how do u get a job Djing at a CLUB??

C

chabbi4116

Guest
Ive been Djing hiphop for a little over a year now in my apt, and i wanna tryin get a job at a club....i live real close to NYC so there 10000's of places that play music. But of course every place already has a dj or they wouldnt be open. How do u find work?? Do you just ask for the manager and tell him you want to replace the current dj?? I dont really have any connections so i just have to find one on my own. ....all suggestions please. thanx
 
sort some connections out get to know people. record store crew dj's promoters owners managers. thats the only way to do it. and it doesnt happen over night, itll take a long time.
 
There are many ways, all with advantages and drawbacks, depending on how's the scene in your area.

Shortest path: get your own gigs together (brings a 1000 issues, is quite risky and you must be into it all the way to your soul, but is very rewarding if you cut it right and pays strongly in the long run. Your crowd can open doors to clubs and gigs if they love you. What friends are for anyway???)

Hardest path: sending demos to promoters (gotta rely on luck and sure to face fierce competition no matter how good you are. Promoters rarelly listen to these, unless you hand them personally and are close friends to them and beg for a shot on your demo at the way to work :D - but in this case you'd get a spot straight away if you're any good anyway :rolleyes: )

Not to damp your enthusiasm but getting a spot in a club takes time and dedication, loads of dedication. There's no shortcut to it unless you're one-of-a-kind (and that comes with time and dedication too...) or you're friends to promoters, DJs and the ppl that floats around the scene.

Even then, unless you really bring some advantage to the other than your DJing (for instance sponsorships tot he club and the like), for the best it may be there's an estabilished "métier" already taking care of these stuff (DJing and the rest).

On the other hand, if you really want it and you're easy to get friends to ppl, are nice and dependable, has good will and has some good music and skills to back it all up, at some point you'll be able to prove and please the crowd. And that brings a lot of changes and you may end up there were you're dreaming now.

Very important: don't rush, don't despair, don't step into others and enjyo every second of this way to the club booth! ;)



:cheers:

And sorry for the long post :D
 
definitely get out and become part of the scene.
get to know people. go to shows.
you may be ready to spin based on your mixtape skills but
if nobody knows who you are it would be a risk
to trust you.
If you support the scene eventually you'll find a chance.

--kev
 
Yeah, the advantage is, if you put your face out and get known, once you get there you'llbe cheered and celebrated.
 
Throw some very bad-*** house parties. Invite friends and friends of friends. Word travels faster than CD Demos and Mix Tapes. I started throwing small parties with 2 other Dj buddies of mine. We were very good friends and one day we just blew up. They got gigs at clubs and we always helped each other out. They got me in, I got my other DJ buddies in. The bottom line is Network yourself. Keep meeting new people and never snubb anyone. The person you snubb could be the promotor for a huge club in LA or NYC.

Just set yourself some reachable goals, and like Alex said, enjoy every second. I used to really want to be a Club DJ sooo bad that I was obsessed with it. But now I cant be a Club DJ because I just cant be a crowd pleaser every weekend. I enjoy DJ'ing at a club every once in a while, like maybe once a month. But thats just me, I love the rave scene and I'll always support it. The club scene is very "poppy" and theres always people who will not like your music, so if thats what you like then go for it.

Good Luck with your Club Gigs...

-JP
 
Ive been a promoter for about 8 years now and we used to have huge parties with anywher from 8-80 DJs and we could never satisfy all the upstart, resgional DJs even though we tried real hard to. But I will tell you right now the one thing that made the biggest difference to me and thats PROMOTION! If you make a promoter think that by you being there, you're gonna get the word out, pass out fliers, tell everyone you know and then some about the event then you'll get booked. Of course talent was just as important but if I had 2 DJ's begging to be on the bill and one was a primadona who I didnt think would promote and the other came at me with like "Yo, Ill flyer like a liter bug for you"...well, you get the picture. And if that person followed through, and rocked the house, they'd be back. You come like that at a promoter, and keep doing it, you'll be a friend in no time. And I could name DJs that got started by spinning as "residents" at our parties like that and now spin all over the world. Good luck.
 
One thing I forgot to say on that last post was that Ive been promoting for about 8 years but Ive been a DJ for about 14 years so thats my first love and I know what its like.
 
Knowing people is the most important thing you'll need when trying to cross the bedroom/club line. I've been incredibly privileged in a very short time purely cos i knew people.

I got to know a guy who had been DJing for a few years and was about to take over a night in a bar i'd been going to for years. I was chatting with him one night and i happened to mention a tune i had that he really wanted to play, i said he could play it so long as i got a couple tunes (rather cheeky!) and he said that was cool.

After a couple weeks we started using my mixer cos the one that was at the bar broke and the next thing i knew my name was on the flyer and i was supporting big names that were coming down. So far I've been lucky enough to meet and support The Mixologists, Plus One (2 weeks before he won the DMC final), First Rate, Mr Thing, Harry Love, The Numskulls, Skitz and Skully. Not too bad really for someone who only got turntables a year and 5 days ago! (oh, and Mr Thing was the best!!)

I don't wanna sound big headed or anything, but the point i'm making is that you don't have to be the worlds best, you just gotta know the right people, and this is the biggy... Be Nice. Don't piss anyone important off, I pissed off a manager off a local club and could i get a gig there? Could i f*ck, I still can't and its changed hands twice!

Bear all this in mind and everything will be cool, just enjoy the ride and take it as it comes! Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top