I consider myself to have good taste in Hip Hop and dance music...the problem is most audiences like whats popular and not necessarily good.

Do you guys use charts to know what to buy/download. With how much Hip Hop sucks now I only play stuff that I like the problem is its a few years old.

Dance music is a bit easier because crowds tend to like to hear new **** and not whats on the radio...but maybe a few total pop dance hits could help my catalog for younger crowds.

DJ Times or Moble Beat may help. But you may find clubs do there on thing some play top 40, or oldes or Tecno,or just about anything.

I still have issues with downloading music. I am not talking about illegal stuff here. I prefer buying the CD's or vinyl.

Could be that I don't a good internet connection! Music ... I play dance music or house music! Oddly enough all the stuff I like is the old stuff from the 90's and early 00's.

I still get good response but occasionally will drop a brand new song!

quote:

Originally posted by Spork2000:
I consider myself to have good taste in Hip Hop and dance music...the problem is most audiences like whats popular and not necessarily good.

'Good' is subjective - and 'Popular' isn't a dirty word.

A great man once said, "Play 50% of what you know they'll like ...and 50% of what you think they will like."

If the 50% that you think they'll like also goes down well, you're on a winner.

A cheater way to keep up on the usual hot tracks? Go check out what the top 10 (or top 5, 3, whatever) is in iTunes.

For some reason, a manager at one of the bars I used to DJ at got it into his head that "MIA - Paper Planes" was a good track and must be played because it was #1 in iTunes.

And lets face it....that song is horrible. She's cute, but I hate this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g

Simply "be the customer."

Put yourself in their shoes, and then be 2 steps ahead of them. Think about it. Everybody is listening to stuff on their ipods, but to download a song, legal or illegal, you have to load it / find it/ hear it/ be referred it.

Several free sites offer a quick reference, so that you will never be out of the loop. The key is to quickly gather a "listening group" on a weekly or monthly basis, and then spend the time (for me about 45 seconds per track) to scan through oh, 20 to 40 tracks a week.

Billboard.com the one reference if you have to choose only 1 that will give you the greatest pulse(oh god, no pun intended there) to the industry.

Radioandrecords.com is more radioplay oriented and will give you a "second opinion" of the billboard offering.

Beatport.com has a decent chart for electronic music, but not IMO good for you if you're playing a mix of rnb hip-hop and dance. That type of mix is usually based on "easy" recognizable dance, with vocals, alot of pop remixes,(some wise men call this "forced dance music), etc.

Mobilebeat is written by a bunch of old men (i still have a subscription (some good writing on business and personal growth, some good charts if you have limited knowledge of a particular genre, however, plenty of elitism, reviews on products released a year prior, and rhetorical questions asked like "how can we be taken seriously as an industry when the "famous" dj's are showing up in public wearing athletic wear".

uh...as such they are good for mobile players who are DJing with a tie on.

MTV.com used to be a good site, but now they don't play music, (so not so much now)

Every radiostation worth a damn these days has a decent website with a playlist, so in the area where you are, you can zero in and see the newly introduced tracks in your area.

And dogstarradio.com is a good site to see all the sirius radio playlists.

The itunes chart is the last place I would look, but if you have the time, be aware of new hot downloads that have yet to hit the other charts. In response to darknez, who has obvious wisdom & experience in this field, I would be sure to push back to the club owner/manager you are not simply there to provide 2 cd players, mixer and speakers. You are providing music, getting paid to select tunes. I hate when the managers/owners forget their role.

Radio stations are not bad for their choosing of songs, just their rediculous repitition, but the general public drives that move by always choosing repeating channels over "no repeat" channels. Fact. But remember, don't be a chart player. These are radio station charts primarily, tunes all chosen by who? dj's like you and me. That's why I left radio and went on my own, because I can be the program director, and not just a dj who spins from a list. The charts just keep you from getting to the show and having a beautiful girl come up and ask, do you have the new bla bla bla, and you scratching your head. It's just an education as to what some other clowns are picking. You still have to sort through and decide what to put on the menu.

Using the charts, you are counting on the fact that the cream rises to the top, and to get onto any of the radio charts above, most songs get picked out of tens or hundreds. (Be sure to temper that fact with big names. Big names don't count in that cream rising analogy, because they are just getting played because they are established already. So spend less time on them then on a song that breaks into the top 40 and "you never heard of them". Much bigger deal)

Use whatever sources you want, listen to 20-40 or more tracks a week, make your picks, and go. And yes, if the song is in the billboard top ten you should have it available wether you like it or not.

Now about the 2 steps ahead part. Doing what I say above for 2 or 3 weeks and you will become very bored with what the industry is putting out. You will see the same names / songs on the same lists. That's when you can jump ahead, and spend your time looking then at the pre-release lists for artists putting out new discs. Also look at the promo only lists(even if not a member you can still look at the lists, and radioplay lists. (radioplay is weekly compared to promo only monthly). Keep in mind promo only is not what radio stations on the cutting edge are using. They are pre-made samplings for the independent DJ in mind. Once you get on top of it, it won't be hard to stay on the edge of things.

