April 15th, 2011 was a very sad day for those of us who enjoyed/profited from online poker. That’s the day the government arrested the head honchos of all the top sites which lead to US players officially being banned from playing. That day is now referred to as “Black Friday” in the poker community. Well, a little over two months later, it looks as though the same thing may be happening in the DJ world. First Beezo, and more recently YourRemix and StrictlyHits have all been taken down. Some of us took advantage of these sites more than others, but you can’t deny that they were all very useful. Beezo was huge for exposure and the remix sites give us tracks, that if used properly, helped us out a lot in the clubs.

We can’t really go into detail about why this is happening now, because we don’t know the specifics for sure. The question is, what’s next?? As DJ Deville asked, “Are they trying to destroy DJing altogether???” I guess time will tell, and the way it’s going, we will know soon just how bad things are going to get.

Recently a 45 page “blacklist” of websites was posted by an ad agency, GroupM, which services many top record labels. This blacklist forbids ads to be posted on any of the listed sites. The recently blocked StrictlyHits was one of the listed sites. So, what does this “blacklist” mean? Will GroupM attempt to get ICE to shut these sites down like many counterfeit goods sites, selling knockoff purses and DVD’s, have been recently? This leads to many questions and very few answers at this time. Hopefully we will have some details of exactly what has caused these sites to disappear.

What’s your take? Take our survey AND see the 45 page “blacklist” after the break!

UPDATE #1:
While it’s still unclear who exactly is behind our favorite sites being removed from the internet, it’s becoming more and more clear that the internet as we know it is under fire. An article that came out on Wednesday on CNET explains how the RIAA & MPAA are close to finalizing deals with some of the top ISP’s including Comcast, ATT & Verizon in which the ISP’s would punish users who are accused of piracy by the RIAA or MPAA without going through any legal process. They don’t have to prove anything! Only accuse.

This could be a bumpy ride for us DJs. While new services like Rdio, Moog, Amazon Cloud Player & iCloud may be great for the masses and are definitely good for the recording industry as a whole, they don’t help us DJs AT ALL! We can’t mix music with these services. Will this lead to the labels releasing fewer and fewer songs in a non-streamable format? Will we be able to get MP3′s in 5-10 years? Pretty scary stuff!

This brings a cause to light that’s near and dear to my heart. That’s Net Neutrality. We really can’t just sit back and watch our free and open internet disappear before our very eyes. For more information on Net Neutrality please visit savetheinternet.com.

UPDATE #2:
As this discussion continues I’m sure some people are wondering what exactly motivates record labels to go after the very people that promote their music. A source with inside knowledge of UMG had this to say.

“Universal is trying to buy out some of the strongest Distribution Companies and record labels. You dont know it, but about 70% of our music today is released by UMG except under sub labels. Basically they are trying to take over the music industry and run it the way they want to. They are banning radio Djs, reputable club Djs and even going after bars who play music that has NOT OFFICIALLY been released yet by UMG or their sub labels. They are going as far as making it possible to FINE these people. They are trying to have all outlets that can leak music shut down because it takes away from how they put out the music and ultimately takes their control. They want to take on full control of ALL music and how it is presented to the general public, taking us back to how it was in the 90s when they based all their money on record sales. They have the backing of the government now and they are trying to implement laws that would make sites such as blogs and mash-up sites completely illegal. If they can have shares in the companies and receive some royalty then they will not be attacked since again it would be a part of UMG group. Many companies out there are UMG’s property except they keep it low key enough that we think they are their own. In reality more then half of the music industry is owned by UMG including entertainment companies that promote and host club events.”

Read more…

I recently visited my parents and during that time I was reminded of my humble beginnings as an aspiring DJ/Entertainer. My parents desks and shelves yielded the time capsules of my rookie years of rocking high school fundraisers in cafeterias and gymnasiums. It was after seeing those mirrors of myself from the past that I saw that I was just as hungry for success then as I am now. Naturally, my definition of success has changed over the years but I think that goes for anybody that has a concept of reality and walks upright. I think back at what I wanted to be when I first started out as a DJ and what it required… face smashing, window-cracking speakers, some flashy party lights from Spencer’s Gifts, super cool tray-loading CD players that glowed in the dark and a truck load of the newest CD’s that included Destiny’s Child, Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”, Venga Boys Greatest Hits, and a little throw back action with the likes of the Bee Gees and the ever popular ABBA hit, “Dancing Queen” that the senior girls in my high school so desperately wanted at every school dance and fundraiser. Oh yeah…I was going to take over the DJ world with that kind of musical knowledge.

