I had an interesting conversation with a good friend the other day, regarding booking guest DJs for his event. He made a valid point about only booking people who can “bring something to the table”. This, basically, means booking a DJ who is going to bring people through the door. Common business sense, agreed. However… I think this has its problems.
The catalyst for this post is a DJ mix I am currently listening to. It is by one of the world’s undisputed finest producers of soulful house music at the moment, he isn’t, in my opinion, anywhere near what I would consider an amazing DJ.
Promoters that book guest DJs purely on their pulling power are hurting the scene and development of new talent. Before everyone goes up in arms, I am not saying this is the same for ALL promoters around the world, but I’m sure you’ll agree it is pretty much the norm all across Europe.
Promoters need to start creating a strong brand and believing in it, based on the music that is played all night as opposed to the guest DJs, that way you can stop spending your budgets on DJs who you KNOW aren’t anywhere near as good as yourself or your residents. People… yes YOU… you also need to start making yourselves heard about what new talent you want to hear at these nights and start showing support for them.
Just a little something I wanted to put out there.