First party I went to a DJ called Skream played a track, later I found out it's one that he would never release and has a bit of a legendary status on the boards etc surrounding Dubstep. It was indeed amazing to experience it.
Eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RJy2-F2irA
It pains me that I will likely never get to own this record. However I have already paid to go and see someone who played it, and this was certainly part of my decision to do so. They've probably made more money off me from that than they would have if I bought the flac.
EDIT: research shows that this track is now in fact coming out. Rave music has two solutions to the problem of unclearable samples: the classic, unlabelled vinyl sold direct to shops out the back of a car, and the more modern free download leaked to twitter. The former is dying out unfortunately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbSUhryvC3Q
I agree, whitelabels are the best! I have a couple of great tracks on whitelabels.
Who's the "they" there? The DJ who played the track or the artist who produced it? Sometimes it seems that in electronic music DJs get more attention/credit/$ than the artists who made the tracks being played. (although I know some DJs are also producers as well, I think they're the exception to the rule)
There are almost no DJs who aren't producers. The few that are only DJs either have some special and unique facet to their style of mixing, or they date back to the early days when Things were Different.
These days, the tools and techniques of DJing have been largely demystified, so DJs and producers trade in a currency of unreleased tracks, otherwise there's precious little to differentiate their sets from those played by any number of technically qualified local DJs.
It was always a rush, going to a full club or hot radio station and handing "fresh wax" to the dj - no it was not really wax - and getting immediate feedback. Very similar to launching a new app or feature these days!
I specifically pre-ordered that album not because it contained to chocolate Aphex Twin coins, but because it was way better than tracking down the dozens of singles that contained those remixes.
Try listening to some http://rinse.fm shows, particularly the Dusk and Blackdown show. Rinse is the top dog of london pirate radio.
Blackdown's blog is here: http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/
For more about the UK scene, see the writings of Simon Reynolds: http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2009/
* Or was it Grandmaster Flash? I wish I could find the TV documentary I remember this from.
Was this in the movie Scratch? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0143861/
Only other source I can think of is NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/
(Both of these are well worth watching. NY77 describes the amazing cultural events in NYC, 1997.)
Consider the idea that there have always been some records out there that DJs consider too good to even play, except at very particular and infrequent times and places. There are artists who keep their identities and even their music and their entire existence secret at the behest of their label manager. This is not just artistic preciousness, it is a key part of a very well-tested business model. There is lots of music out there that is too good to be released, if every guy on the street had a copy it would devalue it and hasten its passing into unfashionability.
It's more than just controlling supply (although thats a lot of it,) its about making the people that have managed/been allowed to hear the mythical secret tunes feel special, part of a lucky few. They are in a sense indebted to the DJ, even though they paid to go and see them perform.
They will tell all their friends, "and then halfway through Blackdown's set he drew for these unlabelled CDRs, it was too much. I've never heard anything like it. I asked him who it was and he wouldn't tell me." They will then post the same thing on message boards, asking if anyone else knew who the tunes were by. Many times, I have paid to go and see a person play just because I know they have access to tunes that nobody else does. That could be the only time I ever get a chance to hear those tunes. That could be the only time those tunes are ever played.
I plan to write some blog posts about this stuff at some point.