How to develop a Drum & Bass scene in a city where there isn't any

alpanaytekin

New Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Location
Istanbul / Turkey
Hi

I'd like to get some advices about developing a Drum 'n' Bass scene in a city where there isn't any.
I'm a DJ from Istanbul. I'm in my late 20's, so it is not so realistic to reach people around my age.
I'm aware that I need to reach people from age group 19-20.
There is only one venue that supports Drum 'n' Bass in my city and it's not so big. Holds up to 90 people max. We have regular events there.

I've been to a Drum 'n' Bass festival in Bulgaria a few weeks ago. I was really impressed by the attendance and reaction of the crowd.
It was quite interesting to see the scene in a 14 million populated country with a 2 million capital comparing to the sceneless city of mine with the population of 15 million.

So any kind of advice will be appreciated.
Where to start? Social media? Flyers?

Cheers

Alpan
 
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throw a night, that venue sounds perfect for a beginning night, do u know any local DJ's? any mates who mix and stuff? throw a little night with a homies, spam the fuck out of people on facebook/twitter if there is fuck all else goin down then i am sure heads will turn up.
 
^^^^ that.

try to do free open airs in the summer aswell, flyer them as much as you can do, maybe offer limited free drinks aswell.

and dont play current value/donny stuff, you have to get them into, not thinking "wtf is that?"
 
and dont play current value/donny stuff, you have to get them into, not thinking "wtf is that?"

This. DnB isn't my first choice for playin' out when I DJ, but I've done a couple of nights at my school where I've decided on a DnB set, and I must say that if you are going to try and build a scene you have to build an audience first and you aren't going to be doing much of that if you are playing a bunch of stuff that sounds like banging pots'n'pans!

For your first few sets try and go wide with a lot of accessible mainstreamy tracks, mixing in some tracks that are just a little grittier along the way. Just my two cents...
 
what dance music is most popular in istanbul?

a good bet would be going to events that are banging (whether its house, minimal, etc.), and promoting your night to that crowd. i know a lot of people here (and myself) are into a range of dance music, so i'm sure you could find some open minded and curious dancers there.

an idea for promotion that i found works well is to make small business cards (hand write them if need be) with the event date and venue information. pass them out to peopleat music events or bars you go to! networking is essential!

also, free the first time (you and your friends can share the costs). book a date and jump in!
 
1. Find a suitable location - possibly not to big
2. Organise an event, try to make it for free and get around with money from drinks - don't be afraid to lose money... it's your passion and you want more people to get to know dnb
3. As other people said go around and flyer the shit out of your event
4. Try to get as many friends involved as possible. Maybe they're not into dnb but they still more likely to help and support you

That's the start. From that point on you will need to try to get yourself/your event a name in the internet. I'm sure Istanbul has one or another D&B head you might not be aware off. Maybe some day you'll be able to book international acts, that's what people wanna see and will like to pay for.

Hope that helped.
 
If your DJ'ing DNB in Turkey get this one going:

I dont know what this has to do with anything, plus i also want to know why one this video which has the audio of one of SBS lamest tunes is the Deathchant logo? THE most successful hardcore techno labels about, The DJ Producer would not be happy,

any way, hows ya night going man? any more movements on the istanbul rave scene?
 
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I think it's as much about building a scene than the music that you play. If you can convince people that your night is the coolest/friendliest/trendiest night around then people will be more inclined to go. Just look at all the people who switched it up from drum and bass to dubstep when that picked up.

Other than that, make loads of friends who will come to your night. Try and be as personable with people as possibler and always make sure that you've got atleast 3-5 copies of your mix cd in your bag, becausse you never know who will want one.
 
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