Alot of listening, but wait, that's right, we love music.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PeterMichael,

Holy crap PM, that's exhaustive!

But quite possibly the best advice I've read on here in a while.

I'd say that on top of what PM said, you need to keep up with the local hotness. Pick up your local "underground" newspaper and see what's being played there - a lot of it might be unplayable in a club (lots of weird underground punk and stuff) but you may come across some good hip hop/electronica/whatever genre if you look hard.

I play in a VERY musically conservative city, so I've found that Cheebatone's 50/50 rule is more like 70/30 or even 80/20 or less here; but I still get to drop some new stuff and have had some success from time to time. But the stuff that's successful has to be an absolute burner and it has to be dropped at JUST the right time or it flops, even if 3 weeks later it's the hottest track you can play.

Ultimately I've found that "dj instinct" is pretty powerful; if you think it's gonna be huge, even if you hate it, you're probably right.

-r-

quote:

Mobilebeat is written by a bunch of old men (i still have a subscription (some good writing on business and personal growth, some good charts if you have limited knowledge of a particular genre, however, plenty of elitism, reviews on products released a year prior, and rhetorical questions asked like "how can we be taken seriously as an industry when the "famous" dj's are showing up in public wearing athletic wear".

uh...as such they are good for mobile players who are DJing with a tie on.

OH MY GOD, PM, I remember reading that article and laughing so hard!!! Some dude was bitching about why the DJ that was booked to perform at the half-time show of some huge event was wearing athletic wear and I'm thinking, "are you serious???"

Did he expect this urban DJ (I forget who) to perform like he was there to play for a Bar Mitzvah??? Hahahaha! That bollocks cracked me the hell up! I so wish I could have responded to that completely insane article when I read it.

Just my take but sometimes I think MB is so unprogressive in their view. There are sooooooo many levels of DJing professionally but they have this thing in their heads that all DJs should dress like lawyers in order to be taken seriously. There's a place and a time for a tie and a suit but scratchin' up a storm with your decks on stage ain't one of them!

Great thoughts and replies guys!!! I have to agree that the industry as a whole is scattered in the press and how it's covered. your either a Mobile, Club, Wedding, Bat-Bar, Corporate, House, Hip Hop, Rock, Progressive, Trance, ETC...... I like to think of a DJ as a General Practitioner of Music. You should know enough about all types so as to function well in almost any enviroment. if you want to be a Specialist and focus on one genre or style, well then that's who comes to you when they need that itch scratched.

I may get flack, but I truly believe that a Mobile DJ can make the transition to Club DJ much easier than vicea versa. The basic music understanding that is needed to be mobile is all over the place. latin rock hip hop and so on needs to be represented to a dgree at most events....IMHO

Music wise, try my little trick. I do most of what PM says, but I also check the major hobs.

Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Washington DC, LA, and various spots in Europe to see what those regends are playing and why. I was just in Miami for WMC and picked up on some HH tracks that I wouldn't normally have gone after; the big one "Just Fine" by MJB. I have played it at every Wedding since March and had nothing but packed dance floors.

For personal use tracks, I am a product of the Big Hair 80's,, 70's Guitar Gods, and Idustrial style stuff. But I also love Elton John, Billy Joel, Disco, Country, and other things that sound good.

"there is no such thing as bad music, just music you don't like".................

I'll disagree... there IS bad music.

I think it's tougfh when it's a form of art to judge it bad. Yes there are forms that are "not as good" as others, but bad?????

Oh yes, there's bad music. Plenty. I believe most of it is called "rap".

way to show your colors there Pulse.

anyhow I agree, there is bad music.

bad music is what no one in the venue neither recognizes or enjoys.

and for the record I think it's harder to play mobile.

Way to use a capital letter at the start of every phrase. It's called a "joke", BTW.

Come on boys, PM promised drinks in AC at Expo, lets focus on the beveragesssssssss...

It is definitely harder for a club DJ to become a Mobile DJ. I started as a mobile jock with my dad's company in the 80's and as a got older into my teens and early 20's started working in the club world. I took a leave from being a "working" DJ to get married and have a couple of kids. When I got back into the mobile world it took like 6-7 months to get comfortable again. I would actually get sick when I started a job. What made it worse was the ability to carry so much music. At first I was like this is great I have everything song imaginable. But then I was like holy **** what do I play.

Speaking of AC. Why can't we plan a "Forum Happy Hour"? Official or unofficial. It would be cool to meet ech other.

W00T Beveragessssssssssssssssssssssss

I listen to pro dj's podcasts Tiesto, Sean Tyas etc.

That's easy....I listen to every new record thats out each day of the week in most genres that I play, that way I don't miss a beat.
I then also digg the crates, discogs and ebay and also listen to my friends mixes and get inspiration from there, I don't bother keeping up with what is "cool" or "in" as they say.
Don't really bother listening to big name DJ's that much unless you call Omar S or Mike Huckaby big stars and radio I deff don't listen to as it's all poo, I used to listen to John Digweed's show few years ago but got tired of it when it all started going samey, still have respect for the man though, he influenced me in big ways.