Suffering Jukebox

suffering jukebox such a sad machine 
your all filled up with what other people need 
and they never seem to turn you up loud 
there are a lot of chatterboxes in this crowd 

suffering jukebox in a happy town 
you're over in the corner breaking down 
they always seem to keep you way down low 
the people in this town don't want to know


Listening to this song with the fabulous lyrics made me think about DJs and record shops. 


There has been a huge shift in the music industry and the way people buy music. The old model of record labels is being challenged. Most record shops are closing and purchasing is now digital rather than on vinyl. Whether that is a sad loss or just an inevitable evolution is an old debate. But I'm interested in what's happening to the role of taste makers and selectors. With an exponential growth in stuff, access to a mass and maze of information, more and more people sharing their ideas and creations on-line, the selectors have arguably never been more important. But where do you find them?


When I used to DJ, I was definitely a selector rather than mixer. My mixing skills were pretty sketchy, mostly because of laziness, but also because I was more interested in spending my time digging for the best tunes, the songs that would get everyone smiling and sparks flying between two people eyeing each other over the dance floor. My favourite weekend browsing was in £1 boxes of vinyl at flea markets and record shops. The best record shopping experience of all was at the amazing Jean-Claude's If Music. 


After a day sitting a computer at work I would relish the short walk through Soho, down the cobbled road, past the flashing neon of the sex shops and the Christian missionary outfit, to find the warm lights and sounds of good tunes. The door would soon be closed, a bottle of wine opened and we would sit chatting about politics and life while playing through a pile of records he hand picked out for me. He knew my style and my tastes so well over the years that it was like the most luxury personal shopping service. Except I'd also provide a small exchange of friends bands to critique or champion. 


It could be pretty intimidating for many people, in that classic High Fidelity archetype of the music nerd, despairing over requests for anything considered mainstream or not in the genius category. I used to watch with pity poor nervous 20-somethings plucking up the courage to walk in and ask for 'something jazzy' or 'that song by that guy in that...' So many of their much needed customers were terrified away. But it was this discerning taste and this impeccable knowledge of good music that was the value of the shop and its reputation.

Walking into this amazing shop was also walking into a creative catalyst. Jean-Claude would champion and support new struggling musicians, playing them on his radio show, in his club sets or by connecting them up to his contacts. Producers and singers would swap numbers and tips while buying their tunes to play out on the weekend. Some of the artists we were trying to help with Traficante record label were helped out in many ways by this shop and Jean-Claude. He would pass on the records to DJs coming in, put them more prominently on a shelf even though we had no marketing budget. The Dolly Daggers (then became the Golden Silvers), Jade Fox (then morphed into the fabulous Invisible) and Supernashwan (now Gold Future Joy Machine).


I guess all of this is now moving online. But does some of that catalysing and connecting move too?


If Music, like many other record shops, has a good online site which lets you sample music in the same way you'd have a listen in the shop, has reviews, write ups and IfMusic recommendations. Perhaps its ok that vinyl is mostly replaced by digital, and that purchasing is online. I feel a bit stubborn when I turn up at a gig lugging a stupidly heavy box of vinyl in 2011. But how will you get that same recommendation for your set list based on personal contact. Can sites and computer generated algorythms like spotify replace DJ selectors and record shops for recommendations? 


I cant help but be depressed by reading that BBC DJs now all have their tunes centrally selected with a computer generated database compiled from audience research. I cant imagine a database can do a better job, or the same job, than John Peel did.


I certainly wouldn't have had an amazing epic DJ set from Jean-Claude on my wedding day if our transactions had all been on-line.


If anyone would like my personal, hand-picked-from-my-very-dated/retro-vinyl-collection selections let me know and i'll post some podcasts. In the meantime, enjoy this: