Forever & Ever...Amen!
Welcome to the Drum & Bass Arena blog. Over the coming months we’ll be giving you a peek into what goes on at D&BA HQ: our ideas, projects in progress, the people, and maybe even some of our favourite recipes.
The last couple of years have been pretty hectic to say the least. In 2005 we made a significant business decision to relocate our entire operation from the pleasant greenery of Sheffield, to the media mayhem of London. As well as wanting to be closer to the rest of the music and media industry, Risky and I also wanted a bit of alifestyle change after years of mischief up north. After nearly 18 months of “transition” (read chaos) things have now stabilised and we finally feel pretty settled in our new offices in East London. Normal operations have resumed and we’re rolling again.
We totally underestimated the disruption that shifting locations would cause. It’s been a painful learning experience in a lot of ways – we basically had to rebuild the entire team and office infrastructure from scratch. Having spent 7 years or so building the company up to quite a decent size, it felt like we were starting all over again. In some ways, we are starting again, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
So who am I?
I’m the CEO and co-founder of Drum & Bass Arena’s parent company. Although I didn’t create the site (this honour belongs entirely to Risky), I’ve been largely responsbile for managing Drum & Bass Arena’s commercial development and extending the brand into other platforms over the past 9 years. I’ve been involved in the music industry since 1992, both as a musician and promoter of live gigs and clubs. I got into graphic and web design in 1994.
My first exposure to the drum & bass industry was in 1997 when started desgined the web site, 3D animations and record sleeves for Formation records. Then I met Risky in a pub in Sheffield and the rest, as they say, is history. I only really got into drum & bass whilst at university – I feel it’s one of the only music genres that transcends race, class and geographic boundaries, and that’s what appeals to me about it. I’m 33, and live in North London with my wife and daughter. I am pretty good at cooking, I can do amazing things with beetroot.
Our plans moving forward…
Now that we’re rolling again, we feel that the market conditions are right to take Drum & Bass Arena and the drum & bass scene as a whole to the next level. ‘Fighting talk’ you may say, but think about it, who else has dedicated the past 11 years of their lives to this? Much as hate the concept, our ‘manifesto’ moving forward is to:
- Promote D&B music to a global audience, help grow the scene, and ensure its continued development.
- Provide drum & bass fans with the richest online experience and widest range of content (we’ve got a lot to do here before I’m truly satisfied.)
- Unite the drum & bass scene and represent D&B to the wider music, media and technology industries.
- Play a major role in getting drum & bass music available through new merging digital media channels (We’ve already made great progress on this by doing deals with iTunes, Joost, O2, Three and Orange)
We believe have some exciting ideas, a great team and the energy and determination to continue to play a signifcant role in the progression of drum & bass as a musical movement. Part of our new manifesto will be to share the experience with you as much transparency as is possible, and allow you to participate in the development of your community.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and look forward to your comments and questions. We are listening.
Long live drum & bass. Forever & Ever… Amen.
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