Landing DJ Gigs
DJ Gigs are getting harder to find for some people these days, so you need to know how to set yourself apart from the competition. The biggest key to doing this is professionalism. Club owners and promoters can spot a newbie from a mile away. To land the good DJ gigs, you will have to look and act like a pro.
These means having your demo CD in a professional package, not just writing on it with a marker. Graphics go a long way to promoting a professional appearance.
DJs should also carry a professional looking business card at all times. Not one of those cheezy free designs either, but a custom one. It’s attention to details like this that will make you stand out in someone’s mind. Check out the Resources page for some free business cards.
Your demo mix should be top notch, if it’s not, keep recording until it is. Regularly keep in touch with the people who can get you jobs. Send a friendly email, drop by the club, or take them out to lunch one day. Personal relationships go a long way in this business. People give jobs to DJs they know personally, not any old stranger.
Music is important, but it’s not everything. Improve your networking & business skills to land many more DJ gigs.
For more advanced DJ marketing techniques, pick up a copy of The Club DJ Guide
Yo man,I’ve got your DJ Guide book, and it’s good, real attention to detail, but I’ve been smacking everything you say in there, and still no big gig’s.I know we are good enough, as we have supported BIG headline acts, DJ YODA -MISTA JAM – UTAH SAINTS – DAN GARCIA plus plenty plenty more, and had brilliant feedback.Let me know of any idea’s.Many thanks,THE TWINS p.s congratulations on you engagement.
Love the truth, now tell me how to land a gig in the upper peninsula of Michigan, the nearest clubs or bars with House Music, is probably Milwaukee. So what do I do?
This is a problem for many people. I would play to the crowd. If your local crowd wants hip hop, play it if you want to make money. You can throw in a few house-remixed versions of hip hop tracks once in a while to try and open their minds to a house beat. But don’t force it on them. The best DJs are well rounded in all forms of music, even if they have one favorite genre. Read a bio from the biggest DJs in the world and you’ll see that most of them played something else in the beginning. You could also try and start a house music night in your own town. Ultimately, you’ll have a better chance making a living from DJing in a large city though.
That’s good advice, I started out Hip Hop then added house music and hard progressive house and trance. Eventually my favorite music to play was Hard House, trance and Hardcore gabber techno but when I moved to Denver from New York there really weren’t that many techno clubs and to make matters worse the Record stores didn’t et you listen to the records before you bought them so buying new techno and house music imports was next to impossible without calling friends in New York asking what to get. As I did still love spinning Hip Hop and Reggae I started DJing for tons of Hip Hop and Reggae nightclubs and started making some mixtapes as well . The only problem I found was eventually some newer people in the nightclub industry didn’t realize my styles had no limits and in their eyes they could only see me as a HIP HOP DJ. Breaking out of that stereotype can sometimes be difficult but really all it takes is a few good well rounded mixes that you give to various key people around town. If you really want to make it these days you have to be versatile or you need to have a community that supports the music you wish to play.
If I would have only played what I wanted to play IE: House, Trance and East Coast Underground Hip Hop I’d have never landed any real gigs or I would have had to build the community myself. What I have managed to do instead is infuse the East Coast Accapellas with more mainstream beats so I can give mainstream audiences a small taste of stuff like Camp Lo “Luchini (This Is It What)” and Das EFX etc without scaring them away. An added bonus to doing this is people that know the music and appreciate the underground classics will be happy to hear them and usually give respect to your remixes.
If you really want to DJ exactly as you want you may have to travel, as you said to Milwakee, research the clubs and talk with the owners, be willing to come in at a trial price and be willing to travel for it. Eventually you either road trip it once a week to do your gig or if it becomes more permanent and lucritive you move to that location and try and land a few more DJ gigs as well.
DJ Emir Santana
http://www.djemir.com
Real DJs Do Real Things
mixtapes
Thanks