But just like any naive delusion of grandeur, that dream was put in its place and new ideas and technology developed to my creative advantage. I realized the power of turntables and how they allowed any mortal man to manipulate and mix music. Scratching, juggling, and effecting vinyl records in a way that no ordinary CD player could. And I realized there was music that was much more powerful and profound than the overly regurgitated radio hits that polluted the airwaves and minds of the average consumer on a daily basis. I harnessed the power of my parents Gateway 2000 Pentium II computer 28.8khz dial up modem and AOL 6.0 to find DJ Q-bert scratching, Funk Master Flex juggling and Bad Boy Bill blending. My mind was opened to what it really meant to be a club DJ and also what it took to be the best. I saw the light… keep in mind that until this point I thought the epitome of a DJ career was wearing a Read more…

Those of you who regularly tune into our site know that on Mondays (sometimes very, very late Monday) we either discuss a really dope mix, or we will run down the hottest mixes of a particular song. Well this week, we did the latter, and it was actually quite an experience.

Here’s how the process usually works: 1) JD and I decide which mix we will talk about. Usually, it’s whatever the hottest song of the moment is. This week was “California Gurls” by Katy Perry ft. Snoop. 2) We head over to each record pool and remix site one by one, and search for the song to see what mixes pop up. Sometimes this can be difficult if the title doesn’t contain a unique word. For instance, going to a site and searching for Luda “How Low” mixes will probably be a hassle, because both words in the title are common and you will get a ton of results. Searching the words “California” or “Gurls” wasn’t as bad. (Just for the record, big props to DjCity.com because their site is the easiest to search on. If you want to see what other mixes there are of the song you are looking at, you just need to scroll down a little bit because they always list them under the song you are at!!)
3) We listen to all the remixes that come up, and write them down. 4) We choose the best of what we find and put them on our site for you guys to check out. Needless to say, this week was quite an adventure.

What JD and I found this week bordered on insanity. If you watched Mondays vid, then you know the problem. Wayyyyy too many mixes. Absolutely nuts. No, really.

Maybe, this song was just the perfect storm. Maybe since it’s really the only big upbeat pop song to come out in the last couple months, and because it has the name of an older hit song, there was destined to be lots of mixes for this. But I’m scared to think this is just the direction that the remix game has turned. “OMG” had a lot of mixes, but this was three times as much. Lots of DJs did remixes incorporating the Beach Boys or Mamas and Papas. Some DJs did either House or BMore redrums. Other DJs blended the acapella over an electro beat. Quite a few DJs made transitions. And most scary — a decent number of DJs seem to do all those!! Alot of the big names on all sites did three or four Cali Gurl mixes. It was a nightmare going through all these.

I remember the early days of Crooklyn Clan when you could still be the first to remix or redrum a certain song. All the rock acapellas that are out now, we’re slowly being released, and not everyone had access to them. Plus, It seemed as though DJs at this point, didn’t even want to do something another DJ had already done. “DAMN!! DJ _____ just did a redrum to the song I was going to do. No biggie, I’ll just find another one to do.” Obviously, those days are long gone. There’s alot more sites, and alot more DJs. And more importantly, there’s money to be made. Everyone knows peeps are looking for remixes of Cali Gurls to play, so who’s to say only DJ _____ should be able to remix it. When JD and I did our search, there were sooooo many electro blends, and many done by newer DJs we hadn’t heard of. It made me think, “How in the world is this DJ gonna get noticed by doing this? 1000 other guys did the same thing.” But then again, it’s the same answer as before. “Why should only Deville, BeatBreaker, Clubheadliners, etc be able to remix this song?” So you have to consider that. I mean, if you’re a DJ on the site, there is pressure to sell. And if you wanna keep your sales up, then you pretty much have to remix a song like this, and maybe even put up three or four mixes, like many DJs did.

