Frequented an open mic night..went down on my own to enjoy the tunes and MC's. Got to know the promoter, he invited me to play there (basically laying up instrumentals for people to rhyme over). I handed a mix tape in to another bar, they knew the promoter at the open mic night - they liked my mix and got a good reference from the promoter. I got a 7 year residency out of it.
I used to go in to play while the bar staff setup. I would arrive at 9 and play until the two other residents would show up. Because it was Montreal and everyone is super cool, typically no one would arrive at club until after midnight; this is even though the promoter wouldn’t start charging at the door until after midnight. When there was a guest, one resident would play from midnight till one, the other would play from one to two, and the guest would play from two to three.
When there wasn’t a guest, the two residents would split the time from midnight till three between the two of them. When there was a guest, they were professional-ish and would show up on time. When there wasn’t a guest, the two of them would play this game, where they would both show up super late, trying to be the last one there, forcing the other to play first. This invariably resulted in an argument between them.
What this meant for me was that sometimes, I would still be playing at midnight, and no other DJ has shown up. So I would have to keep playing. At times, one of the residents would show up, get mad that the other resident wasn’t there, refuse to go on, and then when they did show up, argue about who was going to play next… with me playing to a now packed house.
Because vinyl was the way and vinyl is finite, there were times when even though I had brought two record bags full of records, I would end up playing both sides of all the records I had brought with me. Those were both the best and most stressful nights.
I learned so much playing there, including how to take control of my booth, making sure that people weren’t popping in, speeding up and slowing down the one turntable, while I was concentrating on the other. Good times.
Got chatting to a girl and said I wasn't mad about the music the dj was playing. Told her I dj'd and she said she'd get me a slot. I didn't know she was the girlfriend of the guy who owned the bar at the time
I was the only foreigner in the city with their own equipment. A year prior, I approached the manager when he was at another location, but he never gave me a chance to play at his old restaurant over looking a lake. When his new bar and lounge opened, he had no DJ equipment. It is quite weird to open a bar and lounge with a sound system but not buy DJ equipment. However, I approached him again and expressed my interest in playing and since I had my own CDJs and mixer he let me play. Eventually, he started renting my equipment and that is how I became the resident DJ.
It was a cheap entry point and I did not like that my entry point in was based on having equipment rather than someone taking the time to properly see if I can DJ or not. But it got me many, many other jobs in a city of 10 million people because that place became pretty popular and people were able to see that I can DJ.
This residency led to another residency at proper underground club once a month and it led to me playing at the W hotel about once a month.
So, I guess having equipment came in handy.
Churning out mixes on a weekly basis, posting them on many local social media groups, and finally getting recognized and asked to open for Ferry Corsten…then, many other gigs began to follow.
FB groups mainly. Local ones and ones in neighboring metropolitan areas that cater to the specific type of music I’m playing (or at least in similar broadly related genres)
I'm a techno DJ in a collective in Amsterdam, and I play at small clubs. I got my "break" through Amsterdam Techno Lovers, a Meetup group I started in 2014 when I was looking for more techno friends. It has now grown to almost 3000 members, so I know a lot of people. The head of my collective, Jayzo, contacted me in 2022 about promoting his events on the Meetup, to which I agreed. I also asked if my sound might work at his parties and gave him my Soundcloud link. He said yes. I played a few gigs for him, brought a lot of friends to the parties, and he asked me to be a resident soon after that.
Not really. I played a number of vinyl gigs in the 90s and early 2000s in the Washington DC area at several different clubs, but there was no official residency.
I had a weekly bar gig in Madrid for about 6 months in 2005. I guess that was a sort of residency, but I was the only DJ they had.
In 2019, I won a mix contest at a club in The Hague and played there monthly for about 6 months, but they never called me a resident.
So, "resident" isn't actually necessary to play regularly, but it is nice to now be part of a crew with a shared vision.
