Playing only one or two genres?

I think your DJ friend sounds a bit pompous. It’s ridiculous to suggest only two genres are worth playing.

In my mind there are three kinds of DJs; The Bedroom DJ, The Commercial DJ and the Artistic DJ. The Bedroom DJ is self explanatory.

When I say “Commercial DJ” I am not referring to what they play, rather what they play for. The Commercial DJ’s #1 priority is to make a living as a professional DJ and hence will play (within reason) what is expected by the people paying their wages. Like everyone else, the commercial has their own music taste and will no doubt try to educate the audience when and where they can but their primary goals are to A) get paid B) make sure everyone has a good time and C) develop a reputation as someone people will want to book.

The “Artistic” DJ (and excuse these archetype labels that I am pulling out of thin air) care primarily about the music and specifically, their taste in music. They will likely act in the opposite way to the Commercial DJ, turning down paid mainstream events in preference for more “underground” (whatever that means anymore) gigs that may not even pay.

I think most DJ’s ultimate aim is to be the Artistic DJ who gets paid as well as, if not better than the commercial DJ. Unfortunately, just as teenage boys frequently look like idiots when trying to act cool, artistic DJs often come across as complete dorks when they look for respect based solely on their music taste. The reality is that for every artistic DJ I know that did manage to make the jump and blow up, there are 112 frazzled egos with their gear on craigslist and their pay check drawn from working a 9-5 they hate. I used to be one of those guys, you know, the “I PLAY HARDER THAN ANYONE ELSE!” guy. Then I grew up…

I know many people think different but IMO you should be able to play any genre and have a very broad music interest if you should be a good DJ.
Even if you just play EDM it is a good thing to be able to put in for example a song by ACDC in your set.
People who just plays EDM in the same BPM all night makes me very sleepy and it is no fun listening to that when nothing happenes. Throw in a 80’s disco tune or something once in a while and it goes more interesting.

I play anything anywhare and it has worked well for me. Don’t get me wrong here, ofcause you have a base, for examle EDM but then you play 70´80% EDM and 20-30% something else…..

My recipe is to mix. Mix the music, the genres, the BPM, how you mix.
That is how you do sets that doesn’t get dull and boring 🙂

SmiTTTen, post: 8750 wrote: In my mind there are three kinds of DJs; The Bedroom DJ, The Commercial DJ and the Artistic DJ. The Bedroom DJ is self explanatory.

When I say “Commercial DJ” I am not referring to what they play, rather what they play for. The Commercial DJ’s #1 priority is to make a living as a professional DJ and hence will play (within reason) what is expected by the people paying their wages. Like everyone else, the commercial has their own music taste and will no doubt try to educate the audience when and where they can but their primary goals are to A) get paid B) make sure everyone has a good time and C) develop a reputation as someone people will want to book.

The “Artistic” DJ (and excuse these archetype labels that I am pulling out of thin air) care primarily about the music and specifically, their taste in music. They will likely act in the opposite way to the Commercial DJ, turning down paid mainstream events in preference for more “underground” (whatever that means anymore) gigs that may not even pay.

I think most DJ’s ultimate aim is to be the Artistic DJ who gets paid as well as, if not better than the commercial DJ. Unfortunately, just as teenage boys frequently look like idiots when trying to act cool, artistic DJs often come across as complete dorks when they look for respect based solely on their music taste. The reality is that for every artistic DJ I know that did manage to make the jump and blow up, there are 112 frazzled egos with their gear on craigslist and their pay check drawn from working a 9-5 they hate. I used to be one of those guys, you know, the “I PLAY HARDER THAN ANYONE ELSE!” guy. Then I grew up…

This post is very close to my personal views.

I would use similar terms to categorise DJs and the genres they “should” play accordingly.
Proffesional DJ: a guy who has DJing as a means to earn his living. This means he might play for a wedding (for example) so his love of hard-banging-techno beats should be suppresed a litle bit – if you know what I mean. Note that by using the term “Proffesional” I mean it in the most literal way, you get paid to play music and not by the notion that somehow “proffesional” means “good at it”.
In this category I believe the DJ is a “slave” ( and I dont mean this in any negative way) to his clients, be it the guy who booked him and subsequently his audience

Hobbyist DJ: Im using this term to describe any DJ who plays music for his own enjoyment and amusement without getting paid. I believe this guy can play whatever the hell he wants – who will listen to him is another subject.

