Modern Technology + Old School Mentality = Fans & Gigs!
Who are the so called “Big Name DJs”? They are most often DJs that produce the most popular tracks. But let’s face it, there are a lot of very talented DJs out there that either do not produce music, or just haven’t produced a big hit. So how do these DJs obtain fans and get big gigs?
Back in the day people often became fond of a dj because they either heard them play live or a friend shared one of their mix tapes…usually a Tone Master or Maxell…gotta love those. Since mass production and materials were costly, this wasn’t really a great system for DJs to promote themselves. You put a few out there and hope people share them. If it’s hot, then your friends would beg you to let them copy it on a high-speed duel tape deck which took a good 20-30 minutes to complete. And man were we happy to have a copy too. If you somehow lost that tape you were really pissed off!
Today, with the use of modern technology, we can record sets at home or even live sets right to our laptops, save them as an MP3, and either burn it to CD or upload to the web for all to hear. The ability to share your mixes is enormous!
Online Mixes
There are a ton of sites were you can post your mixes online or you can start your own podcast. Internet radio is growing and many stations are dying for more programming. Send them your mixes as well. When posting mixes online you should go a step furthar and include a play list and don’t forget your contact information (e-mail, website(s), affiliations, etc). Most importantly, once you’ve posted your mix be sure to tell everyone its out and where to download it.
Burning CDs
While mix downloads are great, a lot of people still like the mix in their hand and a cassette tape just won’t do. The answer is burning CDs….LOTS OF THEM! A spool of 100 CDs runs as low as $14.99 and sleeves as low as $2.99/per 100. So for less then $20 you can have 100 mix CDs.
Burning CDs one at a time can be time consuming as well, but it only takes 3-4 minutes per CD. A large duplicator is a great investment. For less than $800 you can pick up a tower that will burn 9-10 CDs at a time and crank out well over 100 CDs an hour. Now I know $800 is nothing to sneeze at. But when you think about the cost of DJ equipment, it’s cheaper than one Pioneer CDJ1000 CD player and the amount of CDs you can generate is endless. Always label your CDs with your name, name of the mix, and contact information. You don’t need to use full size labels. A mailing address label does the trick. Remember this is a promo CD and not being sold in stores.
Generating Fans
I have sold mix CDs but I give them away most of the time. When you give them away you generate fans of your music and your personality as well. People remember you when you give them something for free. I give away nearly 3,000 CDs a year and this costs me about $600. But spread out throughout the year is only $50 a month, which is a reasonable investment in gaining fans and of course more gigs.
Quality
One final note is that while mass producing CDs to give away is great, it really helps if the CD is of good quality. Meaning, it has a great selection of music, it’s mixed well, and tracked (track 1, track 2, etc). I have made CDs that I thought were mediocre and tossed them. If there is a bad mix, toss it. The CD is a professional representation of you and your DJing ability. If it is mediocre, then that is how you will be viewed by those who listened to it. If it’s hot, then trust me you’re going to gain from it.
Let’s try this out. Here is my latest mix
Rated H for HOUSE! (April 2009)
by David Sabat
Play List:
1. Love is…Afraid of the Dark (Tammy) – Lil Louis
2. Breakers Theme (Beats) – Mr.V
3. Desire (MAW Remix) – Nu Colours
4. Any Love (DJ Meme Original Club Mix) – DJ Meme Orchestra Ft. Rachel Claudio
5. Church (Original Version) – Peven Everett
6. Those Days Are Gone (Greg Gauthier Dance Culture Mix) – Alex Finkin & Reverend P feat. Jocelyn Mathieu
7. Circles – Nathan Adams And Zepharin Saint
8. Omi Tutu [Main Mix] – Louie ‘Lou’ Gorbea
9. Selene (The Goddess of The Moon) (Damon’s Abstractic Mix) – Steal Vybe feat. Alexis Simmons
10. Always (Thommy and Spens Rock the House Mix) – DJ Spen and the Muthafunkaz Feat Sheila Ford
11. Spirit (Guy Robin Classic Vocal Mix) – Gabriel Rene feat. J. Soul
12. Just as Long (Gorbea Extended Vocal Mix) – Duce Martinez Ft K.T. Brooks
13. Boriken Soul (Yonurican Club Mix) – Yonurican
14. Mahuwelele (Tommy Bones Remix) – Mzee Feat. Candy Nurse
15. 84 King Street (Original Main Mix) – Christian Hornbostel & Alfred Azzetto
16. Black Sience Orchestra – New Jersey Deep
17. George Kranz – Din Daa Daa (Louie Vega Dub)
Totally man! I remember when I was in high-school, the very first “mix” that I bought was Bad Boy Bill’s Banging the Box 7,654…. lol
It’s an investment, but getting the music out there is by far the best way to build up a following.
