Marcel Woods retires from DJing

In the rapidly moving music industry, it is very rare and difficult for artists to have long and illustrious careers similar to Marcel Woods that has spanned over two decades. The Dutch producer recently took to social media to announce his retirement from DJing and producing.

Woods explained in his announcement that becoming a first-time father really changed his perspective on life. He did not want to travel far and miss out on spending time with his children. He tells us of a personal experience with his daughter Sterre and work that really made it clear he wanted to move away from the dance music world. It seems like his retirement “letter” is also made for his children when they grow older as he states, “…when you [Sterre] and your little brother Zeb grow up and read back this letter on the Internet, you will understand that sometimes in life you face difficult decisions. I know that I have just made the right one.“We will miss his mind-blowing mixes of raw and energetic dance music but wish him the best in his future journey through fatherhood. On the artist’s Facebook page, he showcases a picture of fans which displays the message, “Thank you so much for giving me the time of my life! I enjoyed each and every minute when I performed for you.”

You can read his full statement below:

There is a time for everything, and this is the time to announce that I’m retiring from DJ’ing and producing. Despite the love I always felt and still feel for my profession, I’m hanging up my headphones. Becoming a first-time father in 2011 was a turning point for me: I didn’t feel the urge anymore to constantly travel to faraway places. Don’t get me wrong: I’m very thankful for the level of sophistication that this extreme ‘hobby’ provided me with. Travelling the world to play my music lead me to the most beautiful places and taught me what this planet looks and feels like. But constantly crossing the continents is killing for your social life as well. When my wife and me were ‘just the two of us’, we were able to make that work. Birthdays, weddings, other parties; I simply wasn’t there… Party-time enough during my work weekends, right? Whenever it was possible, my wife Kuintje simply joined me on those moments.

Undoubtedly, the majority doesn’t know that I’ve been working on my music together with Wouter Janssen (who forms the duo Showtek with his brother Sjoerd) since 2000. In the background, I was already helping them out when decisions had to be taken on their careers and when things didn’t work out anymore between the brothers and their former booking agency, they asked me to step forward. Well, long story short: when I do something, I always give my all and this resulted in the start of 2-Dutch Agency and my role as an artist manager / booking agent. The combination of being CEO of 2-Dutch and travelling the world as Marcel Woods quickly bore fruit. All fell into place, resulting in a rapid growth of our company. The team we have formed here is fantastic and things are going very well.

Taking all of this in account, I suddenly was wearing a lot of badges: DJ / Producer / Husband / Father / Booker / Artist Manager / A&R of some record labels and of course keeping up with the daily affairs of 2-Dutch.

The last 18 months, I consciously slowly moved Marcel Woods to the background, resulting in fewer releases, interviews , podcasts and of course performances . Until I reached the unavoidable question: how do I want to continue this career? Well, not long ago, one morning my sweet daughter Sterre showed me the answer when I wanted to go to the office:

“Daddy, are you going to work ? Yes honey, Daddy is on his way to work. In another country, Daddy? No sweetie, Daddy is going to the office today. Oh that’s nice, otherwise Daddy will miss us, right?”
Hereby, I think I’ve made myself clear. Because indeed, Daddy missed you and your little brother and Mommy a lot when he was away. And when you and your little brother Zeb grow up and read back this letter on the Internet, you will understand that sometimes in life you face difficult decisions. I know that I have just made the right one.

P.S. Even if you won’t be hearing new releases or DJ sets with contemporary music anymore, I can and will not completely let go of my profession and will therefore sporadically tear down a party with the classics concept ” Bring Back The Music”.