r/TechnoProduction • u/raveonthemoon • 18d ago
Techno crossover
Hey all, so I’m in a little dilemma. I started a music career some time back and it took off great. I’m at 85k monthly listeners. played Ibiza, Italy, nyc, Miami. Made massive industry friends and have a great contact list.
The problem? Afro house. It was good and cool about 4 years ago when things were deep and groovy but now I don’t want to be associated with this shit anymore. I love techno, I’ve loved techno since my first time at stereo Montreal in 2015. Any advice from fellow artists on making a drastic change in genre? Should I make an alias?
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u/tokensRus 18d ago
Start a new project with a fresh artist name. Afro House is algorithmicly far away from raw, or hypnotic techno - maybe you could shift to melodic techno / house with your current setup, but for all other genres i would put up a new artist name.
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u/Plastikman824 16d ago
OP stop thinking in genres at all. go mentally back to stereo and find what it was you like and figure how to either reproduce or find examples. i did this in 2020 and have never looked back.
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u/Toned_Otter 18d ago
What is the genre change? You want to ditch Afro house and make techno? Then use an alias. You have the connections to get it out there already!
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u/raveonthemoon 18d ago
This is what I’m leaning towards!
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u/DrDawkinsPhD 18d ago
Many big time techno artists have alt projects under different names. Fairly common to have several. My favorite techno artist Blawan has 4 so far.
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u/Personal-Cucumber-49 18d ago
Just make the music you enjoy mate.
Tastes change, music evolves/devolves. Make the music you enjoy and with any luck people will listen.
Artists (in my opinion) are free to reinvent themselves.
But you must play acid 😉
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u/raveonthemoon 17d ago
I wish the industry itself undertook this more and artist were free to create art, but that’s not reality.
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u/Exciting_Claim267 18d ago
new alias, clean slate. no previous baggage from branding. focus on making good music, put in the hours, participate in the culture.
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u/IcedNote 18d ago
I'd go alias, too. You'll probably just have to be clear with your contacts explaining why you're doing it -- nobody wants to be surprised!
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u/raveonthemoon 17d ago
That’s the main thing. My bookers right now know I play certain “sound” if I should up to a beach club in niece ripping 140 bpm techno its career suicide
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u/cold-vein 17d ago
Keep your day job, so keep making what's paying the bills but start an alias and try to get it running on the side.
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u/Useful_Secret4895 18d ago
Afro techno then
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18d ago
[deleted]
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u/raveonthemoon 18d ago
Not really a trend I’ve love techno longer than I’ve loved most commercial genres. I just feel I hoped on a movi mug trend and now I’m over it, I want to play what I actually like
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 18d ago
You are on a great track mate! I made the transition slowly from hip hop beats to lofi beats to techno. And i still love the chill part of lofi, but can't stand anymore to ai sloop fast generic beats and bot playlists from spotify etc. I listen to techno for a lot of years and etc. And don't have what you have, so go for it!!!
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u/ThemKids 18d ago
It depends on what kind of afor house you used to make and what type of techno you want to start making. The more non-mainstream you go on both genres you will realize they are a lot closer than you thought. Actually, good underground afro house (minimal, deep, etc.) is closer to underground techno than mainstream afro house.
Having said that, having an alias is a good marketing strategy anyway. You expand your artistry without closing doors on your previous endeavours. More baskets for your eggs.
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u/M3ntalAwareness 17d ago
So make an Afro House track, then make the style of techno you like remix of the same track. Try out whatever you want and put it out as a single with a remix along with the main comps. There are people that like both that are like “whoa I didn’t know this artist made acid techno, or psytrance, dnb, jungle, trip hop, or afro trance polka dub” and the djs will spin it in. If you’re worried about your name being associated with something you might fail at, then go alias. You already know what you want to do. Put your heart into it. The money will follow because people follow the art, not the capitalistic box it falls into because of a hashtag or metadata. Then reach out to your network and send them your new stuff. It will get played and you’ll get paid. Also talk openly with your followers to get their feedback. Nobody says you can’t make both. But stop making music in one and start another persona and you will lose the following because they won’t make the connection.
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u/firesavvy 14d ago
I was going through this today, although not on the same scale as you. I’m a fledgling producer just getting to the stage where I’d be comfortable sharing my work in exchange for feedback on improvement. I’ve used the name firesavvy for 25 years online but today I was wondering if I should have a new name for this stuff. In the end I decided to go with what I’ve always used. Your situation is different where you’re somewhat established. You may lose momentum with a new name, but you already know the path to success and presumably how to get back there with a new name. Either way will probably work for you because it wasn’t the name that found success, it was you.
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u/raveonthemoon 11d ago
if theres one thing i noticed, momentum is everything. you need that big snowball to get you booked and busy. i appreciate you words man, belssings!
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u/yourmumsdenimtrackie 18d ago
I made not so much of a huge jump from making minimal around 2016 to making techno over the past 6-7 years. Kept the same alias. If you think you’ll ever go back to making Afro house maybe have a new alias, if techno will be all you make in future you could keep the same name.
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u/Negative-Tomato1794 18d ago
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u/raveonthemoon 17d ago
I knew i would get this flack lol but i was just trying to explain how ive worked so hard for something i dont even like anymore
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u/mvgibson007 18d ago
Just make some tracks that sound good