Getting to business

Have you ever conisedered making promo cds and give them to the DJs or promoters? So they can see you mixing ability and style.
What I’ve done yesterday is went to the dj booth just before the end I’ve talked to him , he showed me some of his skills and finally asked me If I have a soundcloud or mixcloud so I’ve gave him mine. I guess it’s a start right 🙂

btw what’s your soundcloud?

Nobody will ever pat you on the back and say “well done, you’re a DJ now!”. You have to conquer the confidence fears yourself. And the big point is you do nearly all the learning “on the job”. You have to get those gigs in the real world!

So I’d say stop worrying about what and where the gigs are, and set yourself a goal to DJ as often as possible. Don’t hold back or wait for the time to be right. Simply be reliable and professional and don’t worry about whether you’re coming across as the finished article or not – ride your luck, and enjoy the ride! A few thousand DJ hours under your belt and you’ll feel very differently about it – but achieving that is going to take a few years of DJing in public a few nights a week. As long as you’re committed and passionate, you’re well on your way.

I just walked straight into whatever venue it was and asked for whoever’s in charge of bookings. Emails are too easy for them to ignore (my one “no answer” was an email). Make sure you’re prepared before you go in, but I don’t think you need the preparation that you’re talking about. It doesn’t matter which places have parties and when. If you show up asking to play for them, especially if you do it consistently, you’ll eventually end up on their “go-to list” regardless of whether they have parties or not. If they know they’ve got a dj (you) that’s willing to play for a night, bring people in, and make them money, they’ll host any kind of party they can.

My next gig is at a monthly exhibit at an art gallery. I’ve been to this gallery’s exhibits a few times and they have the same acoustic/folk duet perform each month (for three years running, allegedly). I just went in one afternoon and told them I thought it would be a nice modern twist if I could dj during the exhibit and they loved the idea. If you worry about the venue normally having djs or parties, you could be missing out on great opportunities like this. Mind you, this isn’t going to be the underground rave club that every dj fantasizes about, but it’s a fantastic opportunity to play in public and play only the tracks that I want (meaning there’s no requirement to work in the Top 40 nonsense like there is at most bars/clubs).