Vintage and Morrelli on the Virtual Sessions presented by The DJ Sessions 8/5/24

In this richly layered Virtual Session, Darran Bruce connects with Serbian producer and DJ Vintage & Morelli for an inspiring discussion that blends music, philosophy, and industry insight. Known for his emotive and melodic productions across progressive house, drum and bass, and deep house, Vintage & Morelli opens up about his upcoming album Algorithm for Happiness—a project rooted in appreciating life’s simple joys and resisting the artificial pull of social media.

 

He reveals the origins of his artist name, the collaborative spirit behind his new record label Contrast (a sub-label of As You Are), and how personal values drive his creative process. The conversation spans topics from the challenges of demo submissions and the freedom of running a label, to unpredictable performance moments—including a remix of his track appearing unexpectedly in a surprising setting.

 

Vintage & Morelli shares personal stories of chance encounters with fans, the excitement of playing in breathtaking venues like a historic Polish palace, and his views on authenticity in the age of AI and inflated social media metrics. He speaks candidly about balancing artistic passion with life obligations, why merchandise matters for branding, and how QR codes can be a powerful marketing tool.

 

From philosophical reflections on happiness to hands-on advice for producers navigating the modern music landscape, this episode is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining—a testament to an artist committed to both craft and community.

 

Host: Darran Bruce

Guest: Vintage & Morelli

Location: Virtual Studios, Seattle WA & Belgrade, Serbia

Overview:

Darran Bruce chats with Vintage & Morelli about his multifaceted career, new album Algorithm for Happiness, launching the Contrast label, industry challenges, personal philosophies, and memorable moments from the stage and beyond.

Topics Covered:

– Origin of the name Vintage & Morelli

– Concept and philosophy behind Algorithm for Happiness

– Launch of Contrast label under As You Are

– Label vision, genre focus, and artist signings

– Thoughts on AI’s impact on social media and authenticity

– Live performance stories and fan encounters

– Memorable show at a Polish palace with top progressive artists

– Views on Twitch’s DJ program and music rights issues

– Wild backstage stories and onstage mishaps

– Influences: Enigma, Deep Forest, and cinematic music

– Breakthrough track Contrast and signing to Anjunabeats

– Success metrics, social media challenges, and organic growth

– Merchandising, branding, and creative marketing via QR codes

– Balancing career, life, and creative output

– Plans for album release and touring

Call to Action:

Visit vintagemorelli.com for album updates, label news, and merchandise.
Watch more episodes at thedjsessions.com.

[Darran]
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ sessions presents the virtual sessions I’m your host there and right now we’re sitting in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington And I have none other than vintage and Morelli coming in from halfway around the world. Where are you coming in from vintage and Morelli? I’m coming in from Belgrade Serbia Belgrade Serbia.

Oh, wow, that is there’s far out man. We have not seen each other and said since 2022 at 80e what a festival back behind the stage with the monster cat party. I think that was where BT had announced that he had joined the label and all that fun stuff.

We were backstage I think that was that was that at Melkvig that was it? No, no Melkvig yes Melkvig in one of the back rooms up there the green room That was just our first experience ever being at 80e. What a time I know you’ve been up to a ton of stuff behind that but you know We’re gonna let our our DJ sessions fans get to know you a little bit better, you know One of those questions I ask people quite frequently on the show if they don’t know I’m sure you get this all the time Vintage and Morelli.

What’s the story behind your artist name? Where does that come from dude?

[Vintage & Morelli]
I always get the same questions okay, hopefully this is be gonna be the last one, but There’s not not a special story So vintage like I started in 99 2000 vintage was the name of the folder that I put like pulled some drums from Okay, and Morelli is me literally randomly scrolling through Italian dictionary Yeah, but um I was I always wanted to be a part of like a duo because growing up It was Blank and Jones Buddha and Serrano on yelling Elson, you know the old school guys But it was just me.

So like I wanted to have an end in my name So I kind of like I want to change it, but it kind of stuck Well, it works.

[Darran]
It works. You know, like I said, it’s it’s you know I’m not a DJ but a lot of people think I’m a DJ because I do a DJ show and I’m like no I’m an executive producer and years back a few years ago actually about three four years ago I actually created a DJ profile on our website and my DJ name is The DJ dot dot dot sessions It’s totally this parody parody funny thing I like I like, you know, you do what you got to do to kind of just Answer that question or why of course ask why aren’t you a DJ?

You should be a DJ and it’s kind of like well, no, I executive produced the show, you know, it’s funny I even took it in my bio. I love it when I read this by hilarious The DJ not it makes a little sense the DJ dot dot dot sessions is the DJ’s DJ He’s not a DJ. He just plays one on live streams born into a video world But never wanted to kill the radio star The DJ sessions found a pitch passion for mixing video with one of those other passions music at a young age While actually never spinning a record putting it in a disc or loading songs onto a flash drive The DJ sessions has been a conduit for serving music to the masses Thousands of hours behind the decks watching how others do the magic of a DJ so it was only natural for him to get into the mix Quote pressing play to play other people’s pressing play is the biggest honor to playing other sets of music is what I do best better than anybody That’s an actual that’s an actual bio that’s an actual bio Check out the DJ Because I just got tired of people asking so they go to the site he’s like they’re now they’re like Oh, so you really are a DJ. I go. Did you read the bio?

I basically take other I ghost DJ is what I do Yeah, and then claim it as my own. That’s like, you know, how more you know parody? Can you get on that kind of like if you ever saw spinal tap?

I don’t know if you remember that movie. I just dated myself It’s all the way it is funny it’s a way it sounds like an old movie We’re here to talk about you what you got going on You know, you have an upcoming album. I had my notes upcoming our Algorithm for happiness.

That’s right. What tell us about algorithm for happiness That seems to be a big the word algorithm is really coming out into play now, especially with AI Coming into the mix and you know, I saw a post the other day With this girl. She had her boyfriend sitting next to her and she said my boyfriend’s out and he hasn’t come home And it’s 3 a.m or something like that, but he’s sitting right next to her and how Instagram had taken and It was showing her different feeds for the same video post that she made that and it was showing him different comments So it was like showing her comments like oh you should get a new man. That’s a red flag this that the other but for him it’s like kind of like showing him these other comments for the same exact video and in Instagram and how It’s it’s doing that and it’s you know, you bring up algorithm for happiness Does that title have anything to do with the social media aspect of the world right now, or what’s it has to do?

[Vintage & Morelli]
everything against social media Basically, so what is the other one for happiness? Like everybody has a different thing, right? but What is being happy being happy is different for everybody so I Say For me it’s being alive being healthy appreciating the small things in life like having a roof over your head and a food to eat clothes on your on your body and then family kids That’s It and may and just leave like leave something on this earth Before you pass something even if it’s like a flower or do something do good be the best version of yourself that’s the whole point of the the algorithm so, you know

[Darran]
You couldn’t hit something that is one of my most spot-on Mantras right now that I tell my friends and family my close friends of him my close circle. Is that Literally, I have a roof over my head.

I Have my refrigerator is packed full of food. I have clothes on my back. My bills are paid and I you know, I get to I mean above and beyond that I get to do what I love to do for a living I run two companies that I’m going forward but other than that if you have those basic needs met You know, you should I think my dad actually sent me some of this you if you have roof over your head food and clothing it’s like you’re Bet you’re you are like in like 78% of the world doesn’t have that. I know You know, it’s something it’s some big we don’t like that that we know what they had Yes, exactly.

