Call for bedroom DJs to not play for free...

[ezza]

thats a whole other side of 'djing' tho

i dont think we're chattin bout that?

those people are so ignorant that they dont even understand what you're talking about when you try to explain how its not dj'ing. thats fine tho i guess, someones gotta do it

when i got well drunk and played an electro house set with my m8s cds...my mate/the promoter pointed at the pitch fader and told me not to touch it when i asked why he said 'just dont it messes up the cds'

theres a place for those people and those crowds imo, keeps them outta good nights

not everyone can be tru like me

[ezza]

saying that the crowd could come to the cool nights

#tru head parties suck a lot of the time

need more dance floor fingering and watered down £1 shots FOR REAL

[jrkhnds]

a lot of the promotion crews I know have switched to a tickets sold = set time basis

"promoters".

you want good music, it's gonna cost you.

[nowaysj]

I'm releasing a Call For Headlining Djs To Not Play At All To Leave Room For Other People. Deal?

[kidshuffle]

becoming a 'real dj' and not a 'bedroom dj' is about everything but the dj'ing bit it seems

you're right, its about becoming a professional.

as someone who used to promote heavy, i have no problem with dj's getting paid to sell tickets (even though we never used that tactic), and i don't think you can necessarily blame the promoters for having kids play for free. while some promoters are obviously greasy bastards, the oversaturation of dj's has contributed to this just as much.

i got my first gigs because my big homie didn't want to play for 30 people on wednesday night, where there was no cover charge. sometimes we got paid by the bar, or got drinks, but usually we got nothing. after a year or so of getting our branding down and getting a nice core of followers, we started paying all the dj's for our gigs (there was about 6 of us doing shows on a consistent basis). fast forward three years down the road, and we had kids begging us for timeslots and even saying they would play for free to get that 15 minutes of fame. at one point in time, our crew had an "extended family" of up to 40 people at one point. most of them played for free, and if you had been around for a while, you'd get a +1 on the guestlist if you played.

there are too many kids out there djing for the thrill, and from a business perspective, why wouldn't you take someone playing for free when you know they can bring people out? if i'm spending $5000 on one night, you're damn right i'm cutting costs where ever i can. if these up and comers want to change that, imo start your own nights. play for free for the promoters above you to build your brand (hopefully you play to a point where you get compensation), then branch off and do your own thing once you get that credibility. if you're not doing that, than being a dj is just a hobby for you, not a job.

thats dumb imo. a lot of DJs (esp the good ones) are introverted people and turning it into a popularity contest is not going to get the best talent at your night.

you are right about alot of musicians and dj's being introverts, but this is a really poor excuse imo. there is a difference in being an introvert and having no confidence. i'm really introverted and i spent plenty of time postering the streets/public transit, talking to people and doing other street promo... putting in work and having confidence got me recognition...it had nothing to do with my demo cd. at the end of the day its not about having "the best talent" (whatever that really means), its about making sure that your audience enjoys themselves - its not about the dj's technical skills until they've earned that respect from the audience.

[rickyarbino]

Bullshit imo.
If I don't want to take money for an essentially simple job, I shouldn't have to.

[titchbit]

well technical skills / selection / whatever. if DJs on the whole tend to be introverted, then it follows that turning timeslots into a popularity contest of "who can bring the most friends" will result in bad DJs getting the good timeslots. that's just logic. introverts tend to have less friends and are less willing to spam their shit out. i'm not talking about like any one particular person. sure one introverted DJ might put in the effort and beat out one extroverted person, but on a macro scale, that system will result in, on average, bad DJs getting the good slots and good DJs getting bad slots.

[rickyarbino]

Wait, so extroverted people are inherently worse DJs? How do you know this?

[jrkhnds]

a lot of people writing a lot of bullshit on this page.

big up kidshuffle not giving a fuck about musical integrity.
big up dubunked being very concerned over not having enough friends.

[rickyarbino]

I think it takes less self respect to only do something public for money than it does to do it for the pleasure of doing it.

[karmacazee]

It's obvious isn't it? If you play underground nights where there's 14 people there and they all know the DJ's, then you ain't getting paid.

If you play something more 'commercial' or 'mainstream' and there's 1400 people there, you're far more likely to get paid.

