If the fallout from the DJ Mag Top 100 has taught us anything, it’s that the scene has officially recognized the poll for what it is: A glorified popularity contest that’s almost comically easy to rig in any one DJ’s favor. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike taking the top spot amidst criticism of their widely publicized iPad vote campaign has only served to stoke the flames, and many artists have taken to social media in kind to voice their opinions. But it wasn’t a headliner whose opinion caught our eye most recently: It was talented vocalist and Enhanced Recordings DJ Aruna Abrams.
Aruna passed through Seattle back in 2013 as an opener for Max Graham at Foundation Nightclub, but certainly hasn’t been forgotten by anyone here in the Northwest. Taking to Facebook, she gave voice to some incredibly well-worded and astute thoughts on the DJ Mag poll that we can’t help but agree with 100%.
“It’s really sad to see a culture and an artform we all love and cherish so much devolved into cake throwing, stripper poles and vote-hungry iPad-clad street teams.”
She went on to list a slew of deserving artists not officially recognized in DJ Mag’s poll, noting how “the real talent [in the Top 100] is so few and far between on this list it turns my stomach.” And you know what? She’s not wrong. It’s no small secret that this year more than any other has proven the poll to be just as “self-serving and ultimately irrelevant” as Aruna describes it to be.
The industry has officially turned on what used to be a celebration of the greatest talent our scene had to offer. In the face of this, the best and most effective solution is to follow Aruna’s example in her closing words: Recognize the artists truly deserving of your time and energy, and forget about the rest. Check the full post over here, and let us know your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter!
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