planned values
I met many DJs and Producers at Chicago Music Nexus a few months ago, but most of them were just getting started, like me. I did talk to one person who was already established, somewhere in the 11k followers-on-Instagram range. He told me a little bit about what he did and I followed him on social media to get an idea of what he was working on. He plays in a completely different style than me, not something I would seek out. But he’s having some great success and it was enjoyable to watch him hit some huge artist milestones in the past few months.
Yesterday, I saw that he had done a podcast interview about his DJing technique, and the specific context was preparedness. He said that yes, indeed, he does plan out his sets. He went on to say that the people who don’t plan out their sets have 200 followers and no one shows up, and people working at a higher level owe it to the venue, who is paying the DJ a lot of money, to plan their sets.
I felt unqualified to comment, as an artist that has less than 200 followers and who has not yet played out much. But I think this impulse is wrong - I should always feel qualified to comment, as a human being with ears who goes out to dance as often as possible. I have a few thoughts:
Anyone who claims that there is one, correct way to do things is wrong. Limiting mindsets are really common generally, and people who are critical of others’ way of doing things are everywhere, particuarly in the music scene. One of the things I have learned in all of my research about mixing, music production, etc is that everyone has a different way of doing the most basic things. Rotary mixers, touching the records vs not touching the records, kick hitting at -6dB vs wherever the kick sounds right, boosting EQ vs only cutting, etc etc. Some of the biggest DJs and producers do things exactly the opposite way. Why enforce any rules where there are none?
Everyone starts somewhere. Implying that people with many followers are “better” at DJing and that people with 200 followers for whom no one shows up are in that position because they are not good at DJing is odd. The sync button exists - anyone can be a DJ now. And everyone should, in my opinion. As for follower count, some very talented DJs choose not to court a large following. And plenty of popular, world class DJs do not plan their sets.
If you know your music super well, do you need to plan your sets? What about B2B sets? Are these unprofessional because they’re not planned?
I see DJing as a collaboration between the audience and the DJ. It’s communal vibe curation. Planning a set with huge massive big-big drops is not my vibe. I love the experience of noticing a sound in a song that I didn’t hear before, and then reaching for another record with the same theme. I love happy accidents. I also love a lot of DJs who do plan - how many Cookie Tee double drop reels have I watched? At least 1000. But I think it sucks to see someone being openly negative towards newcomers and also gatekeeping what makes a good set. It makes me wonder if he actually goes out to dance? Has he ever heard sets in other genres, where planned buildups and drops with fireballs shooting in the air are not a part of the culture? Is DJing fun for him?
This DJ also posted a video calling out a spectator that didn’t like his music - it was a quick video of her facial expression as he played a song. It made the rounds, I saw a few people reposting it. Again, I have a few issues - people are allowed to not like your music. Every major DJ has cleared a room at some point. We also have absolutely no idea why she made that face. Maybe there was a fly in her gin and tonic, who knows. Getting upset that a person made a face during your set, to the extent that you publicly shame them on social media is wild.
After that same gig, this DJ also posted a video shaming a person who came up asking to request a song. I’ve seen a LOT of content posted about this, and the mood is always public shaming - “people that request a song during a house DJ set are morons, don’t they understand that it’s not a wedding?” How about treating these people like human beings who may be seeing a different style of DJing for the first time? If we want to create cool spaces and invite people into our worlds, shouldn’t we expect that some people will be unfamiliar with the ettiquette? You can politely say no and explain that it’s not that kind of set, no worries. Faux pas are social constructs.
I know it seems hypocritcal to write a post about why judgement and criticality is bad, and then spend the entire post judging another persons’ behavior. But it’s more for my own development as an artist than anything. I don’t care what other people do with their social media presence: I remind myself many times a day that what other people do has nothing to do with me. But I am spending some intentional time to look at what others are doing with their careers, and on social media, in order to choose how to curate my own and decide what aligns with my own vision and values. I don’t like what I see this guy doing, and I want to be clear with myself that it’s a road I don’t want to go down. Also, Mars is in Cancer now and I’m feeling like pinching someone with my big claws.
In the spirit of getting what you receive, I feel that people with overly negative or combative social media presence end up with followers with a similar vibe - either they attract one another or they end up together because they don’t know anything else exists. And then because the overall vibe of the brand is negative and combative, that behavior seems normal, they expect to be criticized and attacked, and then they evoke that behavior in others (as we see here). When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and so on. What is the career longevity of a person who behaves like this in their professional domain? With all of this discussion about “branding,” I wonder how he defines his personal brand after all? And what will be left when his followers mature and grow out of their pettiness eras?
The lunar nodes are moving into Pisces and Virgo, which is so apt for the moment. Community building, positivity, growth, intuition, melted boundaries and judgement-free zones are in for Datalore. Gatekeeping, judgement, criticality, and over-analyzing creativity are out. Just kidding, five more minutes of criticality and overanalyzing, please??
