The Disc Jockey commonly known as, the worlds most unappreciated and undervalued artist. There are many reasons why. Here are several based on my 35 years of REAL experience in the music and hospitality industry. Most people that go into DJing as a teenager do it for fun, girls or to be popular so for them it gets old quick after the long hours. Plus the carrying of heavy equipment and the stress that comes with it makes it no longer fun or the kids get tired and rather try something else for fun or popularity. The other amateur DJs that stay doing gigs, then realize the reality of how difficult it is to even get simple gigs such as a birthday at a house or a wedding in a banquet hall or hotel ballroom. Consistently to be able to pay the bills,(do you know how hard that is?). In the amateur vendor world many venues, caterers etc. actually get a cut of the DJs pay and that is why they keep giving them gigs even if they are amateur. In the mobile vendor DJ world the guy is just a one time vendor and there is nothing consistent to build, plus the guests come not to hear the DJ, but because they were invited to that house party or wedding and they are committed to attend.
Its just a private party or wedding for four to six hours and that’s it. The pay is not because of the DJ talent but its the sound and lighting rental, transport, set up etc. Another reason to quit. ALL aspiring amateur DJs start at the bottom just like I did doing those house parties. Then hoping to grab their first wedding or sweet 16, and going on from there. Amateur DJs all hope to be discovered doing one of those simple amateur gigs. To be able to make it to the major leagues which is to become a celebrity resident headlining a Nightclub. Because that is where the fame and money is really at . THE ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU. More than 95 percent do not make it to the major
leagues and therefore have to settle for the amateur vendor work or just outright quit. Many make excuses such as, the hours are tough. I got married and my wife does not want me to do that anymore. I have kids and I rather spend time with family or the real doozie, my girlfriend told me to get a real job. Most of the time those are lies. It takes a person of Honor and Integrity to simply admit that they tried and were not able to do it. I can respect that. The excuses and lies are many. I have heard them all. Some do not want to admit it, but this is the truth. This is unlike any other job or business. This is not typical mainstream American work.
I wrote that above first to give you an understanding of how it is in the REAL WORLD of the DJ. Here goes the nitty gritty truth. The bad stereotype is that because of lack of Honor, meaning DJs that don’t show up or start two hours late. The ones that lie or go do another party that offered more money not to mention, the many that have a bad attitude or simply do a bad job in the song selection programming and mixing. Many DJs do not take it seriously or they think they are professionals or really good when in fact they are not. They couldn’t quit their day job ya know? Many also think they are the best. They think they know but the result of their performance speaks for itself. It even happens in the nightclub world sometimes and those are the guys that suddenly disappear, no one sees them out there anymore. Even if you got into a club gig because of a contact or favors. When you empty the club and the numbers go down, you get removed.
Reason two. No we are not all drug addicts or drunks. No we are not all poor starving artists. The DJ that does drugs or gets drunk while working gives a horrible image to the people. The people see everything even if they are drunk or anything else. Unfortunately,
bad attitude arrogant or trashiness gives us talented professionals with a bad reputation. People see several DJs like the ones mentioned above and the stamp is placed on all of us. DON’T stereotype. People think a nightclub DJ is a jukebox. Even worse are the wannabee DJs that fake it while playing using prerecorded mixes or using a computer to mix automatically because without it they simply cannot do it. They are fooling the audience. This is sacrilegious to the art. Real nightclub level Djs are artists, not just the guy or girl that plays music. It comes with tremendous responsibility and stress. Only a truly disciplined artist can handle that setting. And play to the crowd.
The mixer and the decks or the controller is our instrument. We are supposed to mix LIVE, without a computer or app assisting. Those computer app tools, are made for home amateur use not for professional nightclub DJ or Festival DJ use. Imagine a famous guitar player running his playing through a computer app to help him sound good. Because without it he could not play. It is truly offensive to see a non talented person using those amateur tools to compare themselves to us really talented successful nightclub DJs, that put in the time, effort, sacrifice and hard work. That makes it very challenging for those of us who take this art seriously and put in the tremendous amount of time and effort along with countless sacrifices and hours/years into this art and actually really made it clean and not corrupted. The consequence is that many people simply do not have respect for what we do, because it looks easy until you try to do it correctly. When you see and hear plain untalented DJs out there posing you automatically think we are all like that. So therefore we do not get valued or respected as we should.
Reason three. Many people do not pay attention to the art of a masterful music mix done live on the fly along with live scratching and live effects that make it sound like part of the song. The special energy experience a truly talented artist is capable of creating LIVE and taking you on a journey with music. We are few. Some people think if the DJ plays the song they like, the guy is a good DJ. Without noticing everything else. Which is much more important. People think its easy. But it’s not.
