September 2, 2024 • 25 mins
Ever wondered how a hobbyist DJ spinning tracks from their bedroom could reshape an entire industry? Tune in as Ilia and Nino unpack the seismic shifts in the DJing world catalyzed by digital technology and the pandemic. We explore the fascinating rise of bedroom DJs, especially those aged 30-50, who’ve transitioned from home setups to making waves on the big stage. This episode is packed with humor and keen insights as we dissect the differences between online and live DJing, examining how these new routines are redefining the landscape for both beginners and veterans alike.
Join us as we navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with this new era of DJing. Discover how to stand out in a crowded market, the irreplaceable value of live event experience, and hear inspiring success stories from those who've mastered the transition. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned professional, our discussion provides actionable tips and invaluable perspectives on maintaining quality and value in an ever-evolving scene. Get ready to rethink what it means to be a successful DJ in today's dynamic industry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ilia (00:12):
Welcome back.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Clever DJ.
I'm going to give you a quickintro to those who are listening
to us or watching us for thefirst time on YouTube or any of
the other platforms.
My name is Ilya.
I've been DJing for about twoyears now.
I was a bartender who then metthis guy beside me and told him
(00:33):
hey, man, just teach me how toDJ, I have the gear.
I'm not really getting it.
Come on, take me on and I'llmake your business better and
kind of became your photographer, videographer.
But then we focus more on thedj stuff.
Yeah, um and yeah and uh.
I do a variety of events, umand uh, less, less of the stuff
(00:56):
that nino does, but, uh, you goahead okay, so I'm a
professional dj, been djing formore than 20 years.
Nino (01:03):
Um started off with the live events, more like clubs and
stuff bars.
Now I'm doing more privateevents and weddings, primarily
with a roster of 15 DJs under mycompany.
So that's just a little bitabout me.
Ilia (01:19):
Yeah, and once I get into the wedding stuff myself, I can
take over and you don't have todo it anymore.
Do you think you'll do it?
Nino (01:29):
forever?
No, no, definitely not forever.
But you know, I'll do it aslong as I can do it.
For Even then, if I decide toretire, I'll probably come back.
Somebody will probably, hey,remember you used to DJ, can you
DJ my wedding?
I'm like, okay, fine, and thenI'll probably come back.
Somebody will probably, hey,remember you used to dj, can you
dj my wedding?
I'm like, okay, fine, and thenI'll probably come back.
Anyway, that'd be interesting.
(01:50):
It's always the case.
Ilia (01:52):
It's usually like that so, if you didn't guess yet, this
is the banter podcast.
We just chill and talk, uh,about life, but everything is
somehow tied into tied intodjing.
So we talk about djing, but weare just a plethora of subjects
and it's to help beginner djsand to also entertain beginners
(02:14):
and professionals, and we havejust a bunch of different people
listening to us and watching us, so it's for everyone well, the
point of view of a beginner anda professional.
Nino (02:24):
If you guys have time, if you guys like our stuff, look
back at our previous episodes tocheck them out.
So there's a lot of goodcontent that we've talked about
in the past.
Ilia (02:35):
Definitely, today we're going to cover something that
you know it's kind of old newsbut at the same time, the effect
of it is still here and andit's just developing, um, and it
is the fact that bedroom djs,pretty much, are taking over the
scene.
(02:55):
Um, and it's for just a varietyof reasons which we're going to
cover and just kind of how itaffects, uh, the djs who started
the way you used.
You didn't you know?
yeah or you know, you kind ofstarted live.
Yes, practice at home, but butthe main stage was going to gigs
in front of like a crowd, right.
Nino (03:17):
So it's different when you're doing it in in the
bedroom or uh, or doing it infront of people it's totally
different, because you said it Icouldn't.
Ilia (03:25):
I couldn't be adult, I couldn't be mature about that.
I just had to check it.
Nino (03:29):
You thought about something you dirty dirty boy,
you're a dirty mind, huh.
But yeah, it's different Doingit in the bedroom and doing it
in front of people.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Ilia (03:42):
I can't see it properly either, without laughing, but it
is Most DJs oh, I'm not goingto say most DJs.
People are going to be like, oh, you said, most DJs, lots of
DJs.
Now they get the gear, get itfrom their computer unless it's
an all-in-one and that's it.
That's how they practice andthat's how they perform for the
(04:04):
longest time.
Then maybe they'll go onlineand at some point, some of them
decide to do live gigs.
Right Now.
That's really affecting, uh, theindustry because it's, um,
affecting the quality, uh, the,the whole sales process.
You know and how you know howit devalues, uh, some of us, uh,
and you know and how you knowhow it devalues, uh, some of us,
(04:25):
uh, and you know I'm not reallytalking about myself as much
because, uh, I'm kind of inbetween.
You know, I, I, a lot of mydjing is at home because I'm
practicing, but I'm not abedroom dj, right, I did it to
get out there.
Yeah, yeah, it's been reallyaffecting you and people like
you.
Well, maybe not you, becauseyou already have an established
(04:47):
business, but people who havebeen there for a couple years,
or four or five, ten years, alot of and I think a lot of the
club um uh scene is affected,especially because, um, these
bedroom djs do a lot of.
Nino (05:02):
They realize that they practice at home and then they
can do like routines and stuff.
And then they get online andthey do routines and then people
are like oh, so great, so great, amazing, and then they get
recognition for that right um,and then they start getting
booked like people are lookingat their followers and just all
(05:23):
their comments and they're likewhoa, this guy has a following
and whatever is popular online.
And that's the thing.
Now they're getting a lot ofrecognition from that stuff.
Exactly, it doesn't translatewell when you go online live
Right Online is different.
There's nobody around you.
Right um on online is different.
(05:49):
There's nobody around you.
You can be recording um on like, like twitch, and then you'd be
doing it.
It doesn't even feel.
It feels like people arewatching you potentially, but it
still doesn't feel like you'redoing it in front of people.
It's, you're still nonchalantlyjust djing right stick to the
doing it.
There's no pressure.
Pressure like with peoplewatching you right like djing,
you're gonna the doing itthere's no pressure, pressure
like with people watching youright like djing.
Ilia (06:06):
You're gonna say doing it all the time.
No, no, I, I, I.
I agree with you.
Uh, to some extent, because Idon't know if you remember, if
you remember what it's like whenI went on instagram for the
first time live, I was djing andI knew that it wasn't like you
know the best back then, andthen I saw two people start
(06:29):
watching and, man, I startedsweating.
Nino (06:32):
No, to some extent you'll still get.
Ilia (06:33):
You'll still get whatever they think I'm really bad, right
, yeah, and just so happens, oneof them was a DJ who has a huge
business in this in the U?
S and then the other one is uhis a DJ that's local here and uh
, you know I, he knows I startedDJing, but he didn't hear my
stuff before.
And then the first time, twoyears ago, it goes on, goes on
(06:53):
Instagram and that's that's thefirst impression.
So you know, I, I was, I didlike four or five transitions
and then I just ended it.
I ended stream like okay, let's, let me quit on a high note
here.
So, but but you're right forthe, for the most part it's,
it's gonna be you.
You have somewhere to.
You can quit, you can, you canclose it, you can come back.
Nino (07:16):
Yeah, turn it off, right, and then you can choose not to
let them watch or whatever rightyou have to control.
But when you're there, live infront of people, you have no
choice but to show up right, andsometimes your nerves get the
best of you.
But you know, you have thatlive experience already.
It's totally different.
Ilia (07:35):
And I wouldn't say it's just nerves.
It's just like you lack some ofthe core skills that are
required to run such an event,to make such an event successful
.
Yeah, so if it's like um, morelike an electronic or like night
or something like very like,very niche based, you know
something like maybe a rap nightand you're just very good at it
(07:58):
because you've been doing thatfor a while and you know the sea
, like the scene, that peopleyeah, you're comfortable with it
, you'll probably be fine.
But if it comes to a wedding orsome other more intricate gig,
even if you've done all thattype of music, you have no
skills of dealing with peopleunless you have it from
somewhere else.
Nino (08:18):
I've seen bedroom DJs who do cool transitions online but
then when they do it live, getno reaction.
So it's like online they'relike everybody's like fire emoji
, fire emoji.
But then when they're on live,live, it's like there's no
reaction, so it doesn'ttranslate.
(08:39):
Well, it's a different crowd,right, sometimes they don't
appreciate stuff like that.
Right, you got to get more.
You have to play what they like, right, and make it more
obvious.
Sometimes the transitions goover their heads, right, because
they're just normal people, sopeople want to hear the song as
it was originally played or made.
Ilia (08:57):
Yes and um, or or maybe they're just not.
There's just a certain type ofTwitch, uh like a stream crowd
who will react different.
It's a different community.
Nino (09:10):
Yeah Right, yeah, so a lot of them are DJs too, right, so
they, they, they relate to tothat stuff, those transitions,
because they want to do stufflike that too.
Ilia (09:18):
Yeah, you're in different field now, so it's a different
playground, so you're probablygoing to get different reactions
and uh, yeah, so really this is.
There's so much more we can sayas an intro to the situation.
This is this still feels kindof like an intro, because the
details are why is thishappening, like why, let's get
(09:39):
into why is this happening, andit's obviously covid pandemic
was a big part of it yeah, wewere forced to go online, no
live events at all, for likewhat?
Nino (09:50):
two years almost.
Ilia (09:52):
Yeah, give or take, you know there were some you could
do, I was still doing gigs.
I can't believe that peoplesaid back in the day I remember
going to my friend's a closefriend of mine she was getting
married and at her wedding wecouldn't dance more than a
certain number of people on thedance floor.
Yes, yes, and if you camewithout a significant other
(10:15):
you'd have to sit somewhere else.
Yes, yes, it was so weird Bro.
Nino (10:19):
There was one gig where I was DJing at they had bubbles of
circles, like only the personthat you came with can be in the
bubble, and they had like fivebubbles.
Ilia (10:29):
Wait, actual bubbles.
Nino (10:30):
Yeah, like they made a tape with the circle around it,
oh I thought it was an actual no, no, no, no.
I mean, you can only dance inthat area.
Don't go close to other mobiles, right?
Ilia (10:40):
That's crazy, I would wait and get married later, but
nobody knew Wow yeah, Nobodyknew how long this was going to
last right.
That's the first reason.
Now, why is it so easy for themto actually do?
It is because lots of peoplehad nothing to do during that
(11:02):
time.
People were unemployed, orpeople finally had a lot more
time to do other things becausethey weren't in traffic or doing
something else.
People just took on two hobbies.
So a lot of musicians were like, let me become a dj.
Yeah, and then here here youare 50 million new djs just got
created overnight veryaccessible for people.
Nino (11:18):
They wanted relief, right, and they kind of missed those
events, those music, so peoplewould watch those DJs online and
the DJs would go online becausethey had nothing else to do
alive right.
So it was like a kind of like agive and take sort of thing.
Like the people would want towatch someone.
Ilia (11:35):
DJ.
Oh, so you're talking aboutactual people who were already
DJs.
Yeah, I'm talking about peoplewho became.
Yeah, that too, and I'm talkingabout, like the crowd.
Nino (11:43):
People were craving music around that time, like live
music, so people would watchthem and support the DJs.
Ilia (11:50):
There were so many like gigs raided right by police and
stuff but right by police andstuff, but uh, because people
like it's it's tough to containpeople for so long and tell them
not to do something right andthe other thing is a lot.
I'm not saying it happenedovernight.
Even before covid the stuffwasn't that expensive if you
want to get into it, but itbecame more, like you said,
(12:10):
accessible to people.
Even the gear it's not thatexpensive if you want to get
into it controller literallylike 200 bucks, less than even
like smaller ones.
Nino (12:19):
Uh, music is everywhere online.
Yeah, very accessible, even ifyou pay for.
Ilia (12:24):
It's really cheap.
It's yeah, um and um.
Nino (12:28):
You should be paying for it now uh speakers are very
inexpensive as well yeah, I canget like the cheaper kind, right
you?
Don't even need to buy them.
You can rent them.
Ilia (12:36):
So and lots of uh businesses clued in on what
people are doing, so theycreated an easier way to rent or
obtain through like freefinancing, I mean like zero,
zero percent financing and justother, you know, promotional
methods of how to get peopleinto certain industries.
Nino (12:55):
One of them it made it easier for for yeah, for djs,
but then at the same time, a lotof big companies, big dj
companies, actually closed downat the same time too, because of
the lack of uh live events yeah, lots of businesses not just
djs, a lot of djs.
A lot of companies had to pivotright, close down and do
(13:16):
something else.
Ilia (13:18):
So this led to market saturation.
There's so many DJs out thereand, once again, if you're good
like that's what I'm going tosay now before we get to the end
of the podcast If you're good,then sure it's challenging, but
you're still going to get yourwork right, maybe even more than
before.
It really challenging, butyou're still gonna get your work
(13:38):
.
Yeah, right, maybe even morethan before.
It really depends, right, likefor me, the covet years like
when, when, when it just hit uh,from 2020 to 2021, 2022 yeah,
were a couple of the best yearsin my life of my life from in
some like professionalperspectives.
Right, I got to uh get intocertain like hobbies.
It wasn't DJing exactly yet,but you know I got more into
(14:01):
like production and stuff likethat and you know I improved
myself in so many ways and thenI got promoted at work and I got
better positions and stuff LikeI got paid more.
So it just I was like you knowwhat?
I have all this extra money nowLet me invest into something
and I'm home like all the time.
Nino (14:19):
Just joking, give me some money.
Yeah, give me some money.
Ilia (14:22):
Mister, I have 50 gigs a month or I don't know how many.
Give you some money and thatalso pretty much is the rise of
bedroom DJs created.
How do you say thisDemocratization?
It's pretty much a democracy ofif you want to get into this,
(14:45):
you can, because everyone'sallowed, everyone has the access
to it.
Nino (14:49):
It's a good thing, right?
Because you know, honestly,I've read some statistics.
We're really struggling thatdemocratization statistics that
a lot of um, um, uh, what's itcalled?
Uh, 30 and 40, 50 year olds arestarting to get into djing for
(15:12):
the first time.
Like this was just from thepast, like couple of years, like
, and the pandemic I I'm surethe pandemic really just fueled
that a lot faster.
But the statistics are great,like that's good thing, that's a
that's amazing thing for forthe dj community.
Right, more people willappreciate the craft and they're
starting to like what they do.
Right, so it's a good, it's agood thing.
(15:33):
I I.
I think it is right.
But at the same time, you wantto stand out from the rest too,
right?
Ilia (15:40):
but that's what I like about this.
This also led to diversity.
Yes, that's one thing that thatI I'm all for, because now djs
like all these no names, who gotto practice for two, three
years, yeah, behind closed doors, decided hey, hey, you know
what, I'm going to take myskills live, I'm going to take
it outdoors and kudos to themfor actually doing it.
(16:03):
It's not easy to do right.
It's not easy to do so now,because of their specific kind
of skill set and how they sawDJing is and how they did it.
They brought in other skills tothe, to the, you know, to the
field and and they're doingthings differently, shaping it
differently, yeah, which isaffecting everything and
(16:24):
everyone.
And if it's good, it's great,right.
Nino (16:25):
If it's not, it kind of dies out you know it's, it's,
it's a revolution like that.
This, um digital aspect, nowit's showed that, uh, that, that
it's, it's going in thatdirection right even as, as club
djs, um, like they had therecognition from before, they're
getting on twitch now, too.
Ilia (16:44):
They're getting to to do uh routines on instagram now,
too, it's it's just the way it'sevolving the actual industry,
so it's a good thing yeah, lotsof success stories, like I,
actually I, when we were writingthis podcast uh episode, when
we were preparing it, I wasthinking let me see how many
people actually became popularbefore they were, before anyone
(17:09):
knew about them, because theywere just bedroom djs, producers
, just like.
