The DJ Machine: Digging in a Hyperconnected Space

THIS IS A DRAFT

Today I got a message from a DJ who I’ve known for ages. They have been DJing for quite some time in the club sphere and basically was putting around to try and find out how they can get gigs at ‘niche’ bars and wanted to play more funk/house/disco but said they didn’t know where to start.

This confused the hell out of me. How can you be a DJ for that long and not know where to start looking for music?

At first, I was defensive–so you want my gigs, but you also want me to tell you what music you need to get to get them? How about I give you all my records while I’m at it.

I’m kind of annoyed at this point. I don’t want to gate keep, but this feels different.

This conversation so far has been entirely transactional and basically this guy wants the keys to the car for free and he doesn’t know how to drive.

As a DJ on social media, when u following loads of DJs you will see a pattern emerge of videos of crowds going mental to tracks while the DJs are playing. As a DJ you see this and you might feel the fear of missing out, the jealousy of seeing others kill it, and wonder why am I looking at this?

A DJ friend of mine reposts this clip with the caption “This is what it’s all about, this is why I love music” He’s referring to the raw enjoyment and emotion that those vibrations cause when they are set free by the right sound conditions–sound system, humans together, connection. Its visceral transcendent stuff, especially when you experience it yourself as a DJ.

My thought when I saw the post was this: I wonder how many DJs are out there now downloading those tracks and jamming them into their playlists.

See, there’s the dark side. The ego trip. The jealousy.

Would those songs make it into the Spotify editorial playlist? Well, the question really is this–Is this generating a buzz?

99% of the job is in the shadows, in the crates (archaic), on the web, searching. But we don’t want that. But people see the hands in the air and they want piece. But I have to ask myself–what’s doing on here?

And if you’re a DJ, you should too.

Yeah, they like it. But the question you should ask is–do you like it?

Do you like it enough to play it when nobody is listening but you? Would you? Do you LOVE it?

See our visual and auditory systems work together, but they don’t take up the same amount of realestate. Our visual system is our most relied upon sense. It’s why Instagram works, its why the internet works. Because its visual. Radio is the audio equivalent.

The point here is that when we’re talking about music but using the visual system to make choices about what we like, I’d argue that the wrong factors are determining your decisions. And the main reason why you’re even considering buying that record because of Instagram is because somebody wants to sell you something. It’s not because you heard something you like. It’s because you saw something you wanted. Something triggers the brain–this is not right.

Whether it was simply their image as a dope DJ or the song itself–they were trying to sell you something. 

There’s a feeling that something has gone wrong here. Because to me the reality is that you spend a lot more of your time trying to find great tracks, then you do with your hands up playing them.

It’s just hype. Don’t buy into it.

When you are in the record shop and you pick your records and head over to the listening station. There’s not the same amount of visual feedback and you don’t know how many people like the track. You are relying on your own ear to determine if this is right for you.

Social media is like going to a soccer game and expecting a goal to be scored every minute because that’s all you saw on social media. This is what leads to those B2B competition sets where everyones trying to out-banger each other. It sucks and it’s when ego trumps the culture, and the audience.

To continue the football analogy. To those who play and enjoy football it isn’t just all about goals. It’s also about everything in between. Those perfect outro mixes or that chill track before the banger.

Don’t forget that everything is connected now. There’s a reason you are seeing this and a lot of it has to do with money and the big players reinforcing their status. Cause that’s what those at the top do. They have the resources to put themselves in your face.

They’ve curated and triangulated the hype.

But how did we get here? Well my mates post was actually a promotion of a new Defected Records club night in Ibiza, showing a bunch of those hands in the air DJ pose moments. They want you to buy a ticket and come for the ride. They’re saying ‘come experience these types of peak moments together with us at our night’, here’s where you can buy tickets. They are selling those moments. There’s nothing wrong with that, but as a DJ you have to be critical about why a record has ended up in your crate.

Take a moment to consider this next time you’re picking up tunes.