Re: WaPo article about blackness & techno

[David A. Powers]

I'm sorry, but I have zero belief that you can bring about any change from
within the confines of capitalism, because capitalism is a system that
concentrates power mostly in the hands of a few extremely rich capitalists,
while the majority of the population has no power, and ordinary people are
forced to work at shitty alienating jobs where they have absolutely no
control over their time and bodies during the working day when they rent
out their labor to business owners. And while racist or bigoted attitudes
may have some independent existence in the minds of ignorant individuals,
racism has always served the purpose of allowing groups of people to be
economically exploited.

To give a clear example: A lot of the technology used to create techno, for
instance, is probably created by nonwhite individuals working in terrible
labor conditions outside of Europe and the United States. Anti-racism means
NOTHING unless it is willing to fight for better working conditions and
material conditions for the exploited workers, the majority of whom are
actually nonwhite.

Thus, any "diversity" initiative that does not challenge fundamental
aspects of capitalist production and its exploitation of human labor. Large
festivals, in particular, make their money like all capitalist enterprises
by trying to maximize worker exploitation, because the lower the labor
costs, the higher the profit. In a capitalist economy, this profit motive
will ALWAYS trump any efforts at increasing diversity, even if the people
engaged in those efforts are well intentioned. I believe that the primary
system in "systemic racism" is the system of capitalism itself, because it
provides economic incentives to behave in ways that ensure continued
unequal racist outcomes.

In a country like the US, 59% of white employees have working class type
jobs, compared with 46% of Asians, 78% of hispanics, and 69% of blacks.
(Asians do better than whites though, only 46% have working class jobs.
Source: https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2018/home.htm)

So, the blindspot towards class and economics means that pre-existing
between populations is intensified, and the fact that the working class as
a whole has gotten significantly poorer. Now, this actually matters a lot
in the context of cultural production, because we have entered into a time
period where it is very hard for talented working people to have the time
and energy to be able to produce cultural products. At the same time, dance
music is losing touch with its working class roots, as extremely wealthy
elites continue to exercise greater power within the scene. According to Ed
Gillett writing on the site The Quietus (
https://thequietus.com/articles/28302-housekeeping-faces-review):

As profits and audiences for electronic music have ballooned over the last
> decade, its infrastructure has increasingly been annexed by large
> entertainment conglomerates, our language shifting almost imperceptibly
> from vaguely egalitarian talk of ‘club culture’ to the creepily neoliberal
> ‘night-time economy’ in the process. Everything from inflated artists’ fees
> to soaring rents and council cuts have served to squeeze out grassroots
> promoters and decimate small-scale venues in the UK over the last ten
> years; an increasingly professionalised, competitive and hostile
> marketplace has centralised around UK powerhouses like the Columbo Group
> and global behemoths like Live Nation, AEG and (until recently) Red Bull.
>


> But the same process is arguably reflected on an individual level too: as
> barriers to entry have risen, people from backgrounds of notable wealth and
> privilege have taken increasingly visible ownership of ostensibly
> countercultural platforms (with that context rarely noted in public
> discussions of their creative output).


My own perspective on this is that the only way to counter this is to BUILD
A NEW UNDERGROUND from the bottom up, a new grassroots that exists as an
alternative to the mainstream electronic music industry. Gillett seems to
suggest something along the same lines as what I've been contemplating:

One phrase that’s popped up in recent months is “interdependent” music,
> usually in opposition to debased notions of “independent.” We’ve all ended
> up as atomised cultural producers, this line of thinking goes, answerable
> only to ourselves: now our creative freedom is secured, what matters is
> building new networks of solidarity and mutual support. Co-operative
> ownership of platforms, local DIY support networks insulated from the
> rapaciousness of global capital or online content churn, and collective
> resistance to the sinister intentions of the streaming industry could each
> offer us a chance to sidestep the ongoing centralisation of power, and
> mitigate the outsized influence of private wealth and privilege.


