How do you introduce your crowd to new stuff

[rdej47]

Hey guys just wanted your thoughts on how you introduce your crowd to new tracks and what not. This is stemming from my set last night.

I had a super disappointing set, I was just off and had no flow. The night wasn't packed but steady enough that the floor was going a few times. Since it wasn't packed I became very self conscious of what I was playing because I knew the crowd would be a little more fickle about what song they'd dance too. My set ended up being all over the place because i'd have to cross between top 40 electro remixes to try throwing in stuff I really wanted to hear. Floor would be going then drop so i'd have to bring it back to the top 40 electro stuff. Maybe I just picked the wrong night to try introducing new stuff but the question still stands, how do you work in or introduce new stuff to the crowd.

I remember seeing a Z-trip interview where he talked about how he starts super familiar so that he gains the crowds trust and then from there he can usually get away with whatever.

[CryderSteez]

Play 2 they know, 1 they don't.

[synthet1c]

the headliner shouldn't introduce any new music unless its an absolute certified banger, it is the job of the guy before him to feel out the crowd, and bring in good new music, this is a time when the crowd is dancing and waiting for the headliner, so they will most likely stay on the dance floor if there is something they aren't sure about. the opener can drop whatever they want as long as the genre is close and the energy doesn't quite get there.

The only issue if you are the second on the bill is you have to have humility and pass the great tracks you find up to the hierarchy until you pay your dues and start headining.

If your closing, it is generally your job to play epic tracks, and most importantly reintroduce old classics every now and then that people have forgotten about.

this style of formatting only works for local dj's only (not international, not interstate, not producers) in genre purist clubs eg, house, drum n bass, breaks etc... It won't work in commercial & rnb clubs because everything sounds the same and has the same intensity, and no one gives a shit about the music anyway, the crowd just want to rub up on someone's leg.

[diezdiazgiant]

everything sounds the same and has the same intensity, and no one gives a shit about the music anyway, the crowd just want to rub up on someone's leg.

Heh

[Frank112916]

this style of formatting only works for local dj's only (not international, not interstate, not producers) in genre purist clubs eg, house, drum n bass, breaks etc... It won't work in commercial & rnb clubs because everything sounds the same and has the same intensity, and no one gives a shit about the music anyway, the crowd just want to rub up on someone's leg.

Yeah man, totally, it's all the same. You're a tool. DJ AM is rolling in his fuckin grave.

You want to introduce people to new music? You need to slowly shift them over. You need to drop the track at the right time. That's what it means to be a GOOD DJ. Get the crowd in the right mood and you can play anything as long as it's similar in style to your other tracks and it's good. I promise you that. If you're playing top 40, try playing something with a catchy hook. Keep teasing the hook as you do your mix/blend whenever you get an instrumental break in the song you are mixing out from.

[manchild]

You want to introduce people to new music? You need to slowly shift them over. You need to drop the track at the right time. That's what it means to be a GOOD DJ. Get the crowd in the right mood and you can play anything as long as it's similar in style to your other tracks and it's good. I promise you that. If you're playing top 40, try playing something with a catchy hook. Keep teasing the hook as you do your mix/blend whenever you get an instrumental break in the song you are mixing out from.

a little bit of this. If you know what you are doing, you can get away w/ anything. On the flip side tho, if you don't, then you will be stuck in cheesy radio style top40 hell the whole night or risk your whole crowd leaving (which is def worse). So you're asking how do you do it? Only you can truly answer that. I will tell you that it takes experience with working with that type of crowd. If you find that you just can't seem to figure it out on your own, then maybe look into doing something else. Hope this helps

[synthet1c]

dj am didn't play commercial he played party, mashing up everything in a new and interesting way, he was also quite clearly a pioneer and a headliner, we must have different definitions of commercial clubs, and the people who attend. Maybe before anymore feathers are ruffled we should classify

z-trip
2 many djs
dynamo productions
et al. as party, not commercial, they are mash up artists on the decks before mashups resembled girltalks songs

commercial is, christina aguelera, britney, rhianna, chris brown, katy perry etc... repeat. It's over produced, over compressed, over in a week teeny bopper garbage!

[rdej47]

Well I had another set tonight that was much improved over Fridays set. It definitely helped to play a few familiar tracks then bring in one of my own and then back again. Timing Is everything, I've also found that where I'm from if it's an unfamiliar song and it plays through a breakdown your dead in the water. They can handle the breakdown in all the top 40 songs but they seem to get confused with breakdowns from unfamiliar songs. It's so strange how some people don't get the concept that the song is still following a beat and pattern. Hold your horses and a beat will kick in so you can continue to hump anything in site and pump your fist

[Liambo]

Play 2 they know, 1 they don't.

Pretty much this for me..

I play a few songs they know (that i know that works) then 1 i don't know and then back to a few they know and then 1 they don't know. After a hour or so on main set i start taking risks once i know i have gained their trust and take it from there.

[deevey]

And I keep wondering when is the right time to play something that they'd know