General discussion / The State of HArdstyle

Quite an interesting read. Enjoy folks

Q) Why have you decided to close Global Hardstyle?

The direction the "hardstyle" scene has taken musically is so much against our original goal with the website, namely, targeting a largely unknown and underground music genre to be exposed to the international market.

What we are seeing now that "hardstyle" has almost become pop music attracting large groups of people that are in it for the hype rather than for the spirit of hard & dark music. From our perspective, hardstyle the way it was and to the way it is supposed to be, is now closer to death than ever.

Additionally, the core of the hardstyle industry has become rotten and corrupt, further explanations about this can be found in later questions. We do not wish to contribute to a genre where people are abusing their position and others for their own gain.

Q) What are you talking about? Hardstyle is bigger than ever?

Non-sense, the music that is being served to you at the majority of the large events mainly consists of nu-style. All the "big" DJ's that are being pushed forward are playing and producing nu-style.

If you are a fan of: Brennan Heart, D-Block & S-Te-Fan, HHz, Noisecontrollers, Wildstylez, Frontliner or any of the likes you are not a fan of hardstyle, you are a fan of nu-style. These artists do not produce hardstyle.

Q) What is Nu-style? Nu-style doesn't exist! It's all hardstyle!

A frequently heard comment that leads to a huge frustration with people that have a professional understanding of what hardstyle music is about. It is obvious and clear, that the "hardstyle" music you are hearing on parties in 2010 is different from the music you heard in 2003. Some of it is to blame on the quality of production, difference in hardware used to compose the track and so forth. However some of it can be traced back to the fact that technically, the music is no longer the same!

Now the technical part:
The way that kick & reverse bass (the power of hardstyle) was produced several years ago is based on a completely different drive and energy feel than the metallic and hollow sounding excuses that are called kicks in 2010. The bassline has transformed from an energetic short burst into a "wall of bass" that makes all tracks sound the same.

Melodies were usually constructed with short stabbing sounds and simple yet effective melodies. The melodies of the "hardstyle" of today are based on triplets, a musical term for an arrangement of notes. Find more info on Wikipedia.

The musical facts make it clear that we are actually talking about severe changes in the structure of the music. We can therefore conclude that hardstyle & nu-style are not the same music.

Q) I still call bullshit, I don't care about a name!

Well then be stubborn and have a look at the following YouTube clips.

This was the Defqon Anthem in 2003:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E82EdgiiXvg&feature=player_embedded#!

This is the Defqon Anthem in 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIonBsMBP0M&feature=player_embedded#!


Same music? We don't think so.

Q) Are you living in the past?

Absolutely not, hardstyle is still as actual as it was 5 years ago. The main problem is that it isn't visible (or perhaps we should say, audible) because it is being discriminated against by the big organisations.
The majority of the artists involved in creating proper hardstyle are forcefully pushed aside so their influx on the general public is minimalised.

Q) Why don't you just let go and find another music genre?

To be frank, we love hardstyle quite a lot, which is what makes it extra painful to see our music being pushed aside and replaced by nu-style. We have waited in hope for 3 years, but no real improvement has taken place. Most of us do listen to other music genres since proper hardstyle has become so scarce, however, most of us don't want to let go and move on simply out of the joy and emotions we have with hardstyle.

Let's say the industry moves ahead at the current pace and turns the current "hardstyle" into something so awful that even the most die hard nu-style fans are disgusted by it, they would do exactly the same in order to save the music they love.

Q) Why aren't you attempting to make your own "proper" hardstyle music and push that forward?

For those who are unaware, Global Hardstyle largely consists of musical fanatics and hardstyle addicts. Many of the users are active producers and DJ's in their local scenes. The problem we have is that after 2006, when the commercial decline made it's entry, even after almost 4 years of creating tracks, building our own labels, and so forth - we still haven't gotten anywhere. You can make thousands of tracks and create new labels, but the big DJ's will never play them at the big events because they are told off when they do. Secondly the big organisations do not want to see influence of smaller artists and labels that will steer the music away from their commercial orientation.

Q) What is the opinion of the big names from the old days such as Dana, Luna, Pila etc.?

Without making a statement on their behalf, most of them prefer the way hardstyle was far above the music that is currently being named hardstyle. The problem is that they are not free in their choice of records because if they play on a current big event they are forced to play the tracks that are currently popular. If not they will simply lose their job. Therefore you will never publicly find criticism coming from other artists in the scene.

Q) How can you say all of this? Do you own hardstyle?

No one owns hardstyle. We don't, nor do any of the big organizations (even though it might appear so.) This is what we want to change. What we strive for is the term hardstyle, we don't want it to be associated with todays so-called hardstyle. That is one of the goals with Global Hardstyle! Since the difference is massive, we want everyone to be aware of these contrasts.

Hardstyle belongs to the people, hardstyle belongs to those who are actively creating and supporting it. In the current situation the only result we are seeing is that the big organisations are filling their pockets with money that comes from YOU. From the hard working student or young adult. You are sponsoring a corrupt industry that milks your pockets dry whilst forcefully pushing those aside that are attempting to be creative and take the music to a broader level.

