To get to the level where you can make a living entirely from DJing, you either have to:
1. Put out some successful tracks and get booked based on your productions. Not exactly easy.
2. Get a weekly residency (or multiple monthly residencies) so you're playing to hundreds of people every Saturday. This is almost certainly going to involve playing extremely mainstream music.
I know guys who produce and DJ, have been putting out successful tracks since the '90s and have played all over the world including festivals, and they still need a day job. I know guys getting their tracks supported by DJs the size of Oakenfold who are still grateful to get a paid gig. Making a living entirely from DJing is, frankly, a pipe dream, and if you set it as your goal you'll almost certainly fail.
To even get to the point where you're getting, say, one decent gig a month where you play to a couple of hundred people and get paid, you have to network your arse off. You need to make millions of friends on Facebook, put out promo mixes and send them to everyone. You need to suck up to every DJ or promoter who might possibly give you a gig - go to their nights, buy them a beer, give them drugs, make friends with them, talk to them online all the time. And if you do get a gig, drag everyone you know or have ever met down for that night, because short of having a massive hit track to your name, the best way to get booked is to guarantee you can bring 20 people with you.
n3lly
Living in Dublin, I know a handful of people who are making ok money.
Most make alright money from running their own night at a club. They pay the venue x amount for running the night there. Club takes the bar they take the door. On a good night they probably pull in 1,000 after expenses (paying dj's plus extra staff the have working and helping out during the week).
But then to keep interest up in the night it's often important to bring over international acts. You might spend 1500-2000k (euro) for an act. Then hopefully cover that with the door etc and try make some money back on other nights.
The longevity of those nights is always in the air though. Crowds change tastes evolve and usually the nights won't run for more than a year sometimes 2 year until you have to change things around.
Selling out -
Simply put the one lad i know that makes the best money out of all my friends is the guy who plays the top 40 commercial clubs. He works for an agency and gets booked at all the places most of us would hate to go. The clubs where it's more about the drink and not about the music. But he has work from wed-sat and pulls in roughly 200(euro) a night (sometimes more)
That's about as good as it gets here. 12-16 hours of actual performing for a 7-850 euro a week is pretty good leaving you with the option of getting a normal job on top etc but with no social life what so ever.
Making it big. Then there's one lad who has been doing really well of late recently enough been signed to Minus label and seems to now be getting gigs around the world. Producing quality tracks was his way of getting in there. He did quite well on the charts (beatport etc) and i'm assuming got talking to hawtin and the likes. I know he warmed up for him here as well last year so again that might have been where he made the impression.
Anyway those are the three ways i think you can make a decent amount of money.
I know 20-30 if not more other lads who are putting ok to good to great productions but none of them will go any further than releasing their stuff on a few labels.
I thought so (just because he's been big on Minus lately + really the2 only new producer on the label) but I thought Matador was from Spain so I wasn't sure. I think there's a Spanish one too. But yea everybody's playing your mate's tracks these days.
Dojomaster26
Wow, this thread blew up since I left. Thanks for all of the feedback!
I wasn't really looking for "how to become a successful DJ" advice. I really just wanted to know where TAs thought the best spot to re-locate would be for someone to get a better shot at doing this more than as a hobby.
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My advice is: Do not try to make a living being a DJ.
Maintain a real job, supplement it with DJ'ing as a hobby.
Even if you are enormously talented, it doesnt mean you'll get steady gigs.
Here in Toronto, even the well established locals who are talented, have all the connections in the world, and have been gigging for 15 years, cannot make a decent living without supplementary income.
With the recent influx of DJ's the competition is steep. Competition also drives down the rate of pay. So many DJ's are playing for a fraction of what they could have made 10 years ago.
The "Work for money, DJ & produce for fun" setup is what I'm currently working with.
I know exactly what you mean about the local DJs that get gigs everywhere, but haven't really "made it." I can think of a couple of guys right now who have been around forever, have great local followings, but can't quite break out of the southeast.
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DJ's are dime a dozen now. I used to make pretty good money to the point where I was making more than my day job. But, it's not steady. Now, I make a fraction of what I used to make. Every DJ scene has been hit HARD, including mobiles (which are the money makers).
So many DJs here are playing for free! Its been extremely tough to make any sort of arrangement with a local business when there is someone who will gladly lug his sound system, laptop, and MIDI controller for some "publicity." All that you are doing by basically working for free is making it that much harder when one of us wants to run a proper event, bring in some out-of-town talent, print fliers, etc.
