4 Reasons Why Hosting an Event can Launch your DJ Career

This is a guest post from Danny Savage, who’s on a mission to help 100,000 DJ’s succeed in 2017.

Just throwing one party could be the catalyst for an entire career – it certainly was for me! I can say categorically that there is no better way to establish yourself as a DJ than to put on your own events. And the best thing is: anyone can do it. All you need is a good concept and a venue to host it.

This doesn’t mean that being a promoter is easy – I could write a book about the pitfalls and the chaos of the business – but trust me, it can set you up for life. If you’re currently in two minds about whether to put on an event, I hope my story convinces you to take the plunge.

1. If I did it, then so can you

Back when I was 12 years old I saved up my milk-round money and bought my first turntable. I had a dream to make it as a DJ. Back then I was mixing 12” vinyl into a cassette tape!

All through my teenage years, I sent mix tapes off to promoters around the country along with a little note telling the promoter why they should put me on at their night. I got the odd gig here and there, but nothing approaching a career.

At the age of 21, I thought I was done. The vinyl went in the garage and that’s where it stayed for the next few years.

Then I got inspired. During a messy trip to Ibiza, I bought a load of vinyl, and no sooner had I touched down back in England I was asked to DJ at a friend’s party. I was terrified – I hadn’t played in front of a crowd for years – but something burning inside me said that I just had to do it.

So I did it, and it was absolutely incredible. Off the scale in fact.

So good that I decided to throw my own party a month later – a party that would ultimately define my future. This was the beginning of my brand ‘Filth’ which within just six months had grown into a 700-capacity sellout night that saw me spinning tunes alongside some of the biggest DJs on the planet.

Over the next few years, we held monthly residencies at Mint Club, Sankeys, Ministry Of Sound and Rainbow. My DJ career went from non-existent, vinyl-in-the-garage, to playing all over the world at the likes of Burning Man, Glastonbury and Space Ibiza. I didn’t make music and I didn’t send anyone any mixes, so why was I being booked?

Because I was a promoter. I got myself out there, I met people, and through being a promoter I learned how the game worked from a commercial perspective. This made me a better DJ and a better prospect for anyone wanting to book me.

2. You learn what people want

This is never more acute than when you’re a promoter. When you’re a DJ you think you know what people want – and maybe you do – but when you’re a promoter you absolutely have to, otherwise your night bombs completely and you lose a load of money and a lot of face. Putting on nights is the ultimate test of how much you really know the marketplace.

Once you ‘know the marketplace’ then by definition you will understand how to program a night musically, and you also understand how to frame the overall creative concept.

These are the exact attributes you need if you are going to be a commercially viable DJ, i.e. you have to consistently deliver music that fits in with whatever night you are booked to perform at, and you have to package yourself as a brand. Which leads us on to the next point…

3. Become a marketing guru and build that following

My journey as a promoter coincided with the rise of social media. In order to get people through the door of my nights, I became an expert on MySpace and Facebook – I simply had to learn the ropes.

While some of the mediums may have changed, the same rules apply today, which goes something like: ‘if you can build a following for your night then you can build a following as a DJ’. In fact, in the first instance, the two ‘followings’ are one and the same.

When you’re starting out as a DJ your following is generally a lot more important than how good you actually are. If you’ve got a successful club night under your belt then promoters of other nights will be seduced by your following.

They want to do everything they can to drive numbers through their door, just like you do with your night, so if you can attract more of a crowd than any other DJ on their radar then you’ll get the gig.

As an up-and-coming DJ, it’s easy to get so involved with the music that you forget the commercial realities of the business. Once you move down the lineup below the headliners, even the most credible promoters are likely to be more attracted to somebody’s local following than they are to their technical/musical ability.

If you’ve done your own night and built up your fan base then you’re going to be picked ahead of the bedroom superstar every time.

4. Self-promotion is the key to a successful life

Promoting isn’t just about running a club night… it’s about building your own brand and learning to sell yourself. Running a night is a brilliant way to focus these all-important human skills. If you can build an audience and make them listen to what you have to say, you will be a high achiever in any walk of life.

Although I only DJ every now and again these days, all of the things I learnt from promoting continue to be integral to the current chapter in my life. I now provide free marketing advice for DJ’s via my blog

I have basically made it my business to help others do what I did and to hopefully have the same amount of fun while they’re doing it.

And it all came from just throwing a party…