A snapshot of
Ministry Of Sound: from its Elephant and Castle beginnings to becoming a world-brand. Dance music in London has been synonymous with The Ministry of Sound since it opened its exceptionally hip doors, in 1991. It?s ability to attract vast shoals of loved-up dance-heads to shady shores of London?s Elephant and Castle is stuff of corporate dreams. To this day, it still pulls in 5,000 clubbers every sweat-swamped weekend ? for full-on cranial and physical recreation, at hands of a Richter scale-measuring sound system.
This, then, is a huge predatory beast with an instinctive understanding of club culture. And, kraken-like, it dominates lively seas of London club scene - as undisputed tentacled daddy. Its grip on market has allowed its dangly limbs to stretch into recording, clothing, media and various other lucrative Ministry spin-offs.
The Ministry?s four sub-labels: Sound of Ministry, Ride, FSUK manufacture a spectrum of dance music to feed full breadth of global dance music market and its constituent segments. In tandem with this, its media operation has a nice syndication number on go, these days, allowing 150 radio stations in 38 countries to galvanize airways with pre-recorded Ministry output.
HQs in New York, Berlin, Sydney and London, of course, enhance credibility of world-brand being consolidated here. And, market penetration on a planetary scale continues apace, mirroring rise of club culture as a common currency among near and far-flung youth ? say from: Beijing to Reykjavik, Mexico City to Mumbai. Ministry bars and clubs look set to be surfacing in a town near you in not too distant future. What remains to be seen, though, is whether quality of product will be compromised in any way, now that Ministry is clearly dealing in economies of scale.