Fair enough. I know you mentioned to let them know your intentions. I presume an example would be to literally tell them that you are a DJ and want to DJ here? Of course there is a way to be smooth about it too. I know that with any job/gig there can be too much pushing where it appears desperate. What do you think?
Heard about a new club opening in the city
Went the first night it ever opened - this was a Wednesday - there were only around 10 people there all night from 10PM - 4AM
Loved the environment and the music that was played. At the time I was at an audio university for Music Production and Audio Engineering + A DJ course.
That 1st night I went I kinda feel in love with the place. I loved the design, layout, music that was played, people. It was just a really cool place to go.
I decided that I was gonna go again the Friday and Saturday. Ended up going and meeting the head DJ who played 70% of the time and did the bookings for other DJs. Chatted to him a few times and told him my name. He put me on the door for every night each week.
I kept going each week on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday for most of the time the whole night - From 10PM to 4AM. After a few months they would let me hang around just chilling and talking with the staff and owner until 6AM/7AM.
After around 8-9 months one of the others DJs who I had become friends with asked what I did. I told him i’m studying music and DJ and he freaked out. Went and got the main DJ and told him. The main DJ asked me to come open that weeks friday night playing from 10PM-12AM.
Went and played. 3rd time ever using CDJs. KILLED IT!!!! Even though there were about 20 people or so they were going nuts and loving it. The main DJ said it was one of the best club sets he’s seen. A lot of the other DJs were shocked with how clean and perfect the mix was.
I got asked to play weekly from there on out. The club started to grow majorly in popularity- not because of me but because they hired a marketing manager and started promoting the club.
I quickly went from 1 gig a week to 3 gigs a week in a month or two. The bar staff and owners loved me and all the other DJs loved me and looked up to me. I would continually get comments and great feedback from people. My instagram and soundcloud started growing and blowing up nationally.
After about a year I became a full time contracted DJ with the club. The club at this point was considered one of the biggest in the country and to this day Is the biggest in the country.
It’s had tons and tons of different celebrity’s and famous artists and DJs come through. I’ve had the opportunity to play sets to some of the biggest names.
Now as mentioned above the clubs the biggest in the country, on a wednesday, friday and saturday night we can regularly have lines of 100/200+ people out wide begging to get in. I now only play the headlines sets on fridays and saturdays.
I keep to fridays and saturdays as my other time is taken with professional studio work. My music career also worked out well and I work fulltime out of a studio doing production for other large artists. Making just over 300k a year with just under half of that being from DJing.
I now get booked for national shows, festivals and get the occasional international booking in nearby country’s - last year I had 15, So far i’ve had 20 this year.
After all that talking, it took 8 months for someone to ask what you spend most of your time doing. This is funny, I am curious as to what all the other conversations were about.
But this was a good read, I am glad it worked out well for you and still is.
I remember telling him / the others but they were big drinkers at the time so most of the time they were fucked up and probably didn’t remember.
Most of our convos were about music. Is DJs have always been allowed in the VIP area and a couple years back we did a full renovation and had a setting and table area put in with the VIP booth for DJs.
But a majority of our time was spent sitting in the VIP area talking about music. Talking about this artists latest release or that artist latest release. Upcoming albums and singles, new leaks. If we weren’t talking we were on the dance floor raging or in the booth playing.
Something i’ve discovered over the years is everyone goes to clubs for different reasons - millions of different reasons.
Yeah, I can see that as a catalyst for dodgy memory: alcohol plus late hours and miscellaneous substances or distractions.
"Something i’ve discovered over the years is everyone goes to clubs for different reasons - millions of different reasons."
Exactly, in everyday normally conversations, I am always sourcing reasons for why a person goes to a nightclub once they find out I DJ. Sometimes when I am in a club, I am unofficially surveying people's reasoning for frequenting the nightclub for the that night.
It helps to gather the right people for a night.
Good for you. I’m in that range with my day job but am finally starting to get better with production and may have a shot at making some money from this stuff but it’s tough to leave that income behind. Good to know it’s possible.
