Today we’d like to introduce you to Doc Brown.
Doc, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Born and raised in Arizona, I first came to South Florida to study music at the University of Miami. Once I graduated, I worked for a record label run by Chris Blackwell on Miami Beach before continuing on with the company in New York. Miami exposed me to a variety of electronic music and I used one of my first paychecks to buy two SL1200-K turntables and a mixer. A lot of my subsequent paychecks went to picking up vinyl at Grooveman at its old location on Alton mostly breaks, DnB & hard dance stuff.
While I was in New York, I had a lot less free time and DJing was really only a hobby. I was working with a lot of indie rock bands and labels but the sound starting changing, becoming more danceable. In particular, it was music from acts like LCD Soundsystem & Simian Mobile Disco that really got me back into electronic music. I started DJing more frequently, including playing gigs out and then when I moved back to Miami around ten years ago, I became even more immersed, and started producing music as well.
Shortly thereafter, I was fortunate enough to win two big DJ/production contests within about a year – one to play at EDC Orlando, and one to play on the Groove Cruise, a cruise ship festival that leaves out of Miami. At that point, I decided to place a full-time emphasis on creating music and performing. I quickly realized that the best way to have success was through production, and have since signed tracks to world-renowned labels like Chus & Ceballos’ Stereo Productions and Roger Sanchez’s UNDR THE RADR among others and have had my tracks played by many of the world’s best DJs, including Tiesto, Danny Tenaglia, Green Velvet, MK, Nicole Moudaber, Solardo, Damian Lazarus and many more.
It’s only been in the past two years or so that things have really started to take off. Last April I was invited to play at EDC Las Vegas, the largest EDM festival in the western hemisphere, and earlier this year, I launched my new record label, Unlearn: Records, which started by scoring a top-10 Beatport charting position on the first release. Not to be deterred by the pandemic, I’m also running a successful weekly show on Twitch, which has been a lot of fun and a great vehicle for launching my new brand.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think anyone that chooses to live a creative lifestyle is going to face struggles. Aside from the obvious difficulties finding ways to generate revenue on art, as an artist, you also face a lot of failure and rejection along the way. You really need to believe in yourself to rise above the noise, stay focused and keep motivated each and every day.
On top of that, this pandemic has thrown a huge wrench in the live events industry, and it doesn’t look like large-scale events are going to be returning anytime soon. The advent of streaming (and its pay structure) has forced a lot of artists to rely primarily on tour revenue, which has all but evaporated. It’s definitely a struggle right now, but innovations with live streaming have shown that fans are absolutely willing to directly support art, which they identify with, and that’s is a positive sign for artists moving forward.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
As far as my musical style, I’ve always seemed to be able to play a more underground style of music that appeals to a larger, less-specialized cross-section of fans. Right now, that includes a lot of techno, tech-house and progressive music with a production quality and melodic/vocal hooks that have wide appeal.
Speaking more to the label, it’s based on the idea that we may need to re-think the artist/label relationship at its core. Truth is, without investment in a release, there really isn’t much chance of success and that shouldn’t be put 100% on the artist when a label is taking a big chunk of the profits. Any release that comes out on Unlearn: Records will be invested in – full PR campaigns, top-flight DJ promo, etc. To me, it seems like basic common sense if you’re going to be releasing music, but it’s unfortunately not the norm in the electronic music industry.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Personally, I define success as being happy in general, in life. That’s really the only marker you need. Professionally, there are definitely markers I’m looking for. My goal is to be regularly releasing on the world’s top labels, as well as taking the Unlearn: Records brand from record label to party concept. The thing is, as an artist, it’s usually pretty easy to keep track of where you’re at… chart positions, frequency/quality of gigs, big label signings are all good signals of how things are going. The weird thing is that you need to not consider or pay attention to any of that when you’re actually creating in order for the expression to be authentic. Keeping that balancing act between the commercial & creative endeavors is key.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://docbrowndj.com
- Email: Booking/remix requests: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/docbrowndj
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/docbrowndj
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/docbrowndj
- Other: http://bit.ly/docbrown_spotify
Image Credit:
Photo credit: Veranmiky (live1,jpg, live3,jpg)
Photo credit: Scottyhawk (live4.jpg)
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