Simon Cowell to launch 'DJ talent' show... Sigh...


milkybarkid

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Simon Cowell to launch DJ talent show

TV personality and music producer Simon Cowell is launching a new talent competition to find the world's best DJs.

Already known to television audiences in Britain and the United States as the acerbic judge on hit talent shows like American Idol, The X Factorand Britain's Got Talent, the 52-year-old is looking to expand his empire.

"DJ's are the new rock stars, it feels like the right time to make this show," he said in a statement.

The new format will be co-produced by SYCO, Cowell's joint venture with Sony Music, and Overbrook Entertainment, a U.S. entertainment company founded by Hollywood star Will Smith.

Sony Pictures Television will also be a partner in the venture, which has been in development for more than a year. Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith has been involved for Overbrook.

The three parties said they would announce their broadcast partners in Britain and the United States soon.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9040598/Simon-Cowell-to-launch-DJ-talent-show.html

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I cannot see how this is actually going to work - what kind of person is going to enjoy sitting down on a Saturday night and watching some guy play records?

The market for this is obviously the SHM, Guetta types but they have success based upon the fact that they work with RnB stars and chart botherers - not because they are necessarily "world class DJs"

There is a pretty humurous acrticle on Sckruff related to this giving the opinions of Danny Howells, Dave Clarke and a few others which I enjoyed

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There is a pretty humurous article on Sckruff related to this giving the opinions of Danny Howells, Dave Clarke and a few others which I enjoyed

Here :)

http://skrufff.com/2012/01/pacha-simon-cowell-superstar-dj/

But this might be good for our music. Bear with me....

Look at the genres of classical music (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romance, 20th Century +). Over those 600 years or so there was a gradual reaction against the previous era in terms of rules, sound, structure, instrumentation - everything. So that by the time you look back now, there are clear differences in sound, in progression, each radically different from each other.

The same has happened in the last ten years. There was a reaction against the Trance explosion of the late 90s, we've had the 80s re-revival with loads of covers of 80s songs and sounds, then everything going all electro, then Tech-y, then later then the Deadmau5 sound that everyone copied... I could go on. All reacting to what's gone before to try and sound "new" and "different". In reality they're evidence of the already-evident fragmentation of the electronic genre, mere offshoots.

Cowell's show will showcase, and be, the pinnacle of the commercialism of DJs and 'dance' culture. There will be a subconscious reaction against this, over time, in the music we hear.

So my personal opinion is that this could be a blessing in disguise. i.e. in time, it should drive the cool music underground again, where it can hide and evolve properly in its weird bubbles and niches whilst the "commercial microscope" is on the "fashionable sound" derived from Cowell's latest monstrosity.

History tells us that that's where our music is heading. It will take time, but it will become good again - and that's great news for our music.

If it happens.

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It's just gonna be shit! All those shows are in essence shit, but I will certainly watch it, out of morbid curiosity.

I can't begin to contemplate how it will work exactly, but the fact I thought it was a joke when I saw it in NME speaks volumes.

However, we all know a few people who should audition.

It will make money, coz clubs will pay for names from the show to do sets and sadly Ritzy regulars will attend these clubs. Just like they do when someone from TOWIE or Eastenders is at the club. It can surely only be the commercial end of the market, and DJing is evermore commercial everyday. :)

I might audition, come on as an ugly old lady but wow them with my amazing records. Move over SuBo ...

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I don't think it will really impact upon the music we like.

As Cheese says the market Cowell will go for will be the mass market (where the $ are), he'll peddle out someone to play at The Ivy and such celeb haunts and probably want them playing mash-ups of Black Eyed Peas songs and cheesy remixes.

Luminar must be waiting with glee to see who wins so that they can get them booked.

I still don't really see the mass appeal for this though - I mean what is there to gain from watching someone DJ on tv?

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That's what I mean in I dunno how it will work, maybe it will be radio presenting style DJing?

I can't see it being an ITV thing either, maybe it'll be MTV or Channel 4, maybe it will be shot in a club, who knows?! I am (sadly) interested to see though. :rolleyes:

You can probably bet ya that some actual good DJ's will get passed by for the more popular, but it give them a small step up into the crowded industry it have become.

:)

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DJing as an art form is pretty much dead anyway (if we're honest).

Nowadays you can't just be a good or even great DJ - you have to tick all of the boxes for the branding/marketting men.

This show will probably give the winner a "tour" or some bollocks and then pay for them to work with various producers to ensure that they actually achieve something.

It'll be a question of Jesus poses and cheesy grins all the way through.

I hope it doesn't get signed or past the pilot phase and that all concerned with it (Smith, Pinkett-Smith and especially Cowell) lose milions and millions of dollars

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Perhaps they'll have a good "Judge" ;)

All joking aside, wouldn't he be exactly what they're looking for? Slightly on the commercial side so that he's still recognisable to the average 'punter', yet still with some cred in the dance scene as well? You think he would go for it?

I think someone like Calvin Harris (although not technically a dj in the proper sense) would be ideal for it, though I think he's been more than uncomplimentary about X Factor and the likes before.

It's got Guetta written all over it though, hasn't it? He'll flash up a link for the dj mag poll at the end of every show and top the chart by a clear 17million votes to the second placed dj.

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I was joking but he would fit into the job.

However, he has turned down a few TV gigs before, but then that was before he got the gooner from Radio one. We'd probably have to watch Amanda doing live PA if he did it too ;)

He did say he had lots of plans in and out of the DJing world!!