Many users of Global Hardstyle are seriously upset about the current situation. Some of us discovered hardstyle in "its golden years", and have contributed in many ways to it. Some others of us have discovered hardstyle later - and through research we have been confronted with important information which we believe everyone, nu-style and hardstyle fans should know about. We don't want any organisations (or single humans for that matter) to take total control over the term hardstyle - we want everyone to see the truth! No one should be capable of running a music style alone. Music should be produced from the heart, not for the money.

Q) You are being so negative! Look at it from the bright side and enjoy the parties!

One can only appreciate the positive when one is being made aware of the reality of the negative. Yes, the fact that there still are big parties is positive and worthwhile however the lack of the music we, as the community of Global Hardstyle, love makes us sad and frustrated.

Q) What has Global Hardstyle done for hardstyle over the last years?

After starting Global Hardstyle we have mostly focused in growing and expanding hardstyle in foreign markets where hard dance music was largely unknown.
From this starting point we have co-organised hardstyle events in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, France and the US. As the owner of Global Hardstyle, ScuL was the first Dutch Hardstyle DJ ever to play in France and Sweden, the second ever to play in Denmark and the US.

We have organized various pre-party events for international travelers for major events such as Sensation Black, In Qontrol and Qlimax. Global Hardstyle has arranged a bus trip from Stockholm to Amsterdam for In Qontrol (the first bus trip ever to go from Sweden to a Dutch hardstyle event). We co-organised several other tours from Germany, Denmark, Sweden and France to the major Dutch events.

Global Hardstyle Records was erected to support the music from our forum members and has made it to 6 releases that were purposely ignored by the vast majority of the big DJ's. We have sold over 850 copies of some of our top ranking vinyls which obviously means that the tracks were of sufficient quality.

Q) Have you ever received any rewards or compensation from the big organisations for your hard work?

None, zero, zip, nothing. They simply abuse our forum as a platform for free advertising, because our members are doing it out of love for the music. When criticism arose they tried to shut us up.

Q) Do you want to sell your domain/website?

No. The highest offer so far has been 6000€ and it was rejected.
The owner of Global Hardstyle, ScuL, sees the website (and also the underlying hardcore, hardtechno and hardtrance forums), as his project dedicated to these musical genres and does not want it to be carried over to somebody else who will go along with the commercial flow the big organisations are forcing everybody into.

Q) What is all this talk about corruption? What exactly is wrong?

You may not have been following hardstyle for a very long time but the following diagram clearly shows you what's wrong:



This diagram represents the associated label/party of the main headlining artists on the hardstyle stages of the following events. The clear conclusion you can draw from this diagram is that variation in hardstyle has seriously deteriorated and that one label specifically has pushed very hard in achieving mass-domination.

Now let it be specifically this label that has ties with the leading hardstyle organisation and therefore always has preference in having as many of their artists on the main line-ups. Secondly they always get priority in creating anthems and have many more unfair advantages compared to other labels.

Q) And what is the positions of other artists and labels?

Most of them go with the flow because they don't want to lose their jobs. We can see that some artists have nobly moved towards independence (such as Showtek). Even though their music is mostly commercial nowadays we highly respect their choice to step away from the corrupt Dutch scene and take their right into their own hands.

Smaller artists and labels, or those who used to be big in hardstyle but have refused to go with the flow are purposely being ignored, discriminated and extorted.

Such DJ's are served with situations such as the following:

If you play at party X with competitor Y you are not allowed to perform with us
We will offer you a place in our line-up if you agree to play for half your salary
If you do not sign our contract we will no longer book you to our events

Q) Why is this situation so extreme and why does it apply on hardstyle only?

We're quite convinced that other music genres are not free of corruption and similar incidents. The disadvantage with hardstyle is that you simply have nowhere to go! If you do not comply with what the big organisations want you to do, you are screwed. If the same happens with trance, hardcore, electro or any other major self-sufficient genre, you still have plenty of options to go elsewhere and play for other organisations!

Q) A document has been floating around with information said to be sourced from this website - how much of it is true?

Firstly we need to be clear and state that the document you point at is a mixture of articles coming from various sources. What we can say is that this document is 100% authentic and contains nothing but the truth. All the quotes and facts are traceable from reliable eyewitnesses and can be proven with copies of private messages, e-mails, chat logs and more of the kind. The problem we are facing is that a majority of the fan base can not understand nor accept the fact that their idols are actually quite devious which makes it easy for them to chuck it away as stating all of it is "bullshit".

Q) You're simply jealous of the success of the big DJ's and nu-style!

We can't see how we can be jealous at big DJ's who are playing music that we are disgusted by. Firstly we wouldn't want to be in their position because we were happy with the way hardstyle used to be pre-2006. Secondly, they are making huge sacrifices to maintain their position by keeping corruption alive and living a life of constant lies. Any human with decent moral values wouldn't want to live such a life.

Q) What do you want to achieve?


