Per usual, the announcement of the DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs chart has caused quite the uproar within the dance music world. Whether or not you were apart of the 750,000 people who cared enough for this popularity contest to cast your vote, you’ve still got the dreadful task of dealing with waves of bulls**t that fans and other DJ’s spit out in disapproval for the results of the contest. Not mention all the blogs having a field day, case in point.
If you happen to be one of these upset drooling fans asking yourself “Why didn’t trap demon god Carnage make this!? Travesty!”. 
Or better yet, the Melbourne Bounce fanatic curious as to “How Will Sparks could possibly not be in the Top 100?”, then we have got the perfect list of 10 Things You Should Know About Top 100 DJs directly from Adam Saville of DJ Mag.
“Our Top 100 DJs 2013 poll was our biggest yet and, as always, the response has been enormous. Each of you has an opinion, but not everyone understands how or why we do it. Here are a few things to consider when looking at this year’s results…”
1) IT’S A PUBLIC VOTE
We don’t choose it! So if your favourite DJ isn’t in there, don’t blame us. We are guardians of the poll, correct, but we don’t decide who is in it — the voters do.7) NOT IN IT? DON’T COMPLAIN. CAMPAIGN!
As with any general election or form of democratic process, potential candidates canvas for votes for a chance to win. If your favourite DJ didn’t make it in, the chances are they didn’t mount a successful campaign. In the words of Paul Oakenfold: “It’s a popularity chart more now than based on your craft – you either say ‘Forget it’, or you campaign like everyone else, cos if you don’t campaign you don’t get in it, and the harder you campaign the more you’re gonna go up.”
These points are relevant, but is it me or are they avoiding the elephant in the room?
Just like any democratic election today, the candidate with the largest pocket book is going to generally come out ahead. The top 1% of DJ’s have exponentially more of both fans and money for targeting and use in their campaigning efforts. How do you expect Will Sparks to possibly campaign against the efforts of Calvin Harris‘ and his 46 million dollar paycheck last year? You don’t.
Thats why these “elections” are complete and total hog wash. Even DJ Mag themeselves realizes how meaningless these polls truly are, and with number 10 they make it clear these do not even reflect their thoughts and standpoints on the market.
YOU voted for this. All 750,000 of YOU.
What we often forget is that YOU includes a whole lot of sheeple from around the world that we have never met.
3) THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN BERGHAIN…
The dance world as a whole is MASSIVE, so don’t be surprised if niche dance scenes or “underground” styles don’t get in there. Over 750,000 people voted in the poll this year, from all over the world, and tastes differ drastically from continent to continent, so just because you haven’t heard of a few DJs, doesn’t mean they are not enormously popular in their own scene or territory.
While clearing up a few things about the process DJ Mag undergoes to create this poll was somewhat enjoyable for myself, it doesn’t change the fact of the reality. DJ Mag continues to push the Top 100 DJs chart throughout the biggest sources of information in EDM, the biggest names on the DJ A List. Allowing for the chart to appear as a “trusted” source of information on DJ’s around the world. They parade around, those happy little hypocrites, encapsulating a mere fleck of what being a Disc Jockey originated as or means to the true fans of the music.
DJ Mag gains their strength from power in numbers and while the saying is usually “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”, we have fallen into a situation whence we must do the same. There are hundreds of thousands of you voting in this beauty contest. Leaving hundreds of thousands of YOU to choose not to cast your vote next year for this hegemonic quest for relevancy in the eyes of the all powerful media.
Instead of forcing all these DJ’s to waste money on their campaign, why not allow them to use their money on something useful, like paying ghost producers for better tracks? Oh wait.
Check out the full article on DJ Mag to read the rest of : 10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT #TOP100DJS
Ok am I a retard or are there only 3 things listed here that “we should know”?
The votes are bought … and also preferentials go 1st always 😉
As much of a sham as this all claims to be, these DJs (for the most part) are selling out shows or close to it everywhere they go. Clubs, festival sets, their own “Live” tour, etc. Granted, the order is whacky and DJ Mag is basically in #7 that you have to have a strong marketing campaign to place (Tenashar anyone?), but these DJs are every bit as important as this poll says they are. Blogs of this kind and similar flocked to reporting the results “Live” and were quick to post updates about who was where and who #1 will be. To further that point, take a look at the stories that the EDM blogosphere reports. A lot of that “content” is about these DJs…but, I digress; if you don’t agree with the results (or their importance) than why even write this article at all?
Ohhh…more hogwash….how could Tiesto comment that HARDWELL will nail it…..long before the official results were out…..m daft help me understand
I refuse to vote on this poll b/c it makes no sense!Only 1 Trance Dj in the top 20 WTF…………..