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going to be even harder now for producers/djs like me to get more noticed :( first judge jules gets axed now this it's just going to make people want to dj more now not for love of it just the fame and people chanting there name it's so crap. I've been trying for 10 years to master my production skills because i have a real passion for music and djing , i've been djing longer than i have been producing i don't want fame nor money just wish i could 1 day have the opportunity to play my music to a crowd that would be a dream come true my aim in this industry was to play at creamfields or a big event such as that it would be a dream come true i love making music for people and so many people i see now on facebook write learning to dj soon i will be the next armin van buuren ect it's all stupid it just makes me want to give up but even if i wanted to my body won't let me there is something inside of me that won't let me stop like i was meant to be doing this i won't give up till i reach my dream but at the moment it seems even further away maybe i will make it in another 10 years when im 38 lol

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Perhaps they'll have a good "Judge" ;)

All joking aside, wouldn't he be exactly what they're looking for? Slightly on the commercial side so that he's still recognisable to the average 'punter', yet still with some cred in the dance scene as well? You think he would go for it?

I'd hate to consider this as a possibility!

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i get a feeling this may be more aimed at scratch DJ's. Especially if the Americans have anything to do with it. Either that, or it will be DJ Hero style cutting up etc, which i guess falls more with hip hop/cut & paste dj's anyway.

Personally i think this is embarrassing, Tom is right, Cowell has seen the success the likes of Guetta, Afrojack, SHM, Calvin Harris have all had (especially over the last year) in the charts, and wants a piece.

As craig has also pointed out, what makes me sick is these people that do actually "make it" off the back of this show, will have never had to play clubs with shite gear, never had to put the 3-4 hours in a day to practice, the long hard slog just trying to get one gig, like we've all had to do. It will be full of Geordie Shore types, who dont really know anything about djing or what works, just the fact they look good, party hard, and shag around.

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I intially thought scratch DJs and turntablists but the way that he talked about the DJs being Rockstars makes me think he just wants someone who can play mass consumption stuff for the bigger market (that is after all where the money is).

I think it will just be a pop/dance crossover show and the only music you'll hear from the "winner" will be bland lowest common denominator crap.

They'll probably have someone on playing 145 hard techno and make that person the "joke" act - i.e. make him out to be a weirdo, etc

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I think it's a bit different with DJing though - I know, from my own experience, that you learna hell of a lot during your early gigs which makes you a better DJ.

That said the kind of exposure that this person/these people will get, will dictate that they can literally turn up and play anthem after anthem and no-one will worry.

That will (if it happens that way and some rookie wins) make them a shit DJ.

DJing is a lot, lot more than mixing a few tracks together nicely and I personally think you only learn how to do it properly through experience

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You're right in that it may turn them shit. But who's to say some of the competitors won't have been at it for years, struggled through tough gigs etc or even just been an awesome DJ that never quite got the right breaks? If they come second or third in an X factor style comp, they may keep their own style and skills to maybe even bring the wider audiences to realise there's better DJ's than Guetta out there, and they just haven't experienced them yet.

Just saying, that's all.

:)

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I think its safe to say though that, like the X Factor, the winner will be poular for a year, and then after that, they'll vanish. The X Factor has been on our screens for 10 years now, yet the only winners still lurking around are Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke - and they're not exactly setting the world alight at the moment.

Like Cheese said, you will get genuinely good DJs that have tried the hard way for years but struggled to break through, and you'll also get the numpties that are clueless. Like the X Factor, the numpties will go out early, and the good ones will stay til the end.

At the end of the day, clued-up clubbers aren't stupid. We've had "celebrity" DJs before such as Rebekah and Jakki Degg, but they never get decent bookings because people realise that just because they had their tits out on Page 3 of The Sun, they don't make good DJs. The only two celebrity DJs that have "made it" are Kate Lawler and Howard Donald - and that's because they are actually good DJs (plus Howard Donald was already DJing before he joined Take That and hasn't needed to use his Take That fame to help his DJing career).

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There are a few good artists to come out of xfactor that didn't win, albeit not our tastes but Adele, Olly Murs and Will Young are good and doing better than they would have without the talent contest. Cher Lloyd seems to be doing ok, and ok there is Jedward, but theyhave made more money ... Than they ever could have hoped to otherwise.

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Adele!

Adele!?!?!

Adele didn't come out of X Factor did she?!

I saw her playing on Jools Holland and alsorts as an unsigned artist, surely she didn't come from XFactor!

I'm pretty sure she didn't but stopping short of correcting as I could easily be wrong and bow to your XFactor knowledge

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Lol I thought she did sorry. Must be thinking of someone else...?

My mum and dad are the x factor experts. I only watched the last one coz Gary Barlow was on it and I love him. No I do :wub:

Anyway they all get loads a money and to go on tour, dream come true stuff...

I'll get my coat..

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Anyway they all get loads a money and to go on tour, dream come true stuff...

Isn't the first winner completely skint though and performing in Pizza restaurants or something?

Cowell isn't stupid - he'll give them the "million pound recording deal" which is basically an advance which has to cover video costs, album production costs, etc.

The artist only really makes any money on their royalties - and since all they do is cover other people's songs or work with song-writers the royalties (unless you're huge like Leona Lewis) equate to not a great deal at all.

Don't get me wrong they can make a quick buck and a decent wedge but it's not "set you up for life" stuff

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