Dozens of them, dozens of I'mgoing over all the names and and
you can just write it down Uh,bedroom DJs, um, who became
popular over the recent years,and there's so many that I don't
even know about and and it.
It shows their, their careerand they're telling their story.
(17:29):
I went on Reddit and the.
You know the.
They have the ask me anythingum, uh thread there and they're
talking about how they mainlyhad the chance to get into that
industry because they had a lotmore time during the pandemic.
So it happened before, butthere was a huge rise during the
pandemic because you wereliterally home 24 7 at some
(17:50):
point, literally took advantageof it, right, yeah, so that's
that.
So when you think about thesame quality over quantity, you
realize that it doesn't matterhow many DJs are out there.
It doesn't matter At the end ofthe day, like if you can prove
that you're the quality DJ thatthat client is looking for.
(18:13):
It doesn't matter how manypeople just like got into the
industry, the saturation andeverything right.
Like you have a strong business, you know, but if you're just
building for the first time, youhave to show why you stand out
live, why you're different, andthat's that's kind of it might
be in the future outlook I haveon this, where if a client
reaches out to you and you'relucky enough to have someone
(18:34):
kind of solicit you instead ofthe other way around you have to
explain or whether you are theone you have to explain why that
person who's charging them 400bucks, who has no, you know,
online presence presence of himactually being at gigs or her
being at gigs, but you can seethem that they are streamers or
(18:55):
whatever um may not be able tobring the quality to their live
event, like especially a weddingor something as intricate as
that.
It doesn't have to be a wedding,but we usually talk about that.
Now again, I'm sure a lot ofbedroom DJs are listening to us.
Nothing against that.
(19:15):
But if you don't have theskills of doing a live event,
you can't charge the skills ofdoing a live event, you can't
charge as much right, and on topof that.
If you do have it, it's easyfor you to prove why you should
be the one taking that gig, andthat's, I think, what you, what
you, should focus on.
Nino (19:33):
Kudos to you for for building those transitions and
gigs online, but the fact of thematter is you need to be doing
live events for to to actuallylevel up your djing, because
it's all about playing in frontof people.
Djing is is literally readingpeople and playing them, playing
(19:55):
for them and making them dance.
So that's what you got to do,right.
It's a's a totally differentthing, but you know, I know a
lot of club DJs that are gripingon bedroom DJs saying why are
these guys getting all thesegigs?
Now?
They can't play live, but youknow they're making transitions.
When they get on live, the clubDJs are like they don't really
(20:18):
understand a lot of okay.
Ilia (20:20):
So to make it clear, we're not talking about all bedroom
djs and streamers.
We're talking about the oneswho kind of just use it, do it
as a hobby, and they they don'tknow the etiquette, you know,
and you know.
They don't know how how thingsare done, live, how things are
done when you're djing withother people, all that stuff,
they just there's no knowledgeof djing other than the actual
(20:42):
playing the music and then theyget booked for a live event and
then they they bomb pretty muchwhether it's their client
relations or you know, the otherdjs they're dealing with.
That's what we're, that's what.
So there's that, because I feellike the crosshairs is on me.
Are you speaking againstbedroom DJs, like we're?
Like, half of your listenersare bedroom DJs.
(21:03):
But I'm talking about the factthat there's a clear divide
between people who do it as ahobby and then decide let's go
live, let's make money yeah,let's go.
Let's, let's go live, let'smake money, yeah.
And people who actuallypractice to be live djs, to go
and play in clubs like thosebars yeah, weddings, birthdays,
(21:25):
etc they have the, thatknowledge to play in front of
people.
Nino (21:28):
So they, when they see a, a bedroom, dj crash and fail,
they're like, yeah, inside.
They're like, ah see, I knew it.
I knew it, you're evil.
Ilia (21:38):
I would never feel like that, but then now no, no, no,
no.
Nino (21:44):
But veteran DJs are like these bedroom DJs are taking
their work Like literally, sothat's why they're kind of like
hurt you took my job, you tookmy job.
But now you know it's the waveof the future.
Man, you got to be doing onlinestuff, so it's, and club djs
(22:07):
are doing stuff like that, nowgetting getting more online
marketing and stuff.
So, hey, time to wake up.
You have to have a little bitof both online and live stuff,
so, yes, learn both.
Ilia (22:14):
Learn both skill sets.
Learn, I mean, continuepracticing at home, I mean,
that's very necessary but learnwhat is required of you when you
actually go to a live event,whatever venue you're interested
in, whatever type of gigs youlike to be a part of, there are
lots of things that areimportant to know aside from
(22:35):
playing the music.
So, yeah, lots of things havechanged uh, in the last five
years.
Can you believe it's been fiveyears, been five, five plus
years.
The the covid cases uh startkind of like uh, going up in
2019, end of 2019, right, yeah,um, but uh, like we said, it's
not just covid, it just therewas always the whole bedroom.
(22:57):
Dj phenomena.