Bravo on the blog!
WordPress rox…. I actually just noticed today that CNN is using one these days too.
David,
Very good advice!! Ah, the old mix tapes… memories!! I look forward to reading more!!! “Cel” (AKA DJ Kwik)
OBTW, sweet mix!!!
Very good D!
Hey David, you’ve been putting up some great advice! This is great for the new guys and old news for the old cats that need a reminder of how business is done. I will repost every chance I get cause it would be a shame to let this just dissappear into the horizon.
David, what type of blank cd’s are you using? are you doing your own graphics, or are you outsourcing it? I am using Gimp, corel draw and MS publisher to create cd covers. I burn my mixes to cd with Roxio ultimate 2009. What is everyone else using/ doing? some of us prefer to pay the mortgage and car note, than send our mix out to a service to be produced.
XEL, I use a 1-9 tower for duplicating. It cost me $750 and it was well worth every penny. I crank ouit 125 CDs an hour and I do it all myself. As for labels, I go the cheap route. I use a simple mailing label with the following info:
Mix title (I name all of my mixes)
by David Sabat
website
e-mail
phone
This is very cheap and simple and it’s all you really need. One printed sheet of labels covers 30 CDs. Now if I’m using it for something really special, I may consider doing a full label. I’ve used Photoshop for this or I may use free labeling software that comes with the labels like Maxell or Avery. They seem to do the trick.
I dont rely on the image to market my CDs but the name of the CD. All of my CDs have name like “Free at last”, “Chocolate Covered Disco”, and “Fantastic Love Groove” just to name a few. You can see all the names and mixes here: http://www.deephousemix.com/davidsabat/mixes.aspx
I use any low cost blank CD on sale. I just picked up 100 TDK CDs from Office Depot for $12.99. It was such a good deal that I walked out with 400. I also recently ordered 1,000 sleeves from Amazon.com for $22.99. I tend to use the Office Depot brand of mailing label for my CDs as well. On average, I spend just under $20 on 100 CDs wich includes duplicating (I use my own duplicator), labels, and sleeve.
Mixes are a great way to promote yourself but several popular DJs in Australia have wound up in court, they made great mixes without getting permisssion (from copyright holders) and then sold them (illegal in Australia).
Some judgements by courts were hundreds of thousands of dollars against them, there goes their careers.
Cameron, I don’t sell them I give them away. Not that I haven’t sold any, but I that is not what I advertise. Additionally, I have given them to DJs, producers, and vocalist who’s music is on the CD and they have thanked me for it. They know that by me putting it on my CD I am marketing them too. Let’s face it, its house music and mostly DJs actually buy their music…not so much fans. So by using their music in mixes they get a little more popular and more likely to get booked somewhere. Now if I sold the CD with their music on it that is entirely different and wouldn’t go over with them so well. Ultimately, you will make more money with future bookings by giving them away then selling them.
I generally don’t leave the house without 50 CDs on me that I plan to give away….and I give them to EVERYBODY. You’d be surprised at what giving someone a CD can do. Sometimes I give them to the guys at the door of clubs when they give me VIP entry etc. and they really appreciate that too. So don’t sell them but you can use them to bribe people 🙂
Cameron,
Thanks for the update from down under, I don’t sell my mixes, they are for “promo use only.” Did the DJs alter the material? That may be the reason they were taken to court. I wanted to know what process DJs use to get their mixes pressed. Are they doing it themselves, or sending it out to be done. What programs are they using?
Thanks Dave,
That was the kinda info I was looking for. Just looking for way to control cost, while at the same time maintain quality. Right now I am using the lightscribe cd’s, since I am able to burn the contact info directly onto the cd, I have heard horror stories of labels coming off in people cd players. Obviously you have not had that problem. I have been using the jewel cases, put the plastic sleeve is a good idea. Are you able to slip artwork and song titles into the sleeve?
I go for the cheapest CDs I can find. This is a promo, not something for resale. I also go to Micro Center here in Chicago and get great deals on Phillips and Ridata CDs. I personally haven’t had anyone tell me the labels came off but I know it happens. Like you said….gotta cut costs lol. I invested in the large duplicator and would like to invest in a thermal or ink jet CD printing system but its expensive (for just printing) and low priority since I can use labels and no one seems to care.
hi david i find your analysis and advice extremely helpful and im implementing many of the matters discussed into my own marketing.
peace, love & house music
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Thanx
in-digo.net
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