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How to market yourself as a dj???
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| Soliman |
Hi all,
I have a question: How do you market yourself as a dj???
I don't mean money wise. I mean how do you market yourself internationaly and musicaly???
Peace,
Soliman |
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| DaveSchloosh! |
Get good....
Build a reputation....
that will spread as will your requests to play at other nights in other cities.... goes from there really.
There no formula or we'd all be doing it!! |
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| Soliman |
i think you missunderstood me i don't want a formula...
i thought of starting it as a poll in the future... i mean do you send promos or do people come to you or what??? |
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| dinoXpress |
i think this could be a very good thread if people actually give their input.
in my opinion, the first step is gettin ur foot in the door, meeting promotors, and sure, theres a little luck involved.
i just recetly pulled in a gig in the VIP section of this club from a freind who runs a promotion busisness. i never thought hed hire me cuz i dont play commercial tunes, but he wanted me, so i got the gig.
in peru, i was in the same situation, i got my gigs through promotor freinds, etc. after that, u gotta actually play well, and believe me, if you do, there will be talk, so come to play!
but to get started (i think what you are trying to do?) you need to meet people. talk to everyone in the club, especially employees who know whats goin on and try and meet the "people". we all love to hate them, but they really do come in handy!
edit: hehe, my dad is in cairo right now. i hope he brings me back a mini sphinx. |
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| Tony Morello |
| my best advise, be in the scene, know anyone and everyone, be everyone's best friend, you never know who could wind up helping you |
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| FirstBorn |
There's a good thread here on this sort of thing.
Here's my thoughts from the thread:
| quote: | Originally posted by FirstBorn
I've found the best way to get gigs is to get out there and start networking. Go to as many club nights and parties that represent your style of music and possible. (This shouldn't be an unpleasant thing to do - you love the music and you love going out, right? ;) ). Talk to as many people as you can - find who the promoters and DJ's are and have a chat with them. Don't rush in with "I'm a DJ and I'd love a gig...." but find out more about the clubs, the parties, the individuals involved, learn what they do at the moment and what they'd like to do in the future. Talk to your fellow clubbers as well: find out where they go, what they like, what they dislike, what scene they're into. Ask them who the 'names' are in that particular scene: a golden rule of networking is if a certain person can't help you, ask them if they know someone who can. Build up a list of names, then go out and find them. If *they* can't help you, ask who can. Repeat the process and repeat again.
Keep every phone number and email address you're given. Never throw any contact details away - you never know when they might come in useful!
Take some demo CD's with you when you go out. It can get expensive but you need to have stuff with you that backs up your credentials as a great new up-and-coming DJ so make the best demo you can and give it out liberally. You never know who might end listening to it, even if you only give CD's out to your fellow clubbers. I gave a demo CD to a random girl at a club, we became friends and she asked me to DJ at her birthday party where a couple of promoter friends of hers were also there. I got a gig as a result of this.
A lot of this advice might sound obvious but it really works. Two years ago, I didn't even realise there was a big trance scene in my area. I went to a one-off trance night at a local club that normally plays house, met some like-minded people who introduced me to a huge, growing underground trance scene and (eventually) I got booked to play at some of their parties. Had I not gone out and talked to people, I never would've known this scene existed.
Finally, if all the above doesn't work, take the plunge and put on your own night. Install yourself as resident, book some friends as DJ's and see who you get through the door. I know plenty of people who've done this and have landed gigs in fairly high places. I'm thinking of setting up my own night myself - but that's another story. ;)
Good luck! :D |
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| mzvirbulis |
im friends with everyone, so i tend to be really nice all the time.
i just have alot of friends which they use word of mouth!
just get in and do your thing, i believe network of peolpe is a good benefit. |
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| bass.exe |
| First it is as everyone has already said.. however to gain international recognition etc.. I believe it necessary to produce some really quality stuff that will help carry your name as a dj to people who have never heard you mix. |
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| Joca |
| quote: | Originally posted by FirstBorn
There's a good thread here on this sort of thing.
Here's my thoughts from the thread: |
I remember making thread at a time when I was real frustrated.
I'll give a little update. Since the the trance scene is dead in my city(I live in Victoira which has about 300 000 people) I got a few opening gigs playing some progressive stuff. Switching to prog was the only way I was going to get my foot in the door. There was no way I was gonna waltz in and play the prime spots at the parties/club nights just playing trance with no stage expereince. The scene where I am and i'm sire it's the same everywhere else, is domianted but DJ's who have been around for 3+ years and no matter how much they like what you play, they will not roll over and give up their slots to let you play. This may happen every so often but don't count on them to get you anything.
First off, you gotta get to know the promoters in your area and in the surrounding cities. At first, just get introduced to them and shoot the . Don't be aggressive, just act cool and take about the music, the scene and who you both stubmled upon EDM music. As you see these promotors more at club nights and parties (try and attend all the shows you can, shows that you are really into the scene) keep chatting with them, throw them your demo and just say you'd love to play out more. After this has been done and you see them again, after the first few mins of the convo, ask them what they thought or your demo. If they haven't got around to it yet, just tell them they're missing out. Sell your demo and yourself to them but don't go over board.
