Full time/Part time DJs

[bigsteve]

Always wondered where the cut-off point is for DJs in becoming professional. Obviously the likes of Jules and Armin are full time DJs, but whereabouts down the scale is the cut off point for those Djs that have other jobs?

Jon O'Bir was pretty famous for working for Tesco's at one point, but he must have kicked that in by now.

Anyone know of any reasonably known names that have, dare I say it, proper jobs?

[Briggsy]

I guess anyone could become fullt-me at any time if they're playing regularly and can be pretty sure they're going to get work on a regular basis.

If I thought I could do 3 gigs per week at £100 each, then i'd quit my job for sure. That'd be £1200 per month - although not quite as well paid as my current job, i'd be happy to DJ full time for less doing something I love rather than geting paid more for a job I can't stand.

I should think that most of the DJ's we know don't do any other "crap" jobs - even the "smaller" DJ's such as Mark Eteson, Gareth Emery, etc probably get two gigs per week and probably charge a grand per set - thats more than enough to live comfortably on. Even if they did two gigs per weekend at £500 each, thats still £52,000 per year - more than Average Joe's income and enough to go full time.

A few of the "smaller" DJ's top up their income by producing and remixing (ie, Jon O' Bir, Mark Eteson, etc), or work in an office helping to promote own record label (Darren Tate, Gareth Emery, Matt Darey, etc).

Then there's your Tiesto's, Armin Van Buuren's, Judge Jules's and Paul Van Dyk's that only need to wake up to rake the money in. You can't knock them for it, but these guys are millionaires - which I find bizarre really because, at the end of the day, they're just DJ's.

[bigsteve]

A few of the "smaller" DJ's top up their income by producing and remixing (ie, Jon O' Bir, Mark Eteson, etc), or work in an office helping to promote own record label (Darren Tate, Gareth Emery, Matt Darey, etc).

Good point, didn't think of that. Its crazy how much we pay to see these DJs for what they actually do. Having said that, its better than watching Saturday night TV, which is ever increasingly becoming a circus of celebs, wanna-be-celebs and text-to-win nonsense

[Max Kane]

I think that once you can ensure that your gona be getting consistent bookings then your ok, Paul Thomas who is Gods resident worked for ages in 3 Shades records in Birmingham, that's how i got to know him.

He managed to work there a lot which obviously paid something but also allowed him to use the store's clout to bag tunes for cheap & also it was a doss job playing tunes all day with his mates, he had it good til 3 Shades closed last month

[Briggsy]

Good point, didn't think of that. Its crazy how much we pay to see these DJs for what they actually do.

Yeah, very true. I don't mind paying to a lot to see a DJ if he's different from your average bedroom DJ - DJ's such as Eddie Halliwell (who is fairly unique at what he does), Armin (for his consistency and set building skills), etc are well worth the money - but the majority are nothing special.

Les face it, Jules is fairly mediocre these days with his mixing skills, etc and there are far better DJ's that play to themselves in their bedroom because they can't make the break. Even Tiesto, the former "best DJ in the world" is nothing special - again, there are people equally as good playing in your average bar to 200 people.

I'm sure half of us on this board could put the majority of them to shame if we had tunes as up-front as them - we can probably mix better than the likes of Jules, John Kelly and Tiesto.

At the end of the day, most of the top DJ's have got where they are by shear luck, by producing a top 10 chart hit, or because they know people in the industry that have helped to boost their career. Look at ATB for example - he's been sat at number 9 in the DJ rankings for the last two years, yet nobody ever hears him play. He's living off the reputation of 9pm til I come. Benny Benassi also broke into the top 100 DJ's 2 years ago - ironically, two months after "Satisfaction" was being played by every Tom, d*** and Harry.

Out of the all the top 20 DJ's, I'd say only Eddie Halliwell has got there on merit. He works hard, is quite "specialist" in what he does, and he doesn't produce.

I bet you a tenner Sander Van Doorn gets into the top 20 this year because he's churned out tons of tunes and remixes. At the moment, he's not in to the top 100........

[Max Kane]

I agree that DJs shouldn't get the credit for their productions, but producing is easily one of the best ways of getting yourself some big bookings as a DJ so i dnt have a problem with people getting a foothold from a good production.

I think that Tiesto's early productions were awesome & that's probably why he remained huge for a long time despite not being the greatest DJ.

SvD would be in my top 100 easily, i think he's a class DJ.

[bigsteve]

ATB is apparently quite big in Germany and his votes must come from there, but I do agree with what you're saying. Its a DJ poll, not a producer's contest and I have always voted with that in mind.

I also agree that SVD will be highly placed this year, but he does play good sets, even if they aren't my cuppa. Production is now undoubtedly the best way to get into DJing now. JOC, SVD and Sean Tyas are 3 good examples from this year on that.