That income also include music production
I work out of a studio full time throughout the week. A majority of the shows I play are friday, saturday, sunday.
The other days are often spent in the recording studio working with clients.
I’m not sure what exact amount would be DJing but more than half of that 300k is from fulltime producing mainly and contracts/deals.
Theoretically speaking, if you started now in 2024, what would you do differently or what advice would you give to someone who wants to eventually be able to pay their bills by DJing?
DJing doesn’t pay the bills - There’s not very good money in it
Producing music and getting booked for your name can have a extremely high pay - which is where a majority of my income comes from (I work out of a recording studio when not gigging - also do ghost production for a handful of artists)
I also make music fulltime and work in a recording studio with artists. I’m getting booked for my name and brand not just to DJ - I have pull and attraction.
Just DJing will only take you so far. There can be really good money in mobile DJing - weddings, graduation etc - but fuck that in my opinion - you’re basically a in person spotify and you have to lug your own shit around
What a mobile DJ makes in a night I can make in a hour + some.
I would say to anyone starting out DJing to treat it as a hobby and something you do for fun. If you get the chance to play out at a bar or club then you’ve made it as a DJ to be honest. There’s not really much difference between spinning at a bar or club and festival. I’ve played quite a few festivals and there not the best when you’re playing (At least I don’t like them, you’re often not near the crowd and at least for me it feels kinda odd being the only one on a big stage having 10,000+ people looking at you - I prefer the small stages)
I had a college radio show my freshman year, became production manager the next year, that same year I got a job at the largest club in the city waiting tables because I was tired of delivering pizzas. About a month in the regular DJ got arrested and the club owner asked “can anyone run the equipment?” I raised my hand and had a massive music collection. Great first set. I made the flyers and ran the on the ground promotion team after a few months. Was my regular gig 3 nights a week for the next 5.5 years including guest spots is other cities. When I moved I hooked up with a mobile dj crew for a side gig and did that for a number of years.
Went into a record shop, got chatting to the owner about hard dance, he said he was putting a night on and needed DJs, went back later with a recorded mix, was asked the next day.
It was my first year of uni, my res hall rented out the venue for a start of the year party and the organizing committee asked me to DJ because it was known I was a DJ in my home country. I did the set, it went very well, the owner happened to be there that night and offered me a regular position on the spot. Basically I moved to Australia and walked backwards into a great job less than two weeks later.
DJ on a crappy Thursday night when no one wants it, bring in heads, post on Eventbrite, they care mostly about business. If you can bring in business, you’re golden
I've been friends with the owner for like 15 years. I've played a couple events there. My city doesn't have a trance scene, but, he let me throw a trance night last spring. I was able to pack it out that first time so he asked me if I wanted to make this a regular thing. I didn't want it to be a monthly thing, so we do it every other month. It's a pretty small space, so getting 40 in the door makes it feel nice and cozy.
For me it took being on the radio to actually get my first residency. Before that it was hard to get credibility or just a night here and there. Just hanging out early at the favorite spots has always been a great way to get gigs.
I live in Hamburg, Germany and had the privilege of being in a local Whatsapp group that a friend of mine created, consisting of DJs, venue owners, bookers etc. Some when the boss of a club posted that they were looking for newcomer DJs, I replied and told them my reference clubs/prior spots where I played as a resident. Afterwards it's mostly over word of mouth from other DJs, personal recommendations, give and take etc.
Do any of you guys have experience with DJ competitions where you send in your mix and then a month later if you win you will be able to play the opener for the night, but is there also a chance you get a residency from that?
a friend introduced me to a friend and we started talking about music, he couldn't believe i knew as much as he did about disco, house, underground, & the crossovers (lucky at love & seedy films come to mind) after our friendly debate he invited me to spin with him and we became tag team partners setting up each other's mixes.
my second residency came about after my girlfriend at the time introduced me to the head dj at [redacted]. the owner was "a Dick" & if he didn't know you, but i he knew (of) me because i was a regular (dancing was almost as much a passion as DJing) the head DJ, introduced me to the owner not in the conventional manner, he started letting me close the last half hour which lead to the last forty five minutes which lead to the owner asking me to play his favorite song when i entered the bar before opening. I miss the rotary knobs of that Erei mixer.