Perhaps some would look at this as a good thing. More remixes = more choices. But not me. With all the choices, I think many people will skip the daunting task of going through each one, and just settle for one of the first few they happen to hear. That’s the first problem. The second problem is that even more likely, they will just look to see what the big names have done with the song. That’s cool because those DJs have earned that respect. But the problem is that its gonna be nearly impossible for up and coming DJs to get noticed.

While it hasn’t been a secret that the remix game has been changing, this is the first time that I’ve been a little worried about it. If this trend continues for every big song that comes out, I’m not sure exactly how it will play it. I just know I’m not very excited to see.

Spring
http://facebook.com/jayspringfans

A few weeks ago, in a game against the Yankees, the pitcher for the A’s was extremely upset as he was walking toward his dugout.  He was throwing a fit because between innings, A-Rod has chosen to walk over “his” mound, in order to get back to the Yankee dugout.  The pitcher, Dallas Braden, was screaming at A-Rod because he had broken an “unwritten” baseball rule.

Like most guys, I played a bit of baseball when I was younger.  Little League, Babe Ruth, and some High School.  Yet, this was a rule I’d never heard of.  However, it did make a little sense.  I don’t ever remember walking over the pitchers mound to get back to my dugout.  Thinking about it, it just didnt seem like a natural thing to do.  At the same time though, I wouldn’t think of it as a big deal.  And apparently, A-Rod felt the same way.  He’d never heard of it either, and didn’t understand what the fuss was.

Ever since JD and I talked about the whole “Opening DJ” thing, we’ve gotten quite a few emails from younger DJs who are worried that they may end up in the same predicament as A-Rod — getting yelled at by their peers for breaking an unwritten rule they didn’t even know existed.  First off, I’d say it’s a good thing to be concerned.  It just shows that as a DJ, you care about the culture and etiquette, and would like to be respected within the DJ community.  Really though, many DJs worry way too much about this.

As you start thinking of the Do-Nots that exist in the DJ World, you’ll start to see that there’s a theme.  They are all common sense.  Do NOT play all the hot songs early as you open up for a headliner.  In reality, you wouldn’t play the hot songs at that hour even if you weren’t just opening.  Having a headliner shouldn’t make anything different.  DO NOT start the night off blasting heavy Hip Hop at 10 P.M. when the club just opened and it’s only the workers there.  It’s gonna be a long night, and no one wants to be blown away by the music before they have to be.  DO NOT go to clubs trying to undercut other DJs and steal their nights.  You wouldn’t want other DJs to do this to you, so it makes perfect sense.

There’s a good reason that these rules are “unwritten”.  They are logical enough that no one really has to write them down.  As long as you’re a good person in other aspects of life, you shouldn’t have to stress about breaking the unwritten rules of DJing.  Treat other DJs the same way you would wish to be treated and you shouldn’t have any problems.

—-Spring—

www.facebook.com/JaySpringFans

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be brought down to Pittsburgh to play at S Bar with the homes Dj Zimmie & Dj Nugget for www.TheSwitchPittsburgh.com.  I ended up playing for a room full of DJ’s, and it got me thinking, do we play differently in front of that kind of crowd?  For most of us I’d say the answer is some degree of yes.  If you say you don’t play any differently, I’d say you probably change something up on an unconscious level.

It’s not easy playing for the competition without feeling a little extra pressure.  You probably feel like you need to show more of your technical skill.  You break out your 2-click orbit flare or your crab more than you normally would.  You try to be just a little more creative.  Push your song selection limits.  You play that song you never play because you think it’ll impress the DJ’s.  You fly through tracks to show you can quickmix with the best of em.

Some of these things are great for pushing yourself to the next level, but I’d argue some of the tendencies are having the opposite effect.  You might find yourself catering to the DJ’s and taking the focus off of the crowd that’s actually there to dance.  Those extra scratches may not have been placed well in the mix.  That song you played for the DJ’s, nobody else knows, and maybe it slowed or cleared the dancefloor.