[Vintage & Morelli]
I was about to say with X simple things for granted, you know It is problem and you know

[Darran]
I mean there’s it’s it’s funny because people in the past have accused me of making Hundreds of thousands of dollars of my show and not giving back to the community while at the same time They didn’t know that I was actually on food stamps, you know food benefits from the government disabled major surgery couldn’t walk sleep do anything with my life and and still running the show and putting on the Entertainment side of things and I was going through all these struggles and it’s like, you know I don’t take that for granted anymore.

What I what I have is those basic necessities I wake up and you know, like whoa, this is really and I’ll help other people out. I mean, I just recently there was somebody That I just had to help out and they’re like, I didn’t know I could get that kind of help I didn’t know I could get that kind of assistance and sometimes people get scared to ask for help or their pride gets in the way That’s a big problem that that was that’s me. That’s yeah, and that’ll stop them from attaining happiness because They’d rather struggle and be poor me rather than ask somebody for help and go.

Oh my god This just lifted something off of a weight off my back so I can now get to happiness, you know And so that’s really awesome. You know, I I was tired Tyson is Tyson Degrassi to grab the grass Yeah, it Degrass He said something recently I saw online about how AI coming in will actually probably come in and don’t I’m this is not a quote This is paraphrasing. I didn’t watch the whole article, but how AI will come in and actually Destroy social media.

I don’t I did that. It’s a word. I’m not putting that word in his mouth exactly.

But yeah Basically because AI will make everything so fake people want authentic and it’s gonna be pushed through social media out there People won’t believe it. So it’ll crash social me or people like I don’t want that anymore because it’s all fake and bullshit Yeah, and and they won’t believe what they see what they hear anymore because the images the wording I mean, I just built two websites using AI You know and and it created my copy for the websites I was like this is pretty impressive I had a I make a bio for me if you go to my website the bio that’s there It’s an AI generated by it was ninety nine point nine percent. Correct.

[Vintage & Morelli]
So basically just This is how I see it.

[Darran]
This make people more and more stupid So so, you know, it’s it’s all I always I always go back to 1984 and Orwell That’s that’s an excellent one and and and well, there’s the one that it’s a very b-rated movie but came out a long time ago It’s coming out more and more and more now. It’s called idiosyncrasy idiosyncrasy Idiocracy idiot video. I thought very very familiar.

I’ve seen it before a long time ago And it basically was the dumbing down of society Idiocracy, yeah idiocracy and with Luke Wilson and I mean it is Basically dumbs down society where it’s like, okay, you go to the doctor. You don’t talk to a doctor anymore You say what is your condition and there’s like ten buttons and you’re like, oh, I have a fever push button here Oh, I have a stomachache push button here and then it goes walks you on the machine I think it just spits out these pills and you didn’t take the pills and walk away You know Reminds me of that episode of Rick and Morty basically kind of same same exact basically the exact same theory Yeah, I love Rick and Morty huge Rick and Morty fan watch series at least once a year all the way through Yeah, no, but same thing.

Yeah, you’re happy pills, you know just yeah, that was um, that was a another movie, you know equilibrium Oh my I love that movie, you know equilibrium. They took the somas, you know, there have been I think it was a brave new world Was the one where they where they took the soma and that was their happy pill and then they stopped taking the pill and they Kind of sort of wake up. That was kind of the base of a sorry folks.

Spoiler alert equilibrium as well, you know Which is like you guys haven’t watched it. Watch it. Yeah Yeah, it’s it was definitely a sleep like a not well populated film But you know, I think just the whole theory of it, you know, obviously that dystopian Future that people just don’t understand that we’re basically kind of in when you take in, you know free markets I’m not trying to knock the alcohol companies in any way shape or form So if you’re gonna sponsor my show, please don’t hate me for saying this but you know alcohol companies come in You know the over-the-counter you know Substances that people can partake in whether it’s alcohol or you know cannabis.

I’m not knocking anything. I’m sponsoring this event this weekend So, you know But you know, you know the numbing down of society or the dumbing down of society, yeah How do you tune into that algorithm for happiness? What is that dial and is it just disconnect from it all?

Yeah, disconnect and go into the world Awesome, if people could describe your music that you create or you I’m sorry not people if you could describe your music in three words How would you describe your music Emotional Ethereal and Club worthy, I’ll take club worthy hyphen club worthy Awesome that sounds great. Now. Here’s something exciting too.

Was it you just started a new record label Contrast. Yes, was that was that record label started after algorithm for happiness or was it started before and was algorithm for happiness?

[Vintage & Morelli]
its first release It’s so this is the story I’ve been friends with Santos or as you guys know him as mona verse for so many years and he actually started doing as you are that’s it’s a Record label that’s actually doing really really well now. So we talked about even like years ago. I Always wanted to have a record label because it’s it’s very difficult to Release anything not just difficult.

It’s very demotivating sending demos to record labels and Them being the judge if your music is good enough or not, and I think we both like Santos and me we share the same vision of like fuck this let’s do our own thing because I’m done. I’m done with like Rejections and all that stuff and and if I’m gonna push somebody I’m gonna push my own brand which makes sense So this is how like this whole thing started and contrast is gonna be the sub label of as you are Which is gonna be Run and curated by me okay, so That’s the short story algorithm for happiness has been going on for like a few years right now. It’s it’s almost finished and And Why so the first release is gonna be of course to kind of like get the label going it’s gonna be from the album but I already have Six or seven artists signed there or or all patiently waiting for the release So it’s it’s gonna take a little bit of time But just to get things going now I just need to wrap up the album and slowly start releasing the singles and stuff and Then you know get the other artists who are assigned to release their music as well and see how it goes This is all new to me.

[Darran]
Yeah, it’s it’s very interesting that you mentioned you’re starting to label and I’m always curious to hear if it’s already an established label or Or They’re just starting new because over here the DJ sessions I’ve talked about for years about starting our own label and the question is is One Who do we Who do we put on the label? Do we keep it all only internal DJ sessions resident? Do you have the producers to if we open it up?

What do we open it up for submissions? Do we have a genre that we’re gonna focus on and say we only submit take genres of this Three who’s gonna sort through all those submissions? It’s a job it’s a job on its own So that and then you know What happened again?

We’re gonna get so many submissions You don’t know if you’re getting a drum and bass submission a house submission a tech house submission a transmission Yeah, and then you got to at least listen to it And maybe that intro takes 20 seconds to build into it hits and you’re like well shit This is a drum and bass track and we’re house music. You know, what is this?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, this is why you skip if you hear like, you know, okay This is a style I kind of like let me go back and listen to the whole thing This is how I go through demos like, you know I skip first and if I like something that I hear I go back and I listen to the whole thing

[Darran]
Or do we make it such like an excruciating submission process that people just that aren’t really ready to go They they’ll get to the formula like this sucks. I’m not filming this out, you know The gatekeeper, but you know, they’ll try to figure out ways and hit you up on social media And hey, I submitted the track to you.

Let me go hit him up on Facebook. They’re on Instagram My check and I just get those messages like whoa, yeah Maybe I just make a separate company outside of that that way It’s like it’s a DJ sessions, but it’s a separate website and that’s the submission process But people still buy come back to the DJs. I just go I submitted it to your label Yeah, that’s I just so what genre do you have a genre or a theme or an overall What?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, so I’ve been known to do multiple genres and that’s mainly progressive house melodic progressive house However, you want to call it and then I had drum and bass releases and then I had a few techno releases, right? So for contrast, I’m aiming for progressive house But also I signed a few deep house tracks. So I always say if the music is good I’m gonna sign it unless it’s like a uplifting 140 BPM.

That’s not just me, you know But as long as the music is good and it moves me That’s good enough for me Exactly, you know and I was gonna ask you do you have any other secret aliases under which you release music?

