Finding work as a DJ

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xphoria

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2010
Location
London
Hi,

I got my massive DJ setup now, and i'm good with mixing and have an amazing collection of tracks. I'm ready to DJ for anything, but how do I go about finding jobs? I live in London but I'm only 16 so I imagine it will be very difficult to find work. Does anyone have some advice of how I can start out?
 
If you're looking to make some money then dnb is not to music to do it with, start mixing garage/trance/commercial and you could earn a fortune man, I know people that get paid £100 a night to fade in trance and wank house tracks.
 
ok thanks for the feedback :)

I most enjoy mixing drum & bass, however I also regularly mix house and dubstep. I suppose I'll just have to mix whatever genre will bring in money.
 
Facebook mate, get friendly with the local club owners & guys who organise drum & bass nights. Add em up, message them and send them your mixes, ask for a little opening half hour set or something.
 
xphoria said:
ok thanks for the feedback :)

I most enjoy mixing drum & bass, however I also regularly mix house and dubstep. I suppose I'll just have to mix whatever genre will bring in money.
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with that take on things, you wont go far. that, i tell you.

imo music is more about passion than anything else. with that "treat it like a dayjob" "where to apply" mentality youre sure to annoy the fuck out of people who are doing this for the music.

and @onslaught: youre doing it wrong. 100 pound isnt exactly a mass amount of money.. wouldnt play for anything less tbh if it was a regular night..
 
I understand its important for me to do this because I like it, which means I'm going to aim for drum & bass and electro house shows now :)

However a lot of what has been suggested can be difficult for me because I am only 16. I hear a lot about networking in clubs, but i'm not even allowed into clubs because of my age, which makes it hard to hand in CD mixes.

I'm wondering what is the best approach for a 16 year old to find work as a DJ?
 
xphoria said:
I understand its important for me to do this because I like it, which means I'm going to aim for drum & bass and electro house shows now :)

However a lot of what has been suggested can be difficult for me because I am only 16. I hear a lot about networking in clubs, but i'm not even allowed into clubs because of my age, which makes it hard to hand in CD mixes.

I'm wondering what is the best approach for a 16 year old to find work as a DJ?
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its gonna be hard at 16 mate, use facebook to promote yourself, send them messages and stuff with your mixes and tracks on or whatever - if that doesn't work keep mixing and producing, youl be better in 2 years when you are 18, and then youl be even more impressive to the promoters hopefully - its all about how much you want it.
 
groelle said:
and @onslaught: youre doing it wrong. 100 pound isnt exactly a mass amount of money.. wouldnt play for anything less tbh if it was a regular night..
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Nah man, but this is a small town and the boy in question can barley mix?!? He only fades and uses effects lol, but he does it friday and saturday, that's an extra £800 a month with what he gets from working too. Not bad for playing shitty trance and pop music, also alot of money in doing weddings.

But xphoria being a dj isn't really work unless you can make it bigtime, and getting paid in general for your first few sets will be pretty unlikely man, you may get petrol costs if you're lucky/
 
Hey bro,

i've found that its just a case of getting to know your local resident DJs in clubs, pubs - im sure there will be a dnb night somewhere near you?
But yeah man, get chatting with them, when they recognise you a bit more, ask for a cheeky hour set or go b2b with whoever is mixing- way i got playing out! All who you know buddy, and if your good - youl be plaing more places ;)

Also - try getting a few of your mates who are into dnb together, record mixes give them into clubs etc keep on bugging them - even if its a tuesday night or whatever!

BUT - your still a young'un so possibly freeparties? As i said it is purely a case of sticking with it, getting to know people and getting yourself out there - you wont make money out of it straight away though - unless your like the next Andy C! But youl get more and more contacts within your local scene - just hope your a good talker, it will help you al lot!

Now good luck mate!
 
Agree with most of the above, I used to know a dude who did weddings and parties etc and just played commercial cheese for a couple of hours and went home. Always got paid top dollar.

DNB is slightly different. Probably need to get into the Production aspect, make an absolute stonker of a tune and get recognized.

Then people will want you to DJ because they want to hear those tunes ya hear!

DJing is a hobby to me, but everyone has aspirations.
 
xphoria said:
. I suppose I'll just have to mix whatever genre will bring in money.
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Fuck that, don't sell your soul for abit of paper.
Mix what you enjoy mixing, don't just mix a genre because it is popular.
People who just decide that they want to become a dj dont tend to go anywhere because it hasnt been a passion that has developed over the course of their life.
If you really want to build a credible name you either have to mix like andy c or be a decent producer.

A lot of people (including myself) do gigs for free because they love doing what they are doing. But yeah networking is one of the most important things.
Also try and practice on a few different setups and systems so you can learn to adapt to different set ups.
 
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