Interview w/ Jeff Mills, pioneer in techno

Jeff Mills is one of the pioneers in techno, already having a career that has spanned four decades. He first starting DJ-ing in Detroit during the 80s, then known as the Wizard, playing music spanning from funk to hip-hip to techno to Chicago House. Since those early days as a local DJ, Jeff has marked himself as a unique producer/DJ, gaining an international following along the way. He recently sat down for an interview with Forbes, on the back of the 20th anniversary of his label, Axis Records, for which Mills has planned a series of performances.

Jeff provides his thoughts on the popularity of dance music, which he feels does not “relate to the rest of the 99.999% of the industry…there are still a lot of unanswered questions to a bunch of serious problems.” Mills tries to do his part to present music that is outside the norm as much as possible. His show in New York was “inspired by the 1970’s TV [show] Time Tunnel.” Mills also provides insight into his label and the primary markets it focuses on (interestingly, he notes a growing audience in Portfolio and southeast Italy), in addition to speaking further from a business perspective.