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Do you have to like the music you play?


sharnrock

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I'm very much into rock and indie, but I have a feeling people only want to hear country, classic rock, and most importantly rap crap. Do I need to actually like rap to get a good playlist together or can I just look up the billboard hits? I'm kinda new to the DJ thing.

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You don't have to like it, but the more you know about it the better.

 

Whether or not you could get away with a top-40 playlist depends largely on where you are and who is listening. If the place usually plays a wide variety of music genres, chances are people aren't going there to hear anything in particular and might even want to hear familiar music so it could work just fine in a place like that. On the other hand, if you're playing at a regular hip-hop place with a knowledgeable crowd, sounding like a radio station will get quite the opposite reaction.

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ditto what 6 ft above sea level just said.

 

I spent 7 years in a hip hop club, and I still get baffled by the new trends that seem to come along in a flash, and disappear like the wind!

 

Meanwhile, the wedding market continues in its own vaccuum.

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You don't have to like it... It sure does help thought! If you start DJing often enough, you should be able to know what is "in" by what gets requested night after night. If you get a good music subscription service, you should have most of it and you will be set to go. Just take mental notes about which songs keep getting requested and you should have no problems...

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NO.

you just have to figure out what your listeners (or Brides) want to hear. and yes, to some extent we are human jukeboxes for the hours we are on the clock. But that is the nature of the gig. You wouldn't play Metallica on a country radio station, would you? You might like to, but it would be your last day on the air. I compromise by warming up to what I like, before the crowd arrives and the gig starts.

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I'm very much into rock and indie, but I have a feeling people only want to hear country, classic rock, and most importantly rap crap. Do I need to actually like rap to get a good playlist together or can I just look up the billboard hits? I'm kinda new to the DJ thing.

 

 

I like hiphop. I hate top-40. I am forced into playing top-40 hiphop generally. However, when I really have a crowd going - to me - it doesn't matter what I'm playing it all sounds good, just the site of seeing all of them bounce...amazing feelings.

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Being a DJ makes growing a thick skin regarding music you can't really stand necessary.


That is the way it is for a paying crowd - unless of course you are a super star and people want to hear what you play....

 

 

Absolutely. Being a viable DJ in an already saturated market means having to familiarize yourself not only with the music that you like, but every essential type of music. It also goes according to the type of gig it is. For example, last month I helped my friend with 2 gigs in the same day: One was a Bat Mitzvah where there was a slew of Hanna Montana, crowd participation songs like the macarena, and slow songs from Brittney Spears and Christina Alguilera. The other gig was a retirement party where we played a lot of Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Welk, and believe it or not: Queen.

 

In the end, it's about making supplemental income. It is worth investing the extra time and extra resources in order to be a more well-rounded and versatile entertainer...

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I play keys, so maybe I shouldn't be posting here, but I can say that I have been in positions where I had to play music I hated and it made it very difficult to give %100...Maybe if I was offered a really high paying gig I could play music I hated, but I found that I didn't last long doing music I hated...

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