The writer first addresses a Der Tagesspiegel interview with Dirty Doering (real name Velten Doering), calling it “likely one of the worst interviews we’ve ever read.” During the conversation, Doering defended his decision to play events in Tanzania – where the government has insisted that the country is COVID-19 free since June despite warnings from health professionals. He then discussed plans to travel to South Africa, saying, “Cape Town is not as dangerous as it is portrayed in the German media.”

“The views that Dirty Doering expresses in this interview are by no means rare but held by many of his peers,” Business Teshno writes. “The interview clearly reveals what a group of privileged DJs’ attitude towards plague raves is.”

The letter shifts focus to an organized by Amnesia Ibiza and Musiq Records that will run from March 5th-19th. MUSIQTRIP Zanzibar The Sandbank will see DJ sets by Ricardo Villalobos, Mar-T, CAAL, Gogo Sacco and Karlos Sense.

“This left us baffled,” they continued. “The same Ricardo Villalobos who has been known as a ‘leftwing idealist’ for years will be at the forefront of these raves in Africa. We urge them to act responsibly and postpone the event to a safer date or just cancel it altogether. We ask you to share this open letter and help raise awareness for the Black lives at risk.”

Sounds Familiar

Business Teshno’s letter is by no means the first time they’ve drawn attention to the perceived ethical shortcomings of event organizers and famous DJs. As restrictions lifted in many countries last summer, they documented the jet setting lifestyles of artists like Amelie Lens, Dixon, Michael Bibi and Denis Sulta.

Nor are they alone, for that matter. Last week, The Secret DJ – also an anonymous writer – published an open letter of his own on the matter in PRS for Music‘s M Magazine. Arguing that “law and personal morality diverge frequently,” he posited that gatherings being legal in places like Tulum don’t make them ethical.

Business Teshno are most active on Twitter and Instagram but can be found on Reddit and Facebook as well.

Image credit: Luis Quintero

Public posts and business filings gathered by anonymous electronic music industry watchdog Business Teshno suggest a conflict of interest between the aforementioned parties. On June 10th, Gou announced her involvement in #SaveOurNights, which would see Jägermeister donate €1 million to music brands sidelined by COVID-19. On July 7th – the same day #SaveOurSub was launched – she shared that Sub Club would be one of the recipients.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I’m honoured to be partnering with @jagermeister to donate 1 Million Euro to carefully selected venues, events, artists, promoters, and initiatives in 10 countries around the world as part of the #SAVETHENIGHT initiative. It’s time for me to give back and #SAVETHENIGHT will offer much needed support to the struggling nightlife industry, which has been hit very hard by the pandemic. If we can come together as a community and get through this difficult time, I’m sure our best nights are yet to come. www.save-the-night.com 예거마스터와 코로나로 인해 무너지고있는 클럽씬, 음악 인더스트리를 위해 15억원을 기부하는 캠페인을 시작하게 되었습니다. 한국을포함한 10개국의 클럽베뉴, 프로모터, 아티스트들을 도와줄 예정이며 제가 느끼고있던 감사함을 음악씬에 돌려줄수있게되어 영광입니다. 곧 업뎃해드릴게요! ? @mokjungwook

A post shared by Peggy Gou 페기 구 (@peggygou_) on Jun 10, 2020 at 6:24am PDT

 

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One of the world’s longest running and most important clubs, Sub Club in Glasgow, is facing permanent closure. I have amazing memories of playing Sub Club and had really hoped to go back this year. As part of the @jagermeister #SaveTheNight initiative we will be making a donation from @jagermeisteruk to #SaveOurSub. You can also support by sharing the fundraising campaign @subclub87 Link: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/saveoursub

A post shared by Peggy Gou 페기 구 (@peggygou_) on Jul 7, 2020 at 9:49am PDT

Gou’s professional relationship with Khushi has called the motives of such a donation into question. In addition to his role as one of the three directors of Sub Club parent company Outer Limits Ltd, he is the sole director of Gou’s merchandise business, Peggy Goods Ltd.

