DJs react to EDM Casting, Twitter barfs on concept

Published: January 3, 2013

By: Anand Harsh

When word began to spread over the past 48 hours of an internet-wide open casting call for a reality-based DJ competition spearheaded by the casting director behind Jersey Shore and A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, understandably, feathers were ruffled. Very few details have emerged about the reality show competition tentatively titled Superstar DJ (maybe keep working on that), but what we do know is that Doron Ofir Casting, a branch of Popular Productions, is at the center of the EDMcasting.com controversy. Doron Ofir is responsible in part for the discovery of Snooki, JWOWW, and the human Bowflex known as "The Situation," but in an interview published this morning by Phillip Sherbourne of SPIN.com, Ofir shared some pretty legitimate credits for why he is qualified to dabble in the dance music world.

"I started in New York, Sound Factory bar. Sound Factory. Twilo. Limelight. Tunnel. USA. Chaos. Envy. Jet Lounge," Orfir listed, while dropping names like Louie Vega and Frankie Knuckles, before he explained how he moved to Miami in 1991 and helped create WMC, the world's biggest DJ conference. "That's why they tapped me, to at least be able, with a discerning eye, to weed through the nonsense and actually be able to create something that will help bring music to the forefront and back to television."

Fair enough, the casting director knows the industry. But the show's producers remain under wraps, with a nebulous time frame of "the third week in January" set for the dissemination of more info. What is the show going to look like? Will the DJs have to live in the same house and share a bathroom? Will Diplo take on Simon Cowell duties and rag on poor beat-matching abilities? Will your mom and dad start talking about Traktor vs. Ableton like everyone started dropping the word "pitchy" into conversation in 2006? It's hard to say at this point. What we do know is that artists who hustled and played a hundred shitty gigs for nobody to get to where they are got a little peeved. And they took to Twitter to let it be known.

So is the dance music trend finally jumping the shark with a reality show pitting amateur DJs in competition with one another? Nah. Kids still get drunk and vomit in their buddy's hair on a Tuesday night in Seaside Heights. Hell, how many established singers and songwriters came on American Idol to remind people they were still around and sell a few albums? This could become a legitimate forum for mid-sized acts to get some well-deserved attention and bring some fans out to the show. Nina Garcia and Michael Kors would agree with me.

Sure, it's going to be gross. Will TV get it wrong? They always do. Was Last Comic Standing always funny? Hardly. But, some talented acts got a chance to accelerate their careers and get to where they'd end up a little sooner. So maybe some greased up bodybuilder with a strong jawline and an IQ in the high 40s will drop "Bass Cannon" three years too late and everyone at home groans--we'll still be watching.

As with all things EDM, the final word should and will always go to High Rankin: "It looks fucking awful in every way which means it should make supurb television. Every DJ that has posted 'this is a joke, how dare they' will be glued to it every week, tweeting incessantly about how much they hate it. It will be the Howard Stern effect in full effect. I can wait and I may well apply. As long as there is still space for the overly-emotional-melodramatic-one-with-self-esteam-and-daddy-issues."

'Nuff said.