xlr8r magazine · September 12, 2013
What to Do in a New City Without a Decent Music Scene and the Good Doctor Says Goodbye to His Weekly Column
reader question
Hi Doctor Nick, I recently moved out to a new city as part of my uni course (Bordeaux, if you're curious). I'm at that point in my musical life where I'm finally making music I believe in, and I really want to be playing live. But I've had a good look, and there doesn't seem to be a scene for electronic music here, apart from a couple of clubs having the same-old house nights, which isn't exactly what I'm doing. I'm here for a year, so I want to get as much out of this as possible. What would you recommend? Should I try and get in these clubs even though I have a different vibe? I don't think starting something up would be an option here. Also, I'm having real trouble finding a label for me to send music to, because I haven't found any that I feel fit the same vibe and genre. I don't want to go around spamming everyone with demos because I know you guys hate that, but I really want to put this music out, and I can't find anywhere I think it would fit. Have you got any tips for finding the perfect label? I wanna keep up the trend of thanking you for these articles. I can't begin to tell you how much I've gained from them. Thanks man, Jack
dr. nick
Sup Jack? Damn, these are kinda tough questions. Bordeaux sounds dope. I have had some friends post up there. I'm always curious about different places and how things work.
I think you should just go for it. There has be something somewhere and every show is worth 1000 practices—even if it sucks. Maybe you could open or close those nights you mentioned? I feel you though, starting your own thing is too much. At the same time, being active is generally a good thing—you never know who you will meet that can get you up to Paris or somewhere else. To be really honest, I wish I had some sort of more static advice on how to go about things, but you are there for a year. You might as well make the best of it.
Real talk: don't let the label thing hold you back. There is a whole Earth of people out there that love music and you can get it to them one by one. Looking for a label is gonna plague you and once you get on a "real" label, you will realize the fantasy of it beforehand was just that—a fantasy. Trust me, when you are ready for those labels, they will be easy to go after. Don't get me wrong; you should keep going after labels and building relationships, but until you either make a track so banging that they need to put it out, or you are bringing something to the table for them, it's gonna keep being tough. Make a goal to get some shit on your SoundCloud, get some followers, get some gigs, and build a story. Once you do all of that, then the labels that you like will hopefully know who you are, either from you or, even better, from their friends. After that happens, when you holler, they are gonna be like, "Oh, word? This dude? Yeah, I'm down."
Really, there is no perfect label. There are quite a few doing great things, but they all have their pros and cons too. I can't stress this enough—being self-sufficient is everything. Even if you do get on an amazing label, what if they drop you? You'll need to keep going and you can't let these brands be everything to you. By the way, the same goes for management, your girlfriend, or anything. If you are self-sufficient, nothing can ever hold you back.
Good luck.
*Following this week's column, Hi, Doctor Nick! will be appearing
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