In the year that Resident Advisor celebrates its 10th birthday, we speak to one of the site's founders about the past, present and future of one of the global authorities on underground dance music ...

In the space of 10 years, online electronic dance magazine Resident Advisor – or RA, as it is often referred to – has truly established itself. The basic tin-pot site launched by hobbyists to offer scraps of news and information about Australia’s burgeoning club scene has, in a relatively short space of time, become one of global dance land’s most important conduits.

A 24-hour conduit for news, as well as cutting-edge music and meaningful opinions - RA is firmly entrenched in the psyche of electronic music-makers and followers everywhere; it is part of the alcohol-drenched, fag-butt marked, totally crashed-out clubbing furniture. Did co-founder Nick Sabine ever imagine it would be like this?

“Not at all” he quietly opens. “It was a hobby for us. There was no deep process in those early days; the site wasn’t a full-time gig. We just wanted somewhere where we could talk about the electronic music we loved… a forum for friends.”

Nick launched RA in 2000 alongside Paul Clement and David Berkley. The Sydney-based trio, all with backgrounds in advertising and design, let things develop organically over the first 12 months, adding news content as and when and ploughing any profits back into their tiny enterprise.

RA's Nick Sabine

“A year in and we genuinely didn’t think the site would get any bigger, its subsequent growth was definitely a surprise” Nick reflects. “We were local back then, we were oblivious to any financial pressures; there was no sense of urgency.”

Things got very urgent, relatively quickly, as the portal continued to cultivate new followers and generate wider interest from promoters, producers, label heads, manufacturers, and all sorts of marketing and advertising affiliates: “Something had to give. We were juggling day-jobs with this sprawling project and getting overwhelmed; you can only work 20-hour days for a while. About three or so years in we hired a full-time editor; that was a major development for us.”

Today, RA boasts offices in London and Berlin, as well as an extended workforce – there are around 120 editorial contributors dotted (and dancing) around the world. How easy is it, then, for Nick and his co-founders to protect the pure, original vision with which they launched?

“I’ll flip that question around and tell you that having so many writers is a strength” he answers. “We don’t have one base or one central team which means we can offer a truly broad view of the electronic music scene. Alongside our Editor-in-Chief [Todd L Burns] we actively encourage diversity. In the early days, because of a lack of resource we did have a small team of writers in one office and our copy was naturally biased towards particular things, but that’s not the case today.”

A significant number of editorial assignments – especially reviews – are posted on a central server for RA’s army of contributors to select from. Writers get to play to their interests and areas of expertise, which usually, Nick claims, makes for lively, authoritative copy. Other features and major columns – including Breaking Through and The Exchange – are determined by RA’s core full-time team.

“We’ve done well to maintain our editorial integrity, that’s important” Nick attests. “The site has grown, as have the pressures and forces around it, but we have worked hard to ensure that anything we put on the site is well-researched, grounded in constructive comment and independent. That remains the key to our success.

"Breaking Through has developed influence because we've ensured its shining the spotlight on artists that we believe in. There aren't any other influences in editorial selection for the series. The fact that artists like Nicolas Jaar have gone on to great success is a testament to our journalists. I think the industry respects that"

Nicolas Jaar

It has been suggested, before now, that some of RA’s negative event and music reviews are needlessly brutal; that their apparent absence of constructive criticism only serves to hurt the world they’re part of. “I don’t agree” Nick firmly responds. “Because our reviewers pick stuff to write on that they usually like, the vast majority of our reviews are positive. We don’t go out of our way to be negative but it’s fair to criticise if something deserves that comment. It’s not personal but we have a duty to share news if a club, say, is dangerously overcrowded or a DJ is under-performing….”

Further debate also surrounds RA’s legendary podcasts – an online epicentre for innovative, interesting mixes by innovative, interesting artists, yes, but a thorn in the side of the dance compilation market? RA is fast approaching podcast number 250 and the argument has been made that releasing such good quality mixes on a weekly basis might actually be hitting the already contracting pockets of commercial labels.

“The positives far outweigh the negatives” Nick says. “I’m really passionate about the podcasts; we have huge quality control and help orchestrate some amazing free mixes for our readers. It’s a major benefit to the artists and the labels they’re associated with; we’ve seen several times before our podcasts causing uplifts in bookings and back catalogue sales. One of our guests even gained an agent, a whole global tour, the works….”

For the last few years, RA has continued to hit new heights. In 2006 the site reached 500,000 unique users and next month should actually double that – perhaps its biggest achievement yet. “That and the Webby Award we won in 2008” Nick grins. “It’s like an internet Oscar; a real endorsement of the way our site works for people by the wider industry… music doesn’t even come into it for them.”

And new developments keep coming too. Late last year RA introduced, quite successfully, The Exchange an audio download twist on the traditional magazine feature - users can stream ‘long-form’ interviews with scene kingpins - past episodes have featured Dave Clarke, Loco Dice and Quincy Jones - which have the potential to convey more than simple text alone.

Quincy Jones 

Nick Sabine’s eye is also on the States – basing a team and office there, and growing local audience share – and on developing RA’s over-arching structure in order to give more back to the local communities around the world consuming it; building global community out of local ones has always been an RA strength, and the team is keen to enhance it further.

Nick’s other main concern is the RA forum, a major part of the site when it first launched and when forums were digital’s done thing, but less essential today in a world where more complex and revelatory social networking platforms are dominant: “Our forum has a shelf life yes; that whole side of things desperately needs an adjustment. We’re trying to better understand where we go next; all I can say is we’re discussing it.”

Shorter-term, however, is the tiring business of celebrating a 10th anniversary. “A lot of it is still under wraps” Nick laughs, “but I can tell you we’re having fun with the planning. Let’s just say that there will be activity in cities all over the world. It’ll be non-stop.”

RA @ The Warehouse Project - photo: Sebastian Matthes

As it probably should be, but does Nick ever wonder what the world would have been like without his sprawling creation? “In all fairness, it would have happened anyway” he concedes. “I'd like to think we've helped speed things up a little, or help with the globalization of electronic music. The music we all love has never been  so accessible to clubbers and wannabe music makers. Excitingly I think there’s a lot more still to do”

Words: Ben Lovett

www.residentadvisor.net