Maybe none of this happened.  Maybe you held your composure and just did you.    In my experience over the weekend I don’t think I changed up my style too much, but I did feel some of the pressure of playing in front of a group of DJ’s I hadn’t met before.  For me, the biggest factor was being told to play whatever I wanted.  There was no format to the night because it was service industry night.  I ended up playing more oldskool hip-hop and more of my older remixes than I normally do and it seemed to go over well.  Having no boundaries like that can make your mind race in all sorts of directions.

At the end of the day it was a great experience!   I got to meet a lot of really dope DJ’s and make some new friends.  Pittsburgh is a fun city and I hope to get back down there soon.

–Dj JD–
www.facebook.com/therealdjd

People always ask JD and I what inspired us to start this site.  The answer is pretty simple.  We take DJing very seriously, and we noticed that there are many others out there just like us.  DJs who spend all their time spinning, or thinking about what they will spin the next time they get the chance.  DJing is a craft and it’s also a culture.  Within the DJ community, there’s always alot going on, and we make it a point to discuss some of that in addition to the music.  However, as serious as we take our craft, there is something we all need to understand:  NO ONE else cares about this nearly as much as we do!!

As you may have heard us discuss in recent interviews with DJ Manik and DJ Serafin, the DJ scene in Cali is pretty amazing right now.  Club owners are choosing DJs not based on talent, but rather how many people they can bring to the club.  And on top of that, instead of hiring 1-2 DJs a night, they are bringing in 5-6 and splitting the night’s worth of pay that many ways.  DJs in Cali are now being offered 60 or so dollars a night rather than the 2-300 they may have been getting before.  When I said “NO ONE” in the first paragraph, I was especially referring to club owners!!

First of all, you have to understand that club owners have one purpose in starting a club —- making money.  CAN’T BLAME THEM FOR THAT.  There’s obviously alot that goes into making that happen, and the DJ is only a very small part.  Location, the look of the club, and how it will be marketed,  are surely things every club owner thinks about before they ponder which local DJ will be their resident.  CAN’T BLAME THEM FOR THAT.  Once everything is ready to go, the owner has to pay more attention to detail and hire a staff including bartenders, bouncers, and girls for bottle service.  How many does an owner need in each position??  It’s a very important question.    The bartenders want as few bartenders as possible so they make more in tips.  BUT, the owner wants a good amount of bartenders to make sure as many drinks as possible are poured as quickly as possible.  CAN’T BLAME THEM FOR THAT.  When it comes to deciding the number of bouncers to be hired, the owner is going to try to balance safety with cost.  They will likely hire juuuust as many bouncers as they need and not one more.  CAN’T BLAME THEM FOR THAT.  So when an owner hires a DJ for as cheap as possible and based on how many people they will draw, CAN WE BLAME THEM????

I hear alot of DJs say “Wow, the Cali scene is messed up!”  Really though, there are two words missing from that sentence.  It should really read “Wow, the Cali scene is messed up……FOR US!”  I understand the logic behind what the club owners in Cali are doing.  Let’s say the average DJ can draw 50 people to the club.  Why pay him 300 bucks when you can pay 5 DJs 60 bucks a piece.  Do the math.  If every DJ brings in 50 people, the latter option would bring 250 people to the club!!

Now, for those of you thinking that I have taken the side of the club owners and are ready to boycott our site, and block me on facebook and twitter  — not so fast.  I didn’t say I agree, rather I can see what their thought process is

So, this bring us back to the question in the title!!  Are DJs important?  How much does the quality of the DJ affect the club.  Obviously, having DJ Enferno at a spot vs. a DJ who just started learning this morning would make quite a difference.  But thats not the question that most club owners face.  When most owners sift through DJs, they will likely be choosing between guys who have been doing it for 5-10 years and are pretty above average at their craft and those DJs who are still slightly rough, and still may trainwreck a tiny bit every so often, but aren’t TERRRIBLE.  This leads us to another question.  How much does the crowd care about having a DJ who is a 9/10 vs an 8/10?   A 8.5/10 vs a 8/10???   The answer really isnt that obvious.  Everyone in every job in the world likes to think they are really important.  While most of us in the world don’t have nearly the impact that our troops, firefighters, and police officers do, we still like to feel as though our job has some meaning and that we are good at what we do.  That’s definitely true for any serious DJ.  Unfortantely, as I said in the beginning, our job may not be as important to everyone else as it is to us.

