Developing a Following

 


Get recurring hours. Just like a pilot needs to build up flight time to get cred, you'll need to build up play time. The best way to do this in a serious fashion is to get recurring hours through an established company -- not just those one-off gigs.

• Find companies that supply DJs to weddings and the like. You won't be freelancing, but you'll be getting your foot in the door.
• Sign up to work at a local college or community radio station.
• Some venues need between-band DJs. Let that be you!

 
 

Know the crowd you'll be dealing with. Having an idea of who your crowd is before the event begins is critical to successful DJing. If you're playing a wedding, for instance, be prepared to play more slow songs than usual and try to get a grasp on the bride's musical tastes beforehand. If you're playing a nightclub, get familiar with what the club owner prefers and what his or her regulars like. The regulars keep the club afloat and, by extension, pay your fee; learn how to keep them happy.

• Be careful with requests. If you're playing a nightclub that caters to a hip-hop crowd and you have a tourist or someone unfamiliar with the scene requesting a song that doesn't fit with the genre, consider carefully before you play it. Remember, your aim is to keep the core of the audience happy and coming back.
• If at all possible, visit the venue beforehand. Getting a feel for the regular crowd before you go can help take the pressure off a new gig.

 

Market yourself. You should be making press kits, handing out business cards, emailing constantly, and always, always expanding your network. This is not a 9-5 job, no, it's a 24/7 job.

• Keep a busy schedule. As you're gaining a fan base, play as many shows as necessary to get your name out there. Book yourself on a tight schedule at first to keep your interest alive and your creativity fresh. Basically at the beginning: take whatever gigs you can.

 
 

Develop an Internet presence. If you don't have the time or money to build your own website, start an account for your DJing career on Twitter or Facebook. Promote your shows, and make time to connect with your fans and personally respond to their messages. The more you're a real person to these people, the better.

• Make playlists. Build playlists on iTunes or Spotify and share them with your fans. This allows them to sample your musical tastes, and lets you introduce people to new music you want to incorporate into your shows. This won't defeat the purpose of them coming to see you, it'll simply whet their appetites.

 

Find your own gigs. Depending on how you want to advance your career, you could start playing small, private events for a low fee, or take a slow, weeknight shift at a club or bar. Ask a friend who's hosting a party if you can DJ. Be aware that if you're inexperienced, you won't make much money at first and you'll probably have to keep a second job. But you'd do this for free if you had to, right?

• When you first start off, people may book you on the stipulation that you bring X number of people. This is crap. You are not the promoter and you are not your friends. However...sometimes you gotta take what you can get. Know that these guys are only the ones you're working with now; avoid them in the future.

 

Become a producer. The next step up from being a DJ is producing your own music. You can still work with others' tunes, but you're mashing it all up, remixing it, re-editing it and making it better. DJ Earworm got YouTube famous doing just that. You can rake in the cash a lot faster when you start producing your own stuff.

• And once that happens, you can hit up record labels. Even if you don't end up being a top-billing artist, you can work with other artists and behind the scenes doing what you love.