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I Would hav to say things like Rinse fm and FWD were and still are more important than any one person in terms of leading this dubstep thing

FWD>>

DJ wise Youngsta
Production wise it's gotta be Mala.

Mala is an obvious choice for a reason.
Just think about this, what would of happened if the sound stayed at FWD? If it was not for Mala, Coki & Loefah putting on the dmz night?
Yes you can say MAH, Hatcha, Skream etc which are all valid but everyone seems to want the acceptance of Mala and will always look up to him.
You could say that for the last 2 years everyone seems to want the acceptance of Loefah with this current sound and if you don't then it's most likely that your favourite producer does.
Also Geeneus is a good call, behind the scenes kind of thing.

lol bongo music

I think the fact the OP has to ask the question suggests he should really take another industry leader to write his paper on.

Kode9 + MAH + Rinse FM

Mala, Kode 9, MAH.

Without these 3 people dubstep would be in a whole different place.

Skrillex

everyone has already listed the main influencers/ leaders, but also Pinch for really developing things in Bristol at the beginning and still being massively influential nowdays

OP, I'd look at the responses in this thread and consider a couple of questions, is Dubstep an actual industry or merely a genre within a wider music / electronic music industry? How can we identify who the industry leaders are?

What defines an industry, where is the innovation coming from, if it's not a product thing or an artistic thing it's the type of stuff that happens when people start using different standards of marketing that product is dubstep merely leveraging innovation in other areas such as soundcloud, myspace, youtube etc?

I know how enticing it can be to try and write a paper on something that you feel passionate about but I also know the dangers of trying to shoe horn the subject matter of that passion into something it doesn't really fit.

Something else you may want to consider, how much of the information required if you identify an industry leader as someone like Kode9, who appears to my less than knowledgeable self a reasonable candidate, is actually going to be available? You're not going to be writing about his contribution to the sound but about his contribution to the industry and how available is that information?

Never going to be one answer for this.

Scuba - for releasing Toasty "The Knowledge" A track that is recognised by so many as being "the one"
Skream
MAH
Fabric - That Caspa & Rusko cd got some many people on board.
Get Darker
This forum - when you lot are not bitching.
Mala
Any of the big names that still take the time to stop and have a chat with folk.

I think a lot of people are mixing up leader (or whatever) with the originaters. Just coz some people were very important early on in the development of the genre doesnt mean they are neccesarily leaders nowadays.

I agree with RinseFM, that has been very important to Dubstep, but the threadstarter is looking for individuals i think, so i think i'd have to go for:
Skream (one of the most important acts from day one pretty much, and is still one of the most popular),
Mala (his solo stuff and Digital Mystikz tracks are considered by many to be the definite dubstep tracks, not forgetting the DMZ label),
Kode9 (his Hyperdub label is easily one of the most famous in dubstep, the home of Burial, and his tracks are dope)

Mala and MAH, imo.

wtf is a dubstep leeAder

wackness


no suich thing
absurd concept

if anyoe its zomby

Tru say

No one has mentioned horsepower productions
But tbh there's not a single person who made Dubstep what it is today.

yeh more a group of people pursuing a similiar goal imo

these kind of discussions are symptomatic of teh general level of spastication around here
think i may need to self ban and stop providing the zomby/burial exclusives

Mala, allll the way. Not like he's mediatized this whole thing but to me he's brung the whole spiritual vibe to the bass concept


On a more local scale... BUNZERO !!!! Man has been pushing the sound in Belgium since day one and if it wasn't for him we wouldn't get half of the great artists we have in Brussels today. Definitely a huge influence in the belgian bass world.