Keeping this month's field notes short because the Frequency Report is long.

I’m exhausted, friends. Scaling Chicago Music Nexus to a two-day conference is 500 times harder (and more rewarding) than I ever expected. I’ll share more relevant takeaways next month.

If you’re a last-minute ticket buyer, here’s a little nudge. Use the code “midwest” on any of these three private links for $25 off.

Info and schedule here.

Except this isn’t technically new, and that’s what’s been nagging at me.

With my fourth Music Nexus just two weeks away, I’m feeling the heat. But nothing is different for us than it was in 2024: we get a nice presale push, a four-month void, then tickets start flying in the days leading up.

I’m not going to use my own event as a case study because it’s not a 1:1 ratio with what many of you are experiencing, but I’m just letting you know I personally feel your pain and anxiety.

So, is the increasing number of dance events the culprit?

That doesn’t fully explain smaller markets with fewer dance music venues.

Or is it what I call the “mall theory”?

If you’re 30+, like me, you remember the anticipation and excitement of getting dropped off at the mall. You didn’t know whether you'd run into your crush, your rival, or kids from another school. How the day would unfold was a complete mystery, and that’s what made it so enticing.

Social media obliterated the thrill of the unknown. If we’re choosing between a few events, we can literally wait until they start and watch Instagram stories to decide whether it’s worth getting out of bed. People may be less willing to commit until they have enough social proof.

Promoters were already saying this out loud three years ago. In early 2023, Mixmag ran a piece on the cost-of-living crisis where a Manchester promoter said over 80% of his tickets were bought in the last few days before the event, and a Bristol club owner said people had stopped pre-booking and started turning up at the door.

So why is everyone talking about it now? Because a 2024 Eventbrite “study” on the live event sales curve recently resurfaced on social media.

Here’s my problem with this study: it uses only Eventbrite data (duh), and it is really just cleverly disguised content marketing. It even includes a whole section on using Eventbrite’s tools to “deliver stronger results” with ticket sales.

I’m not saying the lack of research disproves what we’re all experiencing, but I don’t think one article can explain the whole problem.

As expected, research on dance music ticketing data is practically nonexistent in the United States. Nearly everything I found useful was from the UK. But we can look at other consumer spending trends to get a sense of the picture.

First, we need to parse out the obvious. This is sadly a smaller-venue cap/independent-event issue.

This article from my friends at EDM Identity reports that EDC sold so many GA and VIP passes during presale this year that they won’t be offering them on general sale.

As Grant points out, EDC has always sold fast. But they’re sprinting in the other direction while the rest of us are begging for scraps.

One obvious differentiator: festival payment plans exist.

A Billboard article from last year revealed that a whopping 60% of GA Coachella-goers used a payment plan for their 2025 tickets.

Clearly, people can plan ahead. And if they know they’ll see multiple DJs in one place over one weekend, it's easier to procrastinate on attending local events.

What about global entertainment-owned venues that essentially behave like festivals? I found this really incredible report from the Night Time Industries Association in the UK that outlines another problem:

"The larger corporates have drilled more into event spaces. It's almost like festivals with a roof. Smaller independent venues that used to be more niche and a bit more cool are now struggling because, by extension, they're limiting their offering, and they also need to evolve, but they don't have the money to do that.”

— Silvana Kill, Chief Operating Officer, Night Time Industries Association (NTIA)

It’s easy to veer off track and get into the broader economics, but I’m not going to. But I included this quote to show you that the festival model (pricing included) is now seeping into regular weekend activities. These are also likely the events people plan for - maybe not months in advance, but at least weeks.

But a $15- $40 ticket at a club? The risk of “not feeling like it” or something better coming up (even if that something better is a couch) might be too great to bear. I did try to find recent data on attitudes toward loss aversion with smaller dollar amounts, but couldn’t find anything relevant post-2015.

Another point from that same UK study:

“Economic barriers make weekly £100 nights unsustainable for most demographics, driving a shift toward free events, occasional high-value festivals, and BYOB models, reducing per-night costs.”

Some of you might be thinking, “Yeah, duh. The ‘middle class’ [independent promoters] gets crushed. What else is new?”

And my argument is… well, not this.

