Why Do DJs DJ? The "Cool Factor"

[tripandball]

Ok...lets not start any fights...just something to think about. Why do DJs DJ? And the "Cool Factor" in Djing.

http://djfrobot.blogspot.com/2010/06/wh ... actor.html

Peace!

FroBot

[Joe Moriarty]

Excellent article mate!

[Guff Tong]

For me: The only cool Dj's play at illegal warehouse/out door raves running gennies with red derv, having equipment confiscated by the filth and have never considered going to Ibiza.

They play drug music for drug people.

All the rest hi-jacked proper free raves in the 90's and went all 'charty' making jingles for adverts with the amen break.

Anyone on here (or there) thats un-known, makes fuck all money and spins/launches tunes for the love of it at the weekend is my hero.

(Solely the biased opinion of a south west uk free party raver since Castle Moreton 1992)

[housemunky]

I'm a doctor and a DJ. And just started producing.

Does that make me ubercool?

[tripandball]

Dude if thats true...thats bad ass!

[Nephew]

I'm a doctor and a DJ. And just started producing.

Does that make me ubercool?

If you have to ask, then no

= p

[lkj]

HAHAH.. good topic.. and i'm not going to lie.. Djing is easy.. Been djing for 7 years now and its way easier then producing. Got into producing just last year and all i can tell you is that producing is way cooler because if you know how to produce you can be a DJ in no time...!!!

[rossredman]

I'm sorry but that is a rather narrow minded and hypocritical article. You start off by saying "Before I start this controversial article" which just makes me go "oh, here we go again, another person trying to be controversial", probably in the exact same way you see a new DJ and go "oh here we go again, just another person trying to be cool" because it seems these days that being controversial is in. Starting an article like that just starts alarm bells ringing in my head to the tune of "here's someone who likes being patted on the back".

As you can probably tell by now, i'm a DJ, and i didnt get into it for the reason's you've said. Granted, i have stood there and watched a DJ perform and thought "I want to do that". If i didnt, i wouldnt have thought that DJing would be fun. But i started DJing because i was buying tracks from the record store, and they suggested i buy some turntables to go with it. The thing i found most infectious was that i could find music and then show it to other people whom have never heard it before and see their reactions, just like when you find a new band / artist and cant wait to show it to your friends. I think its worth noting that i've learned more about music through DJing than i have from anything else. There's a hell of a lot more to music than being able to play an instrument. And i sure as hell don't think Djing is easier than Producing. Anyone can make a drum loop in a sequencer within a very short time, just like anyone can mix two tracks together within a short time. The guts of it is in the quality of the outcome. Dont forget that producing and DJing are two completely different activities, just like playing tennis and making a tennis racquet.

Have a read of this article: http://www.trancetribe.com/pages/featur ... ure_id=106
That article, and all its content, wouldn't even exist if i was a producer and not a DJ, and that would make a huge difference in my life.

Now, obviously there ARE people who are out there who want to DJ for the "image", but there are also "producers" out there who just pay other people to make their tracks so they can get their name out there. There's also people who zap up a microwave dinner and tell their friends at work they cooked the night before.

Perhaps let people decide what they do and why they do it, instead of standing there and telling them (or yourself, via your own blog?). Stop wasting your time and energy worrying about how other people spend their time and put it into making better innovative music, writing articles that will INSPIRE people to do something, not judge them until they stop, and the world will be better off for it.

[tripandball]

I disagree with you. The goal was to bring to light this horrible process...It sounds like you like the way it works...whatever works for you man. Dont gotta read the blog if you dont like it...

I think I wrote -

"so what can we do about it. We cant start being haters...and trashing all these wannabe DJs....because that does no good for anyone. What we CAN do...is try to associate ourselves with the right artists, the right clubs, the right promoters, the right people....and try to help music evolve the RIGHT way. Dont ever fake yourself and be friends with other DJs or clubs just because you think you will get a shot at playing to a big crowd....that is selfish, and again...you go to music hell for this. Dont ever compromise yourself, your beliefs, or your love of what what you love most "MUSIC". Find the right people to associate with, start communities or scenes of people who think like you...and try to change this terrible process. Also, help other DJs who are inexperienced but HAVE the passion....and dont care about the "Cool Factor". Help music evolve in the right direction....so that in the future...the children of tomorrow will be listening to the BEST music in the world....and not some re-hashed garbage supplied by business minded or self indulging DJs. '

However, I do have to admit, you made an excellent point in this - Its not the “money”, or the “fame”. Sometimes it isn't even the music. It’s the friendships i have made, the lessons i have learned, and the experiences that i have been through that keep me coming back.