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I mean do drugs, just less than everyone else.
I don't do drugs anyway.
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So you should have a podcast. You should be posting in the forums these guys post in. Just so your name is seen. And if you have the proper internet plan, making it easy for people to be funneled to your site, they will know about you, because the worst thing you can say is , i dj too. If you can't draw your audience , why book you. Just like bands , you have to do the leg work. No label will sign a band that is unkown even if they are amazing. Your twitter following is worth more than your skill.
So true, and something that I need to re-evaluate moving forward. I want to get a weekly mix series started, or something regular. I know I need a better social marketing plan, and its something that I will be working on soon.
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Again, like any field, you have to be likeable, you have to be smart, you have to be the kind of person that stands out. When i see a dj wear black, i wonder what the he is thinking, You want people to see you. They need to know who you are. So many djs , you can't even see their face. I used to have my own lamps. I would never mix from the other dj if i was playing when there are lots of people. Stop the music. Practice in front of a mirror, because some djs look ing retarded. This isn't about jesus poses, but djing , is very image based. Being cool is part of your job.
Makes sense. A lot of DJs around here have the same urban look going on. You want to be the guy with the proverbial mau5 head :p
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1. Put out some successful tracks and get booked based on your productions. Not exactly easy.
2. Get a weekly residency (or multiple monthly residencies) so you're playing to hundreds of people every Saturday. This is almost certainly going to involve playing extremely mainstream music.
Working on #1. I've been accumulating gear over the last several months, and I have more than a few questions for the Production Studio in a bit.
#2 is what I see myself eventually reaching after relocating. I want to find a US city that had plenty of places to play out, but that has enough growth to sustain another DJ or a new night.
We had a weekly in Charlotte. It was on a Wednesday at a smaller venue near downtown. We had decent turnout, but nothing that made us filthy rich. Being on an off night made it hard to justify charging a cover.
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Making it big. Then there's one lad who has been doing really well of late recently enough been signed to Minus label and seems to now be getting gigs around the world. Producing quality tracks was his way of getting in there. He did quite well on the charts (beatport etc) and i'm assuming got talking to hawtin and the likes. I know he warmed up for him here as well last year so again that might have been where he made the impression.
Again, thanks for all of the advice. I really wasn't expecting all of this. I'm not jumping ship and quitting my day job yet, but I also don't want to watch life pass me by and end up regretting this. Yes this is tough, but isn't everything that is worth having hard-to-get?
I just want to get out of the cubicle. I gotta try to do something with my life other than sit in a box all day and write code for some business. It seems like such a waste to just sit around and write code all day.
My plan right now:
1. Get that technical issues thread up on Production Studio (my ES-1 has some weird behavior in particular.)
2. Learn how to setup a Podcast (I see a lot of these posted on iTunes. I want to have my mixes available there as well.)
3. Re-evaluate image, website, and other visual marketing. An image consultant wouldn't be a bad investment here, and I can pick up SEO web dev techniques quickly. I'm thinking of getting an alias as well. IDK.
4. Get a Twitter account
5. Actually post to Facebook, Twitter, etc. I think I'll do this once for every podcast update that I have. I don't want to be like one of those artists that spams everyone several times per day.
6. Figure out which city will have the best IT jobs AND the best nightlife scene that I can break into.
7. WALK THE DINOSAUR
n3lly
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Originally posted by Adam420
I thought so (just because he's been big on Minus lately + really the2 only new producer on the label) but I thought Matador was from Spain so I wasn't sure. I think there's a Spanish one too. But yea everybody's playing your mate's tracks these days.
He's a lovely chap (don't know him personally) and supports all the local lads and parties. Really happy for him :)
M-AlTo
M-AlTo
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Originally posted by Looney4Clooney
If you aren't cool , you shouldn't be djing either. You are an artist, like a band. Your image is 50% of who you are.
I want to be cool. Can you teach us how to be cool ? :)
M-AlTo
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Originally posted by zyklon-jay
when in doubt, hookers and blow.
This man is a genius!
Looney4Clooney
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Originally posted by M-AlTo
I want to be cool. Can you teach us how to be cool ? :)
well i could tell why you aren't. I suppose by ruling out what it is that is making you not cool, you might get a little closer to that asymptote.