[Darran]
And is there a secret alias under contrast that nobody knows about?

[Vintage & Morelli]
No, but I did have secret aliases like 15 years ago, I’m never gonna say Yeah, well winter Jamila was developing I tried something else but thank God nobody knows Just sent you a private chat message by the way Anyways, well, okay.

[Darran]
Sometimes artists aren’t proud of their earlier works I know if you go to our website that That you know, you can go back and see some of our first episodes. We ever did for yeah I TV live presents the DJ sessions. Actually, you can see the first ever episode we did of the DJ sessions Hey guys, I know we’re private chatting But no, I mean and some of that work, you know, you go back and you look at it and this is when you had internet upload speeds the company said you got two megabits uploaded and Really?

You were getting probably point six point. You know, this is all text talk But long story short for those of you have fast internet now Y’all don’t know what it was like 15 years ago doing the live stream And people go back and look at that. They’re like people used to watch this This is what you got by for what was the standard and we saw it is like wow, look at the image It’s on the screen.

This is awesome. But you know, man, we had I mean we’re old school. We had dial-up Well, I’m not wasn’t that we weren’t doing it back that far back.

But yeah, I mean Basically, you know you go back and it’s like if I was a baker of a cake or I was using say I was using Fruity Loops 3 and my music was back in Fruity Loops 3 and now they got FL or they got you know Ableton or they got you know logic and all that fun stuff now and yeah, I can see the progression though of music of the person’s career taking off Kind of like when I took this philosophy of music class 20 years ago back in college and You know, basically The teacher he walked us through and he used the band Genesis as I love Genesis as as their Has that as his drop of showing how Genesis started they had like 40 albums or something he brought in his whole CD collection and I was like he goes listen to him here and then listen to him here and this it’s kind of like the evolution of the Beatles you know going from the 50s to the 60s 70, you know and doing that and You know I think with the internet now and I was talking with somebody who I started with a long time ago of Seeing that progression though of going back and be able to see our first Episodes in the history of the DJ sessions archive have seen that transition of moving up to where we’ve evolved to I think it’d be interesting You know That might be something you could look into for your website and maybe Publish that other works known by thing just for your fans to go Okay, it sounded like shit before or maybe it wasn’t the greatest stuff or you know It gives that context the history of knowing that but but yeah, I mean it’s always like that

[Vintage & Morelli]
It’s like I either sounded like shit or it’s like overproduced.

[Darran]
I don’t even know what overproduced me Now have you ever visited a faraway country where you were surprised that people actually knew your music For me that was us to be honest, okay That was us.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Oh, I have a really cool story. So There’s a guy that works at his kiosk right like really close to my neighborhood I usually like very often pass by and I stop in front, you know and Get like cigarettes or so like drinks or something It’s always like he told me once. He’s look very familiar and I’m like, I don’t know man.

I mean I come here like Entertainer he’s like no. No, you look very familiar. Like what I do I’m like a music like really what kind of music like electronic music?

Oh shit. What is your artist name? Holy shit, dude, and he’s like showing me on his phone.

I was just listening to you And that was that like a little in my neighborhood, man I’m I’m very unknown in like my country like people really don’t have no idea where I am Which is fine, right? but that was like a cool story like he’s like like literally in my neighborhood and I go there like every other day to buy smokes and He’s like, holy shit. I was just listening to music and he’s showing me like he’s Spotify.

[Darran]
I’m like fuck man That’s nice Yeah, I had a similar experience You might know do you know Sergei Andre cool? Yes, of course Sergei. Yeah so Sergei this just happened to him to it and when he was down in LA for dream state I believe and I was a Tapping me a few years back in In Vegas, I was wearing my DJ sessions shirt I think he might have been wearing a podcast.

My passion is is trans podcast. Yes and He’s in the crowd. I was in the crowd of Vegas I’m at the bar and I turn I’m by myself in Vegas My friend was like working or something and I turn around and this guy comes up and tasks me on the shoulder He’s like the DJ sessions.

He goes. How do you know the DJ sessions? I’m like, what do you mean?

How do I know the DJ session? He goes I listen to the DJ sessions. I’m like, okay cool He’s like, how’d you get that shirt?

But I like I’m the executive producer of the show and he goes What and I thought this guy was just some random solo guy Turns to all these people like 15 20 people at the bar he goes everyone This is the executive producer of the DJ session And they all and he goes let’s get you some shots and I know started doing shots I was people hanging out like 20 people I didn’t know where they were from you know a crazy time, but he recognized the logo on the back of my shirt Yeah, same thing happened to Sergei. Somebody walks up and goes dude.

I’m subscribed to your podcast You know who’s gonna do it best you got you got to promote your brand It’s it’s just walking around, you know, you never know weird weird places You have things pop up and people wouldn’t you know know where where it comes from. Yeah Where’s the weirdest moment you’ve ever heard one of your tracks play?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Oh That’s a tough one Honestly can’t remember I think Shaheen. Oh my god. Okay.

I’m not gonna mention any names But We had our so Shaheen or 11 the don’t even ask how we got to there, but so they did a remix of my song hope back in 2012 and Somehow our song ended up in a porn movie Just remember like back.

[Darran]
Well, wait a second. Wait a second. How did you know?

[Vintage & Morelli]
movie Like it wasn’t me but we were like sent like holy shit, this is your song right there I’m like Was this something that like did you have it with another label and the label licensed it for use in the film It was just randomly used somebody really liked the song that was so long ago Was it like an OnlyFans thing?

[Darran]
They were making a video.

[Vintage & Morelli]
No, they’re like it was way before OnlyFans It was like, uh, what’s the famous like a Pornhub or was the other one? Yeah, I think I think you’re breaking up yeah But that was that was pretty cool actually I we died laughing So their remix of my track hope ended up in this like random clip on one of the infamous websites That would be that was pretty cool By the way for everybody who’s watching on Instagram we’re trying to fix this whole They offered yeah, that’s why you see me typing over here.

[Darran]
I’m talking to tech support Vince over there trying to fix it. Sorry about that.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Unfortunately motion. That’s a red tube remix

[Darran]
I don’t surprise that nobody sent this tech support issue into them because for you on my Instagram it looks perfect Both of us are in frame, but for guests signing in Instagram, it doesn’t auto size it for the gas How do I check that on my I went I went to your Instagram and you click on the live button and And then I I found you So if you go there

[Vintage & Morelli]
it’s And then you can’t really see us.

[Darran]
No, you can’t you can hear us because they’re here to hear us Yeah, so we’re trying to fix this.

[Vintage & Morelli]
So hopefully it will work and Julian Gray is here and Christy. Hey guys. Yeah.

[Darran]
Oh my goodness Yeah, there’s a bunch of people that you can say hi to him and chat with them and stuff if you want to You know, also he’s curling.

[Vintage & Morelli]
That’s one of the artists I signed. He’s like in the chat with us. I don’t know Can people just chat on Instagram or should we send them like to I don’t know Martin graph, of course my bro Probably a bunch of people are it.

[Darran]
Well, at least they can listen to the interview They can watch it later on our website if they want. Yeah You know, it’s not our issue. It’s actually the service we’re using Their issue they’re looking to get fixed I think we just launched a red flag ticket for them because I kind of reamed him a new a-hole saying hey Embarrassing when I have a guest And this needs to be fixed and I’ll be on top of that.

Um, but anyways, um, so Top three regular podcast live stream radio shows you listen to go for it as you are Okay contrast mixtape I’m just Just promoting myself right now.

