How to Explain it can not be Done?

[Nate]

I am a DJ, and I like to do it as a hobby. My dad is a business owner,so he thinks that a DJ can make a huge business out of his work. I keep explaining to him that it can not be done because it just is not possible. He is looking at the business point of view. He does not get that there is no way for there to be a big corperation DJing. Most of DJ's business' are through friends, and the ones that advertise do not get their business through that advertising.

It is possible through the eyes of a business man, but through a DJ it just not possible. How do I explain it?

[BeeLiz19]

Let him know that it's a market that is achievable by word-of-mouth, that you build up your reputation and build up a social network.

What might be a good idea is to have him instead help you design a business card; it helps the networking and gets your dad on your side with something he's familiar with. It's a card you can hand out to friends and 'advertise' in that way, but at the same time it will genuinely help with people in your circle of circles to connect with you when they need a deejay.

[likepepsi]

Compare it to magicians. There are a tiny handful of magicians who can get gigs of tens of thousands of people, have TV specials, etc. But after that are many, many local magicians who - just like DJs - get local gigs through word of mouth.

Both professions are in the entertainment business, and perform at events that do not absolutely NEED to have their services. Both use people who have talent and each person is unique in how they perform - they are not interchangeable like an accountant. Nobody would hire a magician or a DJ because some big corporation says they have them available. People who hire them want to know from someone that they saw the person perform and they were good at their craft. They aren't going to blindly book someone that they do not know anything about.

Does your dad take his car to a repair place run by a big corporation or does he use someone that he already knows and trusts (or was referred to him by someone whose opinion he respects)? Same thing.

[Paul]

It is possible but it takes time.

There are so many established DJs, who have been around for a long time. There are also millions of bedroom DJs, who want to become more established. There are then millions of wanna be DJs.

In a business term, the market is saturated. You can only get well known by DJing for free, or for friends. Slowly you might develop a following, but it takes time, lots of time, and lots of DJing for free.

In the UK, there are some well known dance music club DJs who have released their own music which can be found on beatport and trackitdown, yet they hardly make any money from it, and sometimes even they, DJ for free.

Perhaps a wedding or local (eg kids party) DJ could be done as a business, once you are good enough (attend many weddings to see how it is done)

However a club or dance music DJ is very difficult to become a success at, and make money from. All big dance music DJs are now producers. So if you want to be big, you have to learn music production. Maybe start off with remixes/bootlegs. Eventually if you are good enough, your music will become well known, then people will hear your name and want you to DJ for them, and at their events.

Stick to it as a hobby, practice practice practice, Do as many local events as you can (this involves networking and speaking to promoters, ask them if you could play at one of their events, send them a recording of yourself DJing), also record your sets and put them all over the internet, soundcloud, mix hosting websites like mixcould etc. Maybe do some live streaming on a site like ustream or justin.tv, and get a following.

You could be putting on your own nights or playing out in your local area with other similar music DJs. Network with some DJs a bit further away, and try to get more sets further away, send them messages and links to your recordings and websites.

But again, once you are making your own music, this will be a huge boost. You develop a following and it gets bigger over time.

Also having your own amps & speakers that can be used at events will help. Network with the promoters and offer to lend them your equipment if you could play at their event, even if only the warm up set when nobody is there. Eventually you will play later in the evening and to more people.

Keep the people following you then with your Facebook page, youtube channel, twitter feed etc. Have your own style and people will want to hear more of you. Release some remixes/bootlegs and eventually your own tunes, then people will *want* you to play at their event so they can hear your stuff, and they will pay.

Good luck!