DJ Times: How has proliferation of the Internet and social media affected the way you can market events today in comparison to when you first began?
Richards: We used to hand out flyers, and we had a mailing list to actually physically mail postcards to people. We’d sort them by zip code, in order to get a better rate on the postage. If I had Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Soundcloud and all that shit back then? Game over.
DJ Times: Why?
Richards: I mean, the reason why Rave America did so well and we got so big was because we had radio promotion. You know, we actually got on the radio with that event and it just spread to other people because—let’s be honest—electronic music’s killer, people love it, and who doesn’t like to go out and dance and party and have a good time? That’s been going on since there’s been humans on the planet, but it’s like: How do you spread the word? Somebody told me back then that I have the oil, but no pipeline, that there was no way to get the music and the event to the people. Now with all of these tools at my disposal, I can get it right to the people without having to be on the radio and without having to be on MTV. Back then, that’s all you had. You had to have an ad in the paper, the LA Weekly you know, all that shit.
DJ Times: And now?
Richards: Now, I have my network built up, and I can shoot out an email right now to hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people and turn them on to my music, events, and other cool shit. I’ve never used that pipeline for anything else other than quality, so I feel like I’ve kept it really clean. When we tell people about stuff, they listen. They pay attention.
