The Inner Cercle: Events Turning DJs into Superstars

Daniel Sheppard

Jan 30, 2020

Truth be told, "Cercle" does sound like some sort of secret organisation out of a Bond movie, but its origins are much more innocuous – just a group of friends livestreaming Electronic sets out of a Parisian living room on Facebook in early 2016. Many of you might even have had the same idea, but not only did these guys follow through, they didn't give up when their neighbours started complaining about the noise. They started scouting Paris for venues – clubs, boats, even a cave – where they could continue, slowly but steadily building up a following until their big break in October that same year, when they were allowed to organise a gig by House artist Møme at the Eiffel Tower.

The response was enormous, with that breakthrough video currently at 750k views on Facebook, compared to the 43k views of the video from just one day before. Artists and labels started calling, and since then, Cercle has grown into one of the most important platforms in contemporary Electronic music and as much a fixture of Mondays as "sad kitten complaining about work" memes. Their sets regularly feature some of the biggest names in the game at breath-taking locations – chateaus, snowy peaks in the Alps, floating houseboats in Tahiti, awesome waterfalls; you name it, they'll do it (quite literally, as you can actually let them know your ideas for locations and artists here) –, racking up millions of views on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

Alright, we've established that Cercle is awesome and a success, but does it do anything for the artists that play it? In short: you bet! As for the longer version, let's start with one of Cercle's few repeat guests and one of the biggest techno stars right now, Amelie Lens. She's been featured on Cercle twice, the first time in 2017, a few months after the release of one of her most successful EPs, "Contradiction". The stream of her playing famed Parisian open-air venue LaPlage de Glazart has so far been viewed 1.4M times on Facebook and a whopping 8.7M times on YouTube. It's by far the most viewed video that pops up when you search "Amelie Lens" on YouTube. For comparison, Amelie has around 900k followers on Facebook and a "paltry" 134k on YouTube, and the most viewed video on her YouTube channel is currently at 2.4M views. No wonder she came back to Cercle for more, with her second set taking place at the Atomium structure in Belgium. The set is one of the most viewed on Cercle's Facebook, even though it has yet to put up such numbers on YouTube as the first one, but it's also interesting for a small detail. In the customary interview with the artist that follows each Cercle set, Amelie herself mentions that her first appearance on Cercle coincided with the beginning of her stardom – and with the above-mentioned numbers, it's clear that the event was mutually beneficial.

Amelie Lens is huge, you don't need us or Cercle telling you that. But even with lesser-known artists, the streaming platform works its magic. For example, when Italian Techno duo Fideles played a French fortress for Cercle, it kicked them to a whole new level. Their 750k views on Facebook and YouTube each aren't Amelie Lens numbers, true, but the promotion they received through Cercle resulted in such social media growth that they made it to the top ten fastest-rising Electronic artists according to our data right now. 

It's clear that the small but passionate Cercle team has a good feel for Electronic trends and artists, and combining that with awe-inspiring locations makes for a winning recipe, and if you're an artist aspiring to go trying to go full star, you should definitely try to pique their interest. Until then, whether artist or just music fan, enjoy the latest Cercle transmission: Italians Mind Against at the Centro Ceremonial Otomi in Mexico. In just a few days since publishing, the stream has already climbed to 2.3M views on Facebook, quite a jump from the 650k views of the duo's previous Cercle show in 2018. The magic of Cercle in action! 

Cover photo: Facebook

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