story about mixtapes from DJ Magazine July 1992
DJ mixtapes - Under the counter culture. is anybody making a packet from the racket?
Roger Foldes-Wood looks into the increasing popularity of DJ mix tapes. Are they kosher or simply a rip off??
Rave Tapes
DJ mix tapes are nothing new. Copies of Tony Humphries radio show have always been sought after. However the huge popularity of hardcore has meant that they are no longer just passed around mates but mass produced flogged to a slobbering public. It is not difficult to see why they are so popular, At around £7 a time they cost less than two 12"s, for 90 minutes of perfectly mixed upfront hardcore by your favourite DJ superstar, and if you're really lucky you get an MC telling you how to get the most out of your music. One record shop assistant gave another reason for their popularity "People get embarrassed coming in and saying 'I don't know who it's by but it's got some bird singing Ecstacy in it'. For every aspiring DJ who wants to buy the records there are ten people who couldn't give a toss what it's called or who it's by, just as long as it's hard and fast. Also people get frustrated when they can't buy the records because it's only on promo, if it's a big tune then it's bound to be on one of the tapes a few weeks before it's released."
so we've established that these things are popular and 'what the kids want'. So are the purveyors of said items (usually the rave promoters) simply doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. Well no, they're actually making a lot of money out of it. (However it must be said that a few of the organisations we spoke to don't allow tapes of their events to be sold.) The entrepreneurial spirit, or greed depending on how you view it, has always been rife in the rave business. The tapes cost between 50p to £2 to produce depending on the numbers copied. They are usually taped straight from the mixing desk, although some are put on to DAT for better reproduction. We found that some groups actually pay the DJs for the tapes, usually between £100 to £150. However one asked replied "Don't they make enough as it is. They get about £400 for an hour, how much more do they want." The outlets are given the tapes on a sale or return basis usually for a fiver and marked up to £7 for Joe Raver. So the punter's got his 'memory of the night' the record shops make a couple of quid, the promoters have got their name about and made a few quid, but what about the artists royalties? er later mate, later.
Surely though it can't be a good thing for record shops to sell them, isn't it detracting from sales of records? One record shop owner told us "At the moment most independent record stores are finding it difficult to keep their heads above water. For many small shops money from tapes and ticket commission for raves is a godsend. As they're all on sale or return there is no risk for us in terms of getting stuck with them. These tapes are our answer to the big chain stores. We'll never be able to sell as many copies of a big compilation as them, but we have been known to sell a hundred tapes on a good day."
What about record companies, do they feel these tapes are losing them sales? We found the general attitude to be very laid back. Many saw it as a good means of promotion. "If a track's been buzzing around on a tape for a while, it's reached a much wider audience. Kids are still going to want to buy it because most of the tunes on tapes are so cut up you'll never get the whole track. Also people go into shops with tapes and ask what certain tunes are, that can't be a bad thing." One person compared it to a record pool, "You hear all the new tunes, out of 90 minutes people are going to want to buy about 3 or 4 tracks. it still just boils down to quality product standing out."
How do the stars of the show, the DJs themselves, feel about their mixing skills being flogged. Reactions are generally quite nonchalant. "Its quite a compliment to know that people want to buy a tape of you, but it can be a bit annoying, knowing that every mix you do is down on tape being scrutinized. If you have an off night there's not a lot you can do to stop the tapes going out and you'll then be judged on that." One deck wizard went a bit bleary eyed and reminisced "There's very little sacred anymore, before if you did a particularly good mix or something special, people who were there might talk about it, it was part of the whole experience of actually being there, now if you do something a bit different it's all over the place within a week. I've heard warn-up DJs copying bits of my set, exactly. On the subject of money the general consensus was that is someone's making money out of your name and your talent, you deserve a cut, but in general there's not a lot you can do if someone does do them."
One subject we haven't yet mentioned is that they're completely illegal. They are not licensed and subsequently don't pay any royalties. However monitoring these tapes would be impossible. As one promoter put it "There are so many white labels and imports mixed in they would never be able to track down everything in there. Plus they're so popular now they've become an accepted part of the whole rave culture. If they did crack down, people would just start selling them under the counter, we'd find some other way of flogging them." The advertising of tapes these days has become more and more blatant, but as yet we couldn't find any shops who had any difficulty with the law. And anyway people have been taping off the radio for years.
With the public having more choice than ever (in one shop there were over 30 titles to chose from), producers of these things will have to start improving the quality of them to keep the money rolling in. The discerning raver will soon get fed up with just a blur of hiss and bass. One thing is for sure, these tapes are here to stay and there is very little the powers that be can do about them, Ravers love em, promoters love em. I just wish they wouldn't wind the windows down when they play it so bloody loud in their cars.
