An idea born out of uncertainty, techno-club.net, a new virtual club with 10 rooms, an opening lineup of 25 artists playing more than 50 hours of non-stop techno, house, and electro, will change the way we party amidst a pandemic. For the last 7+ months, artists, DJs, producers, and fans, have been finding creative ways to share and consume electronic music and keep the scene alive. Through social media platforms such as Instagram Live, Twitch, Facebook Live, and Mixcloud, artists and DJs have brought music to their fans, hosting club nights and live sessions. If you’ve ever witnessed one of these live-streamed sets, you know the struggles that come with them: annoying ads, poor audio quality, lack of atmosphere, and copyright infringements that lead those streams to become unavailable. techno-club.net is the answer to these woes.  

A completely independent venture, co-creators Cisco Ferreira (one half of The Advent) and Dave Bate crafted the idea of this virtual club after a show in Leeds (Ferreira played, Bate, his guest) in February. Over breakfast, with reports of impending worldwide pandemic smeared across the televisions, the two began discussing what they thought the future would hold for electronic music. Predicting venue closures and cancelled shows, the guys couldn’t have been more spot on. Bate, a savvy computer programmer, told Ferreira that he thought they could build a program that ran as a club environment, with rooms, production, the whole nine yards, and that artists could all stream independently. 

The plan originally was to host five different rooms but has since expanded to ten. To support the venture, the team has grown to five, bringing on promoters Tom Mitchell and Chich from Portland and Luxembourg respectively, and designer A.Paul from Portugal.  

techno-club.net will operate like any brick and mortar club. As a user, you’ll come in and pay your €5 entry fee. With that you’ll gain access to all ten rooms that you can visit as you please for the allotted time you paid for. €5 will give access for five hours, €10 for ten hours, and so on. The ten rooms are named by colour with visuals to match. The lineup is listed on their site with set times. No two DJs will start at the same time, so you’ll always be able to catch a set. 50% of the DJs will be streaming live while the rest are pre-recorded. As soon as a set is done, it will go directly into the archive for users to watch back. In between sets, which last anywhere from one to four hours, the system will do a quick recalibration before the next DJ is up.  

 

 

 

 

 

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Each room also has a chat function where users can mingle. Rooms are moderated and no hate will be tolerated. Unlike platforms like Boiler Room that are open and free and unfortunately attract trolls, techno-club.net requires users to sign up and pay. Those that spew any hate will be removed and permanently blocked.  

As techno-club.net will be earning revenue, they are also paying their DJs. At the end of the weekend, all revenue will be totaled (costs and expenses deducted) and divided amongst the rooms, split 70-30 in the room’s favour. All music is licensed as well, so original artists will receive their royalties. Currently, techno-club.net has licenses for Europe and America that doesn’t allow you to stop, rewind, and replay the livestreams, but users will have complete access to the archives that they can watch, pause, and re-watch at their leisure. This solves the copyright issues that so many of the other streaming sites have come across. Operating as a radio station would, all DJs are required to submit a full set list to ensure that all licensing checks out. 

The entire lineup is curated personally by the creators. Currently, there is a list of 45 residents that will play once or twice a month. For now, the music played will be techno, electro, and house. They’ve mentioned that is how it will stay for now with the potential to offer more variety of sound in the future. This weekend’s launch will feature 25 different artists. The lineup for next weekend (October 2-4) is already posted on their site. 

2020 has redefined how we consume our music and has forced creators to get innovative on how they share their work with the world. As great as the social platforms that have been playing host to the DJs and producers out there are, their purpose was never to be a stand-in for music venues. techno-club.net was created because of a need for a platform where fans and artists alike can feel good about playing and listening. No gimmicks, no ads, no big corporations- just good music and good company. In a time of separation and isolation, techno-club.net is bringing the electronic community back together.