Author: doug hawkins

In my 30 of years of playing music, I have experienced many instances of “I want to be DJ now” personalities. These are people who think they can be you.
Some are extremely annoying where others have been quite comical and bloody entertaining to deal with.
Generally, this happens after you have masterfully built up the dance floor and it has been rocking for sometime. The punters are on fire, completely fueled  and having a smashing good time. You know you are at this point because requests have started to flow in, punters are engaging with what you are playing.
The party ‘is rockin’

Always in a crowd somewhere, there they are. That person. ‘The music expert’
Lurking, watching you closely, assessing what you do.

Sometimes it starts slow.
Just a ‘polite’ song request. “Oh Hi, do you have [insert song name here]”
Then a bit later another request, then it builds up to 2 – 3 requested songs in a row. “Can you play next [this song], followed by [this song] and also [this song]”
Suddenly  requests have  turned into Suggestions! All from the same person.
And now we have a dilemma. They want to be the DJ.

If they haven’t been hovering over your shoulder constantly, they will eventually come over to have a ‘quiet’ serious word with you, because they have suddenly taken it upon themselves to now be the DJ and they want to select all the songs to be played next, of which you will be playing for them… because that is your job, not theirs.

Let’s call these people. “Jukebox DJs”
They just want to tell you what to do (like you are the Jukebox) and they are trying to be in control of the music.

Requests are of course fine. A good DJ should be flexible enough to work in most music requests that the punters want to hear. And we all know, even though this person swears on their mothers grave that XYZ song is going to go off – so bloody well that everyone is going to absolutely LOVE it, it could also be a bombshell that instantly kills your floor.
In retrospect, there have been some damn excellent song requests/suggestions been put forth by Jukebox DJs. Unfortunately, the expectation is followed up by “play it next” and you like have 30 seconds of a song already playing to go, with something else already queued in deck 2 and you are expected to find, queue and work in their request immediately.

So heres the thing.
There can only be one DJ, (which is generally the person that was hired to do the music), and DJ’s don’t really need “Jukebox DJs” (The all of a sudden music experts) to tell them how to do their job.

So the problem is “the Jukebox DJ”, how to deal with them.

Well you could tell them to “F” off. This is generally meet with some resistance and can lead to them making your life even harder, as they rally up their friends to also hound you.
Or, you could ignore them. Which sometimes does work, but can also increase the hovering where suggestions have turned into nagging.

The best way is to just manage them. You don’t have to be their best friend, just don’t insult them (like they are insulting you). You can jest with them to get the message accross that you are the DJ not them.

You have to be firm with these ‘Jukebox DJs” because it is your reputation on the line, your credibility (and your paycheck) and if you let a “Jukebox DJ” push you off your decks. You have failed.

So here are my: Tips, tricks and lifelong advice for punters and these Music Expets the ‘Jukebox DJs’

1. Never tell a DJ you are waiting for a good song to come on, especially when the dance floor is already going off. (at the hand of the DJ, not you)

2. Don’t come up to tell the DJ you want them to play a song that you can dance to when again the floor is already going off and everyone is already dancing. (LOL, this happens quite often)

3. Don’t expect a DJ to play your requested song on the next track. This is not always possible, there are likely requests before them. That are better than theirs.

4. Don’t come up and tell the DJ you hate this song and it should be skipped forward because you can’t dance to it. DJs will not stop songs because you just happen to not have any good music taste. (besides it could be someones else’s requested song)

5. Don’t ask the DJ what they are going to play next then straight away tell them why that won’t work. DJs already know what will work.

6. If you seriously love music and want to be a DJ, then don’t show the DJ this by trying to tell them how to do their job. By all means, tell them you would like to be a DJ, then shuffle over, look, listen and learn. The DJ would likely talk to you and teach you a few things. Probably stuff you didn’t know. Like how to read a crowd, then work that crowd with good song selection.

Experienced DJs are really good at music selection, this being a skill that has had many hours of work (days, months and years) put in so that the songs being played are working that floor.
Punters don’t always realize this is happening or that it is being done on purpose by said DJ, all they are experiencing is great music being played and they seem to be trapped on the dance floor because they love this song and the next and the next… It is like the DJ knows all their favorites.

And you know what. We do know what songs you like because this is not our first rodeo. This is why we are the DJ, in control of the music and not the “so called music exports”