If you’ve been an entrepreneur for 10+ years (most of us haven’t), you probably saw this coming years ago. Consolidation. Monopolization. Fuckery.

So what can we do? We can’t change consumer spending habits by complaining. Venues, promoters, artists, and ticketing platforms all play a role in the solution.

Promoters’ and venues’ biggest incentive is creating revenue predictability and more reliable forecasting.

At a high level, stop treating every show as a separate transaction and start building a recognizable nightlife brand people feel called to join. A consistent experience is paramount. People know what they’re going to get at EDC Vegas. There’s trust there. Your event should be no different.

My good friend Rami owns an event brand here in Chicago called Dance Rituals. Sometimes he books artists that aren’t necessarily in my preferred genre. I still go to his events when I’m craving a night out because I know I'll find a lot of things I love: elevated cocktails, an older crowd, clean bathrooms, unique locations, and immaculate vibes. I was a patron of his for a year before we even became friends.

Promoters and venues should build a brand that makes people immediately associate “X” with “Y”, like a knee-jerk reaction. This cuts decision fatigue and builds trust.

You can do this without breaking the bank by partnering with dance-adjacent brands in the alcohol or wellness space. You can offer experiential elements. I just paid $60 for a Louie and Anane Vega show in Montreal where they hired an artist to paint their portrait live.

One other idea worth exploring: memberships.

If you’ve watched any recent episode of Shark Tank, you’ll see the sharks perk up at the mention of a subscription. Recurring revenue is big bucks.

Memberships are subscriptions by another name. Elsewhere and Gray Area in New York both have memberships. Perks like first access to shows before they're announced, lowest ticket prices, and free +1s are all good options.

The cool thing about memberships is you can fully customize them to your business and community, and there’s plenty of opportunity to cross-pollinate with dance-adjacent brands. For example, a membership card also gets you a 15% discount at a partner restaurant or gym.

Artists: last-minute ticket buying affects you, too, and it is short-sighted and bad business to put all of the onus on the promoters to sell tickets. Bookers want to work with people they like, and it’s in your best interest to help market your show if you want them to ask you back.

You don’t need to understand the intricacies of every market you play, but it takes very little time and effort to get daily ticket counts and ask where sales are coming from. Create unique content about your upcoming gigs early and often. Why let your fate rest in someone else’s hands?

At a macro level, your biggest lever is cultivating extreme fan loyalty: find your strongest markets and activate them, then move on to your second-tier markets and figure out how to serve them better.

The simplest way to do this is by offering artist pre-sales for your most loyal fans via private groups.

Or you can go deeper by creating a system that rewards early ticket buyers with exclusive merch, unreleased music, digital downloads, meet-and-greets, or other collectibles. This takes much more effort and coordination, but it’s worth it if it boosts early sales.

Ticketing platforms have a bigger role in purchase windows than you might think.

The absolute worst thing for my bank account these past few years has been the Shop App. Whenever I have a hankering for a new outfit, it can be on its way to my house with one click.

So many GARBAGE ticketing platforms make buying tickets extremely difficult (ask me how I know). When unnecessary friction gets in the way of a buyer's goal, they might put off the task.

Ticketing platforms should create smoother processes and fix bugs so venues and promoters keep them as vendors.

Everything I’ve laid out points in a direction that feels obvious to anyone who's sold a ticket in the last two years, but supporting data is still thin. Making business decisions is an art and a science, and we’re missing a chunk of the science.

The solutions I’ve suggested above aren’t quick fixes and won’t transform consumer spending habits overall. But it can help all the key players in dance music - the independents who keep this scene vibrant and moving forward - create more predictable income and give people a reason to decide before Friday afternoon.

You may have noticed Illyus & Barrientos have recently dropped the & from their title. After years of success as half of one of the scene's most respected duos, Illyus is now a solo artist, continuing to build with timeless, club-focused house music.

With releases on legendary labels like Toolroom, Defected, and Nervous; performances at Fabric, Printworks, and Hï Ibiza; and a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, that name comes with a decade of work behind it.

Stepping out of a duo means letting go of the name people know you by, which is why most artists make a production of the switch. Illyus just kept releasing records and let everyone catch up.

By the way, if you know me IRL, you know Scottish accents are my absolute favorite. To my surprise and delight, Illyus did this interview as a voice note. I transcribed his answers as closely as possible.

