I'm not talking about vinyl, CDJ, or digital DJ's. In my opinion there are 3 kinds of DJs that exist.
The Promo DJ, The Tastemaker, and the Technical DJ.
The Promo DJ has built a career through creating there own events and popularity. They do a hell of a job getting people hyped for their events and they all the sudden seem to be everywhere. They can give anything a buzz.
The Tastemaker has some skill but is more popular for breaking new music or bringing in that old track at just the right time.
The Technical DJ is focused on solid skill and very complex sets to generate a crowd. It usually takes a bit more knowledge of DJing to appreciate their kind of shows.
My point in this post is not to say any one is better then the other. In fact I think it's good to see this distinction because it means you can choose your path to success. Think of your favourite DJ's and they likely fall into one of these categories of even a hybrid of all of them. Steve Aoki comes to mind for me. I wouldn't say he's the most technical DJ but he breaks new music and does a hell of a job of Promotion. A-Trak technical back in his scratch days and a tastemaker for sure.
I think for success you have to have a balance between all 3 of these.
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