Again, to put ourselves in the club owners head -  it’s about BALANCE just like with the bartenders and bouncers.  If the owner is gonna choose a slightly below average cheaper DJ who brings in a lot people over an expensive one who doesn’t bring in as many, how does that balance out?  Will the lack of a quality DJ turn off patrons or worse yet, hurt the reputation of the club?  If X number of people leave the club because of the DJ, does that negate the X number of people that the DJ actually brought to the club?  Or, because the DJ brought so many people, does that fact that it makes the club look fuller attract other people to come there??   This really is quite a complex issue, that I can’t really answer.

In conclusion, I want to reitterate that I’m not taking the club owner’s side.  However, I can’t knock them either.  They care about the bottom line — $$ (rightly so), and it’s tough to determine just how much the DJ affects that.  We have to understand, that keeping the DJ happy is a small, small concern of the club owner.  While I’m not sure if it’s right or wrong, the Cali situation is very real, and who knows if it’s gonna spread.  Businesses evolve.  Just go to your local supermarket where the number of cashiers have been cut due to self-checkout lines.  I’m sure the supermarket owners weren’t happy to cut cashier jobs, but it made business sense and it had to be done.  For now, I hope that what’s going on in Cali is just an experiment.  And I hope it doesn’t work.  Only time will tell — and our importance will finally be known!!

—– DJ JAY SPRING ——

Drinking On The Job

We’ve all been there.  You just finished playing the last song of the night.  You feel like a superhero!  And the when you wake up the next day you can barely remember what the last song was, or the 10+ songs leading up to it.  Then you think about what you said on the mic.  What did you say again?  Damn, I don’t remember either.  I just hope it wasn’t TOO stupid.

I’m not gonna take sides on this debate of whether or not to drink on while you DJ.  I’m simply going to tell you some of my experience, first hand or otherwise, as it relates to club environment, although many of these things relate to all venues and events.

When I first started DJing in clubs I would drink every night I worked.  Not in a frat party way, but at least enough to get a decent buzz going.  I’d usually have to drive home, so I’d make sure I had my last drink and hour/hour-and-a-half before we closed.  It’s possible there may have been an occasion or two where I shouldn’t have driven home.

This started as a weekend thing.  I’d open on Friday’s and Saturday’s and have the rest of the night to relax… and drink.  Then I started getting more weekday gigs.  And I drank more.  Not more in the “got drunker” way, just more days of the week.  Pretty soon I’d be drinking 4-5 nights a week!  When you think about it, it adds up.  I’ve never been an alcoholic, no I’m not in denial… lol, but I enjoyed having a few Rum and Cokes when I was at the bar or club.  It really didn’t occur to me NOT to drink at these types of events.

Something I’ve noticed recently after being in the club scene for a while is you start to see the club scene as being normal.  Most of the people you see every day are either club workers or club goers and that atmosphere seems like the whole world.  Everyone must go out and drink like that.  “My friends do it all the time,” you say to yourself.  The problem with that is this.  It’s NOT normal.  Most people DON’T go out to the club and drink a few nights a week.  But it’s REALLY hard to see that sometimes.  It’s easy to get tunnel vision.

It took me a while to realize I didn’t have to drink every time I went out.  I know at this point some of you are saying, “but you’re a grown man, you could always make your own choices.”  And yes, that’s right.  Sometimes your just not as smart as you actually are.  You can quote me on that. hahaha.  In all honesty, it took seeing someone like AM come to the club and not drink for me to see that some people actually don’t.  Someone as high up as him didn’t do shots of patron with the guys.  When I first saw that I was floored.  And he instantly gained a lot of respect from me, as I’m sure he did from a lot of people. Why?  Because he could exhibit such self control.  Of course that control wasn’t always easy as his good friend Kevin Scott explains.

