While this may not be earth-shattering and mind-altering news to everyone out there reading this, it’s a big step for me and is going to require a significant amount of changes, tweaks, and adjustments.
A little backstory. During my undergrad days, I co-hosted a radio show at the University of Maryland, College Park with my buddy Jake called “Independent Thought”. We were riding the big indie-hip-hop boom of the late ’90s and early 2000’s, and primarily showcased unsigned hip-hop artists on independent labels. Therefore, some of my close friends began calling me “Hip Hop Dan”, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. The name stuck.
Fast-forward ten years or so, and the musical landscape has changed drastically. What started with mashups and genre-bending dance tracks finally gave way to a world where Rivers Cuomo is doing songs with Steve Aoki and B.O.B., John Legend is collaborating with MSTRKRFT, and Rihanna and Beyonce have slowly nudged their BPMs up to the 130-range.
Simply put, despite my love for hip-hop and the strong musical foundation it has provided me with, the name “Hip Hop Dan” has become a bit of a head scratcher for promoters and booking agents. I feel as though by branding myself with a specific genre, it’s become a hindrance in my efforts to ascend the ranks of the DJ world. “Hip-Hop Dan? Does he just play hip-hop? Then why is that his name?” — I’ve encountered this exchange far too often.
Which leads me to a crossroads. Do I keep chugging along and hope that new opportunities aren’t lost, or do I cut my losses and do some rebuilding in order to move forward?
So with great deliberation (and some reluctance as well) I’ve decided to do the latter.
This will probably elicit a few chuckles from my readers, but about a year ago Chad, my partner in Missile Command, started calling me “Daniel Biltmore” as an inside joke. I thought it was a little silly at first — but after revisiting, I have to admit it has a pretty nice ring to it. And to be honest, what DJ names aren’t silly?
So there ya go. My nom de guerre is now “Daniel Biltmore”.
In the coming days/weeks/months/I will be changing my web site, twitter handle, business cards, etc. to all match up with the new name change. It may prove to be a bit more difficult than I am anticipating, but hopefully this (seemingly) small change will be a hugely positive one going forward.
Please feel free to offer feedback (good or bad), comments, criticism, and anything else in between. What do you guys out there think??
Thanks again for taking the time to read.
Regards,
Dan
