Starting out is hard to do. Think about it, you have to convince someone to put you on when no one knows who you are and has never heard of you…..but it can be done. We’ve all been there at one time or another. So here are some tips to get you thinking.
What to do?
Demos: I’ve said this over and over again; having a demo helps a lot. Make it good too…and give them to EVERYONE! Also, don’t give out something that isn’t HOT. If you give someone a mix CD that has crashes on it, low quality sound, and out-of-key blends…you’re leaving them with the impression that this is the best of your work. Your mix CD demo should be recorded with good quality sound, smooth transitions, and ideally it should be tracked. One track mixes are a pain to skim through. And for God’s sake…please label it properly. I’ve received CDs with sharpie writing that I couldn’t even read and even completely blank tops…no info as to what it was at all. I keep it simple and inexpensive by using a simple mailing address label I print off the computer in pages of 30.
Who do you go through?
Promoter vs. Owners: Promoters are usually the key to getting your foot in the door. They can often put you on in several different venues. They do want something in return…NUMBERS! Remember their job is to promote and they wants DJs who will help achieve this. They want to know that you’ll bring in people…friends or fans and definitely drinkers. Some owners hire DJs directly and they want the same thing. They are usually limited to just their club though. So getting to know owners means one relationship –one club. Getting to know promoters could mean one relationship-multiple clubs. But a great relationship with and owner could lead to a residency, or reoccurring weekly or monthly gig.
DJ friends: If another well known or simply working DJ vouches for you this can help a lot. They may be able to talk a promoter into having you open for them. This can help you get in the door. Just don’t make your DJ buddy look bad. Promote the event and get your friends to come support you.
Demonstrate Promotion:
Self Promotion: Show that you are willing to work hard promoting yourself and the night and your chances increase greatly. Someone will put you on if they think you have a ton of friends or fans that will come and support you. One way to show this is to approach a promoter with an idea that will allow you to prove your powers of drawing people to an event. For example, have a birthday party for you or a friend at their venue and arrange to bring in a sizable group in advance with the promoter. They may give you a guest list or a drink special. If all goes well, I’m sure you will be on their radar or even let you play that night. Anything can happen.
Throw your own event: Many DJs get their start by throwing their own events and putting themselves on the bill. This is not a bad way to get started but be prepared to deal with your new role as a promoter as well as a DJ. You will obviously have to have a relationship with an owner as well. Numbers will be expected of you….head count, door take, and bar ring. You may also have expenses such as flyer design and printing, door staff, other DJs, or even sound rental. This may be more than you bargained for so enter into this world carefully and bravely. It’s not all the fun it’s cracked up to be and don’t do it on your own. It is best to have a team of people involved that can all help bring in numbers. Though there are now more people to pay. I’ll leave Night Club Promoting 101 to someone else brave enough to write about it.
Hope this helps.
David Sabat
DJ Marketing 101 
I’ve been following your blog and everything you’ve said has been straight on. It’s also very useful advice. more people can get and sustain gigs just by following the simple steps you’ve outlined here. im digin’ it!
Yeah, I totally agree with Ricky…You need write a book on this =)
Thanks for all the support Ricky and Charlie. More coming soon!
I’ve been following your advice so far and I’m seeing amazing results. Thanks for helping out the up-and-comers
I totally agree with keeping up on promoting and getting a following and having a team. I rested on my laurels and blew a good thing I had going because I didn’t have a clue on how to promote what I had going for almost a year. it pretty much dried up like a crusty dung bunker once the heads stopped rolling in lol. word of mouth is great, as long a people know about it. I wasn’t promoting the night, I thought that was the clubs job…yea i know…very stupid. I also didn’t have a clue as to how to keep my following coming and not getting bored with the same venue. I’m struggling to find another spot like that because I didn’t follow some very basic rules
I owe a one year residency to my friends(fans? lol) if they didn’t come out each week and dance their asses off I wouldn’t have held a gig for a year playing 5hr marathon sets every Saturday at Martini room in Elgin and it totally worked as long as they had numbers and made money on the bar. That and after a while it became all my fault…I’m not drawing a crowd, I’m not playing hip hop and I’m a house dj…so on and so forth.
Now I tackle everything with fervor and tell everyone how grateful I am for them coming out and for supporting my gigs and the ultimate compliment of dancing to the music I spin 🙂
While this article had a lot of great info, I feel like it is missing one thing. Do you think you could write about finding the venues/promoters in your area? It would almost be an article about the steps to take before this one.
Peter….great question and your answer will be provided in the next blog….at your request 🙂 I will try to post today.
Thanks for the post. I just had my first DJ gig and can see the challenges as well as feel the love that people had for the music and energy i brought. One down many many more to come! You have a new fan. Will keep reading.
http://www.house-mixes.com/artists/dj_blaze7/
For Bookings for Mr Incredible contact
Bryan Wilson 516-282-6335 or email
top5djs@gmail.com
Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae
It does take a lot of Hustling to get your name out there!
Promoters are great but I’ve dealt with a lot of shady ones too.
Personally, I found that running my own Business focusing on doing Weddings…Yes, I traded in clubs for weddings…but I find that weddings make a killing vs. DJ clubs. I can make a Grand ($1000) for a 5 hour wedding vs. maybe $100 for a 6 hour club night.
That the case at least around the Kansas area where clubs don’t want to pay anything for a DJ these days.
