Growing Your Fanbase
If you don’t get enough work as a DJ or are overall less involved in the music scene that you’d like to, despite your best efforts, then guess what… Those were not your best efforts!
A DJ is only as popular and involved as they try to be. Even DJs that are just starting out usually improve on their career as time passes by. If you’re a DJ who has been around for a months or even years and your fan base has stopped growing abruptly, it’s about time to consider your options.
Most DJs who get into such situations are usually consciously limiting themselves to only particular local area, club, scene or music style, which results in them missing out on a lot of golden opportunities they could otherwise grab. You might feel that you’ve found your calling and only want to be representing a couple of venues and genres, but in that case, you need to prepare yourself for hitting a wall past which your career is not likely to grow.
It might not hit you as hard if you like to play mainstream music and there’s always a crowd willing to join in on the fun, but for the less popular subgenres out there, work opportunities can be a rare find and dry up fairly quickly. If you’re a DJ playing one of those styles and looking to grow your fan base, you should explore other genres where there might be a place for someone like you. Bigger cities usually have a variety of music scenes spread out around different parts of it. There’s usually no strict division into separate districts where each style of music reigns supreme, but the general areas of greater influence are out there. All it takes is be looking for them and seeing where you have something to add.
Some DJs frown upon growing their fan base by spreading out your efforts to different styles and genres, but they have their own reasons, whereas you must discover your own. If, however, you do decide to, go ahead and try yourself in multiple genres, be prepared for some obstacles you are going to face on your way.
The hardest part is not adjusting to the new genres, but being careful not to adjust too much. Maintaining a separate identity and for every style for every subgenre you play can be harder than it seems at first. Once you’ve had a taste of something new, it’s hard to keep it inside when you’re playing for a crowd of people expecting different kind of music.
Letting one or two tracks from a different style go loose actually isn’t that bad and helps spice things up a bit. However, filling the event with unrelated music can annoy or even enrage the crowd you’re playing for. If you really want to make your gig unique, it’s best to tread carefully and start them off with some familiar tracks they know and like. Once you’ve established a certain level of trust with them, you can start (pleasantly) surprising them with something they didn’t expect.
It doesn’t happen in one event and you might need some time to get things moving. If you do everything right, you will soon have a crowd asking for more of your style when they return to your event again. Juggling between different subgenres of music that way can be tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it actually improves your performance as a DJ. And don’t forget about your growing fan base!