Three Steps on the Journey to Pro DJ Territory

Every DJ has a unique journey on their way to going pro. Sometimes (but not often), an incredible talent is discovered and blows up overnight. For everyone else, which is about 99.99% of DJs, it’s a much slower, more gradual transition.

Even so, all DJs without exception go through the same basic three-step process on the way to pro territory. Some spend longer in one or more of these transitional phases than others, but they are phases every DJ goes through, nonetheless.

Step 1 – Collecting Music and Playing for Fun

This is where you begin taking an interest in music that goes beyond simply listening to it. Your passion for music escalates into something of an obsession and you find yourself regularly searching high and low for new and interesting tracks. You talk about music nonstop, you listen to it every minute you’re awake and you start wondering what it would be like to carve out a career in the industry.

In doing so, you naturally gravitate towards picking up your first entry-level DJ hardware. Maybe nothing more adventurous than a decent dj software package for your PC, which gives you the opportunity to start mixing music and making your own playlists. At some point along the way, you reach the acute realisation you’re actually pretty good at what you do. At this point, you decide to share your talents with others.

Step 2 – Low-Key DJing

Now you’re at a point where you still can’t realistically imagine getting paid decent money for DJing, but you revel in every opportunity to strut your stuff. You show your mates what you’re capable of at home and you might even pick up a basic portable DJ system to take the show on the road. Given how other people will now be listening to you and watching what you do, you start to place even more emphasis on your technical skills and general prowess.

Slowly but surely, you begin to find yourself playing low-key shows for friends, family members and others in your locality. You’re essentially on the way to becoming a mobile DJ, but on a much understated and fairly rudimentary level.  Even so, your passion for the whole thing only grows with each and every show you play to a live audience. You start taking yourself and your talents more seriously, you upgrade to higher-quality dj equipment and the gigs you play grow in both size and prestige.

Step 3 – Getting Noticed and Discovered

The third and final phase is something that could happen within weeks, months, years, decades – it really is anyone’s guess. This is where your talents become recognised to such an extent that you find yourself in demand. You can now pick and choose which gigs and shows you play, in accordance with which pay most and which you actually want to play. Along with smaller parties and local venues, you may also land regular spots at high-profile clubs and live music spots.

At this point, there’s nothing to do but continue working on your skills and take every opportunity to showcase your talents to the world. Not to mention, network like crazy and promote yourself to as many people in high places as possible. You build a credible social media presence, you stack up listeners across a broad geographic base and eventually, someone in a position of authority sees what you’re doing. Whether it results in a record deal or simply a packed paid gig calendar, you’re basically golden from here on in.