Anyone here a paid DJ?

[shane_saintsfc]

I do have a passion for music and manage to turn the pub gigs into a house/trance rave in the last hour when it's just the piss heads and younger folk left But at the end of the day, Passion for music doesn't pay the bills unless you progress to a massive world famous DJ which lets face it... The odds are not in your favor unless you are already loaded to pay for massive branding of yourself.

 

[Phil_Dicko]

I do have a passion for music and manage to turn the pub gigs into a house/trance rave in the last hour when it's just the piss heads and younger folk left But at the end of the day, Passion for music doesn't pay the bills unless you progress to a massive world famous DJ which lets face it... The odds are not in your favor unless you are already loaded to pay for massive branding of yourself.

I think the point being made by a few people is that the passion completely overrides the 'need to pay bills'. You pay your bills through other means if you have to - until you go pro you more or less have to stick to the day job.

I've actually recently been invited to do what I think will be my first proper gig (outside house parties of course) and it'll be for charity. But regardless of it being for charity, the thought of money for a first ever gig wouldn't have crossed my mind. A friend of mine once paid me expenses for travelling into London to DJ at his birthday house party, but as far as I was concern, that was purely his own generosity.

Plus, it's never about 'making it or not' either. The thought of climbing the ladder can excite but a realistic DJ appreicates the competition, loves his music and takes what he can get. You do it because you love doing it and want to do it for doing its sake - everything else is a bonus. When you turn pro you're truly living the dream.

You can earn 4x more for DJ'ing a wedding than being paid to DJ the local luminar owned nightclub.

Unless I was actually allowed to play house/trance at a wedding I would choose the 'luminar owned nightclub' every single time. The extra notes pales into insignificance against the opporunity to be yourself and play the music that IS you.

 

[shane_saintsfc]

Unless I was actually allowed to play house/trance at a wedding I would choose the 'luminar owned nightclub' every single time. The extra notes pales into insignificance against the opporunity to be yourself and play the music that IS you.

I disagree. Even though I have a passion for dance music, the idea of getting paid £300 - £400 for a few hours work pressing the play button far outweighs the idea of playing house / trance to aload of drunk idiots in a luminar venue for £50 who probably don't even care what the music is anyway.

If I had the chance to DJ in a venue where people appreciated the music then I would take that but such venues are a rarity in the UK.

 

[Phil_Dicko]

I disagree. Even though I have a passion for dance music, the idea of getting paid £300 - £400 for a few hours work pressing the play button far outweighs the idea of playing house / trance to aload of drunk idiots in a luminar venue for £50 who probably don't even care what the music is anyway.

If I had the chance to DJ in a venue where people appreciated the music then I would take that but such venues are a rarity in the UK.

Well, in the end, it's all about the receptiveness of the crowd to what you're doing. Playing god-awful cheese at a wedding would feel like selling my DJing soul to the devil. It's not what I'm about, it's not who I am. That may seem like cutting off the nose to spite the face, but it's how far the passion for the music I love runs.

Not that it's a competition in that regard. We're all different.

 

[Ikoda]

Well, in the end, it's all about the receptiveness of the crowd to what you're doing. Playing god-awful cheese at a wedding would feel like selling my DJing soul to the devil. It's not what I'm about, it's not who I am. That may seem like cutting off the nose to spite the face, but it's how far the passion for the music I love runs.

Not that it's a competition in that regard. We're all different.

Agree with you on this.
I wouldn't mind playing for Luminar. Ok, commercial crap til about 1am, but then you can bring out the old school dance tracks, and from 2am onwards, get away with playing trance and house.

 

[kimajy]

Aside from the financial rewards, being a DJ can have its non-financial rewards ... and hazards too by the looks of it

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/0...lice-says-he-was-held-as-sex-slave-for-woman/

 

[shane_saintsfc]

Things like this make me hate Luminar with a passion.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...24519871000_1795371473_1596043_25225159_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...9052254288_1795371473_1612863_750806330_n.jpg

Click links as image is way too big for forums.

 

[Phil_Dicko]

Things like this make me hate Luminar with a passion.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...24519871000_1795371473_1596043_25225159_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...9052254288_1795371473_1612863_750806330_n.jpg

Click links as image is way too big for forums.

Yeah, doesn't look that glamorous, mate. But hey, the other option was a wedding, which even for money is my idea of ... well, it's not even DJing.

In the end, the enjoyment comes from playing your music for your crowd. You hunt for the opportunities within the scene you follow.

 

[DJMisterC]

Aside from the financial rewards, being a DJ can have its non-financial rewards ... and hazards too by the looks of it

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/0...lice-says-he-was-held-as-sex-slave-for-woman/

BERLIN — A Munich disc jockey held for five hours as a sex slave by a 47-year-old German woman said on Monday he would press charges of sexual coercion and deprivation of freedom against a woman he had met just a few hours earlier in a local pub.

The 43-year-old disc jockey named Dieter S. told Munich's T.Z. newspaper that he had to call police to rescue him from the woman's flat in Munich after she locked him inside, hid the key and forced him to have repeated sex with her.

“She was sex mad and there was no way out of the flat,” Dieter said. He told the daily, which had also earlier published a police report about the incident, that he had consensual sex with the woman three times earlier that day on Easter Monday.

“I was having a beer at the pub after work and met this woman — and we hit it off right away,” Dieter said, referring to their meeting at a pub in Munich's Ludwigsvorstadt district. “She was quite attractive,” he added.

But after the first consensual rounds, Dieter said he wanted to leave. He discovered she had locked the doors from the inside and hidden the key so he could not leave. He thought about trying to flee over the balcony but it was too high, he said.

“I realized I was trapped and had to keep going until she fell asleep,” Dieter said. “So we had sex five more times.”

As soon as the woman fell asleep, Dieter said he went out to the balcony and placed an emergency call to police on his cell phone. Police arrived 10 minutes later.

The woman unlocked the door to let the authorities in. She then promptly propositioned the officers, police said.

“She tried to persuade the police officers to join her in ‘related activities' — albeit unsuccessfully,” Munich police wrote in a press release.

The woman was taken into custody and later released. She now faces charges of sexual coercion and deprivation of freedom.

© THOMSON REUTERS 2012