Kevin Pajak – Urban Rebel PR Interview

We spoke to Kevin Pajak, who is the Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Electrofans.com. He is a web developer/designer, musician, entrepreneur, photographer, and copywriter from San Francisco, California. He has years of experience working with social media, marketing, web programming, online communities, PR, startups, and business development. Kevin is the founder of two successful music companies and has been an electronic music fan of all genres for decades.

1. First of all, how are you and how has your summer been so far?

Hi guys, thanks a lot for having me! Well, have to say, it’s been really pretty crazy-busy. July was probably our busiest month ever, and so far this month of August is proving to be the same: lots of events worldwide that we have been covering, disussions and interviews recently with or about some pretty big names in the music industry, plus of course our usual TONS of great music and features on our blog :).

2. What is the track that kick-started your love for the EDM genre, and what makes that song in particular so special to you?

Hmm, that is a good one. I can still recall when I would listen to the first few editions of “Trance Around the World” from Above & Beyond, as well as Armin van Buuren’s “A State of Trance” and Tiesto’s “Club Life.” I would download episodes from iTunes, then listen back later on my mp3 player. I thought that was so cool :D. I would listen on walks, or at work. This was around 2008-2009 or so. It was also around that same time that I originally purchased the domain name, “Electrofans.com.”

I think the single track that maybe stands out most for me was Above & Beyond’s “If I Could Fly (Jaytech Remix).” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kryrZ-Q45fI) I guess everything about that track I thought was just so awesome and inspiring: the intro, with its soaring, punchy synth stabs juxtaposed with the bell-like tones, the stellar vocals of Justine Suissa, then how the track accelerates its development. Kind of like an actual plane taking off and soaring through the sky….

3. What makes Electrofans unique from other music platforms/blogs and why?

I think maybe it comes down to a couple of things in particular:

– our TEAM & “MUSICAL FAMILY,” as I would call it.

– the particular kinds of MUSIC we cover, as well as the fact that we cover (and have always covered) ALL GENRES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC. Whether it’s dance music, trance, progressive house, techno, melodic house, drum and bass, synthwave, doesn’t matter – if we like it or think it represents a quality underground or cutting-edge sound, we cover it. I also would dare say that, even in the very crowded space that is the music world today, I think we do feature some music that is pretty unique, that you may not necessarily find in some of the other big-name electronic or dance music outlets.

– our FOLLOWER BASE: while of course we have some fans and followers who are maybe more of a “casual listener,” I think the majority of our follower base are really extremely serious fans of well-produced, finely crafted and arranged electronic music – audiophiles who love not only a good melody, but also top-notch engineering, mixing, and sound design.

– the fact that, in addition to a blog, we are also a COMMUNITY! Our members LOVE to engage and interact with each other – contributing some truly fantastic feedback, ideas and insight that many others can benefit from.

I don’t think success happens by accident. It’s a combination of delivering HIGH QUALITY, with innovation and diverse content. It also happens by working with the RIGHT PEOPLE!

4. Who is involved in the Electrofans team, and what are their roles?

We have editors across the US, Europe, and Japan, who make posts on our blog at Electrofans.com, and in addition to that, we have what I would call “senior advisors” or “mentors” – some amazing people who are part of our inner circle. They engage with us as a kind of co-supportive network, freely offering invaluable feedback that helps me steer the direction of Electrofans, and makes the network I believe stronger and more valuable to all members as a result. I am the CEO of the company, the editor-in-chief for the blog, and I also do some of the graphic design work as well.

5. What festival this year have you been most excited for and why?

Wow, that’s another good one. I didn’t personally attend it, but I might have to say the Veld Music Festival in Toronto (https://www.electrofans.com/veld-music-festival/). The lineup for that event was really insane: Above & Beyond, KX5 (Deadmau5/Kaskade), Armin van Buuren, Charlotte de Witte, Illenium, Sara Landry, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Miss Monique, Lilly Palmer, Fisher, Crankdat, and lots more.

