Wasn’t quite my song of the tournament (I already knew it, since it’s on my version of Desperate), but what a genius move by JR playing “Elsie”!! A great song - accessible tune from a well-known band but not a well-known track so it has the element of familiarity but surprising at the same time.
Simultaneous congrats and condolences to you JR - I know you’d touched on it previously so you knew it was coming, but it’s still a shock at the end nonetheless… Hope you’re bearing up OK.
I’m curious @JohnRain - did knowing people’s selections help you see the strategies, and thus sway you in picking any of your tracks?
Competition was excellent on the whole - a pity the song selections suffered from the law of diminishing returns (esp. the final)… Tighten up the voting timeframes, and I reckon we’ve got a winner!
Seriously.
DJ’s were swayed by votes from previous rounds.
You have no-one to blame but yourselves, keeping in mind that those that went through couldn’t vote.
A suggestion - without thinking too deeply about it, one way to pick the pace up, get things humming and exciting, would be to pre-submit all tracks - all rounds except the final. If you don’t get through, no harm done. That way, there can be a schedule, tracks played, tension maintained.
On Elsie. It was released on a fantastic movie soundtrack album by the Divinyls back in '82 from memory. As such, many Divinyls fans haven’t heard it before, so it had the surprise element. Heavy guitars and Chrissie at her rawest. The song is about a lady down on her luck and struggling. Apparently, Chrissie was living in an apartment block in her younger years and one of the residents in that block provided the inspiration for the song. For mine, it is a slayer of a song. “Life can be lonely, can be very sad, can be something you wish you never had”. Glad you liked it.
Thanks, Bakes. Was expected, but Dad’s condition deteriorated rapidly at the end. I received a call saying that he had a few months left to live less than two weeks ago. Then another call shortly after that to say only a matter of days. Rushed to book flights home, but there was nothing available for several days. I couldn’t make it in time. Fortunately, I could speak with him via webcam and share/exchange intimate emotions. He fell into a coma two days after that chat and passed away two days ago.
I chose all of my songs pre-game. Elsie was a lock for the final (if I made it that far) and I also had a few trance numbers ready to go to sway the dance music lovers. The strategy was to garner votes from both the rock and dance music lovers. So, knowing other’s selections had no influence on me whatsoever. I never changed a song I had chosen pre-game. I also felt it fair to hand off the admin before the final round to avoid punters feeling like I had an advantage in the final. And I reckon I was the first DJ to submit my songs to Jez for the final round, so I had no way of knowing how the other finalists were gunna play it. I suspected Elsie would do well, however, I think the votes for B.B.E. - Deeper Love (Symphonic Paradise) - the last song on Paul Oakenfold’s GU007: New York compilation saw me over the line.
FWIW, when I said I was considering changing my second song, it was from Get Free to a more EDM friendly track.
But given Elsie’s dominance it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.
And Get Free performed okay.
Catering for different tastes was the key in this competition. It seemed many changed the strategy after their first song according to how the punters voted.
Whilst administratively it is more cumbersome to submit one song at a time, it does give the DJ the opportunity to change up their playlist according to the crowd, similar to real life (from someone who has never DJ’d so I could be wrong).
Using @Hoffy as an example. Her first song bombed for votes. I assume she changed her 2nd song or selected it to garner more votes to try to get through to Round 2 and it worked.
Do we accept the fate of the gods and submit all songs prior to competition commencing? I personally don’t like that concept but if that’s the majority view I’ll agree.
I had a ripping Talking Heads track lined up for the final, but pulled it after Rain played Once in a Lifetime. Thought people would not like another song so soon.
Really liked the new concept but to make things more interesting, would participants be willing to put a couple of dollars into a pot with the proceeds going to the winner?
There were 27 participants in round one? $54 to the winner to spend on whatever they like. Vodka, Chinese takeaway, an Air Asia flight to Bali. What ever the winner wants.
Run the comp every couple of months so not to become stale.
I’d split the comp next time. Assuming less participation two groups of 8 would work well. Play 8 songs from one group and the group not spinning votes. It would be two semi finals then a final 8 with eliminated DJ’s voting
to be applied retrospectively. 