[Vintage & Morelli]
I don’t know like I occasionally tuning to a BGT I guess But like I either listen to I don’t really listen to too many podcasts But I do listen to a lot of Witcher music when I want to relax from the Witcher 3 video game Yeah when I’m relaxing that’s what I love to play like 10 hours of just Witcher music Witcher Witcher.

[Darran]
Yeah, I read I don’t give too much time to play online games anymore. I just find it to be a huge Distraction. I’m still wait waiting for that one game to come across.

It’s more like an Age of Empires or civilized I I’m in more to the real-time strategy You know, I love Age of Empires when that was out Civilization that was kind of my fun will go to I’m not good enough to ever stream gameplay live. I don’t think Tried it I tried it on my twitch.

[Vintage & Morelli]
I sucked.

[Darran]
Yeah, I mean it’s like it’s all that But you know, that’s a that’s a big market for live streaming, you know Obviously, we love our partnership with twitch and everything they’re doing over there they did just release this interesting program, which is kind of becoming a little bit of a point of controversy now with Yes, I saw houseman sharing the post. Oh, so you must have thought did you see my comments on that? No No We’re totally play everything was positive.

I was just trying to explain, you know, unfortunately when houseman posted that, you know I’m glad you brought that up. I’m glad you saw that because I tried again and I’m like Do you know that the terms and conditions of twitch when you originally sign up for is it says? You are not allowed to do DJ sets on twitch.

It’s right there in their T’s and C’s under their music guidelines Yeah, and then That also being said is now that they’ve launched this new DJ program and it says Specifically if you sign up for this program, it’s like they’re getting a double agreement now They’ve got you agreed to T’s and C’s here now if you want to be a DJ and listed as a DJ and featured in the DJ Channel You’ve got to agree to this again Yeah, I’m kind of interested to see what they’re doing because there are certain things I can’t talk about because I’m a featured partner with twitch and I’m under NDA and You know, I can’t say certain things But I’ve been warning people about this for four years when Pandy hit and everyone was complaining. Why are my songs being flagged?

Why are they being redlined? Why am I being taken down? I’m like because you don’t own the rights to the music What do you mean?

I bought it on beat port. I own the song. No, that’s not how this works Okay, and then people think I’m being this negative Nancy this negative person even yeah, not even artists own their own song No, and that’s what I was trying to tell him too is I mean I won’t drop the name of the artist but a very prominent artist world-renowned artists people Hey, I was doing an interview with them few years back and he goes I can’t even give permissions to my own tracks because I don’t own the rights to them anymore Yeah, and you know houseman was in there.

I thought it was interesting. He goes well Then I’ll just publish self-publish my own tracks and I go that’s good for you. That’s awesome And yes, one of the reasons you may not con you may not contest it when when somebody’s playing your song because you want the exposure But the moment you sell that track off to a label or publishing house or write somebody has say in the rights of it You don’t have the rights on that anymore And I want to make it bigger, you know It’s all of a sudden Sony BMG Universal brings you under their rooftop and that song becomes popular Somebody’s gonna say can I use that for a movie?

You have to say? Sorry, talk to Sony talk to Universal talk to BMJ and then Sony BMG Universal like about okay we want $10,000 for you to use that song and And you’re not gonna get that control at that level because they got to protect their investment, of course, you know It’s all it’s all business and I said to I said look if somebody went out and used one of your tracks And or your library and made a million dollars of it You’d be knocking on their door to sue the shit out of them in a heartbeat You know and and that’s where people got to put this into perspective I have this talk with a lot of people over the years about copyright and and all that stuff and I Won’t get into the con go go look up the rest of the post and everything I kind of I wasn’t trying I was not being mean I will officially say I was not being mean I said Please don’t shoot the messenger.

I’m not trying to be an asshole here. I’m just I’m quoting This is twitches terms and conditions and this is discord shirts and conditions. This is kicks comms terms Everyone’s gonna have these terms and conditions on this stuff and I’m gonna say it it sucks It does you know people have to be protected and I think the biggest thing here and not to get off on this is a Topic on this but the biggest thing is is people are pub If people know what a thermal uses or ephemeral use is then go look it up I’m not gonna go into the going down that legal route Go look it up But the problem is is that people are putting these tracks out there and while the music is good They’re putting Track by Tiesto track by above and beyond and those are commercially protected Trademark names that you’re now using in a live stream and you’re getting paid off the use of that name That’s like me saying I’m talking I can talk about Mickey Mouse and do a show about Mickey Mouse.

Hey, I don’t like Mickey Mouse’s ears Oh, I don’t like this or I don’t like the theme park blah blah blah blah blah But the moment I’m like check out Mickey Mouse check out Mickey Mouse listening to my show cuz I got Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse Disney theme songs Disney Disney Disney Disney making up Disney’s gonna come in and say f you you’re making money on us Give us money. We want our You know and that leads to the whole ethical thing, too These DJs are basically being tested I think by twitch to say hey Twitch is saying wouldn’t you like to have these producers be paid? And if you sign up for this program and you use our approved list We’ll make sure some of your proceeds that you’re earning revenue on Goes to the artists wouldn’t you want to be the nice guy and do that?

How many artists are gonna say no, I don’t want to do that Well, then are they really being ethical and kicking back to the tracks? To the people who produce the tracks that made the tracks that they’re making money off of and it gets into a big ethical dilemma So I’m interested to see where that will go. Of course.

I signed up for it. I’m not worried. We’re protected Good there, you know, but um You know, that’s just kind of the buzz thing going on And I have I was I want to say I would love to see more bigger name DJs come back Most of the time.

I don’t know if I can say this but I’m gonna say most time is a featured partner you’re usually working with a team over there internally with them and You kind of get some secret squirrel juice, you know, yes, you know what’s going on a little secret gossip. Yeah Let’s get off that topic because we want to talk about parties and I bet you my next question I probably know what the answer is going to be to this but I have a follow-up if it isn’t What’s the wildest party from the last two months you’ve been at?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Two months. Oh my god. I’m old.

[Darran]
I don’t go out Okay, I’m gonna tell you one thing are we talking about Poland Yeah, I was gonna say is that Lead in with and go right to that go There was something really awesome. I saw online but I was gonna let you talk about it.

[Vintage & Morelli]
That was that was surreal I think Milo is also my Milo is a Legend he’s on the stream right now. I hope I hope he’s still on here but yeah, I Was originally supposed to play this other festival, right? My really good friend Martin Martin gruff go follow him.

Yeah amazing artists and very very talented So originally we’re supposed to play this festival in Poland, but due to some internal Whatever like the festival did not happen. So Martin’s like oh man, like we have another festival like that Potentially might happen and then Milo contacted me and he’s like, you know play this in in like This really cool venue in the middle of nowhere. It’s like in close to like Poznan In Poland and I’m like, holy shit, fuck.

Yeah, like it was with Jody Bisternoff boxer Martin Roth, I don’t know how many and you know, I’m gonna guys and I’m like, fuck. Yeah, of course. I want to play so it was the most beautiful venue I’ve ever played in I don’t know if you guys saw my Instagram post, but The photos and videos did not do not do justice how beautiful it is And it was amazing Like the people the all of the artists it was just surreal and it was one of the better experiences in the past I Don’t even know how Martin’s actually on my feet on Instagram now.

[Darran]
What’s up, Martin? Yeah, no, I saw that was at a mansion, correct, yes Like there is a back story.

[Vintage & Morelli]
I completely forgot About the whole last palace but I’m I Guess if you google it But it’s like a really old it’s just beautiful and and inside it’s It feels like Adams family, but very warm Like very family kind of like it was amazing black.

[Darran]
It was all white.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yes.

