Fuck social media: To succeed in dance music, you just need great records

Yesterday, my colleague Funster put forth the idea that an artist's social media presence was just as important as the music they create. Considering he runs the Mixmag Twitter account, I’ve seen him work himself into a frenzy when his @ searches for obscure artists return nothing but egg accounts. So I get where he’s coming from. But if that’s where dance music is at then we’ve lost sight of what’s really important: the actual fucking music.

I’m aware it’s 2017. I’m aware the Internet has transformed from a niche community for ‘nerds’ sharing Star Trek fan fiction into the monstrous entity it is, full of presidential meltdowns and fake news. It has become the lifeblood of modern society. It’s also revolutionised the music industry. But I argue the net is purely a platform for making the music speak for itself. Not memes and certainly not an endless source of telling people to ‘hit me for guestlist’ in Facebook statuses hyping their sets.

So what constitutes an online presence? In a strict sense of the word, it implies having some form of representation on the internet. But much like being ketted out on the couch at a party, you might be there, but it doesn't mean you're actively engaging in the festivities. We live in a time where Instagram fame is a legit form of income; so when people talk about ‘presence’ in the 21st century it means constantly appearing in someone’s newsfeed and being the life of the party. For that you've got to be an active user.