S.P.Y and Hospital

[Phase]

people inside the scenes tend to judge things that standout. not always in a fair way.. imo.

You're right
Although I'm really not a fan of the skrillex 'dubstep' hype, it's not even dubstep IMO.
But who am I, I will sit in a corner, listening to Mala - Alicia when everything else is raving to a small emo kid with good producing skills :p

[izotonik]

people that are popular on the "outside world" are tagged as sellouts inside the scene.
some are in fact sellouts.. while others are just very good, anyone can like their music.

[ReSet]

I'm glad that so many people share the same views as me on this. I think Phase hit the nail right on the head. All my friends who thought it was a bad move are pretty much hardcore/old school junglists. I saw no reason for a signing to change a producers sound, otherwise why would they sign them in the first place; "we like your style and what you do, but now you have to sound like this"...

Makes no sense to me, but they have their views and I have mine, I guess. It's good to see I'm not the only one who isn't completely hung up on labels though.

And yes, By Your Side is an absolute tune. Check out his collab with BCee on 'Is Anybody Out There', also a quality piece of music

[izotonik]

I found this..



it's a review but.. sunny side, melodic and soulful stuff. if that's what they want, I guess that spy sound will be a nice add-on to the label

I saw no reason for a signing to change a producers sound, otherwise why would they sign them in the first place; "we like your style and what you do, but now you have to sound like this"...

to me that doesnt happen because of the label.
I guess that the producers think that they must please more people, so they change their sound in order to do that. and they grab influences from what is popular at the moment.
and sometimes what is popular.. is not necessarily good.

[petermennitirecords]

Could be just because I'm speaking from an American perspective, but I can't really see any drum & bass label being considered a "sellout" label really. The Hospital artists are big players in the drum & bass scene, but to be honest that's not saying a whole lot. The benefits from "selling out" by signing to Hospital - which, in the grand scheme of the industry, is still a pretty tiny label - just don't seem to be big enough for someone to justify completely changing their sound just because of that, at least to me. Even in the best possible situation, its not like this is gonna make SPY into a million-selling pop icon overnight.

That aside, the whole "selling out" thing can come from the producer as well... people change their sound over time, not always for the better, for reasons other than just money. For all we know, Hospital signed SPY because he was already sitting on a ton of material that fit their sound really well.

It could be that Hospital is a bigger deal overseas than it is here, and in that case calling it a "sellout" move might make more sense. But I just can't see it. If a drum & bass producer really wanted to sell out, they'd have to stop making drum & bass pretty much

[Watermint]

So why is Hospital perceived by some as a sell-out label then?

I think it's because most of the DnB tracks that are played on generic teenage parties (like the only thing I have in my city) are from Hospital Records. E.g. Danny Byrd & Netsky - Tonight and about everything else from Netsky (not that I think it's a bad thing, as I still love Netsky). They just associate Hospital Records with commercial music these days, what makes me sad, because it's a quality label.

O_O I'm like the only one in my town that even knows what drum and bass is, aside from maybe a couple people listening to Pendulum.

Either way I don't think it's a bad move? It will just tell with time whether he's conforming to the label's "sound" or not.

[izotonik]

people here are starting to know dnb and dubstep. at the beginning was like.. netsky and noisia! ahaha

a major sellout move example: nero. they signed to insterscope in the us, along with 50 cent, black eyed peas.. zomg!

[Phase]

So why is Hospital perceived by some as a sell-out label then?

I think it's because most of the DnB tracks that are played on generic teenage parties (like the only thing I have in my city) are from Hospital Records. E.g. Danny Byrd & Netsky - Tonight and about everything else from Netsky (not that I think it's a bad thing, as I still love Netsky). They just associate Hospital Records with commercial music these days, what makes me sad, because it's a quality label.

O_O I'm like the only one in my town that even knows what drum and bass is, aside from maybe a couple people listening to Pendulum.

Either way I don't think it's a bad move? It will just tell with time whether he's conforming to the label's "sound" or not.

Well, since Netsky became kind of a legend, DnB really started to grow in Belgium. You hear it everywhere now.

[Super Alex]

I have no real feelings one way or the other.