This statement is aimed at UK soul radio show presenters and has been a long time coming and is long overdue!
Not a week passes by without certain radio show playlists being filled with tunes almost certainly found via this blog, which is great that the music is being played, yet not one of them gives any acknowledgement to the blog's existence. They dutifully post their show podcasts along with playlists on every facebook forum they can find, ensuring that they tag all the artists and other DJs to boost their egos, yet not one of them tags this blog. Draw your own conclusions as to their motives, could it be they don't want me, or others, to know what they are using from the blog?
Perhaps, if these DJs collaborated with, and contributed to, the blog a bit more like Roger Soulsorts Williams, Steve Aggasild, DJ Kool Keith and several promoters (and not forgetting prolific blog supporter Yves Lambert) instead of 'sneakily' cherry picking from posts on this blog for their playlists without any acknowledgement, and learned to play fair together and shared finds to help support artists instead of competing to be 'first', then the soul world would be a much happier place! No one, except other certain types of DJ, could care less who found, played or posted what first as it's all about giving exposure to the best music! The biggest joke is that after they've played them 'first' they never play them again, dropping them for their next 'first' play.
No one is more important than the music and the blog is here solely to support artists and labels not to promote DJ's egos! Be warned otherwise this source may well dry up. That will mean a platform is lost to the artists and labels through the selfishness of a small minority of DJs who will then have to find their own material and spend hours searching through the mire like we do on a daily basis to present the best of what's around, and inevitably many will be missed! I know who the main culprits are and not a week goes by when playlists don't look very familiar! How about finding some material themselves and sharing it with blog readers? Now there's a novelty!
This blog attracts considerably more hits than the average radio show podcast with 2-2.5k hits per day (over 58k hits already for Nov, 64k in the last 30 days, 352k in last 6 months and 712k in last 12 months). If you know of a single radio show with more listens then by all means let us know as most average 200-300 ('if' they are lucky) which puts into context their reach versus the reach of the blog! If DJs want more exposure then they should involve themselves with, and contribute to, the blog instead of lurking on the sidelines and slyly using material from here for their playlists and taking credit for it.
This has been a long time coming and I am at the point where the blog will close if this behaviour does not cease as why should I spend my time making DJs look good without any appreciation nor reciprocation shown? A simple thank you on the show, being tagged and thanked on facebook, or even a PM, an email or a comment left on the blog .. it's not difficult ... or perhaps I'm old fashioned as it is only basic good manners for providing a free service that I feel is being taken for granted and taken advantage of and will disappear if there isn't a significant improvement and all will lose out, most importantly the artists!
Come on guys it's not all about YOU, it's about sharing music for everyone to hear and hopefully buy. I encourage you to play it but enough of all the 'first play' BS and taking credit for someone else's (not just mine by the way) hard work digging them out! It's not about the DJs or who found or played what first, it's all about the music.
Anyone can find music and post on facebook or YouTube but it takes a bit more time, effort and care to research artists and provide links and the dead giveaway is when presenters read out almost verbatim what has been written on the blog!
To prove the figures above, here are screen snapshots from the blog logs. We have visitors from all over the world with only 50% in US/UK. You will need to click to expand.
Geographic Top 10
12 Months
6 Months
30 Days
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