[Darran]
Yes It was beautiful man, like one of one of the most beautiful venues I’ve ever played in yeah, it looked like an amazing time Yeah, you know, that’s kind of one of my goals. We were talking a little bit before show. Hey Thank you very much Martin for the follow on twitch by the way and and give a shout out to everyone else, you know, epic tangent oxytocin jungstead music Just yeah, I’m looking for it.

I’m sorry I want to digress and get some shout outs. I just saw some stuff come through I want to make sure I was giving the shut up, but I’m super excited to start traveling the world again getting out You know, I’m going over to Berlin here in about a week to go to rave the planet But my another DJ I work closely with Jerry de la via Hope I said that right Jerry don’t don’t go after me. I didn’t but Down like two hours outside of Mexico City I’m being invited to go to Ibiza You know and hang out with artists and people there and do interviews and set up at clubs Just go into these exotic locations getting around the world, you know, that has to be one of the most exciting I would assume one of the most exciting things that you get to do as a DJ slash producer to tour the world again, like we met in Amsterdam, but I mean that’s your neck of the you’re not too far away You’re a couple hour flight away from everything. I gotta take 15 hour flights I mean I say hey the u.s. Is cool. Don’t get me wrong.

Please don’t murder

[Vintage & Morelli]
I love us, but Europe is awesome because everything is like a few hours flight everywhere you want to go

[Darran]
It’s like right there, you know Martin I air with Riverside Studios on his interview a few weeks ago He said, you know come to Berlin and I booked my ticket the next day and he goes there’s four million people to live here But we have a hundred and eight techno clubs And I’m like what? We got like 10 and we have a 1.7 million people living in Seattle I mean 10 real that would be on the list of nightclubs in Seattle, you know And I’m like a hundred and eight Holy crap, because at any time there’s like a million tourists here in Berlin and they all go to our nightclubs and I’d love to Get into Bergen. I would be dope.

Oh, that’s the one very highly exclusive.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Nobody gets in.

[Darran]
Yeah Yeah, the secret is it depends on the time of day you go there and then you wait in line you get in but then You gotta be there all day long till everything starts happening. I don’t think they allow cell phones in there Yeah, very posh, you know, that would be a very awesome club to go to but I think I’m more about going to those exotic Locations around the world having good times good friends good music good people, you know and sharing out with the world Not the backstage stuff that happens Yeah, I don’t know how the fuck we can fix the Instagram. No There’s one way to fix it now here I’ll show you I can do this.

Oh, I can’t do it while we’re live it’s what tech support said to do was uh, I can switch it to phone mode. But then what happens for everywhere else it puts it in phone mode Okay in the normal that we’re in for some reason when I send it from my main account to Instagram, it looks great So if you all want to go to the DJ sessions die or the DJ sessions on Instagram If you’re watching on Instagram, you can see it there in the right aspect ratio This was happening to us for the first probably first few weeks I was using the platform because I was going through Instagram through our server I wasn’t going through once I started doing through restream it auto sizes it for us and I was like, yeah cool Which man I thought that I was gonna do it for my guests as well unfortunately Restream is the one to drop the ball on this. This isn’t a DJ or vintage Morelli issue Please listen to the episode you can go back and watch it later on at our website in all of its glory So you’ve literally played large like countless large-scale events We all know what happens on stage as I was just making a note to the precursor to can you give us some insight as to?

What happens backstage like is there anything crazy you can talk about what happened at that in June a family union party? That is okay PG friendly family friendly to share on the show.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, of course. It was just all the shenanigans are in the back Yeah, like all the art is going, you know, like just making jokes having a good time Yeah, who what how many of the members of the engine family were able to show up?

[Darran]
Was there any names you can drop that?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, of course Jody Jody was the main act. He was on Saturday It was try lucid. It was Martin Roth boxer, I Don’t know who else was there I gotta look at the event photo again It was like a lot of our a lot of the locals want local ones as well was amazing Braxton of course nitrous oxide.

Yeah, he played after me Chris Martin Roth West Okay, I was just trying to figure this out per frame I’d love to get him on Western Boxer Jody was over here a few years ago years ago.

[Darran]
He came by our studio did an interview and was on the show That was pretty awesome to get him back on here soon. And also Obviously getting Martin graph on the show anyone that’s listening to this. Hit me up.

Love to get you on the show But you know, you like you said typical backstage shenanigans Crazy stuff. Here’s something interesting And then I saw recently it was on one of the socials It was a performance of bad boy bill and I don’t know if you saw this an Instagram, but he’s in the audience He’s playing in front of a crowd a couple thousand people and all of a sudden He’s just getting right down to the breakdown of the mix and somebody from the audience throws their phone their phone gets thrown on the stage and it literally hits the board and Stops the mix in the middle of the show. Holy Like it’s kind of like The caption for the social is what would you do in this situation?

You know, I think bad boy bill just started back up. I think he may have took the phone and was like Took a selfie. I don’t think it’s over But I think I’m wondering if this is now gonna become kind of a trend that people might get like some default phone Put a SIM card in it.

Okay, I’m not giving anyone any bad ideas here. By the way. I know I know what this is going Get a bunk, you know get an old iPhone or something put a SIM card in it tap it into their Instagram account Have the Instagram feeding it live and throw the phone on stage live So it’s gonna record the video and upload to their account somehow and then they try to make that video go viral that they threw their phone on the stage and got it screwed up because I was Hip-hop artists somebody had thrown the phone on the stage the hip-hop artist picked it up And he threw it back And you don’t know like was somebody in the crowd they’re like doing this and somebody just grabbed their phone away That’s crazy.

How would you know who did that? You’re like looking around go who did that?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Who did that who did that and then and then if the artist holds on to the phone later?

[Darran]
Call him You know, I think that that’s happened a couple times to it happened as funny one time I was backstage doing a show up here in Seattle with Q nightclub and BT was the headliner and I had my whole streaming rig behind the stage Set up and I was getting ready to stream live and I had my Facebook pulled up and BT comes mosey and backstage Behind the decks behind the stage and he goes over to my computer and I’m up front by the stage kind of filming the show Making sure stuff’s gonna I turn to my left and I look and there’s BT’s on my computer and he goes This is why you shouldn’t leave your Facebook open back behind stage because I just hijacked Aaron’s account and posted to it This is BT and post the post on there and I got I actually got a picture of him doing it I’m like BT just hijacked my computer and posted my Facebook account

[Vintage & Morelli]
nice

[Darran]
Shit, you know, it’s like one of those funny things that happens backstage, you know And I’ve been back a lot having media access you see a lot of things going on, you know

[Vintage & Morelli]
This is a legend man. I grew up with his music. I had his app on my phone.

[Darran]
Yeah. Yeah.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah I mean, he’s been around for a while really What’s that I had his app when I had a night like a first iPhone like I don’t know like iPhone one when it came Out. I have no friction.

[Darran]
I was seven. I know you had an app there started one like yeah Has anyone ever screwed up a performance of yours that you had to recuperate from or come back from I did I Stopped the wrong deck.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Oh Wow Yeah, like I messed up like I stopped the wrong debt. I mean he happens And the crowd was the crowd forgiving we’re like Yeah, but it’s about your attitude as well like fuck man this happens I’m a human being like fuck it alone Just you know play play from the beginning or like just move on to the next song who was it it was um, oh gosh Big name artist.

[Darran]
I’m sure you heard about it I try not to get controversy on the show not trying to pull fun or make fun right now But it was somebody somebody they stopped in the middle of their show grabbed the microphone and Did something and ended up like walking off stage saying this I’m out.

[Vintage & Morelli]
It was recently something. Yes, who was that? I don’t know.

Maybe somebody knows in the comments.

