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DJ Looking for any gig or Opportunity (No looking for Payment)

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I am a new DJ that is looking for an opportunity to DJ anywhere, for free. My main music is chart, but also indie and 90s with other styles featuring. I have contacted many different places in Sheffield looking for an opportunity and 6 months later still nothing.

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Try contacting some of the promotions teams in Sheffield (Superfly, Voodoo Events, Sheffield Parties, Fair Dos to name a few), see if they'd be interested.

 

Ideally, get a setlist/recording of you playing (For example, soundcloud) that shows your skills, and fits what they're wanting to play at their venue. For example, a house/electro focused club like FWD wouldn't want to use you as you aren't playing the sound that they want. Make sense?

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I am a new DJ that is looking for an opportunity to DJ anywhere, for free. My main music is chart, but also indie and 90s with other styles featuring. I have contacted many different places in Sheffield looking for an opportunity and 6 months later still nothing.

try and get a proper job and do the music as a hobby at home.

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I am a 1st student at the moment and do have a proper job as bar staff but this is a hobby i'm looking to pursuit.

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If you are in a bar with a dj then get to know him, and do some material at home if you have the facility. ask if you can do a little warm up while quiet as it would be cheaper for management to be able to have someone who knows the venue / clientele as cover for when the main dj is away. show you can work and more importantly read a crowd. If you work at a bar that doesnt have one and you think it woudl be suitable then approach the manger about doing a trial run on your nights off. If it works, great. If not then at least you will learn a couple of things about crowd reading and presentation.

 

You say you have contacted many places, managers have venues to run and will recieve many cold calls asking about work, you may drop very lucky and hit a club at a time when they are looking but 99.5% of the time they wont be and even if they are then to get a job on a cold call is very rare. Get yourself around different venues and speak to as many dj's as you can on your nights off. dont start with "i'm a dj" though. On that night, you arent, you are a customer. Be friendly and polite but remember they are working so cannot talk to you for ten min at a time (it could be you in that position one day) Establish connections with them with a view as above to asking about warm up's etc.

 

Another way is to approach a club with an idea for a night run by yourself. If you have belief in your ability then it will be succesful. If you dont ask for money for the night initally then you may find a venue willing to take a chance and then you will be able to demonstrate professionalism to the management and increase your chances of other opportunities later.

 

Last tip would be, dont sh*t on someones doorstep or go behind peoples backs. The dj community is friendly and competitive, i've met many great dj's over the years and helped each other when needed but it doesnt like backstabbing to get a job. If you are good enough and willing to put the work in then you will get noticed and you will suceed.

 

Good luck

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Why not try recording a set and putting it on websites like soundcloud or similar and then emailing out links to your sets?

 

Knock together a website and then start emailing your website around to the smaller bars and clubs so they have a point of reference and you'll maybe stand a better chance of having your details passed around and be easier to contact.

 

You could also try advertising yourself as a free DJ for weddings and birthday parties if you're doing all the older stuff and charts and what not.

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You could also try advertising yourself as a free DJ for weddings and birthday parties if you're doing all the older stuff and charts and what not.

 

Got to disagree on two counts

 

I would never ever book or recommend a guy for a function who was free. There would be a reason for him been free.

 

It lowers the price generally for other dj's. Its like a sid who will do a wedding for £50. It just makes other people who might attend want to pay the same for theirs.

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With the price of weddings these days, somebody is likely to want to take a chance on him. Besides, he wouldn't be entirely "free", they'd still have to pay for equipment hire so it would be cheaper than going to somebody who is established.

 

I'm sure there are many people up and down the country DJing at weddings and birthdays for friends and family for free so they've hardly resulted in a decline for the mobile DJ to be able to get work...

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You'd be expected to have your own PA, liability insurance and PAT certificate if you want to DJ at many functions. There are few venues where you can just turn up and play. Do you have all this?

 

I'd suggest having a chat with a friendly pub landlord and asking them if you can have a go in their pub so you can build up some experience of not only playing music in public, but also speaking confidently on a mic and dealing with customers - some who will be friendly and some who won't be. That can be a skill in itself.

 

I'd steer clear of weddings and important functions until you have some experience. You don't want to be responsible for ruining a happy couple's special day if you mess up, do you?

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With the price of weddings these days, he wouldn't be entirely "free", they'd still have to pay for equipment hire so it would be cheaper than going to somebody who is established.

 

Not true actually. The price of hiring all the equipment (decks, amplifiers, speakers, microphones, lighting, stands etc) is generally more expensive and a much lower quality than what you'd get paying for a DJ.

It's a standing joke in the DJ community that the cheapest way to hire a quality PA is to book a disco!

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Not true actually. The price of hiring all the equipment (decks, amplifiers, speakers, microphones, lighting, stands etc) is generally more expensive and a much lower quality than what you'd get paying for a DJ.

It's a standing joke in the DJ community that the cheapest way to hire a quality PA is to book a disco!

 

this is true, i hire gear out and charge more than if i was there with it...one reason being other ppl dont know how to use it properly and also cos its not there gear they dont give a **** about it, this is why you get much cheaper quality stuff on dry hire...anyway back to the original post, does the dj have his own gear??? he is welcome to be my roadie for a while to learn the ropes as i have quite a few double/tripple bookings... give me a call and we can have a chat m8,

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I am a new DJ that is looking for an opportunity to DJ anywhere, for free. My main music is chart, but also indie and 90s with other styles featuring. I have contacted many different places in Sheffield looking for an opportunity and 6 months later still nothing.

 

This is is surprising. Most Sheffield bar,clubs and promoters would sack off their experienced payed DJ in a heartbeat if they can get an inexperienced kid in for free. I'm sure this sounds like sarcasm but I'm actually being serious.

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