We’re in the waning days of summer and that can only mean one thing; everyone’s favorite high school-esque popularity contest is in full swing. In the electronic music community there is little else more sought after than the number one spot in the DJ Mag polls. For some reason, finding yourself a place in the Top 100 has become synonymous with “making it” in the scene. I couldn’t disagree more. And here’s why.
Bassnectar, A-Trak, Pretty Lights, GRiZ, DJ Craze, DJ Qbert, Disclosure, RJD2. These are just a handful of artists who failed to crack the Top 100 last year in the 2013 DJ Mag polls. Three of these guys (A-trak, Craze, and Qbert) have a combined nine DMC World Championships to boast. DMC World Champion, you know, the award you get for being the best DJ in the world.
Not including Bassnectar is so laughable I’m not sure where to begin, and the same goes with PL as his critically acclaimed album ACMOTS took the world by storm in 2013. There are many, many more deserving DJ’s who should have a place in the list, but quite honestly I’m not sure they even care to be included in the sham that the DJ Mag vote has become.
None other than Avicii, Tiesto, and David Guetta held down the number 3-5 spots in the highly vaunted list, and Steve Aoki cracked the top 10 at #9. Without getting too personal, I’ll say that their recent collective pieces of work are…suspect. We live in a world where Martin Garrix ranks higher than both Carl Cox and Eric Prydz. What this has become is nothing short of a publicity stunt on the part of the artists who spam our social media with pleads for your vote.
There’s no doubting the effect placing high on the list has on your checking account, the concern here is that fans correlate high placers with talented DJ’s. Some of these artists are rumored to play pre-recorded sets, have limited technical DJ’ing ability, or appear to be more concerned with throwing cake in your face than playing music.
At the end of the day is any of this wrong or right? You’re the judge of that. Where the problem lies though is that these men or women are being arbitrarily ranked as a better DJ than a more deserving artist. An artist where if they actually ended up cracking their much deserved spot in the Top 100, it would change their career forever.
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