DJ Mag’s top 100 Poll Plunges Into Parody

Published July 26, 2013 | By skrufff

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EDM superstar DJs Afrojack, Boys Noize and Paul Oakenfold have contributed to a viral video satirizing the shenanigans behind DJ magazine’s annual top 100 poll, with Paul Oakenfold advising ‘vote for us, so we don’t have to get kids in India to do it for you’.

The video (which also includes 90s pop star Alanis Morissette admitting she’s not a DJ yet ‘but how hard can that shit be?’) emerged just as Slovenian tech-house giant Umek issued a similarly sardonic statement about the poll in which he admitted that while most of his fans (and lower level DJs) hate the poll for superstars it’s surprisingly popular amongst his peers.

“Everyone acts as a rebel, stating that they don’t care about their rankings, but in the end all of us eagerly anticipate the event on ADE, where they announce the results,” he admitted.

“The rank doesn’t really influence my number of gigs, nor the price I can charge for my performance, but it still feels nice to see my name among the great 100. It’s an ego trip and everyone likes that, whether you are honest about it or not.

Artists who rank on the very top, keep their mouths shut, because they are happy with the results, while I noticed most of the ranting from DJs who end on the bottom or are not on it at all,’ said Umek.

Top rank EDM star Gareth Emery, however, didn’t keep his mouth shut, taking to facebook this week to urge his fans NOT to vote for him.

“Just took a bizarre unsolicited phone call from a publicity company who help DJs promote themselves for the Top 100 poll, who told me I should be aware one of my ‘competitors’ (as she put it) was spending $15,000 on Twitter advertising alone, and unless I got on that sort of level, I would find it ‘hard to compete’. Obviously not going to say who the DJ was, but I was nearly sick in my mouth,” said Gareth.

“So here’s an alternative Top 100 message: Don’t vote for me.”

“If you did plan on voting for me, give that vote instead to the DJs you see spending their money on promoted tweets, sponsored stories, banner adverts, rebranded twitter pages, etc. If they care that much about their number, just let them have it,” he recommended.