The town I live in 2300 people lolWell… I wasn’t in business as long as you. I only DJ’d for 6 years. I wasn’t familiar with many other disc jockeys in the area, but I found a niche in the fund raiser/political event business. I played music, but also MC’d many of the events. When I retired, it was because COVID put a huge damper on my business. I still received inquiries from time-to-time, but I knew of no other DJ in Oklahoma City doing what I was doing, so there was nobody I could recommend. Retiring wasn’t that difficult for me, as Covid killed my business, then I moved to Texas. Starting over at 69 years old would have been nearly impossible under ideal circumstances, but completely impossible for someone who moved to a small rural town (me), with a population of around 3,600 people.
Not trying be funny here. I know you say you're retiring from DJing. Do you still have the itch and you need to scratch it?
Thanks for your post. I see you said you still use CDs to DJ with. I say whatever you feel comfortable with using to get the job done.
When I went to help this guy I didn't know he was ghetto and his thinking was ghetto. He was young and he was used to listening to that hard-core rap music where the songs have explicit lyrics all through the songs. Stuff that they listen to in their cars blasting that music with the words B, MF Whore and a whole lot worse. To him and his friends it's normal. I tried to explain to him he needed clean versions of the songs because not everyone will want a DJ playing songs with explicit lyrics.
What it's all about is knowing what to do with what you're working with. I used to use CDs and carried them in CD books. Now I no longer have to carry CD books with CDs in them. I have the music I play at events on a portable HD. Which saves me having to carry a bunch of heavy CD books. The HD fits in my laptop bag. I also have one for backup..
I certainly don't recommend older DJs doing format make-overs late in life. Kudos to you if you can still find customers willing to make that worth your while as you do what you do the way you want to do it.
As a market reality however, I think you are seriously under estimating the value of a laptop and two speakers on sticks. PCs, tablets, and streaming media are not the hallmark of inexperience or thrift. They are indicative of modernity and technical proficiency.
I'm a 4 deck guy, and all that running left and right would wear me out.Use 2 laptops and switch back and forth it's just like using decks
Band can’t quick mix 10 punk rock songs in 10 minute at the end of the night if that’s what couple desires. There’s things a band can do that a dj can’t (mostly stage presence and the lI’ve element) and there’s things a dj can do that a band can’t. I can guarantee many of the songs I played on the last half hour at last nights wedding could never be performed by a band (house music). Bands just cost more cause of the sheer number of people involved… but on the performer level… the dj as a performer likely makes more.I certainly don't recommend older DJs doing format make-overs late in life. Kudos to you if you can still find customers willing to make that worth your while as you do what you do the way you want to do it.
Sure, in a casual setting the novelty of all those CDs is like going to an antique car show. It's quaint - but it's inappropriate at whole classes of modern events and facilities. It's out of step with the simplicity and responsiveness people truly want in most settings. It clashes with the decor and design elements of more significant social events, occupying an unnecesary footprint with an undesired visual. It only takes 5,000 tracks (~ 400 well picked CDs) to meet 90% of what most audiences will want to hear. That can all fit professioanlly within the space of a single 4RU rack case. If you have 1200 jewel boxes on an 8ft banquet table - it's gonna look like a yard sale not a DJ gig. All of these realities are going put a ceiling on our opportunity.
We can't market ourselves on sustained CD use and expect significant interest. Modern DJing is light years ahead of anything we can do with old school CD controllers. I was once all vinyl, then all CD, then all PC, then done. One of the things that has shrunk the mobile DJ business is DSP automated systems. Venues don't need DJs for background music, nor do they need your microphones. That was 80% of what made us a good choice for general business or social events that didn't rise to the level of weddings, bar/bat Mitzvahs, Galas, et. al.
DJs thrived in a world where a microphone, music, and someone to manage both was necessary. A world where bands struggled to keep pace with modern music styles. That's simply not true anymore. The world is Plug-N-Play now, and I'm referring to customer expectation, not the gear. Streaming reminds people that DJs are first and foremost gatekeepers. The DJ needs to bring entertainment to the forefront because, music is too easy to come by for most of the basic event market previously served by DJs. There's also a lot of good and popular bands out there and live music technology has also leaped forward. The only thing sustaing DJs is that $3,000 is still less than 1/3 the cost of a decent dance band.
Just my $0.02
