Throwing Your First Event
First steps are often the hardest. At least, until the following steps put them into perspective. Either way, getting to do your first event is no easy task. Chances are that you’re not a world-famous DJ just yet, which significantly lowers your chances of getting through on name recognition alone. By the looks of it, you'll have to do it the hard way.
Club owner may know nothing of you, but all it means is you'll have to introduce yourself to them. On the up side, you get a chance of making a great first impression. On the downside, you only get one such chance and every next one will be more demanding. Before you get too worried about following through with your amazing event, here are some ways of breaking through that first wall .
Give them your demos
What’s the difference between someone who says he’s a music artist and someone who is one? An artist makes music. If you’re claiming to be a DJ and want others to take your claims seriously, make sure you have a collection of mixed tracks to show for it. Save everyone the trouble of digging up your first mixing experiments and prepare a compilation of your latest and best music tracks that you feel can represent your unique music direction. It also has to be good, or you'll have no one to blame but yourself if your plan doesn’t come through.
Dress your demo CD up like a bride. It has to be perfect, or as close as you can get. Top quality sound and seamless tracking are a must, as are printed labels and contact details, even if just to make sure you'll get a word from promoters and club owners later.
Approach promoters and owners
Everyone who’s seen how a club works from inside knows what a big role is reserved there specifically for promoters who approach them from the outside. Getting through to promoters is what surely will get you an event, as they are able to get a DJ spot for you at several different venues. This is why offering your help with promotion and bringing friends over to the club is such a big deal. If a DJ gets at least one promoter to their side, it can potentially open up doors to multiple clubs.
Approaching a club owner will help a DJ’s chances of getting an even more, but it’s harder and the resulting events can only take place at a single venue, unless you happen to know other owners as well. It could be better or worse, depending on the situation. If you’re just a regular DJ at the club, the number of events you can throw will be limited and spreading your effort across different clubs will improve your performance. However, if the club owner holds you in high regard, you might be looking at an opportunity of securing a weekly gig or a contract for regular work.
Get support from other DJs
Friendships are invaluable in the music industry, at every level. If you know any established DJs who have taken a liking to your work, they might help you with your first event by talking to some promoters or club owners they own. If another DJ puts in a word for you, important people might be compelled to give you a chance. However, make sure that you do your best and live up to the praise, or you may not have another chance again.
Promote yourself
Working on some self-promotion will get your name out there and increase your chances at finally getting your first event. Even the effort itself will be noticed by promoters and mark you as good DJ to work with, because you can handle your own promotion and have what it takes to make your event a success.
You could act even more straightforward, by asking to be able to throw a party a club for you and a ton of your friends. The venue can arrange some drinks and who knows, maybe when they see the number of people you can bring and let you a go at playing the music, you’ll be getting an important phone call the very next day.
Do it yourself!
If you just don’t feel like doing all this indefinitely and waiting passively for something to happen, good for you! It’s time to see if you got what it takes to throw an event on your own and endure all the costs. There are many examples of DJs who started off their career with a gig of their own. It has the advantage of your ful control over everything, but everything else will just show you why DJs prefer other people to handle it for them. The renting of the venue will be paid for, by you. You will have to run your own promotion for the event and cover the costs. Hiring staff, arranging drinks and everything else will be your responsibility. Eventually, you might wish to swap the “on your own” part for “with a team of good friends” and even then it will be hard. But if you really pull through, you will have some experience behind your belt and, hopefully, an invitation to throw your first (or rather, second) event.