Gareth Emery Says Not to Vote for Him in DJ Mag Top 100 (UPDATE)

The DJ Mag Top 100 poll has to be the most controversial moment for dance music every year. Especially in more recent years, people have gotten fed up with the popularity contest nature of the poll. Gareth Emery has other plans in mind though, looking to help charities than “buy” votes from people. See what he has to say after the jump.

“Just took a bizarre unsolicited phone call from a publicity company who help DJs promote themselves for the Top 100 poll, who told me I should be aware one of my ‘competitors’ (as she put it) was spending $15,000 on Twitter advertising alone, and unless I got on that sort of level, I would find it ‘hard to compete’. Obviously not going to say who the DJ was, but I was nearly sick in my mouth.

So here’s an alternative Top 100 message: Don’t vote for me. Seriously, when you buy a ticket to see me in a club, I consider that a vote. When you blast my music in your car, or share it on Facebook, or tell your friends about it, that’s a vote too. Those votes, and the amazing support you’ve shown over the last year, is what matters to me.

If you did plan on voting for me, give that vote instead to the DJs you see spending their money on promoted tweets, sponsored stories, banner adverts, rebranded twitter pages, etc. If they care that much about their number, just let them have it.

In return for your non-votes, rather than spend an amount on a campaign that would probably buy a school in Africa, I am going to donate the same amount to charity, and maybe some good can come out of this.

Actually how about this… I’ll post a poll of my own tomorrow with some various charities that I like and you guys can vote to decide which ones I will donate to. Together we can do something good. A poll where I’ll be proud, rather than ashamed, to ask for your votes.

Back soon,

Gaz”

Update: Gareth Emery has just shared with us the charities he will be donating $15,000 to. You can vote for the charity of your choice here: POLL, or read more about each charity here:

I wanted to write some words about the charities in our poll, and explain a little why I have chosen these five. Each charity is for an amazing cause, and it would be great if you could check them out, like their pages etc. as well as voting in this poll.

Trying to narrow down a choice of just 5 charities was really challenging, and opened my eyes to a lot of the amazing work, and moving causes there are out there that are deserving of help. I also felt slightly guilty that in ten years in the music business this was the first time I had publicly used my position for this sort of good, and vow to do more in the future. Between the 100s of posts about clubs, festivals, airports and “buy my record” plugs, it can’t be a bad thing a few times a year to use my position to potentially raise the profile of organizations that are extremely deserving.

Anyway. Enough blab. Thanks for reading – back to the studio for me now. After you have read the below please remember to vote here:

https://www.facebook.com/garethemery/posts/10151480937642273

Ignito Project
http://www.ignitoproject.org/
I obviously wanted to include a music related charity in here, and I personally know numerous volunteers who work with this amazing project. They provide music lessons and opportunities for under-privileged children in the UK.

Macmillan Cancer Support
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/
It’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t been affected by cancer. This charity provides hospice care and home visits and I have personally seen how much of a difference they make.

Daughters for Life Foundation
http://daughtersforlife.com/devdfl2013
I find it extremely sad how challenging it still is for women in some parts of the world to access education. This charity advances the education and health of young women throughout the Middle East regardless of religious or cultural heritage.

Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
I have always had a huge amount of respect and admiration for the exceptional work that this organization does around the world.

Brainwave
http://www.brainwave.org.uk/
I had many suggestions from you guys but this charity, which provides help for children with developmental disorders, stood out for me after a recommendation from one of my Twitter followers for helping his daughter.