Had somewhat of an unsuccessful gig today.
Played at a friend’s party at a banquet area for free as a present.
He wanted me to play a rave type set (Loads of Electro, Hardstyle, and Trance)
30 Minutes into the set, I him wanting to plug an iPod in and play ‘grinding music’ and some sort of classical ethnic music. He asked me to switch it in the middle of a hardstyle mix train. I had to oblige, ruining the atmosphere i tried to build completely.
This happened 10 times throughout the night- these short, 2-3 song intervals from an iPod. My mates had had it at the time, but this trend kept persisting.
I left early since I gave up at the time.
Went home and got an interesting opinion from the parents. I was supposed to play whatever he wanted and whenever regardless.
Yet I was knowingly hired with a clear definition of the music I should provide
Am I wrong here for standing up and saying I have a reputation to protect?
Have you guys faced something similar?
Discuss!
You played a “friend”'s party for free. I wouldn’t worry about your “reputation”. I guess he must be a good friend because if you were really bothered by being told what to play you could’ve just ignored him or packed it in. Sorry it wasn’t what you expected but I really wouldn’t worry too much about losing “credibility” on something like that.
Don’t let it bug ya. I was in a similar situation before when some girl heard my stuff online and hired me for her bday party. I show up and she interrupted my set every 30 minutes so she could plug in her ipod to play scary monsters by skrillex (I actually have an ok collection of skrillex, but she insisted on constantly hearing that song). Now as someone who is hired by that individual, I sorta had to oblige.
As for the reputation thing, its hard to say really. If you had a bunch of friends or followers who came out to the party (which is unlikely since it seems to be a private party hosted by your friend), then to some degree you could lose their respect for not playing what they came to see you play. However, at the same time, you could have lost the respect of the people at the party + the host for leaving early. The rule of thumb usually is, if he hired you, you have to play what he wants you to. That being said, it was unfair for him to ask you to play stuff that is completely different from what your into, but thats life. Either way, don’t let it bug ya, everyone will forget about the whole situation in a week or two.
Stuff happens to me like at this hookah bar I dj at. Since its not a club, but we try to make it in one. I will be told to be play lets say they want me to play “New music” - Which gets sorta hard, but it truly adds to my collection! There is at least 4 people a night asking me can you play “Pursuit of happnies - steve akoi” “Rude boy-rihanna” and i can only play like 4 new songs, and the hookah bar owner is like "I heard all this stuff before, quit the bull***
I agree that if there weren’t 51% followers then you should just play what your friend wants. Soon your friend will realize to trust the you as a DJ that is responsible for curating music.
I played at my best friends party in February…and his girlfriend kept telling me to play Hipster music, when he had asked for straight Electro House. I really hated her drunk ass that night lol. she couldn’t let me go through with my set without interrupting me. so she can Hipster/Indie Rock dance with her ugly ass friends
I had a similar one too, played at a singles night (for my sins) where the person organizing the night wanted 70s and 80s, i started playing but nobody danced so i started playing newer commercial stuff which got all the younger crowd which made up about 70% of the club up and dancing and having a good time. The promoter came up to me and had a right go at me about not playing 70s and 80s music as thats what she wanted to listen to, with no regard to the demographic of the club or what they wanted. She even got the club owner involved after i tried to explain, who then after i gave in and played what she wanted had a go because nobody was dancing… Can’t win sometimes!
It’s one of those things I’ve come to terms with understanding at the outset of a party, and having a good conversation with people you are going to be spinning with ahead of time.
I honestly don’t have anything non-edm (besides some Dropkick Murphy’s and Flogging Molly) on my computer at all. And I like it that way.
For house parties, I’m usually not the only one on the decks. And I tell people straight up that I don’t have any of that kind of music, nor would I play it if I did. Butthurts some kids, but they understand pretty quick that I have my own selection of tracks. I say talk to X person who is spinning later (always a friend of mine anyhow), they might have it. Usually they don’t, and maybe it’s a bit of a dick move, but generally when I’m spinning I’ll pass the ball on such things lol.
It’s tough because I have a group of friends who throws parties on a semi-regular basis, and they are half into EDM, and then the other half is like screamo-death metal crowd. Hard to keep everyone happy, so I just play what I enjoy. Usually, I find house or breaks keeps most people happy. Somehow that 125-135 BPM bizzy just hits the ticket for generic party music. People can’t handle faster stuff (Hardstyle, Hardcore). Some people get down with Drum and Bass or Dubstep, but you also have some people who absolutely hate it.
It’s a funny thing, and is really dependent on the situation. I don’t play when I have to play music I don’t like. And when it gets to that part of the party, I pack up my gear and throw it in the car, and go chill for a bit and have a couple drinks while other people do their thing. I’m not an iPod, nor will I play off yours. If it’s a friend’s party I’m up front with them about it, and don’t mind the iPod thing later when I want to get hammered. But when I’m spinning, for however many hours, you need to rely on my choices.
