What’s up fellow DJs! First off, I’m very glad to join DJTT and the forums here.
My name is Ed and I’ve been DJing for about 6 years. I just recently left the mobile DJ company I was working for for the last 5 years and started back on “social media” in as many years.
My question is: how did you (or do you) get people to listen to your work and “follow” you? I don’t have a lot of friends or acquaintances that are on social media, and I have been sharing my work with family/friends…but I don’t want to come off as a douche that only cares about listener counts, so I haven’t been bombarding FB or anything.
I know I’m not that good and I still have much to learn and will continue to as long as I DJ. Can you guys please give me some advice?
Thank you in advance! If you want to check out my mixes before you reply to me here’s my link:
Thanks again and cheers! Looking forward to being a member on here!
Well (first of all I didn’t listen to your work on mixcloud) waht do you wanna reach with lots of Likes and Followers on social medias???
There is no evidence of the fact, that having lots of followers and Likes either makes you a better Dj nore really helps pushing a DJ-carreer.
Like when you start an EVent on FB, you may have 200 People clicking “Will Attend” and at the end playing i front of 20.
The Facebook Generation doesn’t have any reliability (I hope it is the right word) anymore, they say “yes” but mean “maybe” and act “No”.
Then Comes the Point that it isn’t a secret that you can buy Likes on social medias so an unknown DJ having thousands of Followers would be suspicious to me.
Every serious Promoter/Booker doesn’t book you neither due an amount of Likes/Followers nore due to a Mixtape but saw you himself at work or tested you in a “Test-Session”.
And non-serious ones, believe me you don’t wanna work with them and handle the sh!t they are able to do.
Thank you Stephen Nawlins! You make a great point.
The reason I was looking for “likes” or “followers” was definitely just for the legitimacy aspect, however like you said, in this day in age people can essentially buy likes. I apologize; if it sounds like I’m a total noob to how social media works and playing gigs, its because I am. I established contacts in the wedding industry, but definitely not the club scene. I was under the assumption that social media presence made my look more “established”, and it sounds like Inhave the wrong idea.
Thank you to Nicky and Kwal for the link and article! I’ll be checking it out now.
Serious, y’all have been a big help already! Glad to be here and to learn the ins and outs of our craft. Take care everyone.
there is a group of overly excited & Iphone wielding girls in their early twenties at this star bucks i just walked out of. let me ask them if they have a moment to judge you.
Kwal’s post pretty much covers what you are looking for. Its something you have to keep chipping away at and you need to keep it up constantly. If you put yourself out there in the right places people will find you, if you mix quality sets people will find you. There is no quick fix, its a game that cant be beaten - there is no top of the mountain the view just gets better
sorry i didnt have time to listen to your file yet. my advice to newcomers is this:
we do not talk about fight club…o wait sorry wrong group…
do it because its something fun to do, not to be cool or get followers or even an audience.be prepared to play to yourself, and always be prepared for the audience to be unhappy with your music.
to get followers on social media, go follow people. for about every 5 people i follow or comment or like or share a track, i get a follower or a comment myself…treat people how you yourself want to be treated as an artist. the more reverence you bestow on others, the more you get back and this ESPECIALLY applies on social media. everyone that posts a file or a flyer , is hoping to get a reaction, so give it to them.
and this may be the biggest one , GO SEE PEOPLE PLAY. even if it isnt your favorite music. Even if its a death metal band or bluegrass, there are people in those scenes that still like DJs. you have to network IRL, and this of course spills over to social media too.
That’s a well written response and I completely agree.
For personally it was the social media aspect that kind of killed DJing for me, without wanting to sound like an older timer “back in my day” etc The best part was hanging around the local record shop or club nights handing and chatting to people and handing out demos flyers.
I was much more in my comfort zone in that setting than I am with twitter and facebook. I still love the art of mixing music and I do release the fruits of my labour on mixcloud but I’m really not fussed if only a few people find and listen to my stuff. I’ll leave the brand and identity building to the new kids while I hide myself away releasing stuff for a select group of friends to find.
All of you have been a big help already. Sincere Thanks. You’re all right; like I said I have a lot to learn with this whole social media game, and a lot to learn with DJing and promoting in general. My love for the craft definitely won’t ever die. 30 years old and trying being a newcomer in this game, smh. Am I crazy? Must be.
