Lost My Dog ‘Connect’ is an opportunity for budding DJs, producers and anybody with an interest in the dance music industry to meet and learn from some the UK finest underground House artists, alongside LMD label bosses and record shop staff.

Lost My Dog has teamed up with legendary record store Swag Records, based in Croydon, London, who have been long-time supporters of the label and who introduced artists such as Nathan Coles, Harold Heath and Nick Dare to LMD.

On the afternoon of Saturday 7th November you can hear sets from Rhythm Plate, Giom, Pete Dafeet, Nick Dare and Terry Francis as well as get their advice on music software, hardware, production tips, DJing and learn how they got their first break.

Also in attendance will be Lost My Dog label bosses Najan Ward and Ian Straker who will be giving advice on how to approach labels, things to consider if you are interested in starting your own label and all aspects of the dance music industry. And of course the hugely experienced Swag Records team will be on hand to talk to and serve up the latest hot 12”s. If you’re looking to work in the dance music industry this is a rare and free event that should definitely not be missed.

Date: Saturday 7th November 2009, 12:00 – 18:00

Location: Swag Records, 42 Station Road, West Croydon, London, CR0 2RB

DJs / Producers:
Rhythm Plate / YSE (Lost My Dog, Winding Road)
Pete Dafeet (Lost My Dog)
Giom (Lost My Dog, Aroma, Blackcherry)
Nick Dare (Lost My Dog, Reform Recordings)
Terry Francis (Fabric, Wiggle)

LMD Label Bosses:
Ian Straker
Najan Ward
Pete Dafeet

plus
Liz, Paul and the Swag Records team.

I hope some of our UK Music Jobs members can check it out!

Lee Jarvis.

(Image via Lost My Dog Records)

I am a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk, and his words have always resonated with what I try to with music and social media. Well, he recently posted a video blog with the title “Hey Mr DJ”, describing the way that DJs aggregate all the music that is out there and deliver it to you for one particular time of day or mood or party. He then uses the term “DJ” in a broad sense to describe the way that people are always looking for interesting content (not just music, but videos, wine facts, triathlon information, etc), but with the incredible amount that is floating around in 2009, people also need a recommendation system to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Many online streaming sites have various genomes / genius bar devices, but I believe that music fans connect better with real people, hence the rise of the DJ over the last 40 years. I have been a DJ myself for sometime, and believe that I have a knack for choosing records from the millions that are out there from around the world, and playing them to the right people at the right time. As an extension of that, I recommend albums and artists to friends and strangers via my online social networking profiles (such as Twitter or Facebook). Vaynerchuk takes this one step further, and suggests that there is great scope for those who can disseminate any kind of niche information from the web, and provide a place that people with a common interest can easily discover and connect.

This kind of tastemaking is, in essence, what we are doing here at music jobs. We offer not only direct job opportunities, but also select pieces of music industry news, single reviews, festival reports, UK music events, advice on your music career, being an independent artist, band promotion, the future of music, copyright issues, music marketing tips and much more!

The purpose of this post is not only to point out how we are here to help you with your search for that perfect music job, but to also point out that maybe you can do something of similar nature. Maybe you know everything there is to know about 18th Century string music, and so maybe you could make yourself the go-to source, not only creating your own content, but feeding out to other sources and narrating on similar articles across the web. Think about it – find your niche, and run with it! You can even start off by posting some interesting topics in our forums and see how many views they gather!

Here is Gary, with his video…

Gary’s original blog post is here, and if you are into social media and general web inspired banter, then I suggest you watch as many of them as possible!

Aside from our music industry forum and music industry blog, we share a lot more in our Twitter Feed or Facebook Fan Page, so feel free to follow and connect with us on there, for all your music career resources.

Lee Jarvis.