Several of the globetrotting DJs involved with Tour Managers Not Touring (TNT) have publicly responded to controversy surrounding the campaign. Its Bandcamp and Instagram pages had been taken offline following incendiary criticism by John Askew, but they are once again visible to the general public.

A post to the TNT Instagram page denounced the backlash as a “totally unprecedented attack on our DJs,” arguing that the purpose of the initiative had been misunderstood. “There was never any mention of our DJs asking the public to pay our wages, only asking to support us,” read the post. “We are going through these difficult times together like everyone else.”

 

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What started out as a creative initiative for a close group of hard working tour management professionals within our beloved scene, to share our passion for music and to merely bring people something positive to keep us occupied in the crazy times we are all experiencing, has now manifested into a totally unprecedented attack on our DJ’s. Those DJ’s are our family on the road, our confidants and most importantly our closest friends. We work with them week in week out throughout the year and we support each other in everything we do. We asked each of our artists to provide us with an exclusive mix and also help us push the TNT project throughout their online channels which they did so without any hesitation. There was never any mention of our DJ’s asking the public to pay our wages, only asking to support us. We are going through these difficult times together like everyone else. We are absolutely saddened at what we are reading online about the DJ’s that bring so much joy and happiness to thousands around the world. This has been blown completely out of context. We as TM’s can hold our hands up and agree there were errors made with how this project was presented but this was not intentional and as we speak the situation is being resolved. TNT SOFA SESSIONS

A post shared by TNT (@tntsofasessions) on May 4, 2020 at 5:42pm PDT

Carl Cox, perhaps the most notable artist participating TNT, shared similar sentiments. “I have never seen anything blown so far out of proportion without context…” he wrote. “…There was no suggestion ever made that this was to cover ‘wages.’ That is simply ridiculous and I feel saddened that this has even been suggested.”

Alan Fitzpatrick wrote in his own statement that he was “asked by my TM to do a brief video, saying that this group of TM’s had done a bunch of DJ mixes to kill some time while at home.” He said he was under the impression donations would go to charitable causes and had not provided a mix of his own.

Arguably the most apologetic response has come from Joseph Capriati. Despite echoing that his support of the project had been “taken out of context,” he admitted that his “lack of attention” to the campaign had resulted in tone deaf messaging. “I want to apologize for my lack of attention in this and assure you that there was no intention of asking for the public to cover [my tour manager’s] wages,” he wrote. “I’ve always given him what he deserves and all the help needed especially in these critical times.”

Social media commentators have been quick to point out that the TNT artists’ response contradicts statements made in the early days of the campaign. On April 28th, Dubfire‘s tour manager, Tim Price, had told IQ Magazine, “Our goal is to release some new and interesting content to help with the #StayHome initiative and also try and gain some financial support for us tour managers during this unfortunate time, as most of us, if not all, are not paid a salary – we are paid per show.”

Although it is back online, no mixes are presently available on the Bandcamp page for Tour Managers Not Touring.