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Brad,
I agree with your position, but I would have handled the situation in a slightly different way. First off, I absolutely will not spin tracks that I don't like myself. I have two reasons for this. One, I don't buy tracks that I don't like, and two, I don't spin music that I don't own.
Given that, I can't spin music that I don't like, and I never run into the problem of not wanting to spin people's requests that are in my record bag. I don't advertise myself as anything other than a totally exclusive trance dj, and I don't take any jobs that require anything other than me spinning trance. Do I get a lot of jobs? No. Is there much of a trance scene in Indianapolis? No I still don't "sell out" though.
On a side, I don't think that everyone who does spin music other than what they truely love a sell out though. Wedding and other types of mobile djs are in the job to entertain and not in it because they love music...for the most part. I think that statement is opposite of why most djs spin trance, but there may be those few or many, as the case may be, that spin to entertain, to feel the rush of being on stage, or to try to make a few bucks as a summer job. It is only selling out, if you are compromising or infringing the goals and limits that you personally set for yourself. And these may change too!
Anyway, I would have handled the situation differently, as I said before. Don't forget that as a typical bedroom dj, you are not offered the chance to spin very often at all, so don't be so quick to give that chance up. Since there are two of you that both live in Brampton, and both have said that you can't find any good trance and the people don't know what trance is, then how you two and Mark be so sure that the club goers will hate it? If they have never listened to it, then give them a chance, and tell Mark that is why he should let you spin trance.
You can even compromise. Say, hey, How about I spin for about 30-45 minutes, and if the dancefloor is cleared (make sure that there are people on the floor to start with...so agree on an according timeslot) then you'll clear the stage and make way for the next dj. If they keep on dancing and seem to like it, then you get to stay on for a while longer...whatever terms you two can agree upon.
That way, you don't have to "sell out" and you can still get a chance to spin, and get a chance to introduce good trance to your town. I do suggest, however, that you pick your tracks very very wisely! Don't play stuff like adagio for strings, which has a 90 second break in the beat! People can't dance to that, they will feel akward, and leave the floor! I would select a few of your favorites and find mixes that don't have long breaks, or mix out during the break into another track with a beat, or throw in a teaser so that there is a beat during the break etc etc. Next, make sure that if you are going to introduce a whole other genere of music, then throw in stuff that they will recognise. Now, don't read that as "play nothing other than commercial trance etc." but DO read it as, throw in something like Pet Shop Boys -NYC boy (Lange remix), which is very very trancy, yet familiar to a lot of people. Same with Madonna, Sureal and plenty of others like Dj Sammy, Pink, and the Cranberries. They all have really increadible trance remixes of some of their tracks. Find them and play some of them. Play some commercial tracks that YOU ENJOY. and mix it in with some of the more esoteric stuff that you think will get the dance floor moving. This should be more than enough selection of tracks to put you past your first 30 minutes. Then if/once the people open up to trance, you can start playing more esoteric and harder trance and get a positive responce from the crowd, while also getting to spin for longer.
Either that or suggest a tag team set between you and another dj that spins 4/4 beats but is not quite trance (but don't mix it in with things like R&B etc...it's got to be something like hard house which can be mixed in with trance). This way everyone is excited because it's a wide selection of music, they get to see a "special dj event" and all of the people who put the show on are happy.
Which ever way you choose to go about this, just make sure that you don't get pissed off when people ask you to spin stuff that you don't like/don't have etc. Think of the club this way: You are the employee, the crowd is the customer and the manager of the club is your boss. If you piss off the customers, then they complain to the management and you get fired. If you piss off your crowd, they won't like you even if you are playing killer tunes.
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When you dance, the DJ takes you on a journey, but he or she is usually not the focus of your experience at a club or festival or wherever you hear the music. Dancing is. Music is.
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