According to Business Teshno, spokespeople on behalf of Jägermeister stated that they stopped considering #SaveOurSub as a recipient because “donating to a club with business ties to people involved in the initiative would lead to false impressions and harm the cause it is designed for.”

The revelation comes a matter of days after The Ferret published an exposé showing that the parents of another Sub Club director, Barry Price had themselves sold the adjacent property to JD Wetherspoon. The developer’s legal battle with the club was included in the #SaveOurSub campaign description as one of the costs threatening the future of the establishment.

Spokespeople on behalf of Peggy Gou, Usman Khushi and Jägermeister did not immediately respond to Selector‘s request for comment.

DJs are anxious to return – and one can hardly blame them. Countless performers across the globe have forgone their primary income source as a result of a festival collapse that unfolded when the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic five months ago. As lawmakers gradually lift restrictions in step with improving case and fatality figures, some think it natural that career musicians would move to resume their livelihood.

Others aren’t as sympathetic.

Levying pointed criticism is an anonymous dance music industry watchdog operating under the pseudonym Business Teshno (BT). Since registering their first social media account in March, they’ve shared screen shots, video clips and other documentation of what they consider misdeeds on the part of the techno/house elite. Lately, their sights have been squarely set on DJs who accept bookings for large-capacity events. For better or worse, the targets are many.

Guendalina Club in the Italian city of Lecce boasts a full entertainment roster. Patrick Topping and Michael Bibi headlined the outdoor venue on July 25th and August 1st, respectively. Across the country, Musica Club in the comune of Riccione played host to Loco Dice on the former weekend, and Ilario Alicante and DJ Tennis on the latter. Few face masks can be seen in video clips from the events shared by BT, which show crowds in outdoor areas swelling to pre-pandemic levels.

Michael Bibi

August 1st 2020
Lecce (Italy) pic.twitter.com/jIEzyVzv49

— Business Teshno (@businessteshno) August 6, 2020

DJ Tennis

August 2nd 2020
Riccione (Italy) pic.twitter.com/3ESgUMGpOv

— Business Teshno (@businessteshno) August 5, 2020

It’s a scene in stark contrast to the horrific headlines that emerged from Italy in the early months of the COVID-19 crisis. Lombardy – less than a five-hour drive from Riccione – was the first region in Europe placed under quarantine after the country’s new case counts broke 1,000 per day in early March. Single-day case counts peaked at 6,557 on March 21st, with single-day deaths peaking at 971 on the 27th, forcing medical professionals to make crushing decisions about whom to provide treatment as hospital beds filled up.

Over the past four months, though, the numbers have trended in a direction that could make the return of nightlife a more plausible prospect. Daily confirmed case counts dropped back down to the hundreds by mid-May, and bars and restaurants opened back up soon afterwards. 

Even as many Italian politicians feared that loosening lockdowns would cause a resurgence, case counts by day remained between 150-400 through almost all of June and July. A month ago, experts asserted that the likelihood of a second wave was “pretty low” on account of Italians’ fearful compliance with emergency guidelines (event footage notwithstanding). 

The situation is not the same in France, a country whose population is comparable to that of Italy (66 and 60 million, respectively). Their peak saw 7,500 cases confirmed on April 1st, followed by a heart-wrenching single-day death toll of 2,003 on April 5th. For most of May and June daily case counts remained in the hundreds due to a strict lockdown, but towards the end of July they had once again risen over 1,000. 

That didn’t stop Parisian techno festival brand Possession from moving forward with their August 2nd event. Headlined by Amelie Lens, the outdoor gathering drew what looks like hundreds of revelers in video from the event uploaded to Possession’s Instagram account – most wearing masks, but none visibly social distancing. 

 

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Thx ??? @amelie_lens #possessiontechno #possessionparis #amelielens #techno #djset

A post shared by Possession (@possessiontechno) on Aug 3, 2020 at 8:48am PDT

Two days later, the French government’s scientific council warned of a second wave, saying, “We could at any moment tip into a scenario that is less under control.” August 6th, 7th and 8th saw respective single-day case counts of 1,615, 1,520 and 2,181.