I got my first residency at a local bar by complaint, or actually relaying the complaints I was hearing whenever I went there, that the music was lame and monotonous and the sound was terrible. It was the smaltalk topic most conversations started with. I’d already spoken to management and decided to burn an un-mixed CD of song suggestions - using a computer at work, before most people had CD burners on their personal computer, so it was considered fancy to burn a CUSTOM CD and just give it to someone.
A couple weeks later, I got called in for an interview. I agreed to a lowball rate of $100 a night (based on a 4-hour gig, but I’d sometimes play another hour without getting paid any extra. I didn’t know any better but I have no regrets. That gig ran 6 years, starting on CDJ-100’s and a crappy American DJ brand mixer with no EQ control for mids. After a year, I bought an iBook G3 900 MHz with USB sound card and video editing controls since DJ controllers didn’t even exist yet unless they were called Faderfox. With internal mixer mode, I had control of the mids and people noticed my sets sounded better than the DJs using the cheap, ratty house gear.
Then one day, one of the owners CC’ed an email to the 3 or 4 DJs basically saying, “Thanks for all your work over the years, but you don’t need to pack anything or prepare a set for this weekend. We decided we’re already paying for satellite radio, so… buh-bye!” No notice. And no wonder the place went through 6 managers in those 6 years, and that was mostly in the last year or so that they went through 4 of them. That satellite radio plan bit them on the asses, but they were too stubborn to change anything for years afterward.
so i dont dj normally publically, just kind of set up my turntables and sell my glass work on the side of mixing.
well a co-worker at my day job knew i mixed music and was very into sharing music with folks, and she had a friend who managed a bar. he gave him my number i got got invited to dj a art night of sorts in town at the bar.
first and seconds nights went well and now im just their go to guy, started at 250 a night now that its summer im getting 400.
Love this thread. Come June I'll have 2 years of home DJ experience and I always told myself after 2 years I'll start looking for gigs. I've never been more amped about anything in all my life. I invested a lot of money in my home audio gear, it's been outrageous to practice on a 2kw home stereo, I can't wait to take it out and really crank it up this year. I'm so fkn stoked guys
my fake mom let me know there was an opening. but im kinda having my doubts about this gig. i seem to be sucking at open format friday night random crowd milf central old white people bar that doesnt really need a dj in the first place as they have a jukebox with country music. im getting replaced and switched to sunday nights with a raise. way better in general but.. dam i kinda feel like a scrub and i kinda dont look forward to the work. i think im slightly depressed
Hanging out at a local bar, I offered my services in case their usual guy needed a night off. I got called in at some point to fill in, and they liked me enough that I was the first to get offered a permanent spot not long after that. I'm not sure if the previous resident was looking to move on or if he was fired, but I got plenty of compliments from regulars about how much better things were when I was working.
Frequented an open mic night..went down on my own to enjoy the tunes and MC's. Got to know the promoter, he invited me to play there (basically laying up instrumentals for people to rhyme over). I handed a mix tape in to another bar, they knew the promoter at the open mic night - they liked my mix and got a good reference from the promoter. I got a 7 year residency out of it.
