Marketing a name?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Marketing a name?

So I’ve been djing for around a year now playing house parties for friends and in my bedroom, putting in the hours and gaining a solid skill set from my cdjs and am now looking to preform with ableton. I’m looking to get a little more serious into the business and will start marketing myself soon. My question is- how do I do this effectively? I’m planning on printing business cards and have an active mixcloud account. Also I need a name. Current ideas are Jake Basic, Alpha Decay, or Forbes Method. Any suggestions? Thanks everyone.

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I googled “Forbes Method” and the first result was “Teens Create A Way To Use Urine As Fuel- Forbes.”

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hahaha such a good reason for that choice.

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honestly, if you are serious about this, i would suggest taking the time to study a bit about marketing
read blogs on marketing tips
and when i say READ them, i mean exactly that,
i dont mean skim them
i dont mean pick up on key words or familiar phrases and terms.
i mean REALLY dig into marketing techniques, for specific products ( music, audio, production, djs )

then, i would SERIOUSLY employ you to spend a little time getting to know a few promoters in the music industry local to yourself.

Once you get a really good rapport with them, youll understand the thinking that goes into a good marketing tactic.
Youll have a better idea of what should work effectively
Youll know what to do when something you are trying isnt quite working the way it should.

Im not trying to say “Here, take this long road because i dont want to give you the, easy answer”
Its because, the method is NEVER the same twice.

Its really dependent on the individual.

Im speaking from years of experience.

The first thing i was successful at (aside from being my mothers cute little pumpkin)
was the launch and management of a nightclubbing information website.

PS… i know i am a cute little pumpkin, because my mother SAID SO!!!

5

thanks for the good advise.

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Have a five year plan, not a five week one.

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Is there really any more to it than sending mixes out, getting to know promoters from being in the scene and getting your name out and therefore gigs that way? Or even starting your own night.
If you want better bookings and to headline smaller nights then the obvious way is to be producing and more importantly getting tracks out on decent labels. Pretty much every small/medium size night has DJ’s headlining with labels next to their names.

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@KS2
We have to take into account, that if thats all there was to it
and it was that simple, then everyone would have a night
no one would have an issue getting a gig,
and there would be a HELL of a lot more big named djs who live on your block, no?

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Not really because most don’t produce or at least not to a good enough level.
I can see where marketing comes in for your own night, of course though. And it’s definitely one of the best ways to do it and to get your name next to big DJ’s which is obviously going to help.

If you just want to get gigs locally it’s about being in the scene, in my opinion. Then getting your name out that way.
If you aren’t in the scene 1. It’s a bit odd and 2. It’s not that hard to start getting into it and chatting to people.

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Thanks for the good advise guys, its good to be part of a forum with so many people that are proactive in the business. Any thoughts on a decent name? I have a few listed but they’re pretty tentative lol.

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Your own name in my opinion. If not, the first one out of those mentioned I reckon

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I remember 2 DJ/producers giving me a “business card” printed on a nitrous cartridge. I was a picture of them DJing and their web addy. Hands down, the best business card I’ve ever seen in the DJ community. :slight_smile:

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That’s pretty cool actually

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That’s odd you should say that, I was thinking the same thing as well. J. Calzonetti sounds like a DJ name. In fact, just Calzonetti would be fine, or some bastardisation of it, like Cal-Zone or Zonetti.

I think I’m just lusting after the natural DJ name since I was robbed of the opportunity when my parents dubbed me with “Beckingham-Cook” as a surname. I was robbed I tell you, robbed!

On a more “on-topic” point, have you considered getting a radio slot? This is a fantastic way to get your name out there and get a good following in your local area. Try and get a few residencies at places that also have other quite prominent DJs. At the end of the day, if you want to be a massive DJ without producing your own tunes, you’re going to need radio to go any bigger than your local area / nightclub chain.

EDIT: Also, your profile probably isn’t big enough to do it this year, but if you start now you should be set for next year, start applying for the festival circuit. A lot of EDM festivals are crammed with DJs who disappear within a year, very few do it for the long-haul. A few years of the festival circuit will really boost your rep.

Also I’ve forgot the most important thing: You have to be good at being a DJ to make it solely as a DJ. It may come to a point where you keep getting nights and losing them due to negative feedback, etc. and at this point you need to step out of your body and view yourself from the outside, and decide if this really is the path for you. I’ve not had this yet, but I have a few friends who did and they decided, as much as they loved it, they just didn’t have ‘it’. Sorry to end on a negative there, but I’ve played with other DJ’s who absolutely killed nights (not in the good sense) and then when you point out where they fluffed it, they go absolutely bananas.

I had one guy tell me it was me bringing loads of women into the DJ box and having a party that killed the night because people didn’t want to see that behind the DJ. So in his eyes, they just want to see a DJ on his own, with his head buried inside a CD collection. It didn’t matter that he’d played 40 minutes of absolutely pounding steroid-abusing electro to a commercial loving crowd that was 75% woman, no, it was me being a slag. Needless to say, he’s back to playing in his bedroom and won’t be getting a night anywhere that I know of again.

What I’m trying to say is, if you wanna make it, don’t be a ‘see you next tuesday’. Even if you mix like Craze on amphetamines, it’ll all be moot if you don’t impress the person with the power to get your name out there. Bat with a straight bat and be honest with others and more importantly yourself.