Everybody knows dance music's big promoters—the international powerhouses with big names and bigger crowds. But it's their peers on the other end of the spectrum that keep the world's local scenes ticking over. Small promoters with a DIY work ethic are the lifeblood of club culture. Without them, the broader scene would be adrift. Throwing parties with tight budgets, getting people in the door without big names, sometimes outfitting empty spaces with their own bars and soundsystems—their task is high-risk, labor-intensive and not always immediately rewarding. That it's often juggled with a regular day job only makes it more challenging. But they don't do it for money, or even for fun (though that part doesn't hurt)—they do it because they know how to enrich their city's scene, and they can't help themselves.
We've had the pleasure of teaming up with a few of these crews as part of our Alternate Cuts events series, which saw RA collaborate with four promoters across the UK to bring in some of their favourite artists to play alternative sets. We travelled to Leeds to meet Butter Side Up, to Liverpool for Abandon Silence, to Manchester for meandyou, and, finally, to London for Toi Toi. Here are their stories. Subscribe to RA on YouTube /
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