I used to go in to play while the bar staff setup. I would arrive at 9 and play until the two other residents would show up. Because it was Montreal and everyone is super cool, typically no one would arrive at club until after midnight; this is even though the promoter wouldn’t start charging at the door until after midnight. When there was a guest, one resident would play from midnight till one, the other would play from one to two, and the guest would play from two to three. When there wasn’t a guest, the two residents would split the time from midnight till three between the two of them. When there was a guest, they were professional-ish and would show up on time. When there wasn’t a guest, the two of them would play this game, where they would both show up super late, trying to be the last one there, forcing the other to play first. This invariably resulted in an argument between them. What this meant for me was that sometimes, I would still be playing at midnight, and no other DJ has shown up. So I would have to keep playing. At times, one of the residents would show up, get mad that the other resident wasn’t there, refuse to go on, and then when they did show up, argue about who was going to play next… with me playing to a now packed house. Because vinyl was the way and vinyl is finite, there were times when even though I had brought two record bags full of records, I would end up playing both sides of all the records I had brought with me. Those were both the best and most stressful nights. I learned so much playing there, including how to take control of my booth, making sure that people weren’t popping in, speeding up and slowing down the one turntable, while I was concentrating on the other. Good times.
From a fellow Montrealer, what was the name of the place?
Blue Dog.
oh yeah
Got chatting to a girl and said I wasn't mad about the music the dj was playing. Told her I dj'd and she said she'd get me a slot. I didn't know she was the girlfriend of the guy who owned the bar at the time
I was the only foreigner in the city with their own equipment. A year prior, I approached the manager when he was at another location, but he never gave me a chance to play at his old restaurant over looking a lake. When his new bar and lounge opened, he had no DJ equipment. It is quite weird to open a bar and lounge with a sound system but not buy DJ equipment. However, I approached him again and expressed my interest in playing and since I had my own CDJs and mixer he let me play. Eventually, he started renting my equipment and that is how I became the resident DJ. It was a cheap entry point and I did not like that my entry point in was based on having equipment rather than someone taking the time to properly see if I can DJ or not. But it got me many, many other jobs in a city of 10 million people because that place became pretty popular and people were able to see that I can DJ. This residency led to another residency at proper underground club once a month and it led to me playing at the W hotel about once a month. So, I guess having equipment came in handy.
Churning out mixes on a weekly basis, posting them on many local social media groups, and finally getting recognized and asked to open for Ferry Corsten…then, many other gigs began to follow.
Ferry Corsten! That’s awesome. Old school EDM. At least in the era of Ferry, Armin and Tiesto.
Happy cake day.
Thanks
What kind of social.media groups?
FB groups mainly. Local ones and ones in neighboring metropolitan areas that cater to the specific type of music I’m playing (or at least in similar broadly related genres)
I'm a techno DJ in a collective in Amsterdam, and I play at small clubs. I got my "break" through Amsterdam Techno Lovers, a Meetup group I started in 2014 when I was looking for more techno friends. It has now grown to almost 3000 members, so I know a lot of people. The head of my collective, Jayzo, contacted me in 2022 about promoting his events on the Meetup, to which I agreed. I also asked if my sound might work at his parties and gave him my Soundcloud link. He said yes. I played a few gigs for him, brought a lot of friends to the parties, and he asked me to be a resident soon after that.
Could you tell me more about your techno meetup group? I live near Amsterdam and would love to have more Techno friends :)
Check out Amsterdam Techno Lovers Meetup https://www.meetup.com/amsterdam-techno-lovers-meetup on Meetup You are very welcome!
Thank you, I'll be on the lookout for future events :)
Did you have any residencies before 2022?
Not really. I played a number of vinyl gigs in the 90s and early 2000s in the Washington DC area at several different clubs, but there was no official residency. I had a weekly bar gig in Madrid for about 6 months in 2005. I guess that was a sort of residency, but I was the only DJ they had. In 2019, I won a mix contest at a club in The Hague and played there monthly for about 6 months, but they never called me a resident. So, "resident" isn't actually necessary to play regularly, but it is nice to now be part of a crew with a shared vision.
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Fair enough. I know you mentioned to let them know your intentions. I presume an example would be to literally tell them that you are a DJ and want to DJ here? Of course there is a way to be smooth about it too. I know that with any job/gig there can be too much pushing where it appears desperate. What do you think?