The only disagreement about that is...for me, its about the music. I guess we differ there.

Also - "Dont forget that producing and DJing are two completely different activities, just like playing tennis and making a tennis racquet"

I think thats a little bit absurd. These are 2 separate things (like someone who makes DJ gear or instruments". I think a more fair analogy would be playing tennis vs. placing your head over top of famous of tennis players.

[tripandball]

One more thing, before this gets blown out of proportion and in the wrong direction. Just to put things in perspective, I am in OSAKA, JAPAN. I dont know if you realize...but, on any given fri or sat...we have close to 50 flyered and promoted DJ events (in a city of only 2 million). This doesnt not include all the other places that have DJs playing without promotions. (I dont even want to start about TOKYO). People buy heaps more turntables and electronic music gear than guitars or drums...and live music is by FAR the minority here. The "somewhat harsh" statements that you claim I made, come from this perspective...and I will admit, that when I lived in Vancouver, Hawaii, China, and even commercial places like NYC....it was not nearly as saturated as here. And also, Japanese people have different ethics when it comes to music and sharing...way different. So, "harsh" words apply directly to the Japanese scene....and I will also admit, that when in those other countries...i met TONS of great DJs who played for the love of music, and were chill as can be....too bad the same cannot be said for here. We have kind of an elitist scene....and even the foreigners that DJ here are riding high cause all the japanese chicks Oooo and Awe over a western DJ, no matter how talented he is....as long as he is kind of "cute".

[agentwonderbread]

I enjoyed this article- I will say this- I didn't find the piece hypocritical- but after years working as a musician and designer I know that one treads dangerous ground when one begins to assume that traditional qualifications (i.e. formal musical knowledge/ art school etc) are the only way to begin contributing and not doing whatever one is doing "wrong." Loads of concepts like "outsider art" can be applied here- and arguably DJing as we know it was actually born, much as the punk that led in tandem down the same road to hip hop, electro etc,from a rejection of tradition.

Then again, I am a reasonably well trained artist and musician and I respect tradition as learning the "rules" has given me a far more educated position from which to break them. However, it is not isolated to see someone come along with far less training and knock one out of the park (followed by the kind of sophomore slump that can often devastate careers in many cases but not always).

As I have become less inclined to hold groups of people (bands) together, deal with drummers who are spreading STDs while the singer drinks too much and the bassist is chronically unemployed (all real examples from my past keeping bands together, booked and roughly managed- I have found myself spending more and more time in the studio- which finally freed me to worry less about hybrids and such and focus on my electronic inclinations. Playing guitars live and dealing with programming components makes wrangling all manner of things in the studio seem like cake to me...

I tell this sprawling tale of shifting musical perspective to ultimately answer the question. I recently took a position doing lights and visuals for a pretty well known band with a rather large scale live show and am setting up dates to get my laptop jam on during the space between tour legs because of one simple fact: I have been a musician for so long that it is hard to get used to actually paying for beer or the door charge. I like traveling, I like being out, I like playing my music and whether I like attention or not- not many people listen to things they aren't paying attention too as I understand it- so a live component is desirable even to the home studio professional. While I am mostly concerned with performance of my own pieces live- playing DJ sets makes for good bread and butter and allows a person to work more than one night in a town without necessarily making their own shows redundant- a luxury a live act does not even begin to get- unless they have the "drummer/singer/someone who DJs."

I am still cutting my teeth on the DJing part- learning to read the crowd in a more attentive way than one does while focusing on traditional performance gadgetry (fixing pedals or trying to pick up the cue we left off when the drummer's stick escaped his hand or playing around that newly broken string and doing math on the fly to pick up most of the notes it should be playing etc)- but my sets have gone well. Typically I ignore or only "kind of" cater to requests and instead of hitting the beatport charts etc I try to mix it up- play a set I think this crowd can enjoy and give them something they won't get if they stumble to the next club and the next DJ two doors down. It is a very different method of performance- and I get the idea, when I see bad DJs, that not everyone approaches it with as much reverence as they should- instead going "LOOK YAWL- AHM ON THE DECKS! I AM A ROCK STAR TONIGHT!!!!" Cue a night of songs you've heard from every random DJ and bad mashups. REALLY BAD. Mash ups are lame as f*ck imho. The grey album is a rare exception that had to loot two completely badass records to work and a few years on is a bit of a novelty anyway...

