Some of us will get to choose some of us won't. As much as we may complain at times it's a helluva fun job and at least in my case not only opened doors but made a lot of new friends. Enjoy it while you can
Posted by a musician but applies to us too
- Thread starter Jeff Romard
- Start date
I know the maximum age I plan to DJ to. Sure, things MIGHT change, but I do not anticipate any changes furthering my time as a DJ in the future. Age 60 will be it for me, and I am pretty sure I will throw the towel and retire before I get there. So, I got 16.5 years or less left to go. I'm planning to slow down heading into the 2030s so I don't think I will still be actively booking and performing events to 2042, but I don't have a crystal ball.
Ive been thinking about this too and have an age in mind that I do not want to continue past, although mine is a bit sooner than yours( we're around the same as well), I might extend it a bit longer but it just all depends on a lot variables at that time.
Your in your 40’s that was the absolute peak of my DJ income pulling in well over $100,000 annually at that point from just DJ income
I'm really eyeing 2034 as my very last year because it will be year 35 for me. I think that ending on year 35 is ending on a good note. If I go past 2034, I know I will end up choosing to go another 5 years so I can make it to year 40. However, I know we are in for a lot of changes in the next 9+ years with AI, and Robotics, and lots of jobs going to be permanently deleted from the economy over time so I don't know if the DJ business will still be a bright spot moving into those years due to all the factors involved. If the work is plentiful or at least keeping pace with how things were up until 2025 then maybe I stick with it as long as I'm still very capable physically. If we are dealing with a dystopian environment and economy come 2034 and I'm barely booking events any more I'll make the choice to hang it up.
Why did you ever do this at all? That's the future telling question - because if the events business is what you like there's plenty of roles to be filled that aren't 'DJ' and don't require moving heavy equipment.
I think I like being the backbone of events more than DJing and while there will always be ever more ways to play a music program and/or other content there is never going to be a shortage of roles to be played with organizing, staging, directing and operating events and event technologies.
I think I like being the backbone of events more than DJing and while there will always be ever more ways to play a music program and/or other content there is never going to be a shortage of roles to be played with organizing, staging, directing and operating events and event technologies.