If your interests lie in getting cash, then dropping some of your musical integrity and 'selling out' a little really is nothing more than a small compromise, IMO. I've only ever gotten paid for DJ'ing when I'm mixing Kylie and Beyonce, I've brought my own gear and I'm the only bloody DJ for 6 hours in a dodgy backwater club where all the guys looks like Steroid adverts and all the women are orange. Well, slight exaggeration, but you get my drift. (And usually, on those kinds of nights I actually find that people are more open to the odd bit of underground stuff than you'd think, so towards the end of the night I start reaching for my techno or old school records.)

Put on your own nights - it's honestly way more fun, and you never know, you might start the next Shoom or whatever.

You should always ask for some cash though, even if it's just to cover transport.

[skimpi]

theres no way i would play a night like that lol

[karmacazee]

theres no way i would play a night like that lol

I think it takes a certain level of skintness to be able to say yes to those gigs.

Also, tasteless idiots need entertainment too.

[topmo3]

i'd be happy to play at a place where people are coming to listen to the music actually and enjoying and maybe dancing to my set.. but ofc u get bored of it eventually and start asking for money lol

[titchbit]

Wait, so extroverted people are inherently worse DJs? How do you know this?

no, but in my experience, most of the DJs i've met on the whole tend to be introverted people. both people i know on a personal level and famous DJs that i've met. some of them are extroverted of course but imo the majority are introverted. the rest of them all seemed more on the introvert side. kidshuffle agreed that DJs tend to be more introverted. intro/extra-version has nothing to do with DJ skill, but if DJs tend to be introverted, and the system selects people that are extroverted, you're going to get (on average) extroversion valued at a higher than normal amount relative to actual DJ skill (and selection, etc). false inflation of extroversion will lead to poorer DJs getting better slots because they are more extroverted. they won't necessarily be bad DJs, but the system won't be set up to select the best DJs because there's another factor involved.

kinda similar to natural selection or deadweight loss.

[rickyarbino]

You don't think that might be because you surround yourself with bedroom music people?

[titchbit]

as i said, most of the famous DJs I've met seem like rather introverted people, so no i don't think so.

[titchbit]

i mean everyone seems to agree that it's a bad system, im just explaining why.

[kidshuffle]

i didn't say dj's tend to be more introverted, i just said there are alot of dj's who happen to be introverted. its the same as in any aspect of life lol. you brought up how the game is similar to natural selection, and that i will agree on, but again, the weeding process has to do with confidence, network knowledge and work ethic, not the fact that your extro/introverted. an introvert may not be the one who is super smiley and comfortable with approaching random people or whatever...but one with work ethic will put their personal feelings to the side in order to accomplish a goal (again, like any type of person in any aspect of life).

with regards to musical integrity, i didn't even bring up anything to do with musical integrity. but im assuming homie is talking about how we just let the kids play so we could make money. for one, we operated a lot of early shows at a loss (about 1/2 or even 3/4 for a bit) so it obviously wasn't ALL about the money. two, all the kids that we had play for free were dope. they were all put into shows where the music they played was appropriate...thats just smart business without compromising your musical integrity. those kids who kept their nose to the grindstone and kept getting bigger gigs ended up getting paid. if those kids didnt capitalize on their branding and went further with it, thats their own fault. but if they were satisfied with the journey they got out of it, then i cant knock them either; if anything im glad for them. again, hobby vs job

[titchbit]

i didn't say dj's tend to be more introverted, i just said there are alot of dj's who happen to be introverted. its the same as in any aspect of life lol. you brought up how the game is similar to natural selection, and that i will agree on, but again, the weeding process has to do with confidence, network knowledge and work ethic, not the fact that your extro/introverted.

with regards to musical integrity, i didn't even bring up anything to do with musical integrity. but im assuming homie is talking about how we just let the kids play so we could make money. for one, we operated a lot of early shows at a loss (about 1/2 or even 3/4 for a bit). two, all the kids that we had play for free were dope. they were all put into shows where the music they played was appropriate...thats just smart business without compromising your musical integrity. those kids who kept their nose to the grindstone and kept getting bigger gigs ended up getting paid. if those kids didnt capitalize on their branding and went further with it, thats their own fault. but if they were satisfied with the journey they got out of it, then i cant knock them either; if anything im glad for them. again, hobby vs job

ye i think you got it right. running an underground night is difficult as fuck for this kind of music unless especially if you live in north america. as long as you treat the DJs well - free cover & drinks, +1 or 2, and don't ask them to be your spam slaves, then i think that's fine.

i thought you agreed that DJs tend to be more introverted. guess i misread you. i guess i think there's a connection between intro/extra-version and networking skill but maybe not, who knows...