The end of the line for DJ's

[FabDJ]

Pretty well seeing the end of DJing as we once knew it.

People buying powerful  wireless speakers from JB for the home and every pub and venue having a pa system that has a 3.5mm socket for the party people to plug in from their phone.

Just sent a mate home with 2000+ songs on his phone for his next party.

He has bought a wireless jukebox that anyone can use, kids,.grandkids, first in best dressed for bluetooth pairing.

There is an app for equalization, bass and volume boost for 2.30.

You can buy party effect lights from KMart.

Another mate got 1000 songs pre installed for free with his new car.

 

[LabRat]

Yeah maybe… I would thinkfor the typical house party there was never really a big market to start with. However, I was having a conversation with a venue manager and he runs a particular version of nightlife (or something similar) and it works like a digital jukebox so punters can choose their own music. That'll be the way it goes with most venues. 

Side note, I would love to see live bands make a return. No hate on DJs of course but I feel like there a market for them to come back, especially with electronic dance music sounding the way it does atm

[Cupe]

DJs are just jukeboxes anyway. You need to become a performance artist as part of your show rather than just hunching over some turntables.

Give people a reason to hire a person versus a playlist.

[LabRat]

some venues book a dj just to have a figure there, rather than just music in the background. i totally agree that to maximise your efforts as a dj (nightclub and festival bookings) you need to be pumping the tunes out - more complex, trying to create an image that's something different. 
i personally feel that most pubs that hire dj's will opt for this "digital-jukebox" thing. from what i saw that night, people loved the idea of playing what they wanted and not putting up with a cock head dj (we all hate requests but most of us could do without being a dick about it). 

[Mitch]

Depends on the target market. Everywhere that I play/everyone that books me builds the line-up and set times to fit a desired genre/mood/feel/flow for the evening. This is mostly clubs and bars, which won't change.

As for DJing house parties and small functions, that's a complete different story. Nobody will pay for the time and effort to get a proper DJ when you can get cheap speakers and plug your phone in with spotify for the same/cheaper price.

[LabRat]

nightclubs i can't see changing because that'll be stupid and weird. Bars and functions i can and i could see that all change fairly quickly. from a bar's point of view, why pay for a dj when you can spend pretty much half the money and have an interactive system where people can pick and choose what they're gonna play? it's something i would do, unless I had a particular mood you were going for and you wanted a dj or set playlist.

it's definitely an interesting topic which i don't think has properly surfaced yet 

[FabDJ]

Most of the DJs I have met up here on the Gold Coast are up themselves arseholes. I'm a customer and they have been employed to entertain me and the other patrons.

Entertainers? they seem to imply they are giving you the grace of their time and exclusive playlists (Austereo top forty, dah)

I have come up to introduce myself and they don't give me the time of day.

Glad I don't see them again at the same venue, no wonder the managers opt for piped music or live bands,can't beat bands for filling a venue.and a dance floor.

[FabDJ]

3 hours ago, LabRat said:

some venues book a dj just to have a figure there, rather than just music in the background. i totally agree that to maximise your efforts as a dj (nightclub and festival bookings) you need to be pumping the tunes out - more complex, trying to create an image that's something different. 
i personally feel that most pubs that hire dj's will opt for this "digital-jukebox" thing. from what i saw that night, people loved the idea of playing what they wanted and not putting up with a cock head dj (we all hate requests but most of us could do without being a dick about it). 

Looked up Nitelife web site Lab and it doesn't tell how their system works. Can you explain?

[Mitch]

Ah, yeah gold coast. Totally different scene down here in Melbourne. I'm sure the commercial scene exists and is just as crappy, but as far as the disco/house/techno scene goes, there's lots of good clubs and bars, as well as lots of great DJs/producers. Somewhat saturated, but the underground scene is vibrant. Because the standard is high at the moment, anyone who's no good doesn't get to hang around for long.

 

Nightlife is just a fancy jukebox with the option to have the video clips playing on screens as well. Can either have someone there picking songs, or just set a playlist and forget.

[AlexJ]

honestly if your hiring a dj for a house party that isnt going to be a rager/niche vibe/huge party your probably wasting your time and money. Although its easy af, unless the money is really good i pretty much always turn down house parties because drunk people at these type of events are c^nts.

Venues with decent dancefloors will always have DJ's because a machines cant really read a crowd.

[LabRat]

Nightlfile is a system that allows you to play music across your venue. You can split the zones to play different types in different rooms at the same time. Like Mitch said it's just a fancy jukebox that plays music videos too. You pay a fee each month (or year) to have the system and it's totally customisable. You can create playlists to suit different moods and there's thousands of tunes updated frequently. Some people DJ using the nightlife system too but it's not overly exciting.