I asked myself a question this week, namely 'Is there still a market for CD Material from the Likes of Mastermix, DMC and Pro-Disc?'. The reason why I asked this question was largely down to a CD buying spree to update my ever growing collection of must plays and must haves and just in case I got asked for that elusive old school track - you know the one that goes.........

Looking at the Mastermix website, I worked out that my intended purchases would cost around £349.00. After giving birth to kittens I looked all around the site, but couldn't find any mention of bulk buying discounts for DJ's who were about to part with their life savings . I decided no longer to subscribe to the DJ Only hype and take my business elsewhere, namely the high street and the ever growing number of Online CD E-tailers.

Having starting to shop around it was obvious within the first couple of CD's that DJ's are paying through the nose for the DJ only label. One CD from Mastermix - The Classic Cuts collection will cost you a princely £15.00 from a retailer, and with an average of 15 tracks per cd that works out at £1.00 a track. - thats even more than Woolworths downloads . Looking around the many compilations which are available from online and offline retailers, it's clear that the average non DJ'ing consumer is getting the best deal. Take School Disco no1's for example - 3CD's for £12.99 when purchased from CD WOW!, that is a more bargain like 25p per track - a quarter of the price on a per track basis than that from a DJ only source.

So are DJ's getting ripped off?. Well perhaps rip off is too strong a word, maybe we are just not getting value for money. If I had bought CD compilations from Mastermix's Classic Cuts and Pop & Dance range it would have cost me £349.00, whilst buying CD's with similar content from a combination of the online CD E-tailers and the High Street cost £243.00 - that is a £106 saving just from excercising my legs and my mouse and shopping around.

Another difference between some of the Classic Cuts and Pop & Dance material compared to the commercial stuff on the high street is that some of the DMC and Mastermix material tends to be 12" versions, which are not entirely suitable for mobile work, and can be a needless pain to work with. If you can obtain the 7" edit (nowadays refered to as the Radio Edit) from a compilation offered at a lower price on the high street, then not only are you saving money, but you are also getting a version of a track which the audience are familiar with, and recognise. 12" versions in the 1980's especially, usually meant an extra 2 minutes of Intro, and Extended Outro or an unexpected piano or guitar solo halfway through the track . Maybe it's just me?, but I find that at a Mobile Gig, people get bored of 8 min versions of tracks and the 3min 34 sec radio edit is far easier to work with.

Q) So is there still a market for the likes of Mastermix and DMC?.

A) Yes, perhaps

Although I think that this realm will be solely the DJ's who work pubs and clubs, or those who have the need for a lot of mixed content. Being a Mobile Dj covering Weddings and Family orientated functions I rarely have the need for the latest pre-release material or 33 mins of music all mixed together. When I did belong to a Cd pool type subscription bringing new music to your doorstep every month I found that 90% of the material on the CD was not suitable for the gigs that I was doing, and quite frankly a waste of money.

So don't be fooled by the Exclusive DJ Only marketing of these CD Compilations, because a large amount of back catalogue classics, can be obtained far more cheaply from the high street, and from e-tailers like Time Life, Amazon, CDWow & Play.com - you can also legally download New Music from Woolworths and I-tunes and I-tunes, surprisingly is still very much up to date with New Release Chart and Dance tracks, and unlike the Monthly subscription CD, gives you control over which tracks you need, and how many you need.

So my advice, if you are building a CD Collection from Scratch, or just updating your back catalogue material, and you want to save money, then shop around and don't just believe that CD Only labeled material is offering the best value for the DJ, because quite frankly it isn't!.

I realise that this has turned into somewhat of an Anti-DJ Only rant, but quite honestly having seen the prices which we are being charged for what, in most cases are the same tracks from the same artist, and if you have no need for mixed compilations or 12" versions of older tracks then do a bit of shopping around!. Don't forget to also visit the bargain bin of the high street retailers too!.

Links to Cheap CD Sources