Dance Music History: Ministry of Sound

am not too sure how much the author of this article knows the MoS but I happen to have a close friend who worked there for a few years and the truth is Ministry shafted all sorts of decent people in the 90s and still do to this day. That it still exists today is purely down to marketing and its ability to attract rave tourists who know jack about the roots, but who think they're buying into London club folklore. A lot of decent DJs still play there but it's strictly for the money these days - if in a moneyless world, someone like Francois K could choose between playing to 500 whoppers at ministry or 50 enthusiasts at plastics, he would take the plastics option every time. Unfortunately, they're never going to have the budget to compete with the ministrys of this world.
 
am not too sure how much the author of this article knows the MoS but I happen to have a close friend who worked there for a few years and the truth is Ministry shafted all sorts of decent people in the 90s and still do to this day. That it still exists today is purely down to marketing and its ability to attract rave tourists who know jack about the roots, but who think they're buying into London club folklore. A lot of decent DJs still play there but it's strictly for the money these days - if in a moneyless world, someone like Francois K could choose between playing to 500 whoppers at ministry or 50 enthusiasts at plastics, he would take the plastics option every time. Unfortunately, they're never going to have the budget to compete with the ministrys of this world.

My own experience of doing one small room at Ministry around 2004 was that they were professional, offered me a decent deal, stuck to it and paid on time.
 
no I was referring to the way staff were treated. I unfortunately can't comment any more on that.

+ my friend was blocked from writing what would have been a very interesting book about the history of the club, with never seen before pictures, anecdotes, interviews etc but the club were very unhelpful, (and legally aggressive) because, no doubt, it didn't tie in with their sanitised brand.
 
no I was referring to the way staff were treated. I unfortunately can't comment any more on that.

+ my friend was blocked from writing what would have been a very interesting book about the history of the club, with never seen before pictures, anecdotes, interviews etc but the club were very unhelpful, (and legally aggressive) because, no doubt, it didn't tie in with their sanitised brand.

That's hardly surprising mucker, tbf.
 
it just goes to show what a monster they've become, that they feel the need to airbrush out people's genuine memories from the official Ministry story - it sounds well creepy to me. If there was genuine libel/slander, then that is one thing, fair enough. To block people's memories of their club from a very long time ago reeks of paranoia and control freakery of the most sinister kind.
 
Back
Top