Of course, as in all things in life, besides the two extremes, are the ones who try to get paid and also enjoy doing it, the ones who get paid but also try to educate musically their audience, the ones who try to express themselves and their musical taste and get paid for it, the ones who enjoy playing music and seeing their crowd dance, all the ones fluctuating between the above two categories.

As for that friend of yours I think it was a stupid thing to say regardless of what category of the above he belongs. We should always be careful of the expressions we use when describing our own personal preferences – “Personally, mate, I prefer playing only electro and tech house, as these are my favourite genres” would be more appropriate and in the end, wiser.

softcore, post: 8896 wrote: As for that friend of yours I think it was a stupid thing to say regardless of what category of the above he belongs. We should always be careful of the expressions we use when describing our own personal preferences – “Personally, mate, I prefer playing only electro and tech house, as these are my favourite genres” would be more appropriate and in the end, wiser.

Hehe, indeed, very much so that last point: wiser.
Showing respect for the other party’s taste in music, while expressing one’s own taste.

Regarding the of your post, your choice of wording struck me a bit… just due to my personal interpretation/value of the word chosen. To me, professionalism is something linked to your attitude on the topic.

Say you start off in a lower league of your favourite sport, say…curling! (Wonderful sport!)
You’d be expected to have the same level of dedication (professionalism) to the game in the lower brackets as someone who would be playing top league, like say a national (Olympic) curling team.
The national team might be playing/training much more often and/or get sponsorship to support them, but they also need to show up, on time, prepared and ready for action. (What if they forgot their awesome pants!)

To me, the only real difference comes from the fact that they may or may not be supported financially/have resources at their disposal. Come to think of it, the players in a lower level might even have to work harder, because they lack a lot of the support the people in the higher/top level do have.

To bring it back to the different archetypes, I think it’s also very relevant to take this into account.
If you take out professionalism as a factor or use it as a ladder, I guess you could think more of it like this:

Working(/committed) artist
Motivation: Paying the bills, by (hopefully) doing something fun/what they love to do.
Relies on his/her work as an artist for his/her income.

Hobby artist
Motivation: Doing something fun/what he/she loves doing.
Has a(nother) primary source of income, which could be supplemented by working as an artist.

Fun-factor artist (aka Bedroom artist/DJ)
Motivation: Doing something fun/what he/she loves doing.
Has a primary source of income and does not rely on work as an artist.

I’ve used the term artist, because for this comparison it doesn’t matter whether you’re a DJ or play in a band; it doesn’t matter if you’re a “Artistic” DJ, a “Commercial” DJ or a “Purpose/Situational” DJ.

As the “Artistic” DJ speaks for itself I guess (I guess you could call Skrillex one or the collaboration between Chris Liebing and Speedy J for instance), the “Commercial” DJ playing to promote himself/herself/his/her sound/work (think Swedish House Mafia/), while the last one would fit a wedding or themed-party DJ for instance.

It could be a kid who suddenly thinks he’s the worlds greatest turntablist after receiving decks, a mixer and some old records from mummy and daddy for his birthday or maybe it’s the retired lady down the street who suddenly discovered the appeal of mixing 20s/30s-style music and now travels to elderly homes all over the country to provide for music therapy.

If you then think about professionalism… Yes, the “Working” DJ would require a high rate of professionalism, but so would the “Hobby” DJ. They both can’t afford to deliver a “sloppy product”. And if the “Bedroom” DJ ever wants to make it out of the bedroom…he/she would also have to show a high rate of professionalism! Nobody wants to listen to a badly done mix and to use the sports comparison again, those skills can only come from training and learning.
(Disclaimer: Not being judgemental, if you’re having fun doing stuff, by all means: that’s the most important thing 🙂 – I came across a DJ last night who’s made it into a sport and his trademark, best show ever! :))

If I honestly look at my own situation, I guess that according to some people I would be considered to be a bedroom DJ.
While, after doing a lot of hours of internet radio (9-hour b2b was one up there), I tend to approach my live mixes with as much professionalism as any other DJ would. (Or in my opinion, should.) What it sort of comes down to, I guess, is that just because it’s a hobby, doesn’t mean you don’t need to take it seriously. With the side note, that it is possible to have fun, while still being dedicated.

Oh dear, ahem, just my 2 essay-cents! 😉