DJ Mag Top 100 DJ's Results

[Simcut]

Definitely think Trance is dead on Radio 1.

[Tremor]

Yeah, Trance is definitely not hip at the moment which is no doubt why there isn't much of it on Radio 1 now. It's a shame but I guess Radio 1 have always followed current trends in order to capture the widest audience and in that respect you can't really blame them. Most of their listeners wouldn't be interested in a "proper" trance show anyway. Jules probably still just fits the bill with his bootlegs and eletro-trancey tunes appealing more to the Radio 1 listeners than perhaps 2 hours of Armin's style of trance would. Unfortunately people are not as into the music as they were when Jules hosted 2 shows a week and there were plenty of big names doing essential mixes. Radio 1 has moved on from those days unfortunately. It is pretty diabolical that Annie Mac now has the warm up slot 7-9... in place of Tong! That was really the final straw for me. It can only continue downhill from here surely.

The whole DJ mag top 100 is an odd chart. The top 10 is still made up of pretty much Trance DJs yet as suggested by the change in trends at Radio 1, it isn't by any stretch the top genre of dance music on the British scene at the moment. Maybe its been traditionally a Trance fans magazine and all the people that are listening to Annie Mac that love Dubstep and D&B are simply not voting in the poll. It certainly doesn't seem an accurate portrayal of the current club scene.

Perhaps Trance is still the biggest Global genre though... I dont really know

[Briggsy]

Trance is still popular in the UK - but it seems to be popular in regions. Yorkshire has a particularly strong Trance scene. Last year, in Leeds alone, they had Gatecrasher, Goodgreef and Digital Society going strong with full/near-full clubs. Digital Society do well with DJ's such as Stoneface & Terminal, Duderstadt & Robert Nickson - whereas elsewhere in the country, they wouldn't pull punters in at all. I'd even go as far as saying that some people probably wouldn't have even heard of them. North of Derbyshire, there seems to be a fairly healthy Trance scene, whereas south of Derbyshire, apart from Godskitchen in Birmingham and Passion in Coalville (Leicestershire) hosting monthly events, there's bugger this side of Derby right down until you reach London. Even Godskitchen and Passion need to put on an A-list headliner such as Eddie, A&B or Armin to fill the clubs - whereas Digital Society have never had any A-listers at all, yet still sell-out.

Unfortunately, clubbing in general has changed for the worst now. Gone are the weekly or fortnightly dance events around the country. Instead, we've got monthly events, and the public in general are opting for cheap "drink all you can for as little as you can" at small, cheesy bars/clubs or chain-owned Luminar type venues.

I don't think DJ fee's have helped either - I was talking to the promotor of Republica on Saturday, and he was telling me that they stopped running Hard House & Trance events because they simply couldn't afford to run them any more. He was saying that last year, he'd booked Matt Hardwick, Richard Durand and Marcel Woods - and for the three of them, he paid £3500 + expenses (nearly £5000 altogether). He was saying that by the time he'd paid that out, plus security staff, etc, he was struggling to even break even. He said that the Trance DJ's in particular have gone really demanding due to the success of Armin, PvD and Tiesto in the top 100 poll.

Because they've all won the top position, they've been able to raise their fee's - and because they've raised their fee's, its allowed the B-list "second best" DJ's to increase their fee's more aswell to 'close the gap'. Apparently, non-Trance and non-Hard House DJ's are more realistic with their fee's, they'll change their fee's based on the size of the venue or the brands reputation, etc - whereas with the Trance DJ's, its a "take it or leave it" set fee regardless of whether the venue holds 200 people or 2000 people.

That probably explains why so many smaller nights start, and fail within their first year.