Before you were DJing full time, what were you doing to pay the bills?

Well, I’ve always been DJing. I’ve been doing that for like twenty years now. So I DJ’d in nightclubs and bars in Glasgow city center. I won a few DJ competitions, and that got me into the bar scene and then the club scene. Eventually, that led me into music production.

When you and Barrientos started working together, how much did you talk about the structure, or did you just start making records and let it become a thing?

When Barrientos and I started working together, there was no real plan. I had a folder full of R&B acapellas because I was a hip hop and R&B DJ, and I said to Barrientos, "Just take these away and maybe come up with an idea.” He was a classically trained musician, so he didn't know old-school R&B records.

So he came up with an idea we eventually released, and that started the whole project because the record did really well. It was called Do Anything You Wanna. And then from there it just grew and grew and grew.

Can you point to a single decision that put gasoline on the fire of the duo?

As I mentioned, the record we put out on Glasgow Underground, Do Anything You Wanna, cemented us as a duo because it did so well.

I got 1Xtra Record of the Week; everyone played it on Radio 1, and DJs played it everywhere. And I remember I had, like, a £100 car that I was driving around, and all the people in the city center that I was DJing to in the nightclubs and the bars, they were like, you’ve made it; why are you driving that shitbox around? But yeah, that was pretty much what cemented us as a duo.

Looking back, what would you build differently if you’d known you’d one day be on your own?

Honestly, I wouldn’t do anything different. We had such a good time. Ivan’s family, to me, is like my little brother, and we’ve just had the best time ever, touring the world, ld, releasing amazing records.

Sometimes people need to take their own path in life, and he wanted a different one, and he’s actually so happy, which is amazing. I’ve got my mum next to me right now; I’ve literally just been telling her that. So it’s one of those where you couldn’t be happier for someone, and he’s constantly supporting what I’m doing.

When the act is the brand, what has to be divided up? The name, the socials, the back catalog, the agent, the publishing, the email list. Walk me through what was straightforward and what wasn’t.

So it couldn’t have been more straightforward. Barrientos literally went, look, how can I make the transition as easy as possible for you? And I went, I just want to keep the name. It sounds silly, but when you introduce yourself with just your first name, people don’t click; then you go with the full name, and they recognize the music, or know the music.

So just the name. And when you send out demos, the name helps too, because we’ve built something over the last ten years, and in the future that helps me with that as well. But we always had separate email addresses; that was easy.

Publishing was another easy thing; we were together, but now that’s finished as well. So there wasn’t really much to divide up; it was essentially just a name. And then, as I said to Ivan as well, it would be nice- he’s got a little daughter- like in ten, twenty, thirty years’ time, for his daughter to look back on, and Ivan can say that your dad was part of that.

How do you set goals as a solo act when there’s nobody across the table to set them with? Did the goals themselves change, or did only who decides them change?

I think the goals back then were totally different. It was about getting an agent, getting a manager, working with labels we really aspired to be on, touring, and becoming a household name in the industry. Now my goals are totally different, because I don’t really set them that way in the music industry; it’s a funny old game.

Now my main goal is to work with people I like and want to be side by side with. And I think that’s the only goal. The other goal is obviously to make the music I want to make and DJ where I want to DJ, because I just want it to be fun and an enjoyable journey. You can easily get pressured into this whole industry, and it becomes the be-all and end-all.

But if you're really honest with yourself, you got into music because you love it, and it’s a feel-good thing for you, your mind, and your soul. And the minute it starts feeling like this pressure business, which some might enjoy, I’ve realized it’s about the people you meet on the journey, and about the music you make and get to play for people around the world.

You gradually moved into the solo name through releases like Deep Down and Right Here, rather than making an announcement. What was the thesis behind that strategy?

I like how you noticed that I didn’t make an official announcement. I think it's because I didn’t know if anyone cared, or if anyone would. Maybe I just wanted to carry on making music. I was also at a point where I was unsure what I was doing with music, if I was going to continue as well.

So I just wanted to make some records that are for me. People’s Party was another one. That was the one that really kind of- every DJ played it, from Carl Cox to A-Trak, Hot Since 82, TSHA, Kilimanjaro.

