id been playing for about 5 months when i got my first gig down in Lima, Peru, was a totally shit gig, i was playing the closing slot and it was an absolute fiasco got a couple more gigs in lima, then i moved to india...

made a lot of friends there and played a couple cool nights around bombay.. was a real learning experience- such a fresh new scene i could play anything i wanted and people liked it i would start off with deep house and end up with techno, and they would dance!

now im in montreal, playing fairly regularly and having a blast... i took 6 months to get to know the city, find my friends and see what was what and the way i got into the scene here was just by playing a whole lot of afterparties... we then threw a bunch of our own parties at a small club here.. they went well, word spread.. gigs come...

who knows whatll come next

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It was an all-ages/16+ promoter that had thrown some decent shows. I got noticed by showing up at every one of their events and talking to the two lead people. I was handed a huge stack of fliers for an event of theirs. After a while I asked if they were accepting demos and they asked me to hand 'em one. I did, and was booked to play Tech House and Progressive House for a crowd expecting the cheesiest of Trances with a Happy Hardcore DJ closing out the night.

Yeah, I know. I gave them the CD with the tracklist and all necessary contact information. They contacted me on Seattle's EDM forum claiming they didn't know of any other way to contact me, and after being booked at that specific event (when they also throw events for the 18+/21+ crowds with music that I play) I figured they were far too shady to do any more deals with. It seriously felt like the only reason I had that gig was because I helped get their name out there, and when I handed them my CD they just threw it away.

The 21+ Techno/Minimal/Tech House scene here is great, and since April I've been working with them to help setup a monthly show thats been bringing in a lot of great talent, the coolest crowd I've seen, and the promoters are the friendliest people who actually know what they're doing as opposed to booking people who just suck their dick. Needless to say I'm happy to be working with them, and they've mentioned possible gigs for me in the future.

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec now I'm back to nothing in new york city handing out cds to anyone and everyone i can.

where the fuck is my cd?

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quote:

Originally posted by bas we're just rolling in that sweet sweet Beatport chedda SON. I PUT DIAMONDS IN MY SALT SHAKER SO I CAN HAVE CRUSHED DIAMONDS ON MY FOOD...it makes my dookie twinkle!!!

Please sticky this thread...

I feel that it's time for me to blow my city away as well

quote:

Originally posted by Abhay Please sticky this thread... I feel that it's time for me to blow my city away as well

+infinity

I guess I'll add my story here as well, although I've never had a real gig before. The first and only time that I played out as a DJ was at my co-worker's birthday party. The sound system was garbage and the crowd was a top40 type. I somehow managed to play about 4 top40 tunes and the rest was house and later trance. To my surprise, no one complained and quite a few people actually danced.

I also thought that I may have a chance to play at a local club here, but I don't think this will happen. I met a promoter who told me to contact him via email. I sent him an email asking whether he has a slot for me and how he wants me to format my demo. I never got a response. I met him at another venue and discussed the matters with him. He asked me to submit a demo. I sent him a demo and again, I received no response. I sent him another one a few days ago and he's still not responding. I wonder whether it's my fault (shitty technique, track selection, etc) or he just doesn't really need anybody.

On a side note, Cleveland has a pretty shitty scene for EDM. There are lots of good DJs and not a lot of EDM venues. I think I'll just start handing out CDs at all of the events I attend from now on.

Last edited by Andryuha on Jul-14-2007 at 17:04

What I've never understood is the relationship between a promoter/DJ/Event etc. and how it all works, and what's the best way for me to get my foot into the door.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarvmeister What's a stringer? Jarv

A dead man if he comes near my booth.

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Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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quote:

where the fuck is my cd?

come to festivus in central park today or chateau flight at water taxi beach

I'm tall




@Abhay -

A club is just a venue, a space. Clubs have regular nights with resident deejays payed directly by the club. The club might have its own promoters or not.

A promoter books deejays and rent out a club basically. They pay the DJ and the club and take all the money at the door.


I had this deal where I would promote and DJ my own parties and the club was making so much money off of it that I didn't even have to rent it out, I just took cover. Probably the best way to go IMO. You market to a crowd that will fit what you want to play, people buy a lot of drinks, enjoy music, and everyone has a good time.

Last edited by nefardec on Jul-14-2007 at 18:48

quote:

Originally posted by Abhay What I've never understood is the relationship between a promoter/DJ/Event etc. and how it all works, and what's the best way for me to get my foot into the door.

Promoters run events (including handling booking the lineup, the venue, doing advertising and everything else involved)... this might actually be done by separate people but the term "promoter" tends to be used to refer to anyone with an instrumental role in running this kind of event these days.

So promoters create events, then they book DJs... so to play at an event, you need to find a promoter and persuade him/her to book you.

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Stu Cox |

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec I had this deal where I would promote and DJ my own parties and the club was making so much money off of it that I didn't even have to rent it out, I just took cover. Probably the best way to go IMO. You market to a crowd that will fit what you want to play, people buy a lot of drinks, enjoy music, and everyone has a good time.

This is what I was thinking of starting...


To be honest, I haven't been to one club in my nearest cities that actually plays real, proper, decent trance as we know it. The closest I've gotten is House, which was about 5-7/10 on my scale. To get any decent trance I usually have to wait for an overseas DJ, or a few names from other state. There are very few local names that play it.

I wan't sure if it was worth trying to get my foot into a club straight away. I know I can mix cleanly using turntables, I'll be buying CDJs soon for sure so I'll probably be throwing some big parties with a friend who has just knows a hell of a lot of young people looking to party.

It's very hard to have trance in smaller venues I find because of it's nature... if you can find a crowd though, go nuts-

build your army

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Fortuna Favet Fortibus.