So, while my perspective may not be the ideal- I see DJing as an opportunity to make sure that I can stay out, keep a drink in my hand and money in my pocket- but it isn't about me. It is about making a place that isn't every other club on the block and not about me forcing myself on the audience or challenging them to "get" me rather than entertaining them. It is about reading a crowd and giving them what they want without having to ask them what they want. DJing is vibe setting, mind reading, scene shaping, night ruling power. And to close with something as cheesy as is humanly possible "with great power, comes great responsibility." And while it may sound like a contradiction to state that I ignore the beatport charts and try to give the crowd what they want- last time I went around asking, a lot of dancers/punters/drunken sorority girls have no idea what the hell a beatport is- but they wanna dance and they have money for the door.

Recap: I DJ because I have grown to love being paid to be out.

Additional thought: Cool is an illusion rapidly dispelled by swapping perspectives.

Thanks for a good read and something to think/ramble about....

[simonlb]

I'm a DJ and actually agree with a lot of it. Not the stuff about musical education (although I've studied music for years) but most of it makes sense.

The bad thing is that all the "cool kids" being out there, and the general status of being a DJ, makes it harder to get gigs, and it's hard enough already.

I don't want to sound cliched, trite or up myself but I'm 100% into it because of the music... when I got into DJing I didn't tell most people at school and I spent a lot of time saving up to buy equipment, and time alone in my room practising. I hadn't even seen a live DJ at the time, and while I'd seen DJs on the TV and stuff it wasn't a case of "that guy looks cool, I want to be him". Since then I've been through uni and got a job and I'm happier to tell people I'm into DJing but I still worry that they might think I'm just doing it to be cool, and I feel like a bit of a tit saying "I'm a DJ!"

In this city there seem to be as fas as I can tell quite a high amount of both DJs who're doing it to look cool and DJs who're genuinely really into it. Overall there's just a shitload of decent DJs.

To be honest I seem to be spending more time producing these days, it's easy to get disillusioned with DJing.

[Ascension]

I liked this article. Most of the points brought up are the reason why I'm in a scene (psytrance) that doesn't aim to play in big clubs or get the biggest parties. It always should be about the music, but when you deal with an industry that is there for money (clubs, bars, etc), you're stuck with that as a part of the equation. Anyone who plays at a party of mine with a mentality of "I'm the dj, I'm cooler than everyone else" won't be playing again, even if they are awesome

[Guff Tong]

We used to run these local raves a few years back @ Longleat in the UK..

Loads of headline dj's like Carl Cox, Dave Angel, Producer etc..

One certain DJ (no names of course) had his head right up it...think he basically had little man syndrome tbh (I'm not being short-ist in anyway but he was the shortest) - he went no where without his body guards and bitched about everything and everyone. (most regular headliners new the local crowd were the safest bunch and chilled out when they played there, but not this guy.)

The cap of it all was this one time he was mid set, took both the needles off the platters and held them up to the crowd giving it all god like 'Look at me' shit.

Wrong crowd to for that to. felt for the guy really. Not nice to have a thousand ravers chant through the silence.. "you fuckin what?". Only the once in unison.


... Another prima dona turned up with his 'name' and played tapes whilst signing autographs. wasn't booked again.

[nezzyidy]

I agree with many of your points regarding DJ's wanting more attention.
On the other hand the same can be said of musicians. Here in the states,
bands are a dime a dozen and every one wants to "make it big".
Also there are plenty of DJ's who listen to music at home and bliss out
to the music they feel passionately about. Many DJ's want to spin tracks
in the club because they feel that there are a lot of crap music being
played and they want to represent their flavor to the world.

One of your points that I especially disagree with is the notion that
DJ's are unimportant:
"Being a DJ aint shit .....
They do the REAL shit
Your only job as a DJ
Is to play some funky shit
So they can forget all about their lives
And dance
You aint cool"

I think a more appropriate last line would be "you aint coolER".
A DJ is not cooler than a nurse or an engineer but can still
be cool as well as be a productive member of society.
I believe that DJ's fulfill a valuable function - something
which is "real" - namely, introduce people to (hopefully good)
music. Life can be hard and depressing and sometimes music is
only thing we can count on. In this day and age so much music
is being produced and distributed globally over the interweb
that we need full time DJ's that we trust to sort through it all.
If all the DJ's stopped listening to other peoples music and made
their own music then we would have tons of new (potentially bad)
music everywhere and no artistic selectors to help sort it for us.
Some people just don't have the time to spend 10hrs a week looking
for that one excellent song. For these people a DJ provides a
valuable service.
I am a performing electronic musician but I am also a DJ and I think
in this digital age we need both.
In short my rebuttal is: "Being a DJ IS shit."