What a great way to start the week… A beautiful free track you will not get anywhere else, AND a lesson for anyone who’s fighting to make it in the game: DJ Melinki’s persistence to hit the top is seriously prop-worthy. It even includes a DJ competition we ran with Valve in 2010!
“Yeah,” Melinki laughs. “Back in 2010 I did the Valve DJ competition with you guys. I won that and Bailey, who was one of the judges, really liked what I did so he got me on 1Xtra on Target’s show for a junglist soundclash. Then I did a mix for Mistajam. It was amazing.”
So far so good. Now here’s the lesson…
“Back then I thought I made it,” he tells us. “I thought ‘wicked, I’ve won the Valve comp, I’ve made it’ but I was still struggling to get the gigs in. So I started making tracks and sending them to BBC Introducing. One day Target emailed me to say it’s one of their homegrown tracks of the week.”
It’s the classic story of constantly pushing yourself. Even when you think you’ve made it, along comes another opportunity to take things next level. In Melinki’s case he took up producing and opened up his own U Wot Blud studio, label and DJ school.
“I love recording vocals and people seemed to like me doing it,” he explains. “I was saying to my dad one day, I love doing it but don’t get paid to do it. So he suggested I turn it into a business. I got in touch with the Princes Trust and they gave me money to turn it into a business. It’s an interest free loan. Every few months you have a meeting to see if you’re making money and so on. It’s really good; I’ve learned so much. I think you need a business head on to make it in this industry these days.”
With a strong focus on working with youth groups and helping out the next generation of producers and DJs, U Wot Blud Productions goes from strength to strength. And so does Melinki’s career. Following another massive DJ competition win with Hospitality in 2011, and releases last year on DnB Source and his own imprint U Wot Blud in 2012, 2013 year has started with a serious bang…
“Everyone hates January but mine was the best January ever,” he laughs. “I was on 1Xtra, then I had the opportunity to give Drum&BassArena a track and out of the blue, I got an email from a show on E4 called Youngers. The show’s producer asked if they could use a tune of mine! I asked a bit about the program and they told me it’s about teenagers chasing their dreams in London. One of them is a producer; that hit with me big time, that’s my dream! He heard the tune on 1Xtra and wanted to include it. I’m really lucky I guess.”
Lucky AND a hard worker. We said it in 2010 and we’ll say it again: watch out for DJ Melinki!
Now what are you waiting for? Grab your exclusive free tune now!