So many people played that record, and it made me feel like maybe I’m not quite finished as an artist, a DJ, a producer. Then some friends, including Greg, who helps me with PR, said I should let people know there’s a change, that something’s happened.

How long before the audience caught up? Are people still finding out?

People are definitely still finding out. And the beauty of it right now is the music, and the shift in music, the style shift; it’s almost like I’m a new artist. A lot of people are treating me like a new artist, or they’ve never heard of me and discovered me through the plays and support I’m getting. And then they’re finding a back catalog, which is nice as well.

But I think people are enjoying the shift from what it was before. So it’s been nice to kind of be welcomed as a solo artist. It’s been really, really nice; I actually really appreciate it. Maybe that’s another reason I’m giving it another go, or going for it and just living my best life, as they say.

What mistake or stretch set you back, and what did it teach you?

Setbacks or a mistake- are there really any mistakes? I suppose you just have to own them and run with them; otherwise, you can’t learn. No one’s perfect. But I think relying too much on other people can be a mistake. You can do a lot of stuff yourself; you can be self-sufficient in many ways.

And I think in the past we have maybe trusted folk too much and been too loyal to an extent, because you think people in the industry have your back at all costs.

Some people might have great experiences, don’t get me wrong. And if I’m really honest, I think those elements are also why I lost my partner, because the music industry can swallow you up and get frustrating, especially when you’re relying on people around you who are supposed to have your best interests at heart.

It makes you have thick skin, don’t get me wrong, but I probably deal with things way more cautiously these days. That’s definitely a lesson I’ve learned.

If two artists came to you today about starting a duo, what would you tell them to agree on before they release anything?

If you’re going into a duo, you’re probably friends in the beginning. So I don’t think business should come first. Because I go back to what I said earlier, I think you should love what you’re getting into, especially music.

If your sole goal, at least at first, is to do this for money, you’re in the wrong place. Because, first and foremost, it starts with a love of what music is, what passion is, and what humanity is, making people happy. And yeah, that’s the first thing.

But then, if you do become a duo, I would say don’t have two names, like Illyus and Barrientos, or whoever else it is. Because I initially wanted to create a brand. So it was like Gorgon City, Disclosure, you’ve got Meduza- you’ve got so many people where it’s not split into two people. And I think if you have this kind of brand name, brand identity, one sort of thing that stands out, you can create way more around it, and it’s way more flexible.

And that also comes from the fact that if one’s unwell and can’t go DJing and the other has to DJ, you can still sell that brand. But as soon as you put the "and" in the middle, it straightaway means it’s two people, if that makes sense.

What’s the most overrated piece of advice in this industry?

It’s a funny one, this is a few years back, and I’m probably contradicting myself a little bit, but, it’s all about the music. That’s probably massively overrated advice today, because as an artist you have to be so much more than just the music you make or play. DJing was probably my first passion before I even started making music, and I like to think I’m a good DJ.

But even you know yourself, that alone won’t create a career anymore. Now you have to make the music. Then that journey leads you into the social media side of things, which you have to be amazing at; you have to be consistent; you have to engage with your audience.

And that leads you into networking, and the networking is like ADE, Miami, IMS, and all these different things that you have to go to. It’s a constantly evolving industry, and it is very much: if you don’t move with it, then you will get left behind. That’s just how I see it.

And people go back to amazing legends who are still in the game, like Kerri Chandler and all these people floating around: Derrick Carter, Moodymann, all these different people.

But then they would go, well, they’re doing it without anything essentially; they’re just being themselves, and the music represents them. But they’ve had a forty-year head start on a lot of us because they helped create the scene, and they’re legacy artists. And in today’s world, it’s so hard, even if that still is a thing, to become a legacy artist.

Big thanks to Illyus for his thoughtful responses, and I’m looking forward to watching his continued success.

October is always my most insane month. Not only am I prepping for Nexus, but it’s also budgeting season in the brand-partnerships world. A lot of what I can execute for my own events and for my clients next year gets decided in October.

If you haven’t done any planning for 2027 yet, I recommend doing so before the holidays hit. Here’s a simple framework you can build on next year as you get into the habit of long-term strategy.

Year In Review

2027 Goal Setting

Execution and Accountability

This is a high-level review; I’ll be going deeper into strategy planning in this month’s video essay.

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