you have the knowledge, money, contacts and ruthlessness for doing it. It's dog-eat-dog.

I am sorry to say that, for me, the last few years have been a struggle and it wasn't until I took a step back and really looked at why I was doing this that I realized I was trying to compete with them the old skool way (i.e. let the music do the talking). That just doesn't cut it anymore and as the saying goes, 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'. Then I thought, this isn't me and it's not why I make music or DJ...or at least it wasn't when I started. Music shouldn't be a competition. I realized something was very wrong.

Making a success of yourself in music requires a huge amount of dedication often at the expense of everything else in your life. You can lose touch with reality, your health can suffer and friends outside of the business can become a thing of the past but you live with it. Passion, dedication and talent was once enough at least give you a shot of making something of yourself but now it is more about the other things, the PR etc. I recently had a conversation with a good friend, a very well known producer/DJ. To me he appears to be riding high. He has always had my respect as a musician and as a person. I wanted to get his opinion on a new track because I respect him and he gives good, honest criticism but I was quite shocked after hearing him initially enthusing about the track, the melody, the arrangement and how driving it was to then say I'd wasted my time. "No one cares anymore... you really need to get yourself good PR... the music isn't that important... it won't work with DJ XYZ" those are just the bits I remember. He then went on to explain how disillusioned he was at having to spend 80% of his time on PR things and that it was all about quantity of releases over quality (even though his tunes really are amazing IMO). This made me think - Why is he doing this? Someone at that level would surely have people to do it for them but no, it came down to money. He just couldn't afford to pay people even with what appears to be his huge success. That conversation inevitably made me look at myself. Compared to him I was dead in the water!

So I've finally woken up. I need to restore my genuine passion for what I do before cynicism completely destroys it. I could go the route of getting a good PR company (actually, no I doubt I could afford that) and deliberately try to make music that will fit with what is popular but I can't bring myself to do something that will be so soul destroying. I'm getting back to making music purely as a hobby and I'm pursuing other ventures in business to pay the bills. I'll still make records, I'll still DJ if someone books me but I have to stop caring about success or maintaining this ever-diminishing career.

I guess this is me announcing my semi-retirement (if there is such a thing) and as such I want to thank you to everyone who has helped, supported, contributed and kept my name in the mix for all these years. You know who you are!

There will be more from me and who knows? Now that I've taken the pressure off myself I might actually release more music. If you like it, great! if not, do I care?

Andy (Pulser)

https://www.facebook.com/pulserofficial/posts/488906527842966


i haven't been a fan of his music in recent years but i will never forget Square One


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVxK1gj_08Y

sad to see him go

ChEeZeBaLL
05-12-2013, 05:01 PM
This will always be one of my favorite tracks:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2VYZ62HCCo

ChrisHynds
05-12-2013, 09:30 PM
Ive never really been a big fan but his post is really quiet sad and very true to the scene atm, and Im sure there are a lot of producers in the same position he is, such a shame really.

thehadgi
05-12-2013, 09:49 PM
Happens when genres get big every time

Maybe after the fad is over it will go back to how it was