Where, know you see, people areshowing up in the industry in
live gigs with zero experience,at a pre-big gig where it
requires a certain type of adoing this as a hobby and you're
treating this as just somethingyou know to play music for fun
(23:24):
and you're not focusing on allthe skills of being a dj and
dealing with the crowd, dealingwith the clients, dealing with
running the business then you'reup for a rude awakening, yeah
make sure, if you're doing live,uh, online stuff and you have
success online, make sure youtry to get at least a couple of
(23:45):
live gigs right.
Nino (23:46):
Yes, exactly, at least a lot, at least with your friends,
right, just just to get itplaying in front of people right
because that field, you knowthat a person coming up to you
interrupting, telling youcertain things, requesting,
songs for me.
Ilia (24:02):
Requesting a song with with their, their phone in your
face or getting drunk and justdeciding.
You know what.
This is a good time to talk toyou.
You need that live, live,aspect.
Nino (24:12):
Man for it to translate.
Well, live right yeah.
Ilia (24:16):
So if, let's say, you're a bedroom or whatever DJ like you
, you do on, you stream and younever really had the live aspect
, uh, you never reallyexperienced a live aspect of the
job, uh, of the of this career,but you have it from other kind
of um experience, uh, in thepast.
(24:37):
Or you know, you've been, youhaven't been doing it, but
you've been theoretically,you've been like learning about
it.
Then, yeah, that's, that's adifferent, that's a different
thing.
Then that's pretty much whatI've been doing, right, I've
been learning, practicing,taking a couple of courses, but
then the whole goal was to endup doing live.
Doing it live, yeah.
So how, how did you getaffected, uh, by the whole last
(25:02):
four or five years of COVID andthe surplus of bedroom DJs
coming to the market and theoversaturation?
Nino (25:10):
Let us know your experiences in this past couple
of years and what your take ison this actual subject, If you
have anything to say.
Did you think we're spot on, oryou?
Ilia (25:22):
know All right Well, have a great one.
Thank you for joining anotherepisode of the Clever DJ.
Nino (25:27):
See you, guys, in the next one.
See you in the next one.
Peace, we'll see you next time.
Welcome back.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Clever DJ.
I'm going to give you a quickintro to those who are listening
to us or watching us for thefirst time on YouTube or any of
the other platforms.
My name is Ilya.
I've been DJing for about twoyears now.
I was a bartender who then metthis guy beside me and told him
(00:33):
hey, man, just teach me how toDJ, I have the gear.
I'm not really getting it.
Come on, take me on and I'llmake your business better and
kind of became your photographer, videographer.
But then we focus more on thedj stuff.
Yeah, um and yeah and uh.
I do a variety of events, umand uh, less, less of the stuff
(00:56):
that nino does, but, uh, you goahead okay, so I'm a
professional dj, been djing formore than 20 years.
Nino (01:03):
Um started off with the live events, more like clubs and
stuff bars.
Now I'm doing more privateevents and weddings, primarily
with a roster of 15 DJs under mycompany.
So that's just a little bitabout me.
Ilia (01:19):
Yeah, and once I get into the wedding stuff myself, I can
take over and you don't have todo it anymore.
Do you think you'll do it?
Nino (01:29):
forever?
No, no, definitely not forever.
But you know, I'll do it aslong as I can do it.
For Even then, if I decide toretire, I'll probably come back.
Somebody will probably, hey,remember you used to DJ, can you
DJ my wedding?
I'm like, okay, fine, and thenI'll probably come back.
Somebody will probably, hey,remember you used to dj, can you
dj my wedding?
I'm like, okay, fine, and thenI'll probably come back.
Anyway, that'd be interesting.
(01:50):
It's always the case.
Ilia (01:52):
It's usually like that so, if you didn't guess yet, this
is the banter podcast.
We just chill and talk, uh,about life, but everything is
somehow tied into tied intodjing.
So we talk about djing, but weare just a plethora of subjects
and it's to help beginner djsand to also entertain beginners
(02:14):
and professionals, and we havejust a bunch of different people
listening to us and watching us, so it's for everyone well, the
point of view of a beginner anda professional.
Nino (02:24):
If you guys have time, if you guys like our stuff, look
back at our previous episodes tocheck them out.
So there's a lot of goodcontent that we've talked about
in the past.
Ilia (02:35):
Definitely, today we're going to cover something that
you know it's kind of old newsbut at the same time, the effect
of it is still here and andit's just developing, um, and it
is the fact that bedroom djs,pretty much, are taking over the
scene.
(02:55):
Um, and it's for just a varietyof reasons which we're going to
cover and just kind of how itaffects, uh, the djs who started
the way you used.
You didn't you know?
yeah or you know, you kind ofstarted live.
Yes, practice at home, but butthe main stage was going to gigs
in front of like a crowd, right.
Nino (03:17):
So it's different when you're doing it in in the
bedroom or uh, or doing it infront of people it's totally
different, because you said it Icouldn't.
Ilia (03:25):
I couldn't be adult, I couldn't be mature about that.
I just had to check it.
Nino (03:29):
You thought about something you dirty dirty boy,
you're a dirty mind, huh.
But yeah, it's different Doingit in the bedroom and doing it
in front of people.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Ilia (03:42):
I can't see it properly either, without laughing, but it
is Most DJs oh, I'm not goingto say most DJs.
People are going to be like, oh, you said, most DJs, lots of
DJs.
Now they get the gear, get itfrom their computer unless it's
an all-in-one and that's it.
That's how they practice andthat's how they perform for the
(04:04):
longest time.
