With over a thousand new records and downloads
released each week, the world of dance music evolves as quickly as the moves it
inspires, and great tracks by obscure or even anonymous artists can often be
overlooked. This makes DJ charts an
essential guide for fans anxious to keep abreast of what?s hot and what?s not,
as well as an indispensable means of self-promotion for the DJs themselves as
they try to stand out in a highly competitive club scene.
An announcement made today by niche music web
stores Juno Records & Juno
Download should therefore come as welcome news to both parties: each site now enables
DJs to generate and publish their own charts online.
This new feature was designed for ease of use,
allowing DJs to construct their charts instantly by means of a one-click system
that provides immediate access to all available new dance releases. Finalised charts can then be published
straight away on the site itself, and circulated beyond it through various channels
including e-mail, links to Myspace or Facebook profiles or tags posted on social
bookmarking sites such as Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit.
Recognized DJs Jerome Sydenham, Mark Farina,
Rolando, Dan Curtin and Rui Da Silva have already joined the fray. Although this could easily be considered a
measure of early success, Juno Records and Juno downloads have stressed that the
end-goal of the initiative is to increase the visibility of talented but less
high profile artists by offering them a highly-frequented public forum where
they can showcase their creations. Accordingly,
charts can be posted by anyone.