The Full Conversation: Saqib on Exclusivity & Discovery
Following our editorial feature "Should Some DJs Still Be Gatekept?", here’s the full backstage Q&A with Saqib from the Maccabi House showcase in New York City. In his own words, he dives into the thrill of discovery, the realities of promos, and the paradox of underground culture.
1.As both a DJ and a producer, how do you decide which tracks to keep exclusive for the dance floor versus which to release widely?
Saqib: Pretty much all of them will come out. Sometimes there are edits and tracks where I don’t have copyright permission and those don’t come out. But everything unreleased from the label and me, mostly, I do hope to release eventually.
2. With “Beat Go Bang” coming out soon, what does it mean for you to test a track at a huge event before it officially drops?
Saqib: It’s a really awesome feeling to see it rocking the crowd and people really digging it! On this track we went through a lot of tweaking and tuning with the help of Adam Ten and today I dropped that final final version, haha! Very nice vibe!
3. Do you think the idea of “underground” still exists in the same way when every track can be uploaded instantly to streaming platforms?
Saqib: The underground is still there. But it’s way easier to discover underground music because you can Shazam it easily, which is definitely great for underground artists who want to be heard!!!
4. How do you decide what music not to share publicly, even if it excites you?
Saqib: I love a lot of music that I don’t play in my DJ sets or share on Beatport/music charts. Old music, different genres, etc. Like I just heard Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions album from the ’70s — I don’t think you would ever know that unless you were sitting at my house and I played it for you!
5. Do you think exclusivity makes music more powerful in a club, or is it more about how it’s delivered in the moment?
Saqib: Yes, I do. Having music that nobody else has (i.e. exclusive music) makes your sets stand out, and it makes you a magnet for dancers and clubbers who are always looking for new sounds and new things.
6. What role do promo services and label pools play in your sets today compared to digging or buying music yourself?
Saqib: I do play a lot of unreleased promos from labels and artists that send me before release, through Inflyte and email etc. I also get a lot of promos from artists who I am lucky to call friends!
7. Are private group chats helping DJs support each other, or do they just create new walls for outsiders?
Saqib: Hmmm. Tough question. Not sure if I’m in any private WhatsApp groups like that? Or do you mean groups like Jamburglars?
8. How do you filter through the overwhelming amount of promos to make sure your set still feels curated and not just handed to you?
Saqib: I scrub through them the exact same way that I scrub through hundreds of tracks on Beatport and Traxsource every day! Just because it’s from a friend or great label I don’t spend more time on it or give it a preferential play. I only play tracks that I absolutely love, regardless of origin. If I heard a wild AF track tomorrow in McDonald’s or some whack place, I would still actually play it in my sets, lol!
9. How does being part of a label (Maccabi House, Beats On Time) change your relationship to exclusivity — do you feel more like a gatekeeper or a bridge?
Saqib: I definitely play more unreleased music the last couple of years. I would say maybe more of a selector? IDK…
10. Do you think dancers in 2025 care as much about IDs and exclusives, or are they more focused on the experience than the tracklist?
Saqib: In every friend group that goes to the club in all the world there is the one who goes crazy over every track ID and has to hunt down every track and bring it to the rest of the friend group. This is an unwritten and unbroken rule in all friend groups in all of the world HAHAHA!
11. Do you think private promo pools and closed groups preserve discovery culture, or do they create a new barrier for listeners?
Saqib: Since the beginning of DJ’ing and club culture there has been a certain level of exclusivity in sharing things — white labels, limited-press vinyl records, tracks that you could only get from certain places or people. I think that’s part of the thrill of it for some of the lovers of electronic music and of course for other DJ’s like myself… hunting for tracks that they heard in sets and finding copies of them.
At the same time, as a person who runs a record label, prior to the release of a record, we do want a certain exclusivity in where it’s heard and who plays it prior to release. Also, there is a certain risk of people plagiarizing tracks prior to their release and putting them out as their own (ask me about this, LOL).
12. How do you personally keep the thrill of discovery alive in a digital landscape flooded with new releases?
Saqib: I scrub through hundreds of songs every day. And I find one track, maybe. That thrill of the hunt is everything for me. I’m a collector.
13. When you think about the future of underground culture, what role should DJs play in balancing accessibility with protecting the magic of exclusivity?
Saqib: On some levels, exclusivity and secrecy is also part of the underground club and DJ culture. It is something that makes it sexy. You go to listen to Seth Troxler because you know he has records that nobody else has. That’s why you go. Of course he’s a great DJ with incredible taste. But there’s a certain unknown, a certain unexpected nature of the culture/DJ sound that is what is exciting.
When you go to a Taylor Swift concert, you already know what you’re going to hear. But not so when you go to a Saqib DJ set in a sweaty club or a rooftop or something.
💬 This full interview is part of our editorial feature: "Should Some DJs Still Be Hard To Find?".