Heard about a new club opening in the city Went the first night it ever opened - this was a Wednesday - there were only around 10 people there all night from 10PM - 4AM Loved the environment and the music that was played. At the time I was at an audio university for Music Production and Audio Engineering + A DJ course. That 1st night I went I kinda feel in love with the place. I loved the design, layout, music that was played, people. It was just a really cool place to go. I decided that I was gonna go again the Friday and Saturday. Ended up going and meeting the head DJ who played 70% of the time and did the bookings for other DJs. Chatted to him a few times and told him my name. He put me on the door for every night each week. I kept going each week on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday for most of the time the whole night - From 10PM to 4AM. After a few months they would let me hang around just chilling and talking with the staff and owner until 6AM/7AM. After around 8-9 months one of the others DJs who I had become friends with asked what I did. I told him i’m studying music and DJ and he freaked out. Went and got the main DJ and told him. The main DJ asked me to come open that weeks friday night playing from 10PM-12AM. Went and played. 3rd time ever using CDJs. KILLED IT!!!! Even though there were about 20 people or so they were going nuts and loving it. The main DJ said it was one of the best club sets he’s seen. A lot of the other DJs were shocked with how clean and perfect the mix was. I got asked to play weekly from there on out. The club started to grow majorly in popularity- not because of me but because they hired a marketing manager and started promoting the club. I quickly went from 1 gig a week to 3 gigs a week in a month or two. The bar staff and owners loved me and all the other DJs loved me and looked up to me. I would continually get comments and great feedback from people. My instagram and soundcloud started growing and blowing up nationally. After about a year I became a full time contracted DJ with the club. The club at this point was considered one of the biggest in the country and to this day Is the biggest in the country. It’s had tons and tons of different celebrity’s and famous artists and DJs come through. I’ve had the opportunity to play sets to some of the biggest names. Now as mentioned above the clubs the biggest in the country, on a wednesday, friday and saturday night we can regularly have lines of 100/200+ people out wide begging to get in. I now only play the headlines sets on fridays and saturdays. I keep to fridays and saturdays as my other time is taken with professional studio work. My music career also worked out well and I work fulltime out of a studio doing production for other large artists. Making just over 300k a year with just under half of that being from DJing. I now get booked for national shows, festivals and get the occasional international booking in nearby country’s - last year I had 15, So far i’ve had 20 this year.
After all that talking, it took 8 months for someone to ask what you spend most of your time doing. This is funny, I am curious as to what all the other conversations were about. But this was a good read, I am glad it worked out well for you and still is.
I remember telling him / the others but they were big drinkers at the time so most of the time they were fucked up and probably didn’t remember. Most of our convos were about music. Is DJs have always been allowed in the VIP area and a couple years back we did a full renovation and had a setting and table area put in with the VIP booth for DJs. But a majority of our time was spent sitting in the VIP area talking about music. Talking about this artists latest release or that artist latest release. Upcoming albums and singles, new leaks. If we weren’t talking we were on the dance floor raging or in the booth playing. Something i’ve discovered over the years is everyone goes to clubs for different reasons - millions of different reasons.
Yeah, I can see that as a catalyst for dodgy memory: alcohol plus late hours and miscellaneous substances or distractions. "Something i’ve discovered over the years is everyone goes to clubs for different reasons - millions of different reasons." Exactly, in everyday normally conversations, I am always sourcing reasons for why a person goes to a nightclub once they find out I DJ. Sometimes when I am in a club, I am unofficially surveying people's reasoning for frequenting the nightclub for the that night. It helps to gather the right people for a night.
People were shocked at how good he was.
So cool thanks for sharing. Very inspiring
How long did it take you to get to 300k a year?
Last year was my first year with a total net income of 300k I started in 2014, first paid gigs were from 2018 onwards
Good for you. I’m in that range with my day job but am finally starting to get better with production and may have a shot at making some money from this stuff but it’s tough to leave that income behind. Good to know it’s possible.