Spokespeople on behalf of Amelie Lens and Possession have not responded to Selector‘s request for comment at the time of writing.

Given the novel coronavirus’ typical incubation period of 2-14 days, none of France’s recent cases could be reasonably attributed to the Possession event itself. That it took place at all points to inconsistencies in how seriously lawmakers of different nations (and, in turn, organizers of events in those countries) take matters of public health.

July 31st marked the official cancellation of The BPM Festival: Malta – only 36 days after it was announced. Intended to replace The BPM Festival: Portugal, which was canceled on account of COVID-19, it would have run from September 11th-13th. 

Organizers cited a decision by the Maltese Tourism Authority as having forced their hand after the island country reported their highest surge in cases thus far in 2020. Only 835 cases in total have been confirmed in Malta thus far – but with the nation’s population sitting at only 515,000, that translates to around 616 cases per capita. For the sake of comparison, France’s total case count of 185,000 and population of 66.9 million put it at 340 cases per capita.

Electronic musicians don’t all share the same urgency to resume gigging amid the coronavirus crisis. Dave Clarke has said that he turned down bookings in countries where he could legally perform. “…Whilst I appreciate the offers to play in some territories that seem to have different laws than the country I live in, I felt like it just wasn’t a good decision to take them,” he wrote in a July 27th Facebook post.

“Of course, like the whole DJ community, I miss playing out, but unless it is a safe environment for the crowd as well as the staff I simply cannot play,” he went on. “It sets a bad example, and aside from being risky it has the chance of pushing a return to some semblance of normalcy even further back, which does no one any good.”

Darko Esser shares Clarke’s sentiments – and more loudly. “Participating in any way, shape or form in events without proper social distancing protocols in place is tantamount to playing with people’s lives and being complicit in the consequences resulting from it,” reads a passage of a letter the Dutchman shared on Twitter. “It doesn’t matter if you are a visitor, DJ, booking agent or promoter. This is on you.”

Some shit I needed to get off my chest pic.twitter.com/NRk8Tl5pRl

— Darko Esser (@DarkoEsser) July 27, 2020

For plenty, however, the ends justify the means. Chris Liebing, who was so wary of the virus in April that he called out United We Stream for the risks posed by live streams in empty clubs, engaged Esser with an opposing viewpoint, suggesting that he follow a more case-by-case approach.

“I do turn down offers, actually did so today, but I accept those where I know about the local conditions, infection rates, the legality of the event, and of course which promoter is doing the party,” Liebing tweeted. “If I, with a good conscience, can do the gig, I will do it, as I also feel life needs to continue in areas where the government and the people have done an amazing job controlling the virus.”

As evidenced by the apparent turnout at the past two weeks’ events, plenty of fans are just as eager. Some trust the reopening timelines in places where the gatherings have been held – but others question the severity of the virus in the first place.

Mixed messages and clumsy responses on the part of officials have led many across the globe to suspect that case and death figures have been inflated to appease various interest groups. Nicole Moudaber herself alluded to “discrepancies in the narrative we are presented with” when a fan asked if she thought the pandemic was a scam on July 28th, going on to say, “some things do not add up.” Even in Germany, whose population seems largely concerned about a potential second wave, police say roughly 20,000 demonstrators gathered in Berlin on August 1st without face coverings to protest government restrictions.

Still others prefer to tread cautiously. They recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has offered a rare glimpse of what happens when the public, the media, and lawmakers respond to scientific research being conducted in real time – not simply when academics publish conclusive findings. They understand that despite the unprecedented and international collaboration between experts of multiple disciplines made necessary by the pandemic, much about the virus remains unclear. These are the community members artists stand to alienate by accepting bookings, whether legally or otherwise.

At the time of writing, worldwide confirmed cases of COVID-19 sit just shy of 20 million, with a resulting fatality count of nearly 722,000. At least 25 potential vaccines are in various stages of clinical trial in labs around the world.

All COVID-19 case information cited above was published by the World Health Organization.

Image credit: Josu Gonzalez