Then maybe they'll go onlineand at some point, some of them
decide to do live gigs.
Right Now.
That's really affecting, uh, theindustry because it's, um,
affecting the quality, uh, the,the whole sales process.
You know and how you know howit devalues, uh, some of us, uh,
and you know and how you knowhow it devalues, uh, some of us,
(04:25):
uh, and you know I'm not reallytalking about myself as much
because, uh, I'm kind of inbetween.
You know, I, I, a lot of mydjing is at home because I'm
practicing, but I'm not abedroom dj, right, I did it to
get out there.
Yeah, yeah, it's been reallyaffecting you and people like
you.
Well, maybe not you, becauseyou already have an established
(04:47):
business, but people who havebeen there for a couple years,
or four or five, ten years, alot of and I think a lot of the
club um uh scene is affected,especially because, um, these
bedroom djs do a lot of.
Nino (05:02):
They realize that they practice at home and then they
can do like routines and stuff.
And then they get online andthey do routines and then people
are like oh, so great, so great, amazing, and then they get
recognition for that right um,and then they start getting
booked like people are lookingat their followers and just all
(05:23):
their comments and they're likewhoa, this guy has a following
and whatever is popular online.
And that's the thing.
Now they're getting a lot ofrecognition from that stuff.
Exactly, it doesn't translatewell when you go online live
Right Online is different.
There's nobody around you.
Right um on online is different.
(05:49):
There's nobody around you.
You can be recording um on like, like twitch, and then you'd be
doing it.
It doesn't even feel.
It feels like people arewatching you potentially, but it
still doesn't feel like you'redoing it in front of people.
It's, you're still nonchalantlyjust djing right stick to the
doing it.
There's no pressure.
Pressure like with peoplewatching you right like djing,
you're gonna the doing itthere's no pressure, pressure
like with people watching youright like djing.
Ilia (06:06):
You're gonna say doing it all the time.
No, no, I, I, I.
I agree with you.
Uh, to some extent, because Idon't know if you remember, if
you remember what it's like whenI went on instagram for the
first time live, I was djing andI knew that it wasn't like you
know the best back then, andthen I saw two people start
(06:29):
watching and, man, I startedsweating.
Nino (06:32):
No, to some extent you'll still get.
Ilia (06:33):
You'll still get whatever they think I'm really bad, right
, yeah, and just so happens, oneof them was a DJ who has a huge
business in this in the U?
S and then the other one is uhis a DJ that's local here and uh
, you know I, he knows I startedDJing, but he didn't hear my
stuff before.
And then the first time, twoyears ago, it goes on, goes on
(06:53):
Instagram and that's that's thefirst impression.
So you know, I, I was, I didlike four or five transitions
and then I just ended it.
I ended stream like okay, let's, let me quit on a high note
here.
So, but but you're right forthe, for the most part it's,
it's gonna be you.
You have somewhere to.
You can quit, you can, you canclose it, you can come back.
Nino (07:16):
Yeah, turn it off, right, and then you can choose not to
let them watch or whatever rightyou have to control.
But when you're there, live infront of people, you have no
choice but to show up right, andsometimes your nerves get the
best of you.
But you know, you have thatlive experience already.
It's totally different.
Ilia (07:35):
And I wouldn't say it's just nerves.
It's just like you lack some ofthe core skills that are
required to run such an event,to make such an event successful
.
Yeah, so if it's like um, morelike an electronic or like night
or something like very like,very niche based, you know
something like maybe a rap nightand you're just very good at it
(07:58):
because you've been doing thatfor a while and you know the sea
, like the scene, that peopleyeah, you're comfortable with it
, you'll probably be fine.
But if it comes to a wedding orsome other more intricate gig,
even if you've done all thattype of music, you have no
skills of dealing with peopleunless you have it from
somewhere else.
Nino (08:18):
I've seen bedroom DJs who do cool transitions online but
then when they do it live, getno reaction.
So it's like online they'relike everybody's like fire emoji
, fire emoji.
But then when they're on live,live, it's like there's no
reaction, so it doesn'ttranslate.
(08:39):
Well, it's a different crowd,right, sometimes they don't
appreciate stuff like that.
Right, you got to get more.
You have to play what they like, right, and make it more
obvious.
Sometimes the transitions goover their heads, right, because
they're just normal people, sopeople want to hear the song as
it was originally played or made.
Ilia (08:57):
Yes and um, or or maybe they're just not.
There's just a certain type ofTwitch, uh like a stream crowd
who will react different.
It's a different community.
Nino (09:10):
Yeah Right, yeah, so a lot of them are DJs too, right, so
they, they, they relate to tothat stuff, those transitions,
because they want to do stufflike that too.
Ilia (09:18):
Yeah, you're in different field now, so it's a different
playground, so you're probablygoing to get different reactions
and uh, yeah, so really this is.
There's so much more we can sayas an intro to the situation.
This is this still feels kindof like an intro, because the
details are why is thishappening, like why, let's get
(09:39):
into why is this happening, andit's obviously covid pandemic
was a big part of it yeah, wewere forced to go online, no
live events at all, for likewhat?
Nino (09:50):
two years almost.
Ilia (09:52):
Yeah, give or take, you know there were some you could
do, I was still doing gigs.
I can't believe that peoplesaid back in the day I remember
going to my friend's a closefriend of mine she was getting
married and at her wedding wecouldn't dance more than a
certain number of people on thedance floor.
