The DJ Community Is Not Doing okay RN

In the past few years, there has been a drastic increase in the number of DJs floating around on the scene in my college town. I hear about friends I knew in high school DJing in bars in their college towns too. What’s causing this sudden rise in the number of people claiming themselves as DJs? How has the DJ scene changed over the years?

The art of DJing has been around for a while. In fact, the name DJ comes from the term “disc jockey,” which was first used in 1935 by a man named Walter Winchell. At its base, a DJ is anyone playing music that has already been recorded for an audience. This sounds easy, but being a DJ is not just being on the aux. There are techniques that DJs use, like beatmatching, crossfading, or scratching, that make DJing its own art form. Before a string of technological advancements, DJs were spinning real vinyl records as they performed.

Although some DJs do still spin vinyl records, it is much less common in the DJ scene today. Nowadays, most DJs are using boards that are all digital. Of course, this is fine, and I am not discrediting anyone for keeping up with the times. Yet as the years go by and everything becomes increasingly digital, we see the emergence of what could be called the “College DJ.”

All of the DJs playing in the bars and clubs around college towns seem to be playing the same thing. I wonder how many times I have heard Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” mixed with “Empire State of Mind” by JAY-Z and Alicia Keys on the same night. While the fact that almost all the DJs around town are playing the same mixes is understandably taking away from the creativity and originality that comes with the art form, it is most definitely not as bad as faking it.

There are a few things that would put you directly into the “fake DJ” category. The biggest one is simply putting someone else’s mix on when you get on stage to play your set and proceeding to spend the next hour and a half randomly pressing buttons and waving your hands in the air. Maybe even ad-libbing on the mic to get the crowd rowdy. I have it on good authority (my roommate is a DJ, a real one, I promise) that people are getting paid to get on stage in a club and pull up somebody else’s SoundCloud mix and let it play through the speakers. Another way you can land yourself in the category of being a fake DJ is by just clicking from one song to the next. Basically, there are DJs out there who, instead of mixing songs, just click through one song to the next and spin something or press some button on their board. This makes it look like they are DJing when they are more so just auxing and getting paid for it.

All in all, the art of DJing has come a long way from where it started, and recently, not in the best ways. People are given a platform only to disrespect the DJ name and what it means to be a DJ. Keep an eye out for those who are faking it to clout chase their way through the DJ community.

Strike Out,

Ryan Manney

Boca Raton

Ryan Manney is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca. His hobbies amount to surfing, skating, writing, reading, and everything music. When he isn’t surfing, he loves watching and/or playing live music. He also likes to wear cool clothes. You can reach him on Instagram @ryanmanney or email @ r.manney3@gmail.com