[Darran]
Oh Come on, Darran.

[Vintage & Morelli]
I Remember that I got a turn on the fan.

[Darran]
Yeah Go for it. Go for it. I got air conditioning on no worries I’m trying to remember who that was.

It was a very big name artist though Well, if you’re in the chat rooms, you’re out there. You can find the name send it over. That’d be great Who did that?

I can’t remember exactly It was hard. Well, I think it was hard well, and he’s like I’m fed up with this and they tried coming and getting the getting the Try to get in my microphone My boy my boy West for the win. Oh, yeah.

Did he come in? Did he come in? Yeah right on.

Thank you Very much. I appreciate that You know, thank you for watching Wes, but yeah, it was very interesting seeing somebody, you know Just kind of like and I years ago. I was watching a tricky in concert I went to see him and he something was going on with the show here in Seattle.

This is years This is like 20 some up 20 plus years ago, and he was in the middle showed He’s like, you know what? I’m out and it wasn’t ending the show. He’s like this sucks audience.

I’m just I’m done with my show I’m out, you know, I kind of can happen.

[Vintage & Morelli]
But um, I mean, yeah, I’ve had some like I Would never leave this show but I mean never say never of course But I had like some issues with the audio was so bad I couldn’t even like I couldn’t like the monitors that I’m supposed to hear when I mix like they were like Was a word Like Overdriven. Yeah crackling sounds and all that stuff. I couldn’t hear anything.

Wow Yeah, I just had to use my headphones. It was very very different.

[Darran]
It was so loud Who’s who’s the most inspiring person you’ve ever met backstage Man, you ask a really tough questions Thank you. That means I’m doing my job You know, I’m not just the who what why where when kind of guy tell me your story I want to know these things our viewers want to know.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, I Don’t know. I’m trying to think I have a very bad memory in general Most inspired. I don’t know.

I don’t know Like nobody comes to mind right now.

[Darran]
Okay, fair enough fair enough. Yeah later in the show pop it up Yeah, if it comes yeah This then who’s been your biggest influence when it comes to your career as an artist and no, that’s easy.

[Vintage & Morelli]
That’s easy Okay An enigma deep forest How old are you in your 30s, how do you know these names You know my aunt used to make me mixtapes on the cassette Okay, it was an enigma sadness part two was like the whole nine-minute song on repeat Both both at both sides.

[Darran]
I Know that CD. Well, at least I know that CD I could have got it on tape because I worked for a record stores was on a cassette yeah, my first jobs ever when I was 18 years old right out of high school was working for a Record store. Well, I call it record store, but they were selling CDs and tapes, you know But enigma deep forest all of that definitely got into those secret garden is very very Very early age, you know, I was also into hip-hop and alternative music which later more hip-hop, but then Over time I started getting into trip-hop in my early 20s Which led me into more down-tempo ambient when I went to college I found this internet radio station I talk about them all the time give them plugs as much as I can. I found soma FM out of San Francisco They have a number of different internet stations But my top one that I listen to if anyone knows me it’s grew salad, you know and it’s a it’s kind of thing if I had to be on a Stranded island for the rest of my life.

I could take three things with me. It’d be my king-sized bed mattress for stalls and Grew salad would be on repeat the whole time Nice that there you go. I’m on a stranded island to get my king-sized bed, you know Obviously you got food shelter all that fun stuff But that’s my kind of like boom grew salad just down-tempo ambient beats for me is for me it’s Kokomo man Kokomo.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah Was it uh, the Beach Boys or oh, yeah, take me down the Kokomo.

[Darran]
Yeah Okay, so a friend of mine we have this we have this this game she created a long time ago with her friends that if a song plays and You name the do you name the title of the song the person you’re with has to take a drink If you name the artist if you name the song and the artist they have to take two drinks if you’re wrong on both you have To take two drinks or wrong on either and you listen to the song, right?

But yeah, you listen you hear a player you’re in a restaurant the song comes on you call it the person It’s it’s on at all. The game is on at all times Now she hated playing this game with me because I turned 50 this month So I knew everything especially we were to a restaurant. They’re playing 70s or 80s music She’s like we have to have a cutoff You can’t do this more than five times cuz I’m like in a row Now I even took it one step further and I was gonna say you brought up Kokomo and I said well What if you named the movie that this the song was played in we should add a drink for that?

She goes fuck. No, I’m not doing that. You know every movie that’s even harder Yeah, cuz I was gonna go Well, that was that song Kokomo was using the movie cocktail and I also was gonna throw it if you can name the starring Actor and actress that played in it You get more drinks and I said, oh, yeah, that would have been Used in the movie Kokomo by the Beach Boys using the movie cocktail starring Tom Cruise and Elizabeth Shue.

[Vintage & Morelli]
I Don’t think I’ve watched that but I’m definitely gonna watch after this and I’m also not gonna play any games with you.

[Darran]
That’s for sure I’m like, she’s like no way cuz she’d never know anything, you know, it wasn’t. Yeah. So anyways, yeah Drinking games with Darran, even though I don’t drink right now Unless I’m on vacation and then then it’s all fun What do you consider your biggest break that launched your DJ producing DJ slash producing career well 2012 when I signed silk music back in a day, but I think it was the Collide of What’s like a luck me?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Releasing my first artist album. Was it? Yeah, first artist album and signing and Juna beats at the same time So like it both kind of pushed each other, you know, like like contrast is my the biggest single I’ve ever produced and that was specifically because I got rejected so many times right from and Juna and Look like every artist dream in our niche is like to at least have one track on and Juna beats, right?

because I’m doing a beats is legendary and I then I sat down and I said I’m gonna produce a track specifically for and Juna beats It took me eight hours to create contrast literally eight hours Like I started like 8 9 p.m. And ended up like 5 6 a.m. And the song was finished But that was my biggest single. I think that’s that’s what line launched me kind of like into the more To become a little more more well-known in in the progressive scene, I guess So that was my breakthrough.

[Darran]
That’s the reason why I named my record label contrast Thank you for that insight because I forgot to ask you why the name contrast See how things happen. Awesome. Yeah, how do you define success as a DJ slash producer?

Is it getting signed to a label a beat for top 10 hit sold-out tour? What are your thoughts on this?

[Vintage & Morelli]
I Don’t know. I mean honestly Like that can either make you or break you I’m talking about also meant mental health from a mental health kind of point of view because like oh Like if I don’t have beat for top 10 like beat port Literally only mattered like 5 to 7 10 years ago. Like it doesn’t matter anymore.

Now. It’s Spotify and Spotify. We all know You know the deal because you have to have connections you have to have you have to know people to get into playlists and stuff That’s the act or be on a really big record label to get pushed even even then it’s like not a sure thing Yeah So it’s a who you know basically But in general, it’s it’s It doesn’t matter For me, it doesn’t really matter like just keep doing what you’re doing it can be very frustrating like you you’re pouring your heart out and your ears into music and not getting anything out of it, but I We are usually very hard on ourselves especially I’m talking from my perspective and also maybe from the perspective of the artists. They were very hard on ourselves. So and We always aim for something bigger and higher and of course No, we don’t do that.

[Darran]
Are you serious?

[Vintage & Morelli]
There’s no mark, you know But when I see myself like 10 years ago and now like I I’ve come so far man even though I don’t see it because That’s the thing. I’m very hard on myself. Like, you know, I didn’t do like I’m not playing festivals I’m not like I don’t have 50,000 followers on my Instagram and all that stuff You know like like unfortunately today numbers matter but For me it doesn’t like like it’s just Numbers are just numbers, you know what I mean?

[Darran]
Yeah.

