Interview: Paul van Dyk on major labels + pop crossover

Interview: Paul van Dyk on major labels + pop crossover

29 March, 2011 | 2.43AM

• Written by: Ellie
• Filed under: Music News: emi music, paul van dyk

Last month we reported on Beatport’s deal with EMI Music, which gives the site access to the the major label’s catalogue as well as those of its dance-oriented sublabels like Positiva and Astralwerks.

The move is a major step towards making Beatport’s catalogue the most comprehensive one possible, bringing on board such key artists as The Chemical Brothers, LCD Soundsystem, and electronic icon Paul van Dyk.

Nevertheless, the deal has faced criticism from some users, who fear the dilution of Beatport’s focus on dance music. Beatport CEO Matt Adell recently addressed those concerns in an interview with Resident Advisor; we caught up with Paul van Dyk at WMC to get yet another perspective on the matter. He also catches us up to date on his summer plans and speaks to the prospect of an imminent pop/trance crossover; read on for the interview.

The EMI signing means that more of your music is finally available on Beatport, but how would you respond to people who say that dealing with the majors dilutes Beatport’s focus on electronic dance music? Some underground fans might feel put off by seeing more mainstream pop-dance artists on the front page of the store.

I’m obviously very happy that my music is now available on Beatport and in the US. I used to be signed to Mute Records as part of EMI, and my music was never available, so from my perspective it’s a good thing. In terms of criticism from some users, it makes no sense to sell cars in a bakery store, so I don’t think there will be the threat of Lady Gaga taking over Beatport. Beatport works on an A&R level as well, and it’s down to their people to choose the music they sell. The site shouldn’t become a second iTunes store.

If you love music, you stumble over a hell of a lot of it, and in order to find one good record you need to listen to 100 records that are not good.

How does that affect the balance between quantity and quality?

There can never be too much music. With Beatport you have so many possibilities – you can follow your favorite DJs, but you also have the opportunity to see everything else that’s going on. If you love music, you stumble over a hell of a lot of it, and in order to find one good record you need to listen to 100 records that are not good. Believe me, I’ve listened to a lot of rubbish music [laughs]. But what you like listening to always comes down to personal taste.

Beatport signed a similar, but less publicized, deal with Warner a few months ago, which doesn’t seem to have affected the smaller labels at all. But if the other two major record companies (Universal and Sony/BMG) follow suit, do you think there will be the threat of the big labels and big names drowning out the indies and smaller artists?

I don’t think it’s an issue of major labels overpowering smaller labels. As long as the music’s available, it’s going to have the same outlet as a small indie label. I can’t speak for Beatport’s policy, but they’ve grown a reputation for being a specialist store with huge potential to grow, and in order to keep growing they should stick to that. If Lady Gaga becomes the next big thing on Beatport, people will turn away from the site and have to find their music elsewhere. But the people who are interested in artists like Lady Gaga can find her music everywhere, and it’s those who want club tunes that come to Beatport. I think that the other two major labels should follow EMI and Warner, as there are some smaller departments of major labels, for example Universal in Germany, whose good dance music isn’t currently available.

Let’s talk about your own projects—what else are you up to in the next couple of months?

I’m just about to finish my new album Evolution, which is definitely going to be available on Beatport, so I’m really looking forward to that. I’m also planning an extensive album tour, which is going to be a bit more special than previous tours. I’m hiring in people with proper production skills, which goes further than using a few big screens. The tour kicks off at Coachella festival on April 16 and will develop and “evolve” with each show as the tour continues. Visually it’ll go through different phases, such as “Nebula,” “The Big Bang,” and “The Modern Media World” in conjunction with the music, so it’ll be a real experience.

Trance music has been prominent in the mainstream media lately with Armin van Buuren and Tiesto collaborating with artists like Sophie Ellis-Bexter and Busta Rhymes – do you think it could be the year of trance, and have you got any collaborations in the pipeline?

With the greatest of respect for my colleagues, Tiesto‘s track “C’mon (Catch ‘em by Surprise)” is not really a trance record – it’s radio-friendly hip-hop with a dude rapping over the top of it and is not really suitable for playing in a club. I don’t make a difference between trance, tech-trance and house, etc.; for me it’s all electronic music and some of it’s good and some of it’s not so good for my taste. I don’t agree with this merging of R&B and hip-hop with electronic music, because our music has never been about bling and showing off. One of the topics at a Winter Music Conference lecture I was at just now was about how we go about handling cheesy pop overkill in electronic music sounds. But in four or five months’ time, dance music won’t be commercially cool anymore and guitar bands will be back. It’s always the same cycle.

Alex Metric and Steve Angello‘s “Open Your Eyes” is out now on Positiva.

• (9) Comments
• (3364) Views
• Get Paul van Dyk on Beatport