Here’s part of an email that DJ Agent 86 sent to me the other day. Words of wisdom.
“There’s something I learnt a long time ago (well, about 7 or 8 years ago) – and this sounds pathetically cliche, but I’ve found it to be true: the cream always rises to the top.
When I first moved to Melbourne in 2000, I’d already been DJing for 11 years, but I found it extremely difficult to find work. In time, however, people started booking me every now & then, here & there, and it grew from there.
Now I’m not the world’s best DJ, but I ain’t crap either – and at the time most cats were stuck in one style: you were a “Hip-Hop DJ” so you weren’t allowed to play anything with vocals or anything that the most seemingly “hardcore” Hip-Hop DJ wouldn’t play, or you were a house DJ and you would never consider playing anything with a “boom-bap”, or you were an RnB DJ so you could never play anything too hardcore or “electronic”, etc, etc. I came along & smashed that. I was playing everything (rock, pop, hip-hop, r&b, funk, techno, house, disco, electro, new-wave, etc) – and cuttin’ it up and breakin’ it down to boot. Hip-Hop DJ’s hated me, house dj’s didn’t get it, promoters didn’t know what to say and many punters were confused – but in time it started working – and now? Everyone is “eclectic”!!
I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is, stick to your guns & I’m sure things will turn around. These homeboys who bought Serato & download music from blogs? You know, blogs are now the way kids “dig” – they don’t get their fingers dusty anymore. Chances are they don’t even really like music. When it comes time to take the next step, 95% will step off. In my 20 years DJ’ing I’ve seen suckers come & go more times than I can remember.”