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I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

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Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#21

Post by morsch »

kristofferR wrote: post #15
existencebox wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who DJ'd on a whim for a few years to pay some bills in college, I think that takes away from the thrust of it. In other fields we expect the luminaries of a craft to have achieved that level with some significant effort/insight/accomplishments, and I don't know about you, but 6 months is NOT enough time to truly master a craft. (I say as someone who has spent multiple decades spent in multiple instruments…

I find it really weird that the unique openness, positivity and lack of pretentiousness among EDM fans/dancers is being perceived as something negative. I instead find it hugely refreshing - EDM is all about going with the blissful flow and feeling/sharing in positive emotions with the people around you. As long as the music contributes to a great vibe it's fantastic music as far as I'm concerned, I don't care one bi…

I like your attitude. It doesn't matter if the DJ's job is easy or not, as long as people are happy with it. I don't think that's a widespread idea though: people think making a DJ set takes both enormous talent and loads of work.

I think it's because we react in such an emotional way to the music, that it'd seem odd if just about anybody could manipulate us in this way. And people pretend as if the work required to perform music had some kind of inherent value: if it took you half a lifetime to learn, it must be good, and vice versa. Plus, fandom is both familiar and entertaining.

That said, I'm not sure pretentiousness is that rare in either EDM fans or DJs: https://youtu.be/hOj0E_ryI2U?t=64

Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#22

Post by radley »

She may have seen it as an "OMG art project" but Tobias surly saw it as "How to Make a Popstar 101".

She also happened to ride the wave of "we need more female DJs" (Jan 2014):

http://thump.vice.com/en_au/article/the-reason-there-arent-m...

The hook for promoters was that it was a twofer - two female DJs on the flyer for the price of one.

What she doesn't get is that everyone doing EDM thinks it's a joke too. Nobody takes it seriously (except getting best time slots).

I guess what I'm stuck on is, what was the "art" in the project? Being a DJ or fooling everyone? Seems like it could be a case of imposter syndrome, but I'll bet it's simply clickbait.

Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#23

Post by J-dawg »

s889j wrote: post #12

An attractive woman, who was familiar with the club scene, after learning the basics of EDM was able to get well paying gigs as a DJ. The lesson here is that a mildly competent attractive woman can easily get jobs in entertainment/marketing.

I'm tempted to call you a cynic, but the same thought crossed my mind.

We hear about "male privilege" so often these days, but the most privileged people of all (in terms of opportunities available to them) are young, attractive women.

Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#24

Post by radley »

J-dawg wrote: post #23
s889j wrote: post #12

An attractive woman, who was familiar with the club scene, after learning the basics of EDM was able to get well paying gigs as a DJ. The lesson here is that a mildly competent attractive woman can easily get jobs in entertainment/marketing.

I'm tempted to call you a cynic, but the same thought crossed my mind. We hear about "male privilege" so often these days, but the most privileged people of all (in terms of opportunities available to them) are young, attractive women.

It wasn't a matter of privilege, it was simply a matter of timing. 2014 was a year of "why are there so few women in..." including the DJ world. She saw an opportunity and knew an agent. Not really that tough to figure out and nothing wrong with it.

Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#25

Post by davidw »

Justin_K wrote: post #6

This piece could be interchanged with any music genre. Rap / Hip Hop, Rock, Country... it would all read the same. There's plenty of examples across the board.

Seems like it's something of a continuum, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otM22QcIHYw - a group of untrained people could not put that together and play it live in 6 months. No way, no how.

Maybe with a bit of training and a lot of auto-tune, someone with a decent voice could be a 'pop star', but even that... probably more than 6 months.

There's a ton of music that's got years and years of practice behind it.

Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#27

Post by pmoriarty »

I have a question for DJs:

Why do so many DJs play the same songs over and over and over again from night to night?

I've been to so many clubs that very rarely play new music, and very often stick to the same playlist night after night.

It's so incredibly boring to hear the same songs over and over and over again, and saps my will to go out at all, because I know I'm rarely going to hear anything new. There's only so many times I can get up the energy to dance to even a great song that I've heard ten thousand times in the last 20 years.

I know this varies from DJ to DJ and scene to scene, and some do play new music, but I've just seen this happen way too often, and wonder how people can even stomach working as a DJ if they're not interested enough to find and play new music, and restrict themselves to playing the same stuff over and over again.

It really bores the hell out of a lot of club goers too, and I'm convinced its contributed to the death of some scenes.

Also, why do some clubs have the same fucking DJs for literally decades? Why can't they let some fresh blood in?

Re: I Fooled the World into Thinking I Was a Successful EDM DJ–For an Art Project

#30

Post by SwellJoe »

pmoriarty wrote: post #27

I have a question for DJs: Why do so many DJs play the same songs over and over and over again from night to night? I've been to so many clubs that very rarely play new music, and very often stick to the same playlist night after night. It's so incredibly boring to hear the same songs over and over and over again, and saps my will to go out at all, because I know I'm rarely going to hear anything new. There's only so…

I started an audiovisual services company a few years ago, and so I've worked as a DJ off-and-on for a few years (mostly for fun, as it doesn't pay as well as software). The reality is that DJs play what people want to hear. The average club-goer goes out once or twice a week; while the DJ may be playing the same shit over and over, the people in the club at that moment probably haven't heard that track that week, and if it's a "banger" they probably will be happy to hear it.

Clubs are not venues for new music, on the whole. Taking in truly new music is challenging in a way that most people out to get drunk/high and dance their ass off just don't want.

I have a list of tracks that I know will start a dance floor, every DJ worth anything does. They aren't effective because they're new or innovative, but because they connect with a large percentage of people. The party starters are hits from when the audience was in college or high school; you just have to look at your crowd, and pick the right year, play some songs from their era, and the crowd will be happy.

I think the best DJs will expand the horizons of their crowd a little bit, by playing something interesting and new for the people in the crowd. But, as much as I might like to do a set of all my favorites, I know I can't play Kraftwerk and Dead Prez and The Big Boys in the same set...I can probably get away with one such obscure track (and, I'm often surprised to find somebody in the crowd recognizes it, or asks who it is because they really like it and hadn't heard it before). You've gotta empty the dance floor every now and then to keep the bar ringing, anyway, so you can do it with the weird tracks.

So...if you want to be paid to DJ in almost any environment, you have to play the music the audience wants to hear. Hell, you can effectively be a jukebox playing nothing but requests (which are always hits) and people will be happy; but, if you ignore all requests, the crowd won't be happy (though clubs are less prone to requests than private parties, in my experience). If you achieve a huge level of success, maybe then you can play a majority of your own tracks...but, even the biggest names who are also "producers" are mostly just playing the hits and waving their hands around while visuals and pyrotechnics go off around them.

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