DJ Ron Slomowicz: Now that you have the freedom of being an indie, what has that allowed you to do that you weren't able to do before?
Simon Dunmore: The thing is that the major labels are a business and in most instances they're a gargantuan machine and you can't interrupt that machine with indulgences. They're only interested in records that do serious numbers. Whereas when you have your own label, you can indulge yourself a whole lot more, so I had a little bit more freedom. I enjoy that, I need that.
RS: You can tell with your music your indulgences and how much you love what you're doing. You're going to spin at your party, obviously, what record are you most excited to spin for the people out there to share with them?
Simon Dunmore: It's kind of strange because I only ever warm-up at the Miami parties. We've got so many big artists, that they have to take center stage. So I'll be playing when people are just getting there and I don't want to play the big records then because it's not right to do it at that time. So I was actually going to just play soul, disco and some classics as well as some of my personal favorites. But if I was to play peak time, it could be several records. I'd love to play the Meteor remix of Ron Hall featuring Mark Evans "The Way You Love Me" Its a pretty classic sounding record with Vincent Montana Junior playing stings. It sounds like a record that would have made in 1981 with a classic kind of Salsoul, Philly kind of vibe to it. I'd love to drop that, just to put that in peoples' faces a little. Also the Copyright record we discussed earlier.
RS: I read in one of the press releases that you've started Defected Digital - How is that going?
Simon Dunmore: It's slow, to be fair. I think people are inherently honest and if they have the opportunity to buy something rather than steal or swap it, then people tend to want to buy it. It's a slow for people to catch on because of the whole download culture. Mainstream records getting radio airplay are easier for people to access. It's pretty underground what we do and we don't get a lot of mainstream exposure, so it takes a while for people to know how and where to get the records. But when they do, they're definitely buying them. Our internet sales year-on-year are like three/four hundred percent up on last year. So if we continue to maintain that growth it will certainly be good for the artists involved, definitely.
RS: Just one last question, what do you wan to say to all the people who love Defected music?
Simon Dunmore: It's kind of crazy really because three or four years ago, everyone said that dance music was dead, and music was having a hard time because of people downloading and the whole internet thing. Yet the internet is what's brought everybody together and the house music scene in particular really communicates with each other over the internet. So whilst it initially gave everybody a hard time, it's actually the rebirth for a lot of music. We've connected with a lot of people around the world and I get to go and travel and meet them and say hello. I'm thankful that people like what we're doing. I view Defected as a disco label. It's certainly very house-orientated but it draws its influences from soul records, disco records, and a lot of jazz records. A lot of DJs have forgotten themselves and I think they've gone on a course where they are playing harder and tougher. We want people to have a good time when they come to our events and parties. I think that's what's happening and because of that we're meeting and talking to a lot of really cool new people, so I'm happy. I just want to say thank you to everyone.