Anyway, I'm sure some will strongly disagree with my position but I call it
like I see it and I've been quite poor for many of my adult 

Re: WaPo article about blackness & techno

[Peter Wohelski]

David,

Actually electronic music industry trade organizations like AFEM
 are tackling
issues like diversity and inclusivity from the inside, but from my
experience issues like this are a tough slog to get festival organizers,
promoters, and even hiring managers at labels, distributor, and other
industry employers to truly commit to bring on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and women
artists and executive / staff roles.  It's very much a white, largely
straight old boys network.

I acknowledge that these are for-profit businesses who have shareholders,
investors, and sponsors to answer to, but it's got to start *somewhere.*

Peter

On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 11:10 AM David A. Powers  wrote:

> Those are good points, I don't really have much perspective on what the
> broader American scene is, having lived in Kalamazoo/Detroit/Chicago over
> the years, the majority of events that I have attended do feature a lot of
> black DJ's, and the three headliners I personally booked as a promoter were
> Omar-S, DJ Qu, and Rick Wade, so as far as that I'm trying to be part of
> the solution. If I ever throw a party in Austin TX before I move, and have
> cash for a headliner, I'm gonna bring in someone I know from Detroit, like
> Mike Clark, Alton Miller, or Norm Talley.
> But as someone committed to growing the techno ecosystem and trying to
> create more opportunities for musicians and artists, and making sure a
> diverse range of people are included, I actually think that this topic is
> worth exploring.
> Techno is a DIY scene and that means any of us have the power to
> participate and at least attempt to implement that vision, and so it's
> worth having serious good faith discussions about the best ways to do that,
> because it's not just a topdown corporate thing, and the choices I and
> others make can potentially make real differences in small ways to the
> trajectory of where things are going, whereas the question of who gets
> featured in industry publications, or gets the best gigs is a realm that is
> totally outside my control.
> If I have the cash, though, I can throw an event, so in that sense looking
> at questions of audience diversity is not just a theoretical question. I
> could potentially do a good job or a shitty job with that depending on my
> vision and choices, so I think it's worth reflecting on. If I did it here I
> would definitely partner with some nonwhite friends to collaborate on
> the event so that it wouldn't just be one white guy's personal vision. I
> DEFINITELY would not want to go to a party full of people just like
> me---ugh!!! ;-0
> Of course, individuals cannot fix systemic problems by making personally
> virtuous choices. On the diversity in hiring as it pertains to nonwhite
> DJ's, ultimately, I believe that DJ's themselves need to organize and solve
> the problem together, collectively. Call me crazy, but I think there should
> be a "techno trade union" that engages in collective bargaining to ensure
> more fair outcomes for all everyone involved. I think it should be racially
> integrated, but work to clearly and systemically address industry racism
> and when necessary should privilege nonwhite artists, in ways that
> ultimately lead to better outcomes for everyone. (ALSO--while I'm at it:
> the existing US musician's union should actually help working musicians, so
> that skilled musicians have enough work and the average musician income is
> more than $20,000 a year.)
>
> ~David
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 10:22 AM kent williams 
> wrote:
>
>> The thing about solving problems is that you do what you can do.
>> Projects like House of Altr do what they can: showcase and promote black
>> artists.
>>
>> Techno - and the wider world of dance music - originates in the music of
>> Black americans. What black audiences listen to is a separate matter.  They
>> may be more likely to connect with techno if they see people that look like
>> them up on stage.
>>
>> Labels and promoters CAN address the problem black erasure in dance
>> music.  It's more an issue in Europe than the US, since in the US dance
>> music is less of a commercial phenomenon, but even here, white artists
>> crowd out Black music.
>>
>> You are right that when DEMF was free, it re-introduced techno to Black
>> Detroiters.  I think Paxahau is doing a decent job, but the fact that the
>> festival is now an expensive ticket excludes a large audience who are
>> economically distressed.  With the $200+ ticket price for the weekend, it's
>> absurd to think that the festival is even for the Black citizens of Detroit
>> any more.
>>
>> And not to put too fine a point on it, the subscribers to this list are
>> overwhelming middle class white people.  At this point this is not a place
>> to go to get a Black perspective on anything. Is this list still worthwhile
>> and relevant?
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 10:00 AM David A. Powers 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Still, the idea that you