We want our hardstyle back!
We want a clear separation between hardstyle and nu-style!
We want a proper hardstyle area on all the big events (just as with hardcore)!
We want recognition of sub genres of hardstyle such as techstyle and corestyle!
We want fair treatment of all DJ's no matter if they are with the big agencies or not!

Old stuff
http://www.globalhardstyle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=292&t=57592

This was mentioned before in another topic (don't ask my what topic)

every day I agree a little bit more...

On 20-05-2010 12:53:54, KBZLL wrote:

Old stuff
http://www.globalhardstyle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=292&t=57592

This was mentioned before in another topic (don't ask my what topic)

sorry, didnt realise this was already posted here. i knew it was an old post on their site but didnt know if many from here had read.

On 20-05-2010 12:56:15, m4a1 wrote:

every day I agree a little bit more...

i've only been into hardstyle for about a year and a half and transofmration is unbelievable. When it first arrived in Britain it was underground and sounded fresh and exciting. Seems like every child has a showtek song on their phone now.

Disappointing to think it went from being (Somewhat of) a credible music to something that kids like so quickly.

As for the big events and dj's playing what they are told... Exactly true.

Think their 'top25 tracks' pish is a cover up to let fans think they are getting what they want when in reality the fans are getting what the part time fans want because there is more of them

On 20-05-2010 13:08:35, djdesudo wrote:

[...]

sorry, didnt realise this was already posted here. i knew it was an old post on their site but didnt know if many from here had read.

Doesn't matter mate
Everyone makes mistakes

Just face the fact that music will always evolve.

On 20-05-2010 13:17:39, boerenlater wrote:

Just face the fact that music will always evolve.

yeah, i really dont like how they claim that nu-style is different to hardstyle.. hardstyle is hardstyle, same way techno is techno. you can find HUGE differences in the way some techno sounds. We should embrace the fact that hardstyle can sound different.

But the point they make about artists being forced to play certain tracks or be out of a job is spot on. its being ran by one massive organisation that dictates what people will play and listen to and ultimately buy.

On 20-05-2010 13:21:41, djdesudo wrote:

[...]

yeah, i really dont like how they claim that nu-style is different to hardstyle.. hardstyle is hardstyle, same way techno is techno. you can find HUGE differences in the way some techno sounds. We should embrace the fact that hardstyle can sound different.

But the point they make about artists being forced to play certain tracks or be out of a job is spot on. its being ran by one massive organisation that dictates what people will play and listen to and ultimately buy.

Because Scul said that?

YAWNYAWNYAWN

Gaan we hier ScuL praktijken krijgen?
Eindeloze discussies voeren etc etc. Ik vraag hierbij MeeSTerX om een slotje als dat mag

On 20-05-2010 13:26:27, Jro_ wrote:

YAWNYAWNYAWN

Gaan we hier ScuL praktijken krijgen?
Eindeloze discussies voeren etc etc. Ik vraag hierbij MeeSTerX om een slotje als dat mag

your gonna put a lock on the topic because it will start endless discussion? Are you joking? how is that a bad thing?

and can we keep this topic english because id like to know what is being said cause im interested in this topic.

On 20-05-2010 13:17:39, boerenlater wrote:

Just face the fact that music will always evolve.

On 20-05-2010 13:32:41, djdesudo wrote:

[...]

your gonna put a lock on the topic because it will start endless discussion? Are you joking? how is that a bad thing?

and can we keep this topic english because id like to know what is being said cause im interested in this topic.

Waarom engels, Q-dance is een Nederlands bedrijf en de feesten die genoemd worden zijn ook allemaal in NL. De Artiesten waarom het gaat komen ook voor 90% uit NL

On 20-05-2010 13:37:39, Dakpan wrote:

[...]

Music doesn't evolve

Was asking as a favour not demanding it be in english. Your an arsehole though

"If you are a fan of: Brennan Heart, D-Block & S-Te-Fan, HHz, Noisecontrollers, Wildstylez, Frontliner or any of the likes you are not a fan of hardstyle, you are a fan of nu-style. These artists do not produce hardstyle."

nice

On 20-05-2010 13:53:17, HS-HC-4life wrote:

"If you are a fan of: Brennan Heart, D-Block & S-Te-Fan, HHz, Noisecontrollers, Wildstylez, Frontliner or any of the likes you are not a fan of hardstyle, you are a fan of nu-style. These artists do not produce hardstyle."

nice

I don't give a shit about such opinions.
I like ehs, nu style and other so called different hardstyle currents.
IT'S ALL HARDSTYLE IN THE END!

On 20-05-2010 13:52:05, djdesudo wrote:

Was asking as a favour not demanding it be in english. Your an arsehole though

Well that's the nicest thing you ever said to me

On 20-05-2010 13:58:41, Jro_ wrote:

[...]

Well that's the nicest thing you ever said to me

I dont think ive ever had a conversation with you before tbh.

On 20-05-2010 13:50:57, boerenlater wrote:

[...]

Music doesn't evolve

Een style toegankelijker maken voor meer volk dus meer geld, is niet evolven.