[Vintage & Morelli]
No, it’s a lot of fake followers and stuff just to appear more Yeah, those people get shows that’s the thing those people get gigs because the more followers you have the more content you put out Like a music doesn’t even matter anymore because it’s all about the content today you’re echoing when I speak with a lot of producers

[Darran]
You know and even DJs or older school DJs, you know aren’t up on the new social media kick Yeah, I mean that you know, they will say yeah, it sucks. I’ve been producing I got some of the hottest tracks out there, but here comes a kid along.

I’m not knocking anyone It could be real could be not, you know me along and they have a hundred thousand followers on Instagram They got this they had tick-tock.

[Vintage & Morelli]
They all read it and they’re getting booked for shows and I’m not getting booked saying You know that we’re doing this for 20 years, but I have maybe like something go like above 5,000 and that’s all legit. You know what I mean? Like I’ve never paid money for it.

It’s it’s all Organic and I’m very proud of it.

[Darran]
Yeah, it’s it’s it’s something that you know, it’s it’s I’m struggling to get through that next tier that next success with the DJ says like we Couple years back we went from basically being a stateside United States brand of talking to the DJs talking to people when they came to Seattle and working with them to when pandy hit I had to restructure our whole Brand because we were a live streaming DJ show in a world where everybody in the world jumped online and started live streaming their DJ performances and And started doing that. So I was like, well what differentiates us from Those people from from from I and all the a-list celebrities that I would have got to come to the show in the past Well now they’re doing their own show. So like well, why do I need to come on the DJ sessions?

You know, we saw something that people weren’t doing that that some of the major electronic music players in the community weren’t doing and we readjusted for that to become more of a Kind of I’d use the analogy of what MTV used to play just music videos But I get into producing Content like shows like a real world or game shows and they started doing more music news and things like that You know, I started taking that same approach at the DJ says we will always be focused on the music here at the DJ sessions but We now have launched and kind of went a little bit more international where we’ve also opened up our doors to all electronic music industry professionals You’re not just DJ some producers anymore and mixes it’s we’re talking to label owners lawyers Lighting designers, you know promoters. Yeah the whole Part of the industry. Yeah, you know to make it more of a news site Which I’ll give the drop on all that stuff and finish up the show here Which will be wrapping up in just a few moments But you know We want to be a destination point where people are coming back daily to tune in and watch Live interviews like this one to watch the exclusive mixes that we have only on our site to be able to know our news stories And all that and keeping all that met keeping all that going in the back end I’m not just some guy who flips on a webcam and here I am talking to you and in Serbia You know going like, you know halfway around the world There’s a 40 50 hours a week that goes behind orchestrating all this stuff website social media app development Your virtual reality nightclubs everything I got going on that, you know It’s it’s it’s amazing what people don’t know what happens behind the scenes a lot

[Vintage & Morelli]
Same with the music production and artists like you see so many artists just pop up like out of nowhere But they don’t know like 15 years Behind the scenes, you know, they didn’t just like explore right now.

[Darran]
It’s like all the hard work they put behind Well, and that brings me right into my next question for you is how do you balance your DJ production career with the other Obligations in your life any tips or tricks any insights you can give to our viewers or up inspiring for up-and-coming producers out there For me, it’s always like I’ve always done music for the love.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Mm-hmm and I Honestly don’t seek any like glory or fame or anything just love making music and for me It would be awesome like to share with more people But the bet it’s just it’s a balance. It’s a not the draining yourself because I don’t want my music to become Tedious to me like something that I have to do. I want to I want to do it it’s like with the album now, that’s why it’s taking so long because I Go to like I go back into my project and like some of like most of the times I fuck something up And I’m like fuck like now I have to go back and redo all the shit that I messed up right But I don’t want to do that.

Like I go and like a week off like I’m not doing anything Music wise I love designing. So I am usually in Photoshop if I’m not doing music I love just for me and I’m also designing all the stuff contrast now and like I everything that’s on my Instagram I do myself like all the reels and stuff and the designs and Also, I love being in nature. I love walking Milo.

I don’t know if you can see him. He’s right there.

[Darran]
That’s my Boy, that’s my old boy right there Love walking with Mimi outside and just take it easy You know Success doesn’t always last forever Especially not for an artist. Yeah, what do you do to save up for the future? What do you invest your earnings in is there anything you could recommend that people?

Might do to have a back-end support, you know or something or are you are you in the NFTs in the crypto water? What earnings? Well, I’m surprised you met water yeah because you know Snoop Dogg was recently in an interview He’s at a major conference for like live streaming music something.

I don’t know where is that? I just saw it on Instagram and he’s talking about going. Wait a second This is why the writers are striking because they haven’t determined a value of these streaming rights to music You know You have artists out there and they’re they’re getting millions and millions of streams They’re seeing pennies off of it while the companies are making bank off of it and that hasn’t been determined what that’s gonna be and that’s why you saw the writer said cuz like We didn’t account for live streaming.

We wrote this. This was like television Film you know, maybe a CD, you know a CD distribution, you know a DVD I’m sorry DVD distribution, you know, but it didn’t include live streaming or streaming rights in that contract and they’re trying to negotiate and get something for that and Same with artists, you know, they’re like I was just having this discussion in the houseman No, it was a house No, it wasn’t in the house.

Maybe it wasn’t that thread on Facebook talking about you know How artists how do you get compensated for your music, you know that if somebody’s using it and how do you change the laws? To make that happen. How do you get it?

Well EMC and do all that fun stuff and then you got the Union DMC and well, this is the thing we need we need big names to influence that.

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, that’s that’s the bottom line Because what I was gonna listen to me well houseman, you know what I mean like We need like be like famous people to Fight for us for the rest of the like big DJs big names It’s interesting you bring that up because I recently just saw somebody locally here in Seattle, you know, they posted saying hey I started this DJ 25 some odd years ago.

[Darran]
I started on vinyl now anyone can walk into a guitar center watch a couple YouTube videos and claim they’re a DJ and download their tracks and have 50,000 tracks and then go buy their social media hits and be like look I’m a DJ look at me Did it I got this now and do that and the market has become so saturated now that going out and saying you’re a DJ And they’re like, oh, well, I can get my I can get my cousin Charlie to DJ my event for 150 bucks

[Vintage & Morelli]
I never say I’m a DJ. I never said like yeah, I mean people tell me. Oh, he’s my friend.

He’s a DJ I’m like, I’m not a DJ. Yeah, I’m producer. I create music Yeah, DJing just a gig to make money, you know and share share my music to the people Yeah, I produce that’s my main thing.

Like when people call me a DJ. I’m like, oh Anybody can be a DJ.

[Darran]
Come on And that’s why I think the parody when we brought it up early in the show is I’m really an executive producer But everyone thinks I’m a DJ because I produce a DJ show and it’s like yeah. No, I’m not a DJ

[Vintage & Morelli]
DJ

[Darran]
Sessions But no, you know, um, you know question you have a website and you have merchandise on the website how important has it been for you to have merchandise and how important do you think it is for artists to have their own website and merchandise on that website

[Vintage & Morelli]
Website per se I don’t feel like it’s that important but merchandise I feel like it’s it makes a world of difference when you when you play a show and and you see somebody wearing a shirt with your name To show like the ultimate support You know or a hat or something. I think it’s a good way of like Pushing your brand because in the end we’re brand.

We’re like we’re brand. I’m a my name is Marco But vintage Amelie is my brand so, you know if you want to push your brand like that’s where more merchandise kicks in but as part of my like my website, that’s if you guys go to vintagemelody.com and you click new album and on the upper right side you can read about like What’s going on? Like what was the latest and also?

