Se Connecter:     

Forum: General Discussion

Sujet: The dreaded "Bedroom DJ" situation...... - Page: 1

Cette partie de ce topic est ancien et peut contenir des informations obselètes ou incorrectes

The dreaded 'bedroom DJ situation' has raised it's ugly head at my residency.

First of all, I'm a self employed freelance Professional DJ, this is my only income. I have no handouts from the Government or any other income. I pay my taxes, I have bought Virtual TurnTables (VTT), PCDJ Blue, PCDJ Red, PCDJ FX, PCDJ VJ, Traktor Studio, Abelton Live and VirtualDJ Pro 7 and have had a monthly subscription with Promo Only for several years. Over 34 years DJing I have spent a small fortune on vinyl and still have it all.

Been in my residency for 4 years doing Fridays and Sundays. Another DJ has been there 10 years and does Saturdays plus some parties at our other venue 100 yards away.

Last year he went off to DJ abroad for the summer season. I was given his Saturdays for the summer. At the end of the summer the Manageress said the owner hadn't realised that I had been doing the Saturdays throughout the summer (don't believe a word of that). He supposedly said he didn't want the same DJ on all 3 nights at the weekend. When the other DJ returned he got his Saturdays back.

At the end of April the other DJ is off abroad again for the summer season. I naturally was expecting to get the Saturdays for the summer. 3 weeks ago this 17 year old kid turned up with a laptop and announced he was DJing with me. I said no he wasn't (in not so many words). He said it had been arranged, told him nobody had arranged anything with me. Five minutes later the Manageress turned up and said he was a friend of her sons and a 'bedroom DJ' and he wanted to learn how to DJ in nightclubs. I was furious and said I was not teaching anybody anything I was there to work. She asked if I had a problem with this. I told her I was not training anyone to take away work from me who is probably using pirate software and downloaded music. I pay for my software and music videos.

She claimed he was not going to be doing the Saturdays, but, I probably would not get them either. He ended up taking requests all night and never got his laptop out. On quizzing him he said he was using VirtualDJ the same as me. I asked how much he paid for it and when he said £159 I knew then that he was lying. It was obvious that he had a pirate version.

This weekend I went into the venue on Saturday to find this kid working with the other DJ. The other DJ is using the latest Traktor Scratch Duo 2 and the kid had his laptop setup too and strangely he had Traktor Scratch Duo 2 on his laptop too!!! Wonder where he got that from? ………..and why would he be using it if he had bought VDJ?

I'm covering for the other DJ next Saturday as it's his leaving party. But, the following Saturdays, who knows???……….. Bottom feeder 17 year old kid with pirate software and downloaded tunes and extremely limited knowledge of music???............ and probably working for peanuts.

Rant over………… for now.
 
Posté Wed 20 Apr 11 @ 12:59 am
Same scenario is not uncommon on other branches of industry either. Ask any web developer or graphic designer and they tell you they've lost a client more than once because the customer has a teenage nephew with a pirated Photoshop who'll do it for peanuts.

Bottom line is, that some people are just too f**king dumb to understand that just owning the hardware/software doesn't make one a professional any more than owning a scalpel makes one a brain surgeon. Obviously the teen working for peanuts is going to produce crap and if the customer is satisfied with that, they don't deserve anything better. Fortunately there are still people who understand that it's the skill how to use the tools what's worth paying for.

That being said, in this case your employer is an exceptionally big douche of cosmic proportions for assuming you'd be happy to teach someone else to steal your job.
 
You better start getting the crowd on side, even more so
 
I hate to say this, but start looking for another venue. I have been down THAT road more than once. I actually had one of these "bedroom dj's" tell me we could go outside and sort out who is gonna DJ. WHAT!? Seriously? I have performed at over 2 dozen different bars and clubs. I can think of 2, only 2, who were great to work with. One of them still books me for a couple shows a year.

I wonder what would happen if you brought in a 17yr old friend of a relative and told the manager that this person wants to learn how to run a club and they will be running the club instead of her...
 
You're not going to win when going against family.
Hopefully you have a contract signed and sealed to protect your current nights. Club owners are a slimy breed so a gentleman's agreement doesn't work.
 
The main reason owners don't want the same DJ every night is they have decided that if you work every night you will make too much money. I mean Heaven help us if the DJ (THE ENTERTAINMENT in a dance club) makes a good living.
 
I've faced this myself...and my reply to the management..."I take it this person has a ProDub licence?"

For those that aren't aware the Performing Rights Society (PRS) operate all the licensing of public broadcasting of music in the UK and whilst the normal situation is that the venue has the correct PRS licence, since the advent of DJ's using digital storage for their music, the PRS brought in a new licence that any DJ, using digital content, operating in the UK is supposed to have. Strangely, if you play vinyl or CDs, you do not need a ProDub licence.

Apparently, if a DJ is found playing digital content, in a venue, without a ProDub licence, then the venue can face having it's PRS licence revoked.

if your interested visit the PRS website for further reading - http://www.prsformusic.com/users/recordedmedia/ProDub/Pages/ProDubLicence.aspx
 
It's the old residency thing isn't it, best thing to do is to try and tour the clubs as a freelancer.
 
The UK ProDub licence is a joke. Loads of people shelled out serious money and it's not enforced at all.