Once you hit the promoters up, try club owners. I myself have not done this as the owners are not invloved in bookings but in the bigger cities I can see this working.
Now you gotta get your demo out to the people who support the scene. The Victoria progressive scene is a very small close knit group of people and i've been able quiet a few of the right people whithin this crowd. Just look at the people who come out the most, the ones who are on the dance floor and the one's who are chatting with the DJ's. These people are the ones you want to really be-friend as they have probably been partying for years and now what's going on. I do a weekly radio show so I have endless mixes to hand out to these people so whenever i'm going out to play or just to party, I try and have atleast 10 mixes on me. If I play out, I usually make a really good disc with a nice clean label on the front which can be bought at Staples for like $14 (for 40 lables). This hopefully wins some points and will show that your dedicated to what you do. Every party I go to I get a few people saying how much they enjoyed my last mix and ask when I play next and when my next mix will come out.
I haven't posted anything ground breaking here but the main thing is to be PATIENT. They're are most local DJ's who have been around for ages that are way ahead of you and it will take sometime to start playing the better slots. At first, you'll have to open which can be fun but can get boring after a few times. I feel i'm one of the better DJ's in the city but i'm only playing once a month if that. I have started to get a pretty big following of local scenesters which is huge as they can influence promoters to book you, afterall, the promoter should cater to the people attending their events. |
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| dinoXpress |
| quote: | Originally posted by Joca
I remember making thread at a time when I was real frustrated.
I'll give a little update. Since the the trance scene is dead in my city(I live in Victoira which has about 300 000 people) I got a few opening gigs playing some progressive stuff. Switching to prog was the only way I was going to get my foot in the door. There was no way I was gonna waltz in and play the prime spots at the parties/club nights just playing trance with no stage expereince. The scene where I am and i'm sire it's the same everywhere else, is domianted but DJ's who have been around for 3+ years and no matter how much they like what you play, they will not roll over and give up their slots to let you play. This may happen every so often but don't count on them to get you anything.
First off, you gotta get to know the promoters in your area and in the surrounding cities. At first, just get introduced to them and shoot the . Don't be aggressive, just act cool and take about the music, the scene and who you both stubmled upon EDM music. As you see these promotors more at club nights and parties (try and attend all the shows you can, shows that you are really into the scene) keep chatting with them, throw them your demo and just say you'd love to play out more. After this has been done and you see them again, after the first few mins of the convo, ask them what they thought or your demo. If they haven't got around to it yet, just tell them they're missing out. Sell your demo and yourself to them but don't go over board.
Once you hit the promoters up, try club owners. I myself have not done this as the owners are not invloved in bookings but in the bigger cities I can see this working.
Now you gotta get your demo out to the people who support the scene. The Victoria progressive scene is a very small close knit group of people and i've been able quiet a few of the right people whithin this crowd. Just look at the people who come out the most, the ones who are on the dance floor and the one's who are chatting with the DJ's. These people are the ones you want to really be-friend as they have probably been partying for years and now what's going on. I do a weekly radio show so I have endless mixes to hand out to these people so whenever i'm going out to play or just to party, I try and have atleast 10 mixes on me. If I play out, I usually make a really good disc with a nice clean label on the front which can be bought at Staples for like $14 (for 40 lables). This hopefully wins some points and will show that your dedicated to what you do. Every party I go to I get a few people saying how much they enjoyed my last mix and ask when I play next and when my next mix will come out.
I haven't posted anything ground breaking here but the main thing is to be PATIENT. They're are most local DJ's who have been around for ages that are way ahead of you and it will take sometime to start playing the better slots. At first, you'll have to open which can be fun but can get boring after a few times. I feel i'm one of the better DJ's in the city but i'm only playing once a month if that. I have started to get a pretty big following of local scenesters which is huge as they can influence promoters to book you, afterall, the promoter should cater to the people attending their events. |
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Spot on, spot on, this thread is great so far, its always good to hear a personal perspective on how people get shows etc etc, but again, the answer will always come back to get yourself out there. no one will do it for u.
take some initiative. |
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| J:\Digital |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tony Morello
my best advise, be in the scene, know anyone and everyone, be everyone's best friend, you never know who could wind up helping you |
My laziness kills me when it comes to this... :(
btw, I gotta get some straightened out before I can start coming to take photos at Thrirsty, but I can speak to you about this later.. |
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| dinoXpress |
| quote: | Originally posted by J:\Digital
My laziness kills me when it comes to this... :(
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thats the #1 killer. not following up on your contacts, if you cant do that, you are only hurting yourself in terms of becoming more succesful.
maybe dont call them up the next day, but send emails, write texts, make calls, and make sure they remember ur name, worst is calling someone up too late and they are like, wait, who is this again?
and its happened. |
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