“His addictive nature made it hard for him to be in clubs, that’s why he would always show up right at showtime and leave the second he was finished, but I think for Adam DJ’ing was always about the music and bringing it to people in a creative way.  He found a way to do that sober and his career really soared after he stopped using & abusing.”

Recently, I’ve barely drank while I DJ.  I’ll have the occasional shot that someone brings me or a drink or two early in the night if I really feel the need.  But I stop far short from having a lasting buzz.  Not to say there aren’t any crazy nights.  There are!  But they are far fewer and much farther between.  Maybe part of it has to do with growing out of that phase, but I think most of it has to do with the realization that going to far one night could easily lose me my job.  And that’s not cool!!

We have one of the few professions where drinking is tolerated if not expected, but you always hear horror stories.  So many horror stories.  Dj’s blowing away their allotted tab/not paying their tab or saying something stupid on the mic or to a manager to name a few regular topics.  The fact is, this is our job and if it’s your sole source of income, you should treat it that way.  Be professional.  Think about your image.  Once again, I’m not saying don’t drink while you spin, just be cautious and pace yourself.  There are SO many other DJ’s eager to take your place.  Don’t give them the opportunity because you did something stupid while you were drunk.

There’s so many things I want to say on this topic, but I’m not out to write a book.  I’m sure that’s enough to get some good conversation going.  So what’s your take?

     Ever since JD and I started this site, we’ve been getting numerous emails (please keep them coming!) on a variety of topics.  But one of the most common, is from younger remixers, who want to know how to get their remixes out there.  We also run into some DJs who question whether it’s worth putting their mixes out there in the first place.

If you are looking to build your name beyond the local scene, then the answer to that last question is almost always YES!!  For DJs who are just starting out, you obviously want as much exposure as possible.  Nowadays, thanks to the many DJ/Remix related sites on the internet, it is relatively easy to get noticed — if you are consistently putting out quality stuff.

     Another thing that the internet has made easy, is the ability for up-and-coming to DJs to find sets played by the DJs they look up to.  When you catch one of these sets, you may very well hear an exclusive remix which the DJ has yet to make available to the public.  DJ AM is a prime example.  Anyone who’s watched the countless AM videos on youtube knows that he had some crazy material which he never released.  Now let me state the obvious:  You (nor I) am DJ AM.  AM was a rockstar.  He was one of the few DJs in this country that could really draw a crowd.  He had a crazy schedule of bookings all throughout the globe, and people were really interested in what he played.   You already how big AM was, but my point is, he didn’t have to release his mixes.  He had enough people making the effort to go to his shows, and find his youtube videos, where he knew the people who cared would find a way to hear his stuff anyway.  He was that rare DJ. 

     Now of course, the main point of being a DJ is to be heard.  So unless you are on top of the game like AM was, where people are gonna search for your live sets, you’ll have to make the effort yourself to get noticed.  That means making dope remixes, and putting them in everyone’s hands that you can.   Being on the remix sites are dope, because your name is there for all to see.  If you build a reputation that way, then people can go to the site to find your whole catalog.  Plus, if you are consistent, you can make a nice little sum of cash.  Still, many of the DJs on the sites have a good understanding of  the previous concept I discussed.  They already know that if they make a remix that’s especially dope, it’s likely in their best interest to give it out for free as well as put it up on the sites.  In other words, the money you can make from selling a mix on a site is good, however the exposure you gain from giving a dope remix out for free, and getting it in as many hands as possible, can be PRICELESS!!

     We all know that marketing is a very important aspect of being a successful DJ.  However, business cards, flyers, and social networking, are only a small part.  Putting dope remixes out on the web will likely trump all those.  Ask Discotech or Rock-It Scientists.  Ask DJ Scooter, who recently saw Def Jam put out his dancehall remix of Rihanna’s “Rude Boy”.  It’s every DJs goal to work with the major labels, and Scooter agrees that if it wasn’t for his music being up for free on sites like DJCity.com and NewMusicServer.com, his mix wouldn’t have had the same success.  “In retrospect, I’m defintely glad I had the music on those sites, or it might not have worked out like it did”, says Scooter. 