6. As a creative platform, Electrofans provides a coaching service to a host of different career paths within the music industry. What inspired you to help others in the industry, and why?

As a matter of fact, we’re not really doing much in the way of artist coaching at the moment, due to a variety of reasons (perhaps the main one being I guess that we have all been busy with so many other things). Thanks for noticing that we have done this in the past, though! The reason we started was because we had a group of very talented, well-rounded and experienced network members, who had a lot of experience DJ-ing, running labels, doing their own productions, and in some cases who had had experience with producer mentoring in the past as well. So I thought, why not offer our services to beginning electronic music producers, or producers who were looking to improve their sound?

Coaching is something we may take up again in the future though; there is certainly a great demand for it among the beginner producer community, I would say. I think getting some expert advice from experienced producers who have been in the game for years (like many members of our network) could really help new music producers improve their overall sound.

7. You created Electrofans in 2013, a lot has changed surrounding technology, AI and the music industry, what is the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome on your platform, and how?

Hmm, I would say the biggest “hurdle” or challenge might be as we transitioned from being merely a blog or place to share favorite tracks or mixes to an actual ELECTRONIC MUSIC PROMOTION COMPANY. And I think this is something that would have been really difficult regardless of AI or any technological or other changes. This is also something that of course did not happen all at once (I don’t think that’s usually the way it works for most businesses); it was a gradual process.

How did we overcome it? I guess gradually, little by little we were promoting more and more content – releases, artist spotlights and events, as well as growing our social media following and editorial team. We eventually began to find clients who were willing to pay us to be sure that their work was included on our blog and social media network, because they considered our audience an essential one to get their news, music and events in front of.

And how did we grow our network and social media following? The vast majority of that we have done organically and naturally, as a result of a veritable TON of work and posts over time… I think our recent growth on essential platforms like Instagram, as one example in particular, and that I’m rather proud of, demonstrates that we are providing music fans with the kind of cool and cutting-edge content that they want to see.

8. What is one piece of advice you’d give to someone who is looking to start a music blog?

In no particular order:

KEEP MOVING – you can never stop moving (learn as you go),

Keep your high level of quality standards of course, but at the same time, “DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.” Get your stuff out the door!

BE PREPARED FOR RESULTS TO TAKE TIME (have patience! A LOT of patience, you will need it – haha)

YOU CAN’T BE LAZY!! If you are not prepared to do an incredible amount of work, you will not be able to succeed in the music industry (even WITH AI, I would say).

DEFINE/RE-DEFINE SUCCESS ON YOUR OWN TERMS

Make sure to not only do the hard work, but also remember to return to what you love about this space the most / why you got in it in the first place.

SYNC UP WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Find good partners, who can help you, and to whom you can contribute something as well. Mentors who have been doing this for some time can give you some invaluable industry advice.

9. If you were to host your own festival, who would be on your dream line-up?

Wow, that IS a really good one! Probably so many names actually. Let’s see: I think it would be maybe first and foremost, a very INTERNATIONAL LINEUP! There are really a lot of very talented producers, labels and DJs out there, from a lot of countries – that I think if fans were able to hear their music they would say: “WOW, who are these people? Damn, that is some cool music…” :D. So maybe some of the many producers, DJs and labels you can find by browsing through our website and socials.

10. What are your plans for the rest of 2026?

We are very soon going to be rolling out a major re-design of the home page of our website. This will have even more of a “portal or magazine-style” look. We will also be including the ability for registered site users to be able to see custom feeds of latest posts on our blog from their favorite genres, as well as upcoming events in cities near them, which I think fans are going to really like :).

Continue to develop our “CONNECT” music professional network, with more content and event offerings.

Drop some very nice mixes in our DJ Mix series, which consists of some amazing DJ guest mixers from all over the world.

Expand partnerships.

Plus a few exciting mystery surprises as well!

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