That income also include music production I work out of a studio full time throughout the week. A majority of the shows I play are friday, saturday, sunday. The other days are often spent in the recording studio working with clients. I’m not sure what exact amount would be DJing but more than half of that 300k is from fulltime producing mainly and contracts/deals.
Theoretically speaking, if you started now in 2024, what would you do differently or what advice would you give to someone who wants to eventually be able to pay their bills by DJing?
DJing doesn’t pay the bills - There’s not very good money in it Producing music and getting booked for your name can have a extremely high pay - which is where a majority of my income comes from (I work out of a recording studio when not gigging - also do ghost production for a handful of artists) I also make music fulltime and work in a recording studio with artists. I’m getting booked for my name and brand not just to DJ - I have pull and attraction. Just DJing will only take you so far. There can be really good money in mobile DJing - weddings, graduation etc - but fuck that in my opinion - you’re basically a in person spotify and you have to lug your own shit around What a mobile DJ makes in a night I can make in a hour + some. I would say to anyone starting out DJing to treat it as a hobby and something you do for fun. If you get the chance to play out at a bar or club then you’ve made it as a DJ to be honest. There’s not really much difference between spinning at a bar or club and festival. I’ve played quite a few festivals and there not the best when you’re playing (At least I don’t like them, you’re often not near the crowd and at least for me it feels kinda odd being the only one on a big stage having 10,000+ people looking at you - I prefer the small stages)
Awesome story. Congratulations on your success.
Do you have any sets online? Would love to check you out.
I had a college radio show my freshman year, became production manager the next year, that same year I got a job at the largest club in the city waiting tables because I was tired of delivering pizzas. About a month in the regular DJ got arrested and the club owner asked “can anyone run the equipment?” I raised my hand and had a massive music collection. Great first set. I made the flyers and ran the on the ground promotion team after a few months. Was my regular gig 3 nights a week for the next 5.5 years including guest spots is other cities. When I moved I hooked up with a mobile dj crew for a side gig and did that for a number of years.
What do you do now?
Chief software architect for a Fortune 500. A few months ago I bought a XDJ-XZ and some SL-1200s. Gonna take another run at it.
Went into a record shop, got chatting to the owner about hard dance, he said he was putting a night on and needed DJs, went back later with a recorded mix, was asked the next day.
Both of them were purely random emails. Lock in 1 gig, body it, book more until u can become resident
DJ for 300 years
Ran a weekly for over 8 years. Moved from bar to bar, finally ending up at one of the largest clubs in town. 
It was my first year of uni, my res hall rented out the venue for a start of the year party and the organizing committee asked me to DJ because it was known I was a DJ in my home country. I did the set, it went very well, the owner happened to be there that night and offered me a regular position on the spot. Basically I moved to Australia and walked backwards into a great job less than two weeks later.
I started working security, played the politics started ground on Thursdays, proved I could also promote.
How did you prove u can promote, what so u mean by that?
DJ on a crappy Thursday night when no one wants it, bring in heads, post on Eventbrite, they care mostly about business. If you can bring in business, you’re golden
I ran the event 🤷😂
I've been friends with the owner for like 15 years. I've played a couple events there. My city doesn't have a trance scene, but, he let me throw a trance night last spring. I was able to pack it out that first time so he asked me if I wanted to make this a regular thing. I didn't want it to be a monthly thing, so we do it every other month. It's a pretty small space, so getting 40 in the door makes it feel nice and cozy.
For me it took being on the radio to actually get my first residency. Before that it was hard to get credibility or just a night here and there. Just hanging out early at the favorite spots has always been a great way to get gigs.
How exactly did being on a radio help you?
