Beamz DJ Video
First of all, if you haven’t seen it, please watch this video:
The Fiasco
Now that you watched it, I’m sure your brain is on the brink of exploding. If not, let me explain to exactly WHY it should be, and WHY you should be outraged. First, let’s start with the guy they have endorsing the product this time around.
Grandmaster Jay
I’m sorry, who? Yes, his name is strikingly similar to legendary DJ Jam Master Jay. Beyond that bit of absurdity is the fact that this guy is calling himself a Grandmaster DJ. For those that don’t know, Grandmaster is a title that only gets bestowed on a chosen few DJs, and essentially has to come directly from Kool Herc himself. Seeing as nobody in the DJ community has even heard of this dude, let’s consider that strike one.
Fakery and Theft
That’s from legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff’s instagram page. Why is Jeff so mad (besides the obvious that is)? Well, the audio being used to “juggle” on the beams video is actually lifted from Jazzy Jeff and Skillz live performance. You can hear Skillz go “WOO” at 0:08 in the video above. The team from Beamz DJ didn’t even try to hide it. Strike Two.
Blatant Cultural Disrespect
The first two strikes for this thing come from one person, but the third strike goes against this company entirely. I think we as professional DJs know that this isn’t really a serious music making device, or a real addition to a live performance set up. Let’s call it what it is: a toy. There are toy versions of every musical instrument that have been around for years, and in all honestly, we’re due for something like this to come along. The truth is this isn’t for us seasoned professionals, but more for the sky mall crowd with money to blow on ten-year old little Johnny’s Christmas gift because he mentioned he wanted to DJ at some point.
Now that we have that established, it’s time to decide if we have a right to be upset about this. The answer is a resounding YES. This company could have easily found a legitimate and credible spokesperson from the industry to endorse their product. They could have easily created original audio to use in the ad campaign. Instead they build a campaign based on lies and are trying to wrap a pile of crap with glittery gold wrapping paper. Strike Three! What do you make of all this?
Bonus: Beamz DJ by Flo
Previously they’d created an ad campaign and gotten an endorsement by Flo-Rida. It’s quite horrible, and actually led to an online debate with deadmau5. Check it out:
Update: Beamz DJ Team Page — yikes.
Update: New Beamz DJ Routine:
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