This is good info but remember that you’re not going to be a rock star over night! You gotta keep up the work…
I thank so much the author of this articles which is David Sabat. Thank you so much man but i agree with Search Dj that clubs don’t want to pay you shit just because you are new in the scene they take advantage of paying you 150 per night, i mean, when you can make 500 or more doing mobile dj gigs such as weddings and etc.
Thanks for the valuable info for aspiring dj’s. I am just getting started and am even more niche due to that I’m into christian music and love to put that message into electronica. I definitely have a good friend base so will bring down a good crowd on opening night to show bar owners i have a following…now if I can just get them to drink more then I’ll probably get a residency!
I got started by giving out CD demos to the bar owners of small hole in the wall bars/clubs if they like it make friends. Ask to dj maybe free at first to show u can engage the crowd then make alot of friends through networking, facebook, myspace, craigslist.
Make sure you volunteer to promote, make cheap flyers, etc.
Soon you will bring a crowd.
Record your work as you get a crowd in over time.
Eventually the crowd grows and all of a sudden you’re getting tips + bar mngr pays you.
Now you got live demos.
Make friends with DJ’s volunteer to take over when they’re out or sick. As to co-dj.
The best way to get a start is ask to Dual-Dj. If you out do the other DJ then u get booked perm.
[…] Breaking into the Scene: How to get your first gig July 2009 13 comments 4 […]
Great advise going to start putting it to use
follow ClubLevelDJs.com to know how to get more DJ gigs in your area. We will hold virtual auditions in Spring 2012. We are looking for the best in house, electro, trance, tribal, techno, progressive, dubstep, dance and hiphop.
dont wait. only so many gigs per area, and we only pick the best djs.
I tnk im mo encourage 4 anada step
The concept of passing CDs or emailing soundcloud mixes to venue owners/influencers is archaic and ineffective. Majority of these requests are ignored because they don’t have the time or resources to keep up with these requests. Most venues do not include any to scouting initiatives for upcoming talent with potential and draw. That’s because management is busy dealing with everyday operations and focus little time on talent booking. Plus their inboxes are ALWAYS flooded with cold-email requests from other djs, not to mention walk-up requests. That’s a big problem for venues! It’s easy for them to ignore all these requests and go with the guy who played the week before. The kissing ass, CD passing, networking and buying drinks to promoters game must be disrupted and substituted with a working one. A model that connects awesome talent with huge potential to clubs. We are currently testing this new model with club owners and local talent (starting in the east coast/USA). If any of you are interested in participating http://bit.ly/yRjOe9
Ineffective for some perhaps. Your points are quite valid however it’s not only the promoters that an upcoming DJ should be thinking about. I don’t need to pass out CDs anymore at all but I still do it all the time. I give them to anyone who’s interested…..and I find many people still have CD players in their cars and are dying for something to check out other than the radio. This creates FANS….and with fans, come gigs. It also gets them accustomed to the style of music I play which later allow me more freedom behind the decks. Trust me it works….and I’m telling you this one DJ to another without a product to push, just on the love 🙂
I had a residency for 6 months locally and did well gettin the club packed playing dance dnb house dubstep etc. Club shut in the end and i struggled to find dj work since. I found the dj world very bitchy and found most promoters were arseholes. Still lookin for sets while doin a weekly radio show. Word seems to be spreading lets hope i get work again. Very good blog this is
I think it’s completely ridiculous that DJs are expected to bring “numbers” to a club. My job as a Dj is to play music and make sure everyone at the club had a great night, that’s it!
Why is it that we are expected to bring a crowd there? That’s the clubs managements job as well as the promoters. We get paid to play music not to waste our time promoting.
It’s sad that the reality is this now. That’s why you go to some clubs and hear some of the worst mixing you have ever heard in your life. Most clubs don’t care how good you are, if you bring in 50 heads a night they will hire you on the spot and it is truly sad.
All I worry about is keeping up to date on my music, staying unique, playing for the crowd and spread the word about the club any way I can, not forcing people to come or flyering them as we’ll as spamming them on fb.
Hi Mike,
First let me apologize for responding 10 months late lol. I don’t keep up with my own blog as much as I should. I totally feel you on this but the fact is, like it or not, the game has changed. you can be a great DJ but if no one is coming to see you then you’re not employable. Ideally, someone who can bring 50 people is likely to be pretty good as well.
I DJ all over but I also throw my own events. I’m in Chicago and surrounded by great DJs. So when I’m deciding who will be a guest DJ for one of my events, I’m already picking from a solid group of people, which leaves me to then thing about numbers too.
Bottom line….no hustle, no gig.
David
One of my demo sets!
https://soundcloud.com/misterfuzzyslippers/venomtrap
[…] Breaking Into the Scene: How to Get Gigs | DJ Marketing 101 […]
I definitely agree about the additional difficulties that come with promoting your night, but I think doing so is worth the trouble. Not only do you get yourself a gig (and generally a recurring gig, if you pull off a good event), you also get some valuable promoting experience.
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Guys I’m in south Africa and I’ve got a boy whose blind and studied djiing with soul candi.he’s very good and would love to bring him in your countries one day.kindly put a word out there for me.the boys talent is amazing you don’t even have to do selection for him.if your interested kindly email me @tabane456@gmail.com cell 0749459669 and I will forward you all demos and clips.thanx
ThanX very much