Going back to the piece on
software replacing human DJs:
Mitchell Porter pointed out that once that happens, idorus would be the natural
replacement for DJs as the figureheads of electronic dance music, with its
anonymous, unmediagenic authors. Which makes sense, as the software could do
everything; there wouldn't be a need to get human voice talent in (as was
the case with Kyoko Date), and watching a DJ modelled on Max Headroom scratch
virtual discs on a wall of TV monitors may be pretty cool (at least until
the novelty wears off). Though there is the question of whether a piece of
replicable software would have the star quality of an international DJ.
If, say, Ministry of Sound, becomes the Hard Rock Cafe of the new millennium,
opening franchises across the world and installing its proprietary software
DJ at the console, will the cult of the superstar DJ evaporate into nothing,
or be replaced by some other form of hero worship?