The terms of licence are simply stupid for a working DJ to stick to, and PRS, MCPS & PRS are only "not for profit" organizations and have no legal standing. The whole licence thing is just a cash cow. It also doesn't mean you have to have the original media either, you can rip off limewire then convert to digital format as they have no way of checking.

PRS visited the club I work in last year and never even mentioned it, in fact they weren't the least bit interested in where the music comes from.

Money down the drain as far as I am concerned, and most venues I have spoken to have never heard of it!

Keith
 
Keith, I'm with you on this, but it's funny as (rude word) watching a venue owner squirm when quizzed...lol
 
Years ago, my club owner wanted me to record my sets, to have "just in case". I told him to get the puck outta here. I'm not making it easy for you to replace a DJ shift. He assured me that that was not the case. Like I was born yesterday. He pushed pass me and put in a VCR tape, and pushed record. Hey, it's his club and equipment. However, I made the worst mixes, and programing choices I could find. I also plucked the channel knobs, which you could hear on the tapes. He never asked me again. Now the other DJs, were afraid, and made the recordings. Well, that's what they used on the Sunday afternoon shifts, and one of them lost a shift. All I can say is I work harder than most of the DJs that I know, and have all the media I need. It's hard when you are as old as I am, but I need it to be easy to see the difference between me and the other guys. I would have told her, I don't have a problem teaching him, but I run a class for DJs. It cost a $50.00 an hour, and the class is full right now, but he can put his name on the list for the next class. I don't teach when I'm working. Never let them see you sweat.
 
In Canada we have the AVLA (Audio Visual Licensing Agency) and SOCAN (Society of Composers and Musicians). The venue requires the SOCAN license and the DJ requires the AVLA license. Unfortunately there is little to no enforcement from either of these organizations and they just continue to collect their dues every year from me.

The younger (grew up with technology) people seem to have a hack or crack for every piece of software on the market and know how to capitalize on that. I've been to a few venues where I've trainspotted and seen younger guys using VDJ Free and have a list of music with bitrates from 48 to 196 (hardly professional quality). They are obviously getting their music and software for free and stealing jobs from hard working pro DJs who have paid their dues, but there is very little anyone can do.

The bottom line has been mentioned in this thread already: Club owners are slimy. Don't trust them. Get a Contract.
 
i am a bedroom dj but have been wanting to dj for years and it was only in the past few years that i could use technology(ie vdj,controllers) and actually start to dj just for my own interests, the only thing that bothers me is when i see someone on the forums just join up and ask a bunch of newb questions only to 2 weeks later see them post that they have their first gig
 
@SilentOneLove thats the beauty of he internet... you can never tell if someone is embellishing on the truth... personally it took me about a year of practicing every night for a couple of hours before I played for a crowd, and even then I sucked for another 6 months until i found my feet.
 
@SilentOneLove - The trick there is actually quite simple: Some of these newbs have actually committed to a gig before they come routing around the forums asking questions.
 
much the same thing happend to me at my local venue bedroom dj came in and undercut my price so of coarse the club owner took them on and the poor fella crashed and burned :) the next moring the club owner rand me and said please can you come back and do next saturday nite i said yes no problem but i put my price up and i got it... i understand i was lucky but you must make people relise that WE are offering a professional job etertaining their customers and making them money...
so a small bit of respect is need for us...
 
yes but im saying how can someone even think of bringing someone on that 2 weeks ago didnt have a clue, im not insluting people saying newb quesstions,i asked plenty myself but when people come on and say where can i get music or what kind of music mixes good together and then days later someone is willing to pay them to play music,im not hating(possibly a bit),it boggles my mind
 
you need a niche... make sure you always announce specials and specialty nights. the staff will always notice this.... young dj's also don't rotate the floor the just go full boar all night. find out what the numbers are when you dj vs. the kid...money talks... work the crowd... i talk to everybody and take request freely all night... i proclaim myself as the people's dj... i never lose...business is all about relationships. and it doesn't hurt to start seeing what else is out there. maybe this has ran its course..good luck to you
 
DJSoulman wrote :


On quizzing him he said he was using VirtualDJ the same as me. I asked how much he paid for it and when he said £159 I knew then that he was lying. It was obvious that he had a pirate version.



ummmm. I bought VDJ Pro for $150 because I got a discount from my Hercules MK4.

But since he didn't have equipment he was probably lying.
 
Don't get me wrong, I find it unforgeable that you're losing your regular gig but I'm trying to change from a free-J to a DJ. I've done a couple of parties for gas money and a iTunes gift card so I can download more music. I have a limited controller (mixtrack pro), cheap lights, and a half stack that I'm playing through. I'm trying to get my first paid gig. I've been working for six months and it has been work. My kindle has at least 6 books on the art of DJing. My family is sick of hearing me practice for 4-6 hours every day. My mixes have progressed but I still need to learn how to play to the crowed and not just to myself... I have to say there is a possibility that this 17 year old kid can be the same type of bedroom DJ as I am... He's put in his time learning, went to bars to learn, spent hours watching youtube videos, reading blogs, and spending hours practicing. It's sad that you've been jerked around so much but I think that it comes from working with bad owners... I hope you have luck in your next venture but I do hope the kid has luck learning his craft because I would like the same thing from others.
 
53%