by Macman » Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:49 am
That does seem to make sense, however its not the same throughout the uk.
We work very hard to find dances to the older songs in particular in order to keep a full dance floor in a dance venue...and there begins another problem.
Many of these older songs are a little over 2 minutes and very often it can take some of the dancers longer to work it out ..leaving the dance floor empty for most of (sometimes all) the song, so do you suggest a dance at the beginning?
This creates another problem in that there are too many egos in some clubs and they don't want a mere artist telling them what dance they can do, usually a few that aren't thinking about the mass.
We are very careful always to make it a 'suggestion' and not an order but some people are still offended by it and on two occasions been asked to stop doing it at that gig which resuted in the dance numbers dramatically reducing for all but the popular dance numbers.
There are some options.
1. Only play venues that you know.
2. Play the dance songs that are popular.
3. Play a mix of popular dance songs and make suggestions for the older songs you want to play.
4. Stop worrying about the dancers and concentrate on playing what YOU want to play and let the clubs make up their own mind if they want you back.
Its really up to yourself and there are some artists that have followed option 4 and its worked for them, they only get booked back to the 'right' clubs and go down very well.
Either way its a long road to find our niche full of potholes and mistakes but when you reach the end...its a hell of a great life.
Good luck with whichever road you take.
Mac