To some of you, this may seem to be an extreme title for the changing face of house music. Some others may say that the changes that have taken place in this genre are the direct result of the changes in society as a whole and the changes in music in particular… Faced with the ripping off of music via internet options which brought the fall of sales of recorded music. The exclusion of house music as a whole on major radio stations which is where other artists in other genres of music make at least enough money to live on.

To the X-clusion of artists booked into clubs to make a living with the music that the clubs were built on. We aren't talking about disco ! At least, during the disco era, the artists were built, developed and exposed as any other genre of music of the time. No, we are talking about house where the artists that perform the music are nearly kept in a state of unrecognizable limbos, names not even mentioned when their music is played, images lost in the backrooms of record labels and P.R. departments in exchange for the image of a person putting records on a turntable… Let's not forget the fact it was the DJ's who made this music the number one music enjoyed around the world, no doubt. And the debt to most will never be paid.

Most of these original pioneers, at least, had a conscienceness to respect the artistry of the vocalist they remixed the music of. These DJ's were artists in their own right and had to within themselves recognize the artistry of another. Those days are gone… Today, it's totally and primarily a matter of greed . It is totally a matter of creating the cheapest and reaping the most benefit. Theft and deceit have never dominated a genre to this level in the history of music. It's reminicent of the 40's and 50's when labels would sign artists and, most of the time, take all of their royalties without them even being aware that they were being ripped off. At least, the artists were then getting car out of the deal. Today, the theft is just out there in the front.
To sign a record deal with a label - especially an independent who might struggling in the first place is an invitation to be ripped off out right. Most of the artists have no idea of a contract agreement with a label and if they do, it really doesn't matter when the labels are going to bootleg their own product any way to get around paying royalties to the writers and publishers that created the music and we are not talking about 100,000 Bucks signing bonuses, as most of the time, you are looking at in the neighborhood of 500 to 1500 $ for a one off record deal because most labels are not going to commit to doing an album deal unless by the grace of God a record happens to sell off the hook. And believe me, this doesn't happen based upon the labels promoting and marketing a record or artist.

Most of the time, it is strictly by blind damn luck. And you would hear people saying : Hey, house artists are just using this as a stepping stone… But a stepping stone to what ? Not only do the artist get ripped off by the people that they trust to do the right thing with the music, the industry that was built on the back of these artists even refuse to book them on a consistent level. Multi-million dollars clubs will seldom expose a house artist, even though their music is filling the dancefloors. On average, if a house artist was booked into 40 clubs around the world during a one year period, it would be enough for him/her to make a living in the genre. And we are talking about 40 places around the world when there are what 100,000/ 200,00 clubs. Most clubs fillied to capacity drawing down in the neighborhood of 50 to 100 thousand a night are to cheap to pay an artist more the 500 dollars for an appearance, and if the artist is lucky, they may give them a sandwich without charging out of the 500.

A lot of artists just to try to promote themselves, sell themselves for little of nothing in the hopes that it will create a viable market for them to perform in and many clubs and agents dangle this carrot in their faces knowing fully well that they are not going to come back and create booking for them on a consistent basis. They just want to take advantage of the artists popularity at the time , suck them for what they can and then stop taking calls concerning the promises they made. Most of the time, an artist is told : Well, you have to have a new song out even though the last one has only been out for one month and has hardly saturated the market. As if a performer could only perform with the new material.. Like most genres the people that come to see and hear an artist want to hear the music that they never had the opportunity to see them perform before. That is the point of being a true artist. In the way that most agents and clubs think a house vocalist would have to release about 50 records a year to qualify for a consistent performance schedule !?!
I still go to see artists from the day. It is about the show and the music and the artistry of the performer. Getting the oportunity to say I saw them live. Taking nothing away from a DJ, but where-is-the-show ? For sure some DJ's are great artists with the turntables, but most are just record players with no concept or perspective other than trying to blow the people up with all the newest songs that they hear on the radio anyway ! You can't take away the skills of a great DJ on the tables, but the fakes and charlitans that dominate the clubs today is enough to make you puck on the floor in front of'em. Dance music started to create a generation of people that knew nothing and expected nothing, so it was easy to give them nothing. Not exposing the artists made it easy for this to happen. Record labels are and always have just been interested in the bottom line, but at least, there was a time when they had some level of character and an ear for good music.

Now, a generation that can't hear the phone ringing is determining the deals that are to be cut and the music that is to be pumped into the next generation. Nothing from nothing leaves exactly that, so the house vocalist is a dying breed. Artists with no stage are citizens with no country. So the beautiful voices will die and the electronic images of humanity will prevail all in the name of the almighty dollar. We ask ourselves from day to day what is happening to the real music. Most kids can't play an instrument, read a chart or recognize a b flat from a C sharp. So hey, why should we sing anymore when you can record the worst voice into a computer and come out with the manufactured clone of a great voice… I guess we had to stop live performances in order to feed the people bullshit. It is the way of the world today ? Like I said before : Love don't live !!!

Michael Procter