There’s like a bundles that you can choose To support me in creating the album.

[Darran]
Yeah

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, I mean you get like Digital download or CD or vinyl I’m gonna I’m gonna do my best to sign all of that, but logistically it’s a nightmare

[Darran]
Trust me I know the back-end stuff of doing all that years ago when we had our series when we I was producing a show called phantasmagoria and then we launched two more series called Northwest extreme sports and image nightlife and We have these three different brands and I was gonna have to have a website for each brand logos for each brand Yeah, all t-shirts and everything for each brand and I sat back with my producer in 2005 at the time I said look we need to put this all under one umbrella and I said, what do we do?

Well independent films was phantasmagoria Image nightlife was nightclubs and Northwest extreme sports was any sport you could break an arm doing but we were featuring the independent artists from those Sports, you know, and I said, well we feature independent artists and we’re putting them on broadcast television independent TV I always wanted something like MTV So that’s how I TV or independent television got born and now we had ITV nightlife ITV sports ITV short films and we had six more pilot episodes that we launched off of that But it was all under the ITV brand. So we had one logo Logo short films one logo, you know nightlife and it’s all about branding in the end became ITV live Which got our live streaming arm of the company up which ITV live presented the DJ sessions And then I just went I TV was a broadcast TV thing I’m moving forward with the DJ sessions then branding and logos and websites and all that stuff.

So I know you’re going Yeah you know one of the things I talk about with DJs all the time with is You know, you’re playing a show and you got the video wall behind you and they put up their name their logo behind them when I’m like Wouldn’t a great marketing tactic be that your logo is not really your logo anymore or your logo is there But you’re sharing it with the QR code up behind you so everyone in the audience Already knows now and takes the QR code and takes them right to your website or right to your merch store or you can flash up and Do different QR codes to take them right to your record release like at a certain time You can pump that QR code up when you’re dropping one of your tracks It’s gonna take them right to the website so they can buy that track and download it, you know

[Vintage & Morelli]
God bless the internet, right?

[Darran]
God bless people don’t think I’m crazy for talking about QR codes because I was talking about that that’s fine because So on my CD and vinyl, right?

[Vintage & Morelli]
That’s the goal cuz I’m I’m is there gonna be the first time I’m ever doing it Because I’m doing this shit independently, right? So there’s gonna be like a little easter egg with the QR code I’m not gonna say Anything or what it is, but there’s gonna be an easter egg that you have to crack to get you to The mini go and it’s not number 42.

[Darran]
That’s I Mean, that’s the whole thing. Is that I assume, you know the reference to number 42, of course Yeah, huge hit checkers fan. Yeah I’m a huge nerd Yeah We can have a whole nother show all about that.

Oh, yeah, we’re birds of a feather But yeah I mean people thought I was crazy about talking about these QR codes in 2010 and I told them it’s gonna revolutionize the world and Change things and now everyone knows how to use them because a pandy and I was like, all right, you know cool But you know, I’ve even told DJs I said make a shirt and when you’re on stage Put your logo on the back of the shirt and put a QR code on the front of the shirt So when people are you’re up there on stage people could take it and take some to your website It takes them to your link tree and they’re gonna follow your socials and you’re getting that commercial billboard right there Yeah, you’re on a stage stand up.

Use it. Yep. Come on, you know it people Well, it’s gonna look weird that I’m have a QR code on my shirt Not if you’re getting 50 people from every show you playing clicking on your link and following commenting on you Or you’re selling some tracks.

[Vintage & Morelli]
That’s what I’m merch That’s what I’m gonna do because I my the back of my car It’s completely filled with bumper stickers ranging from Rick and Morty Star Wars Lord of the Rings And then you have into generally right big-ass logo on the back. So you you know when you see it, you know, it’s my ride But then I want to do the QR code as well as well as Instagram like you see all these cars like with complete makeover like With like ads and stuff you get paid to drive a car.

[Darran]
I know nothing about that side of the business Okay, so in Europe or? Advertising company that you saw my truck earlier

[Vintage & Morelli]
Yeah, yeah, I mean but but you know, like you see this cars and you can you can make some money They put a bunch of stickers on your car and you drive your car normally, but you’re actually advertising whoever pays You know So I’m like, well, why wouldn’t I advertise myself I’ll just put a bunch of stuff You know on my own car and just when I drive around maybe somebody’s all let me see that QR code.

I’m very curious Yeah, absolutely.

[Darran]
No, I mean you’re you’re 100% On top of that and and you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s a way to get out It’s it’s it’s like a passive marketing technique, you know, and so they’re gonna see it like take a picture like oh You see that happen with a lot of in June a fan stickers around town, you know Yeah, what’s on social media? Like oh this person was in front of me. They’re an in June a fan.

Yeah You know, I’ll trans family or something like that, you know but Yeah, branding marketing. That’s all key. Definitely just another way to get your name out there You know, is there anything else Marco you want to let our DJ sessions fans know about before we let you go?

[Vintage & Morelli]
Just looking forward to sharing the album with everybody and it’s sounding really really good Is there an anticipated release date on that? Not yet. Okay, because It was all supposed to be Colliding with the u.s. Tour, but you know all the the visa stuff So I’m still like I’m waiting on it, but it’s gonna be very soon.

[Darran]
Hopefully Well, and where can people go to find out more information about this follow you to know about the album release the label and more So vintage money calm.

[Vintage & Morelli]
That’s my website. All the socials are there If you click on your album on my website, it’s gonna take you to everything you need to know about the creation of my album and why I’m doing this and Yeah, all my socials are there so you guys can follow me awesome Well, thank you for coming on the show.

[Darran]
Definitely gonna stay in contact with you It’s our goal here at the DJ sessions to always try to stay in touch with our artists every six months There’s always something new going on. We want to keep you on the show. Keep you going when you come to the States We’re gonna get you over here.

We’re gonna get you on that mobile studio. Oh, yeah, I get you to play You know something a little bit of you in the back there. We’ll have some fun I know that people here in Seattle definitely love you and it’d be great to see you when you come here I want to shout out to Eric and carry right now Absolutely.

Shout out to Eric and carry to two of the greatest people here in the Seattle marketplace I love working with them or a nightclub and Amani and they actually I don’t know if you see new Photos or new updates of the club there. I actually have four separate rooms now They have the stairs. They have a downstairs small room and then they have the two other rooms which are pretty cool Nice, I didn’t but I’ll definitely check it out.

Awesome stuff there. So yeah, shout out to aura and in motion productions Yeah, all right, thank you again for coming on the show and we look forward to talking with you in the future Absolutely. Awesome on that note.

Don’t forget to go to our website the DJ sessions comm find us on all the socials listed They’re up in the top right hand corner go to iTunes while iTunes I just dated myself the Apple Music Store find our podcast subscribe Leave a comment because that way you can get our shows automatically downloaded to you We have our mobile app that is gonna be re-released here soon So you can take us on the go watch the shows live check out our past episodes.

We got our merch store We got a VR nightclub in VR chat You watch if you’re in VR chat, you can watch this interview right now in your virtual headset in our VR nightclub That’s a pretty cool thing Got more stuff coming your way 600 news stories every month published in the DJ sessions comm exclusive mixes and more at the DJ sessions comm I’m gonna try something here. I haven’t been able to use this yet. We’re gonna go boom.

See what happens Well, that’s the QR code there Sessions website, you know check that out there. That’s something new I’ve never done that in a show before but since we’re talking about QR codes and promoting there we go right there that DJ sessions I’m your host Darran. That’s Marco vintage Morelli coming to you for the virtual sessions Presented by the DJ sessions and remember on the DJ sessions.

The music never stops