DJ vs Punter
The age old debate between the “DJ as artist” and “DJ as jukebox” rears its ugly head over again, this time over on Haido’s blog.
“… i had a pair of girls come up to me and repeatedly ask for: pop music; songs with words; songs people know; songs people can dance to.”
This happened at a club called Transmission in the Button Factory a little while ago. Unperturbed, Haido went on to play what he wanted to play:
Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
SmartTech – Took The Trompeta
Green Velvet – Flash
The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar (Pete Heller’s Expanded Mix)
Daft Punk – Around The World
Joe and Will Ask? – Fabric of Win (ft. SaintSaviour)
Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge
Kid Cudi – Make Her Say (Nadastrom 88 Dub)
Midfield General – Disco Sirens (Boy 8-Bit Remix)
MGMT – Time To Pretend (Diplo Remix)
La Roux – I’m Not Your Toy (Jack Beats Remix)
Little Boots – Stuck On Repeat (Alexander Robotnick Remix)
Machines Don’t Care – Afro Jacker
Telephoned – Pop Champagne
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
Sharon Phillips – Want 2 / Need 2 (Trentemøller Remix)
In fairness to Haido, that’s a pretty accessible set list, so on this occaision I’d have to say that the girls in question were just in the wrong club. They obviously wanted chart pop and R’n'B, which they were never really going to get in Transmission.
Having been on the receiving end of these requests on many an occaision myself, the way I look at it is this – as a DJ you’re only beholden to two things:
- The Club
- Your Own Taste
The Club is essentially the promotor or venue manager, whoever it is that has asked you to play. Your taste is your taste. This is where it gets a little tricky though. The promoter or venue manager is perfectly within their rights to ask you to accomodate requests if they want to. This nearly always leads to conflicts. Give in, and you are a jukebox, playing against your own taste (sometimes). Hold out, and you’ll probably get replaced.
The only solution I’ve ever come up with is to choose to only play in places where I have free reign over what I play. Requests might be accommodated on occaision, but are discouraged. The bottom line for me is, if I’m going to DJ, I want to enjoy it, and that means not being directed by third parties. Some people I know on the other hand love requests and interacting directly with the punters (in relation to exactly what to play next), but that’s not for me.
So DJs, what do you think?