DMC World DJ Championships explained

DMC World DJ Championships
Location:Various
Years Active:1985–present
Founders:Disco Mix Club
Dates:2020
Genre:Hip hop, Turntablism

The DMC World DJ Championships is an annual DJ competition founded by the Disco Mix Club (DMC) which began in 1985.[1] It has been described as a "pre-eminent competitive DJ event".[2]

History

Competitors are each given 6 minutes to perform, with winners selected at the end.[3] Championships were sponsored internationally by Technics, but in 2010 Technics was replaced by Serato and Rane.[4] Since 2011, the vinyl emulation software Serato Scratch Live can be used during the competition in addition to traditional vinyl.[5]

The first championship, held in the London Hippodrome in 1985, was won by Londoner Roger Johnson.[2] [6] From 1992 to 1994 American DJ Qbert dominated the competition, until being asked to step down in order to "level the playing field".[3] In 2017 the Bronx-born Puerto Rican DJ Perly became the first woman to win the DMC United States finals. She went on to earn fourth place in the world finals in London later that year, the highest-placing female to that date.[7] [8]

In 2020 and 2021, the tournament was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 event also attracted media attention due to one of the competitors being a 9 year-old girl from Dubai.[9] [10] [11]

Kalib Strickland from New Zealand, under the name DJ K-Swizz, won both the 2022 and the 2023 world events. He was reported as the youngest to win the championship and the first winner from the Southern hemisphere[12] [13], though that would be incorrect, as Strickland won the 2022 event at 19 years old, while A-Trak holds the record when he won the 1997 competition at the age of 15.[14]

Disco Mix Club

The competition was founded in 1985 by the Disco Mix Club. The club was founded by Tony Prince in 1983 as a DJ remix label which targeted professional disc jockeys and enthusiasts instead of the mass market. It resold megamixes and remixes, and published a weekly magazine. The company also began the magazine Mixmag before it was sold to the British media group EMAP in January 1997.[15] The club founded the world championship event "for DJs to test their skills against their peers".[16]

Musicians who contributed megamixes to the company included Alan Coulthard,[17] Les Adams (who was a judge on some of the earlier DMC championships),[18] Chad Jackson, Dave Seaman, Steve Anderson, Peter Slaghuis, Paul Dakeyne, and Ben Liebrand. The Disco Mix Club itself went into voluntary liquidation in April 2023.[19]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: DMC World DJ Championships. 2021-01-17. DMC World DJ Championships. en. 2008-05-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20080513213118/http://www.dmcdjchamps.com/. live.
  2. News: Palmer . S . DJs face the music in DMC event: HIP-HOP . 4 February 2024 . . 18 July 2014 . Since then the championships have grown to be a pre-eminent competitive DJ event with talent from across the world on show..
  3. News: Dunlevy . T . Scratch city: DJing is no longer the solitary art it was a few years ago. montreal's turntablist community is booming . 4 February 2024 . . 19 June 1999 . Montreal.
  4. Book: Smith, Sophy. Hip-Hop Turntablism, Creativity and Collaboration. 2016-04-22. Routledge. 978-1-317-12186-2. en. 2021-02-13. 2024-02-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20240210112350/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd4FDAAAQBAJ&q=World+DJ+Championships+sponsor&pg=PT51#v=snippet&q=World%20DJ%20Championships%20sponsor&f=false. live.
  5. Book: Katz, Mark. Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-hop DJ. 2012. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-533112-7. en. 2021-02-13. 2024-02-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20240204000014/https://books.google.com/books?id=epwRDAAAQBAJ&q=World+DJ+Championships+sponsor&pg=PA247#v=snippet&q=World%20DJ%20Championships%20sponsor&f=false. live.
  6. Web site: Dave Pearce and Roger Johnson Hip Hop Special . . 10 February 2024 . 23 August 2013.
  7. Web site: Williams . Harrison . DJ PERLY BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN TO WIN THE DMC ANNUAL DJ BATTLE . . 3 February 2024 . 10 August 2017 . 9 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210509185940/https://mixmag.net/read/dj-perly-becomes-the-first-woman-to-win-the-dmc-annual-dj-battle-news?next . live .
  8. Web site: Heritage and Harmony: DJ Perly . . 3 February 2024 . 26 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220326032523/https://www.womenshistory.org/heritage-and-harmony-dj-perly . live .
  9. Web site: Ross . Gemma . A NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL HAS ENTERED THE DMC WORLD DJ CHAMPIONSHIPS . . 3 February 2024 . 27 April 2021 . 18 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220118232836/https://mixmag.net/read/nine-year-old-girl-dmc-world-dj-championships-news . live .
  10. Web site: Skinner . Tom . Nine-year-old girl enters DMC World DJ Championships . . 3 February 2024 . 28 April 2021 . 7 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210507232923/https://www.nme.com/news/music/nine-year-old-girl-enters-dmc-world-dj-championships-2929697 . live .
  11. Web site: Nine-year-old DJ Michelle enters The DMC World Championships . . 3 February 2024 . 28 April 2021 . 3 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230203070113/https://djmag.com/news/nine-year-old-dj-michelle-becomes-youngest-entrant-ever-dmc-world-championships . live .
  12. News: Cugley . Michael . DJ K Swizz wins the big one back to back . 3 February 2024 . Te Ao Maori News . 14 November 2023 . 4 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240204000046/https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2023/11/15/dj-k-swizz-wins-the-big-one-back-to-back/ . live .
  13. News: Smith . Sam . How does one become a world-champion DJ at 19? . 3 February 2024 . . 11 November 2023 . 11 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231111204106/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/301005103/how-does-one-become-a-worldchampion-dj-at-19 . live .
  14. Web site: 1997 World DJ Champion – A-Trak (Canada). Disco Mix Club. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090523075622/http://www.dmcdjchamps.com/worldchamps.asp. May 23, 2009. Oct 1, 2009.
  15. Web site: Emap buys Mixmag . . 9 February 2024 . 18 January 1997 . 5 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240205163237/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1997/Music-Week-1997-01-18.pdf#page=3 . live .
  16. News: DMC World Celebrates 35th Anniversary . 10 February 2024 . Canadian Musician . March 2018.
  17. Web site: Ross . Gemma . FOUNDING DMC DJ ALAN COULTHARD HAS DIED . . 9 February 2024 . 27 August 2021 . 27 October 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211027130727/https://mixmag.net/read/dmc-founding-member-alan-coulthard-member-news . live .
  18. Web site: Tributes paid to radio presenter and DJ Les Adams . Radio Today . 9 February 2024 . 3 September 2019 . 6 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190906123340/https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/09/tributes-paid-to-radio-presenter-and-dj-les-adams/ . live .
  19. Web site: Disco Mix Club Limited. 2024-02-10. 2024-01-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20240120085406/https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01754509/insolvency. live.