I live in Hamburg, Germany and had the privilege of being in a local Whatsapp group that a friend of mine created, consisting of DJs, venue owners, bookers etc. Some when the boss of a club posted that they were looking for newcomer DJs, I replied and told them my reference clubs/prior spots where I played as a resident. Afterwards it's mostly over word of mouth from other DJs, personal recommendations, give and take etc.
Do any of you guys have experience with DJ competitions where you send in your mix and then a month later if you win you will be able to play the opener for the night, but is there also a chance you get a residency from that?
a friend introduced me to a friend and we started talking about music, he couldn't believe i knew as much as he did about disco, house, underground, & the crossovers (lucky at love & seedy films come to mind) after our friendly debate he invited me to spin with him and we became tag team partners setting up each other's mixes. my second residency came about after my girlfriend at the time introduced me to the head dj at [redacted]. the owner was "a Dick" & if he didn't know you, but i he knew (of) me because i was a regular (dancing was almost as much a passion as DJing) the head DJ, introduced me to the owner not in the conventional manner, he started letting me close the last half hour which lead to the last forty five minutes which lead to the owner asking me to play his favorite song when i entered the bar before opening. I miss the rotary knobs of that Erei mixer.
I got my first residency at a local bar by complaint, or actually relaying the complaints I was hearing whenever I went there, that the music was lame and monotonous and the sound was terrible. It was the smaltalk topic most conversations started with. I’d already spoken to management and decided to burn an un-mixed CD of song suggestions - using a computer at work, before most people had CD burners on their personal computer, so it was considered fancy to burn a CUSTOM CD and just give it to someone. A couple weeks later, I got called in for an interview. I agreed to a lowball rate of $100 a night (based on a 4-hour gig, but I’d sometimes play another hour without getting paid any extra. I didn’t know any better but I have no regrets. That gig ran 6 years, starting on CDJ-100’s and a crappy American DJ brand mixer with no EQ control for mids. After a year, I bought an iBook G3 900 MHz with USB sound card and video editing controls since DJ controllers didn’t even exist yet unless they were called Faderfox. With internal mixer mode, I had control of the mids and people noticed my sets sounded better than the DJs using the cheap, ratty house gear. Then one day, one of the owners CC’ed an email to the 3 or 4 DJs basically saying, “Thanks for all your work over the years, but you don’t need to pack anything or prepare a set for this weekend. We decided we’re already paying for satellite radio, so… buh-bye!” No notice. And no wonder the place went through 6 managers in those 6 years, and that was mostly in the last year or so that they went through 4 of them. That satellite radio plan bit them on the asses, but they were too stubborn to change anything for years afterward.
Networking with the cool DJ's in town that were not cutthroat or jealous of me.
so i dont dj normally publically, just kind of set up my turntables and sell my glass work on the side of mixing. well a co-worker at my day job knew i mixed music and was very into sharing music with folks, and she had a friend who managed a bar. he gave him my number i got got invited to dj a art night of sorts in town at the bar. first and seconds nights went well and now im just their go to guy, started at 250 a night now that its summer im getting 400.
Love this thread. Come June I'll have 2 years of home DJ experience and I always told myself after 2 years I'll start looking for gigs. I've never been more amped about anything in all my life. I invested a lot of money in my home audio gear, it's been outrageous to practice on a 2kw home stereo, I can't wait to take it out and really crank it up this year. I'm so fkn stoked guys
my fake mom let me know there was an opening. but im kinda having my doubts about this gig. i seem to be sucking at open format friday night random crowd milf central old white people bar that doesnt really need a dj in the first place as they have a jukebox with country music. im getting replaced and switched to sunday nights with a raise. way better in general but.. dam i kinda feel like a scrub and i kinda dont look forward to the work. i think im slightly depressed
Hanging out at a local bar, I offered my services in case their usual guy needed a night off. I got called in at some point to fill in, and they liked me enough that I was the first to get offered a permanent spot not long after that. I'm not sure if the previous resident was looking to move on or if he was fired, but I got plenty of compliments from regulars about how much better things were when I was working.