When the Coronavirus shut us down, clubs and festivals ceased, and everyone was essentially forced inside with no definitive end in sight, DJ Times wondered: How is our tribe coping? How are DJs getting by?
So, we sent out our “Coronavirus Questionnaire” to DJ/producers from all musical genres to find out. During this period, DJ Times will continue presenting the questionnaire responses from talented music-makers from all over the world. Here’s our latest entry, this time from Germany, the Berlin-based techno duo Pan-Pot (aka Tassilo Ippenberger and Thomas Benedix).
What’s it been like where you are? How have you spent your time? We are both in Berlin and we have spent time in Berlin since the beginning of the pandemic without traveling much. We spent a lot of time with our families and we were in the studio a lot, and focused a lot on streaming concepts like “Let’s Play with DJs.” This is our fun gaming and music-stream channel on Twitch, and on the other hand we have dealt a lot with the topic of Streaming 2.0. We asked ourselves, “How we can make streaming more attractive in the future?” Make it more attractive so that there is more interaction and a better personal experience for participants – so, for the crowd, as well as us as artists.
Have you lost income-producing work? Yes, we did. In any case, we have earned around 10- to 20-percent of what we previously earned since the start of the pandemic. These are massive financial slumps and, unfortunately, we are not really eligible for state aid – because we mainly generate our income abroad, but still have to pay tax in Germany.
Are you doing anything now that can or will produce music-related income? Yes, everything we have spoken about before are actually already concepts and ideas that should generate income in the future. This can be in the short term via a Twitch channel, or in the long term via the company with which we produce or create the Streaming 2.0. Naturally, it’s also the time in the studio when we produce music, where revenues are generated through licensing.
What are you doing now that’s ultimately constructive to your music life/career? Well, of course, we have already used the time to simply deal more musically with ourselves and with what we actually want. We believe that you can also hear that on our EP that we recently made. We feel like the “Voodoo/Signs” EP sounds even more consistent and even more like what defines us musically at the moment. So yes, we have already used the time to reflect on what we really want to do.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve realized during this period of social distancing? We have found, for ourselves, that we miss any kind of social interaction insanely. So… that we like to hug people, that we like to have contact with people and have really noticed how important this is to us. We’re just happy when it’s all over and you can look yourself in the face again without a mask.
What have you done online? Seen anything you like, so far? We streamed a lot through different channels. YouTube, Facebook and mostly through Twitch. Of course, we also watched many streaming online projects from other companies and artists. The Fortnite project with “Travis Scott” was particularly interesting for us and, in general, everything had happened in connection with “The Wave XR.” Musically, there were also some artists who were able to create great projects. We found the stream from Maceo Plex pretty cool when he was in the green screen studio, moving between Amsterdam, Barcelona and various other locations in different visual contexts and also giving his fans the opportunity to also appear in it.
Any theme tunes recommended for the moment? “Voodoo” from our new EP on Second State.
Any advice on staying sane & relatively positive through this situation? Positive thinking, family and sports. The most important thing is to stick to people you can rely on… so, family and friends, and especially be careful with consuming media/news. If you really want to watch the news, you should get the information from various sources. If you emotionally can’t deal with the amount of “bad news” make sure to create a physical and mental balance with sport and other relaxing activities.
To check out more Life in Lockdown interviews, click here.
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