Good of Flares to do a Christmas special episode.

  • erik replied to this.

    Dan

    This is their latest offering, surely this isn’t normal fan behaviour. how does anyone even think this up?


        erik

        When I was in Oslo last week, my flight was delayed so I decided to hang around outside the venue for a bit instead of going straight to the airport. I got talking to some Norwegens and one of them asked me if I had heard of this Super Progressive guy and told me how great he was, I just bit my lip and kept quiet. It’s like that Fish56Octagon guy in the pyjamas, I don’t get it, how did they get such exposure?

            Dry-Tinder

            People feel connected to other people who share stories about something they both love. It attracts people who enjoy connecting about something.

            Some of the best sales / business people in the world were always like this too - because they re often trained that telling stories (rather than stating facts) connects to the limbic system (the part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses)

            I have a hunch this was a big part of Sasha’s success because only in recent years I found out he was often on camera and giving interviews (before social media) simply telling his story to the public. The stories were often the same.

            This was very rare for DJs to do back then, most preferring just the music to do the talking.

            It’s why so many people find these people but not the next DJ who was equally as good or better.

            You tell your story about anything enough and it attracts like minds - greater in volume the longer you repeat it - to the eventual point that momentum takes over on its own and it’s as if everyone knows them / they make it look easy.

            The telling stories element of success or, I guess today “gaining followers” is so often overlooked.

                NasserAlazzawi Sasha’s success was because he played mint records and mixed them way better than pretty much everyone. Remember this was very niche and not at all mainstream back then.

                    NasserAlazzawi He literally hated doing interviews, and could be notoriously difficult. I’m not sure where you got this “telling his story to the public” jazz from.

                        TitianWarrior Sasha’s success was because he played mint records and mixed them way better than pretty much everyone. Remember this was very niche and not at all mainstream back then.

                        This ⬆️ @NasserAlazzawi. I don’t think his success had anything to do with TV/ MTV/ media. Mixtapes being passed around, word of mouth and live gigs.

                          mono-stereo they’re all over YouTube (uploaded videos from the 90s) and once he got traction in the music magazines at the time.

                          He hated them (most do) but whether he had someone in PR guiding him, or someone in the music scene gave him good advice to do it, or if he just figured that part out himself - he did do it a lot (and that’s just the ones I could find)

                          Telling stories isn’t the only piece of the puzzle, and you can market yourself in other ways if you have the money (or good marketing skill), but stories about

                          #1 your beginnings or

                          #2 why you do something you love or

                          #3 what your new release is inspired from

                          … all is and always was really important when it comes to connecting to new people who try out your music especially in the early days.

                          Telling stories also how SP and F56 have risen all of a sudden - if you ask them it’s exactly what they will tell you.

                          Doing it enough (and you have to do it about 500 x more these days than the 90s to cut through the noise) all eventually allows that critical mass to build up to a point where a lot of new people simply listen to the DJ / Producer for the first time and love the music without the need for the stories at all - by then it just seems self evident and everybody just credits the music / skill (like we all wish it would just be about)

                          There are far too many amazing DJs who are more skilled than famous ones who never crack it because they haven’t cracked at least some part of a deliberate (or accidentally found to be working) marketing strategy like stories.

                              NasserAlazzawi He hated them (most do) but whether he had someone in PR guiding him, or someone in the music scene gave him good advice to do it, or if he just figured that part out himself - he did do it a lot (and that’s just the ones I could find)

                              The famous Muzik magazine (I think it was Musikl) “spannered in deck chair” photo would suggest otherwise

                                  NasserAlazzawi I think the phrase you’re looking for is self publicist, which is exactly what Sasha wasn’t. He was more of an enigma to many during his early career, that was the pull. Feel free to start a new thread on that topic if you like. This thread is done.

                                    NasserAlazzawi There are far too many amazing DJs who are more skilled than famous ones who never crack it because they haven’t cracked at least some part of a deliberate (or accidentally found to be working) marketing strategy like stories.

                                    Luck used to play a big part back then, not marketing strategy or stories. One of my best mates played at Basics every week for years in the mid nineties because he blagged an interview with Dave Beer. He wasn’t trying to build a following, he was having fun playing records and taking drugs. It was a great time, and that was the point.