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Getting your name out there non-locally.
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| sym |
| I was just talking with my dj friend, and I mean besides getting out there and handing out a demo locally, what can you do to get booked non-locally? Any good lists of promoters to contact or anything? |
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| Trance Nutter |
| quote: | Originally posted by sym
I was just talking with my dj friend, and I mean besides getting out there and handing out a demo locally, what can you do to get booked non-locally? Any good lists of promoters to contact or anything? |
Look in the regional forums of these boards of areas surrounding your area. Look for promotors on these other boards, and send them a PM saying, "yo dizzle, heres my shizzle", or however you Americans talk.:D
Or if you go into other cities to parties, hand out your promo to promoters at these parties, or if you can't be bothered doing any of that, email clubs/promoters in other cities by looking at websites/flyers for events etc, and give them your promo that way. |
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| FirstBorn |
There’s been at least one good recent thread in this forum about self-promotion: it might be worth searching for it as a place to start. I think it pretty much dealt with stuff on a local basis but, IMHO, many of the skills you need are transferable as ultimately, it’s all about networking, making contacts and finding those people who have the same sort of musical taste as you.
I think casting your net for non-local gigs can be done exactly the same way as when you’re canvassing clubs and parties closer to home: it’s just the research that’s a little bit different. In your local town/city/region, you’ll probably have a fairly good idea which are the parties which play your music, or you’ll be able to find them fairly easily by getting out, and meeting and talking to people. For clubs further away (ie. further than you could reasonably travel for a night out), you’re going to have to do the research remotely: by checking magazines, online communities, regional/national club listings, and making contacts remotely rather than in person.
Once you’ve found the right people to target, don’t just send demos out blindly. Make the effort to talk to promoters/promotions people/other DJs and find out what each party is like. When you live locally, most promoters like you to come and check out their night first to see if you think your music fits in and to get a feel for the crowd. Obviously, it’s difficult to do this when the party’s hundreds of miles away so be prepared to ask questions so you can find out as much as possible about each party before you even send your demo. I think this is extremely important: most promoters are generally bombarded with demos from dozens of prospective DJs and, in my experience, they generally book those closer to home because (a) they’ve already made a reputation locally, and (b) their travel costs will be lower. Because of this, if you’re somone who’s travelling from some distance away, you represent more of a gamble to the organiser and hence, when it comes to sending your demo/biog to a more remote promoter, you want to present yourself in the most positive light and as the lowest-possible risk.
Plus, of course, a well-targetted demo is worth dozens of non-targetted ones. You’ll be amazed how few DJs actually bother to find out the music policy of the parties they want to play at: if you manage to do this, and pitch your demo accordingly, you’ll already have an advantage. Your demo should always aim to stand out wherever you send it, but when it comes to gigs further away, you’re going to have to put in the extra legwork because the promoter going to look less favourably on DJs who don’t live within a decent travelling distance of their party.
To summarise, I think the networking skills you need to get more gigs are the same regardless of how close the parties are: it’s all about finding the right people to begin with, and then talking to them, building up a rapport and presenting yourself in the best possible light. Take the time to do the research – if you can’t be bothered then don’t expect to get many gigs – and make sure your demo is absolutely top-notch. Good luck! :) |
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| DjVash |
| quote: | Originally posted by sym
I was just talking with my dj friend, and I mean besides getting out there and handing out a demo locally, what can you do to get booked non-locally? Any good lists of promoters to contact or anything? |
It's all about connections. If you happen to know someone who works at a club, make use of it and hand him a demo.
What also works excellent is producing. That's VERY good for international reputation (if you're good, that is :)) |
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| Ste |
contacts are generally the way i think, having good close friends locally with contacts afar can help you i would expect. eg: if some random came up to a promotor with a cd there is probs a 90% chance he will bin it anyway, if some friend of the promotor gives him your cd then it's proibably 90% chance he will give it a whirl.
of course there are some promotors out there who will give anyones cd a chance but they are probably quite rare. |
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| Freak |
-who you know not what you know
-right place right time
-luck |
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