Yes, yes, and if you camewithout a significant other
(10:15):
you'd have to sit somewhere else.
Yes, yes, it was so weird Bro.
Nino (10:19):
There was one gig where I was DJing at they had bubbles of
circles, like only the personthat you came with can be in the
bubble, and they had like fivebubbles.
Ilia (10:29):
Wait, actual bubbles.
Nino (10:30):
Yeah, like they made a tape with the circle around it,
oh I thought it was an actual no, no, no, no.
I mean, you can only dance inthat area.
Don't go close to other mobiles, right?
Ilia (10:40):
That's crazy, I would wait and get married later, but
nobody knew Wow yeah, Nobodyknew how long this was going to
last right.
That's the first reason.
Now, why is it so easy for themto actually do?
It is because lots of peoplehad nothing to do during that
(11:02):
time.
People were unemployed, orpeople finally had a lot more
time to do other things becausethey weren't in traffic or doing
something else.
People just took on two hobbies.
So a lot of musicians were like, let me become a dj.
Yeah, and then here here youare 50 million new djs just got
created overnight veryaccessible for people.
Nino (11:18):
They wanted relief, right, and they kind of missed those
events, those music, so peoplewould watch those DJs online and
the DJs would go online becausethey had nothing else to do
alive right.
So it was like a kind of like agive and take sort of thing.
Like the people would want towatch someone.
Ilia (11:35):
DJ.
Oh, so you're talking aboutactual people who were already
DJs.
Yeah, I'm talking about peoplewho became.
Yeah, that too, and I'm talkingabout, like the crowd.
Nino (11:43):
People were craving music around that time, like live
music, so people would watchthem and support the DJs.
Ilia (11:50):
There were so many like gigs raided right by police and
stuff but right by police andstuff, but uh, because people
like it's it's tough to containpeople for so long and tell them
not to do something right andthe other thing is a lot.
I'm not saying it happenedovernight.
Even before covid the stuffwasn't that expensive if you
want to get into it, but itbecame more, like you said,
(12:10):
accessible to people.
Even the gear it's not thatexpensive if you want to get
into it controller literallylike 200 bucks, less than even
like smaller ones.
Nino (12:19):
Uh, music is everywhere online.
Yeah, very accessible, even ifyou pay for.
Ilia (12:24):
It's really cheap.
It's yeah, um and um.
Nino (12:28):
You should be paying for it now uh speakers are very
inexpensive as well yeah, I canget like the cheaper kind, right
you?
Don't even need to buy them.
You can rent them.
Ilia (12:36):
So and lots of uh businesses clued in on what
people are doing, so theycreated an easier way to rent or
obtain through like freefinancing, I mean like zero,
zero percent financing and justother, you know, promotional
methods of how to get peopleinto certain industries.
Nino (12:55):
One of them it made it easier for for yeah, for djs,
but then at the same time, a lotof big companies, big dj
companies, actually closed downat the same time too, because of
the lack of uh live events yeah, lots of businesses not just
djs, a lot of djs.
A lot of companies had to pivotright, close down and do
(13:16):
something else.
Ilia (13:18):
So this led to market saturation.
There's so many DJs out thereand, once again, if you're good
like that's what I'm going tosay now before we get to the end
of the podcast If you're good,then sure it's challenging, but
you're still going to get yourwork right, maybe even more than
before.
It really challenging, butyou're still gonna get your work
(13:38):
.
Yeah, right, maybe even morethan before.
It really depends, right, likefor me, the covet years like
when, when, when it just hit uh,from 2020 to 2021, 2022 yeah,
were a couple of the best yearsin my life of my life from in
some like professionalperspectives.
Right, I got to uh get intocertain like hobbies.
It wasn't DJing exactly yet,but you know I got more into
(14:01):
like production and stuff likethat and you know I improved
myself in so many ways and thenI got promoted at work and I got
better positions and stuff LikeI got paid more.
So it just I was like you knowwhat?
I have all this extra money nowLet me invest into something
and I'm home like all the time.
Nino (14:19):
Just joking, give me some money.
Yeah, give me some money.
Ilia (14:22):
Mister, I have 50 gigs a month or I don't know how many.
Give you some money and thatalso pretty much is the rise of
bedroom DJs created.
How do you say thisDemocratization?
It's pretty much a democracy ofif you want to get into this,
(14:45):
you can, because everyone'sallowed, everyone has the access
to it.
Nino (14:49):
It's a good thing, right?
Because you know, honestly,I've read some statistics.
We're really struggling thatdemocratization statistics that
a lot of um, um, uh, what's itcalled?
Uh, 30 and 40, 50 year olds arestarting to get into djing for
(15:12):
the first time.
Like this was just from thepast, like couple of years, like
, and the pandemic I I'm surethe pandemic really just fueled
that a lot faster.
But the statistics are great,like that's good thing, that's a
that's amazing thing for forthe dj community.
Right, more people willappreciate the craft and they're
starting to like what they do.
Right, so it's a good, it's agood thing.
(15:33):
I I.
I think it is right.
But at the same time, you wantto stand out from the rest too,
right?
Ilia (15:40):
but that's what I like about this.
This also led to diversity.
