The Power of Piracy and Viral Marketing.

Do you like dance music? What about today’s electronic sounds? What about the current wave of highly technical rhythm Drum & Bass the kids can’t get enough of?

Not to every ones taste I suspect. But the fact remains, it is a billion dollar market worldwide today.

So how did it start?

It began in the ghettos of South London at the end of the 1980s. In neighbourhoods of Brixton, Peckham, Camberwell, with DJ names like Dr S Gachet, Jumping Jack Frost, Danny Ramplin, et al.  They begun to plagiarise and mix American East Coast ‘elecro’ with London R&B and Dub Reggie on pirate radio.

They put on all night free parties in old lock-up warehouses and dens. By about 1988 the illegal venues were chock-a-block with punters. In the greater London area more people where listening to the now dozens of pirate radio stations than the BBC’s and commercial stations.

The commercial DJs caught on to it and next thing you know obscure underground tunes were being played on prime air time, eventually making it into the official music charts.

Would this have happened without the clandestine world of Piracy? Arrr, Jim Lad! I doubt it!