     Now thanks to sites like Beezo and Freakonomix, DJs can share more than just their remixes online.  Because of sites like those, DJs can actually put up their live sets for fans to download.  Hence, the same questions arrise with this as with remixes, and really, the answer is exactly the same.  While you may be hesitant to put your best sets for download on the net, you have to understand the same issue.  You do want as many people as possible to hear you, right??  And unless you are travelling the globe, and have fans posting youtube videos of all your performances, putting up your mixes for download is definitely the answer!  Still not sure this is a good idea?  Look at DJ Scene.  He’s one of the top travelling DJs in the country, with a solid fanbase, yet he still makes the effort to give out his remixes and put up his live sets for download.  If someone like Scene is still working for exposure, you should be as well!!

—-Spring—-

Imagine if we asked every DJ who visited our site to sit down, spend a few hours thinking, and come up with the perfect playlist for us.  In other words, the perfect 4 hour set, that would work better than any other set, for TODAY.  With time to think, I’m sure most of us could formulate a pretty dope night.  Every hot song and classic track would get played right in a row.  Each song would have a purpose, and would mix perfectly with the next one.  It wouldn’t really be too hard to come up with, because most DJs have small mini-sets that they know work well — so the night would mainly consist of tying those sets together, plus finding a way to fit the hot new songs in.  And then, you would have it:

The Optimal Night.

For any serious DJ who hasn’t thought of his/her optimal night, it is likely that you’ve atleast had one night, where you felt everything really came together extra well, and you’ve likely gone back into your Serato history to relive it and take notes of what really seemed to work.  If you haven’t done that yet, remember — it’s still there waiting for you

Anyway, the whole point of the above paragraphs is just to point out that whether we’ve thought of it or not, The Optimal Night DOES EXIST!!  Although it would be a little different Read more…

Club owners and promoters would like you to believe otherwise, but you, as a DJ, are worth something.  The service we provide has a value no matter how much others try to undermine it.  Everyone’s worth is different depending on their skills and history in the game.  The key is to know where you stand in the scheme of things.  Figuring out your place can be a challenge, especially for those new to DJing.  Even a few years into it you might not know your place for sure.

Now, I’m not writing this to tell you what your worth is.  It’s just not possible for me to do that.  I’m writing this to put the concept of worth in your head so the next time a gig comes up where the promoter offers you half your normal rate you can have the piece of mind to tell them NO!  It’s OK.  You’re allowed to do that.

I believe, and I think most successful people would agree, that you should not take every opportunity that comes your way.  You undermine your worth by doing so.  For you to establish worth in other peoples eyes you have to demonstrate the things you will and won’t do.  You WILL do the event that pays your going rate or more.  You WILL NOT do the event that doesn’t meet your going rate.  If you take every gig that come your way you’re showing everyone you’re a pushover and they can take advantage of you.  That’s not the image you want out there.

Of course there are always some exceptions to the rule.  I’m not going to pretend every gig I do meets the price point I’m aiming for, but the fact that I know my worth helps me determine which lower paying gigs may be worth my time.  I also have no problem turning away the ones that aren’t.  Sometimes exposure/a fun party/friends party trumps money.

That said, if you DJ a club on a Friday night for $150 when you usually get $400, there’s a problem.  Why would you take that gig?  You had a free night?  I’m sorry, but staying home and practicing is worth more than letting every club owner/promoter in town know you’ll DJ for $150 instead of $400.  Yes, if you turned down the $150 gig you might not DJ there, ever…  But who cares???  Do you really want to DJ somewhere that thinks you’re worth 2/3 less than everywhere else you play?  That’s not a repeat gig I’d want.

I could go on for days on this subject and I’m sure I’m missing some key points I’d like to make, but remember this.  You don’t have to take every gig that comes your way.  All money is not good money.  You could be hurting yourself more than helping.  You are worth more than the club owner/promoters want you to believe.  Don’t forget, they’re making a killing!!