What do you do once you realize you’re actually good at DJing?
Last night I played out to a crowd over 200, of which I knew like 4 of the party planners. I only played for an hour, but that hour was rocking, and despite the fact that it was a stuffy charity function, I actually had a couple of people dancing. This is my 4th time playing out, I think it’s official, I’m a DJ!
I want to play more gigs, but I feel like the aggresive marketing required to get more doesn’t really match my personality, so I’m not sure what my next step is, but at least the first step(s) are taken. I still need to keep getting better, but there are a lot of things I can try to get into next (producing, get gigs, podcast/radio show). I’m wondering what you did once you realized you were good at DJing?
get a gimmick. all super awesome djs have a gimmick, be it a vermin based oversized head, some sort of a mask, whatever. Just make sure you are really really full on and obnoxious with said gimmick and any marketing campaign you embark upon.
DJs shouldn’t be judged on their sound, or their reputation, or their time being involved in a certain scene. They should be judged on how good they are at spamming social networks.
I realised this the other day when my inbox was full of requests and event flyers from DJs i would never see, and events I would never go to. And when you can do this yourself, THEN you are a good DJ.
Remeber what you did, any try to do it better. Study everything about music and get into recognizing rhythms and their names. Learn how to key a song (no computer program first). Listen to all kinds of music and break them down in your head. Get used to picking out different instruments in the music, not just the beats. It will help you in constructing and planning your sets. And most of all, never stop going back to the basics like beatmatching.
Get some business cards to hand out, and the gigs will come.
You’ll end paying your dues, like we all do. There are alot of ups and downs in this business, but never give up.
Record some mixes, make CDs, and promote your mixes online to people you think will actually enjoy it. Start to get a little fan base going of people who look forward to hearing your mixes. Business cards are also a good idea. I got a bunch made about 4 months ago, and almost every time I play out I’ll have 5 or 6 people ask for my info. Boom, give them my card, and more gigs are coming my way.
that answer is easy. when someone offers you plane tickets to fly to Paris, France including motel rooms and all expenses and $10,000 cash for one night of DJing and you turn it down because you have a better offer then you are really good at DJing.
Don’t mean to be pissy but you’ve done a grand total of 4 gigs!! Maybe what you should do is practice some more and get more gigs!! Why the need to progress to something else when the pinnacle of your DJing ‘career’ is getting “a couple of people dancing?” This isn’t meant to sound shitty so I apologise if it does (I’m tired) but I just think people think they have made it far too soon!!
