The Truth About DJing (to an underground artist)

For like 10 years I played music that nobody in the mainstream world would listen to… hardcore and minimal industrial.
You have to find out where those people live, get a promoter that knows that genre and book the right venues.
We even got our own movement going and I was suddenly booked all over the world in that scene…
However it takes time and a huge amount more effort to create your name that way, than it does just playing weddings and whatever they want to hear (what I do now, so nothing wrong with it). Partially why I retired from that scene (also my music taste got more diversified) and got into a more “easy mode”. But I even had to pick a new DJ name etc. to change the image I had and was known to club owners around.

Amr, your spiel is part of why I stopped gigging and went more into a hobby/blogging kind of logic. Not to mention I’m almost 40 and rather enjoy going to bed earlier now and waking up in the mornings on weekends.

If you want to play the “cool music” and not have to pander to the mainstream, then you have to work your tail off to get there…

1. Do some kind of online show or a podcast. Stick to it and push it so you gain a loyal following.
2. Network your butt off with the underground promoters and the rave promoters. Even try to work your way in to helping them plan and promote events. Underground folk always have to build a scene…not convert one.
3. Look into production, but don’t stop DJing. Yes, if you want to be the big headliner playing the music you love, then you need to churn out music so people buy it, know your name, and the industry thinks you’re bigger because your name shows up on the playlists of other DJs.
4. BE PATIENT!!!!! Guys like Deadmau5 got lucky. Most of the major headliners are in their 30s and 40s. I’ve seen some of these guys playing when I was a teenager. It took them decades of dedication to become the big names. Even superstars of the now like Guetta have been playing for many many years. It doesn’t come overnight. Not unless you sell out and become more fluff over substance.

I know exactly what you feel. I got a type of special music style that I prefer to DJ, but the crowd never goes as wild as I would since they have not heard about big DJs. My crowd mostly sticks to the silly mainstream music – and as someone said I am paid to entertain the crowd. Not myself.

However, I‘ve found a great way to mix things in where I give the crowd a break to get a shot or drink and play my lovely music. Normally I continue playing the mainstream hip hop/club music that I notice my crowd enjoys (Normally takes me about an hour to adapt completely). I normally find some songs I know they enjoy at the same BPM and play about 4 or 5 of these. Then I suddenly drop some amazing beat, crowd goes wild and when the song ends I shoot in something a bit old school that I already know the crowd does not love but still do enjoy. This way, I always have someone dancing on the floor, someone having a drink and someone just going totally insane.

I‘m not sure of what type of music you enjoy DJing to and what‘s “mainstream” at your place – I‘ve found out that this differs from club to club, city to city, country to country (Havn‘t been international yet, but I guess this is the truth). But I believe that if you try to adapt to the crowd whilst still containing your specialities, you can make great mix where you entertain the crowd AND yourself!

D-Jam, post: 31124, member: 3 wrote: Amr, your spiel is part of why I stopped gigging and went more into a hobby/blogging kind of logic. Not to mention I’m almost 40 and rather enjoy going to bed earlier now and waking up in the mornings on weekends.

If you want to play the “cool music” and not have to pander to the mainstream, then you have to work your tail off to get there…

1. Do some kind of online show or a podcast. Stick to it and push it so you gain a loyal following.
2. Network your butt off with the underground promoters and the rave promoters. Even try to work your way in to helping them plan and promote events. Underground folk always have to build a scene…not convert one.
3. Look into production, but don’t stop DJing. Yes, if you want to be the big headliner playing the music you love, then you need to churn out music so people buy it, know your name, and the industry thinks you’re bigger because your name shows up on the playlists of other DJs.
4. BE PATIENT!!!!! Guys like Deadmau5 got lucky. Most of the major headliners are in their 30s and 40s. I’ve seen some of these guys playing when I was a teenager. It took them decades of dedication to become the big names. Even superstars of the now like Guetta have been playing for many many years. It doesn’t come overnight. Not unless you sell out and become more fluff over substance.

Spot on, totally agree. Becoming an established DJ takes time and the best way to get in to the underground side is to go and support the nights, become friendly with the DJs/Promoters, don’t act ‘the big I am’ either – sure fire way to put off most underground dance night organisers. There is still much of the old school rave collective spirit in the underground music scene in my opinion, so intergrate with it.

Everyone’s elaborated very well, so I’ll keep it short. If you play underground music to a mainstream crowd, people are going to look at you like you’ve got three heads and walk right out. Mainstream is mainstream for a huge reason, it’s popular. If you choose to reject popular music (and by all means, you can- that’s your choice), then you may be disoriented when people don’t understand what it is that you’re playing.

For example, I love trance and electro. However, most of my gigs have been at lounges where people come to relax and listen to music they like while smoking/drinking/talking (read: not dance). So I when I tried to blast peak-hour progressive and no one responded, I had a very rude awakening: “Maybe this isn’t the crowd for this.” So I re-analyzed my stance as a DJ and made the choice to pander out Top 40, R&B, jazz, etc. Of course I still slip in a little of what I love in small doses, but it took some serious introspection about the direction I wanted to go before I became comfortable with what I was doing.

For you, you’re choosing to stick to your guns. So stick to them. But make sure that you’re in the right place. If you’re on a Friday night at the local college club/bar playing music that’s so far underground that the vinyl is made from the mantle of the Earth’s core, don’t be surprised if people are upset that you’re not playing Flo Rida or Avicii. (See what I did there? People confuse the two songs all the time. It’s a joke, but after a serious post.) Ba dum tssh.

[EDIT: I said I’d keep it short, but I didn’t. Woops.]

rfb, post: 32651, member: 2662 wrote: There is no absolute for what good music is.

Quote of the century.