There's a part of me that wants to say, "educate your audience." Then,
there's the part of me that knows how hard it is (and the fact that the bar
owners only care about bar profits) and would recommend that you "change
your audience" (i.e. go DJ somewhere else.)
I'm not familiar with Nashville but I do know that there is a relatively
strong dance underground in the South and the Southeast. Have you ever
considered playing at a less-mainstream venue (i.e. downtempo room at a
rave, for instance) where the audience might be younger but might also be
more open to whatever it is that you want to play?
We're all here because we love music- not any kind of music but a certain
vibe. If I had to play stuff I didn't like, then I'd probably move on and
do something else where I could play my vibe or do something else
entirely. Maybe Nashville has a coffeehouse or a restaurant that would
consider having a DJ that plays your kind of vibe?
I think that the DJs in the big cities may have more competition, but in
the end there's so many venues in LA or SF or NYC where DJs play what they
want to...it's only at the largest, mainstream clubs where you'll hear the
top 40 pop/rap hits.
If you're not happy playing the music- why be a DJ? It's not for the
money...you gotta love it to do it well.
Gen
At 07:59 PM 1/31/01 -0500, Leftalive1@aol.com wrote:
>Greetings all...
> I was curious as to how many of us on this list (if any) are nightclub
>dj's. I've been the resident at the Liquid Lounge here in Nashville for
>about four months, and let me tell you, it's rough sometimes having to be all
>things to all people. Hip-hop, r&b, pop, techno - you name it, I get
>requests for it. It doesn't help either that being a nightclub dj is more or
>less the most reviled occupation in the world of dance. Its impossible to
>cop a consistent vibe for very long.
> The only thing I've found that I can do is to play sets more or less.
>Here's the hip-hop set, heres the techno set, etc. Now granted, the crowd
>never really seems to care that the vibe changes up so much (The other clubs
>in town are pretty much your straight college type: Bar, Banana Joe's, Time,
>etc. so their used to it...), but it's really starting to bother me.
> The best that I can offer the people in my place is to choose the songs
>carefully and try to weed out as much of the cheese as I can. (I don't care
>if you shoot me in the leg, I will not play Britney, N'sync, blah, blah,
>blah...)
> Any thoughts to share? I'd like to know what other people think. I'm
>about ready to quit and go back to being one of those elitists who complains
>about the music at mainstream dance clubs.
>
>
>
> Peace...
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Feb 02 2001 - 17:46:53 CET