I personally like it when old records become available digitally for the first time. I don’t think a record should disappear forever from public view once it’s no longer at the top of the charts. Which is why I welcome Defected releasing Spiller’s “Groovejet” – a song the label previously tried to sign in 2000.

New remixes are coming – which, given who’s currently in vogue with Defected, I dread somewhat – but this is sometimes the price that must be paid to get an older record online. But I was going through my computer the other day and discovered I had a copy of the Ray Roc remix of “Groovejet” on my hard drive. So how did I have that?

It turns out I bought it on Juno Download around 15 years ago. But it hasn’t been available on download services for years, and I never understood why. Well, wonder no more.

This week, Defected have been running a series revealing the history behind the song. Part 2 disclosed the truth – Salsoul Records decided to be a***holes, basically.

They charged Positiva for a licence when they signed Groovejet early in 2000. They charged Positiva again for another licence later in 2000, claiming that the original licence somehow wasn’t valid for the new vocal mix with Sophie Ellis Bextor. And they tried their luck again in 2010 – only for Spiller himself to call their bluff and pull the release.

With so much in advances and royalties going to Salsoul, this suddenly explains why in the year 2000, you couldn’t move without hearing this track. Even the dance compilations all had it – and this was an era when the majors routinely refused to licence their tracks to Ministry of Sound’s mix compilations.

But “Groovejet” featured on all of them. Knowing what we know now, it’s no wonder…

By The Editor

Editor-in-chief at Amateur’s House.