Yes, that's one thing that thatI I'm all for, because now djs
like all these no names, who gotto practice for two, three
years, yeah, behind closed doors, decided hey, hey, you know
what, I'm going to take myskills live, I'm going to take
it outdoors and kudos to themfor actually doing it.
(16:03):
It's not easy to do right.
It's not easy to do so now,because of their specific kind
of skill set and how they sawDJing is and how they did it.
They brought in other skills tothe, to the, you know, to the
field and and they're doingthings differently, shaping it
differently, yeah, which isaffecting everything and
(16:24):
everyone.
And if it's good, it's great,right.
Nino (16:25):
If it's not, it kind of dies out you know it's, it's,
it's a revolution like that.
This, um digital aspect, nowit's showed that, uh, that, that
it's, it's going in thatdirection right even as, as club
djs, um, like they had therecognition from before, they're
getting on twitch now, too.
Ilia (16:44):
They're getting to to do uh routines on instagram now,
too, it's it's just the way it'sevolving the actual industry,
so it's a good thing yeah, lotsof success stories, like I,
actually I, when we were writingthis podcast uh episode, when
we were preparing it, I wasthinking let me see how many
people actually became popularbefore they were, before anyone
(17:09):
knew about them, because theywere just bedroom djs, producers
, just like.
Dozens of them, dozens of I'mgoing over all the names and and
you can just write it down Uh,bedroom DJs, um, who became
popular over the recent years,and there's so many that I don't
even know about and and it.
It shows their, their careerand they're telling their story.
(17:29):
I went on Reddit and the.
You know the.
They have the ask me anythingum, uh thread there and they're
talking about how they mainlyhad the chance to get into that
industry because they had a lotmore time during the pandemic.
So it happened before, butthere was a huge rise during the
pandemic because you wereliterally home 24 7 at some
(17:50):
point, literally took advantageof it, right, yeah, so that's
that.
So when you think about thesame quality over quantity, you
realize that it doesn't matterhow many DJs are out there.
It doesn't matter At the end ofthe day, like if you can prove
that you're the quality DJ thatthat client is looking for.
(18:13):
It doesn't matter how manypeople just like got into the
industry, the saturation andeverything right.
Like you have a strong business, you know, but if you're just
building for the first time, youhave to show why you stand out
live, why you're different, andthat's that's kind of it might
be in the future outlook I haveon this, where if a client
reaches out to you and you'relucky enough to have someone
(18:34):
kind of solicit you instead ofthe other way around you have to
explain or whether you are theone you have to explain why that
person who's charging them 400bucks, who has no, you know,
online presence presence of himactually being at gigs or her
being at gigs, but you can seethem that they are streamers or
(18:55):
whatever um may not be able tobring the quality to their live
event, like especially a weddingor something as intricate as
that.
It doesn't have to be a wedding,but we usually talk about that.
Now again, I'm sure a lot ofbedroom DJs are listening to us.
Nothing against that.
(19:15):
But if you don't have theskills of doing a live event,
you can't charge the skills ofdoing a live event, you can't
charge as much right, and on topof that.
If you do have it, it's easyfor you to prove why you should
be the one taking that gig, andthat's, I think, what you, what
you, should focus on.
Nino (19:33):
Kudos to you for for building those transitions and
gigs online, but the fact of thematter is you need to be doing
live events for to to actuallylevel up your djing, because
it's all about playing in frontof people.
Djing is is literally readingpeople and playing them, playing
(19:55):
for them and making them dance.
So that's what you got to do,right.
It's a's a totally differentthing, but you know, I know a
lot of club DJs that are gripingon bedroom DJs saying why are
these guys getting all thesegigs?
Now?
They can't play live, but youknow they're making transitions.
When they get on live, the clubDJs are like they don't really
(20:18):
understand a lot of okay.
Ilia (20:20):
So to make it clear, we're not talking about all bedroom
djs and streamers.
We're talking about the oneswho kind of just use it, do it
as a hobby, and they they don'tknow the etiquette, you know,
and you know.
They don't know how how thingsare done, live, how things are
done when you're djing withother people, all that stuff,
they just there's no knowledgeof djing other than the actual
(20:42):
playing the music and then theyget booked for a live event and
then they they bomb pretty muchwhether it's their client
relations or you know, the otherdjs they're dealing with.
That's what we're, that's what.
So there's that, because I feellike the crosshairs is on me.
Are you speaking againstbedroom DJs, like we're?
Like, half of your listenersare bedroom DJs.
(21:03):
But I'm talking about the factthat there's a clear divide
between people who do it as ahobby and then decide let's go
live, let's make money yeah,let's go.
Let's, let's go live, let'smake money, yeah.
And people who actuallypractice to be live djs, to go
and play in clubs like thosebars yeah, weddings, birthdays,
(21:25):
etc they have the, thatknowledge to play in front of
people.
Nino (21:28):
So they, when they see a, a bedroom, dj crash and fail,
they're like, yeah, inside.
They're like, ah see, I knew it.
I knew it, you're evil.
Ilia (21:38):
I would never feel like that, but then now no, no, no,
no.
Nino (21:44):
But veteran DJs are like these bedroom DJs are taking
their work Like literally, sothat's why they're kind of like
hurt you took my job, you tookmy job.
But now you know it's the waveof the future.
Man, you got to be doing onlinestuff, so it's, and club djs
(22:07):
are doing stuff like that, nowgetting getting more online
marketing and stuff.
So, hey, time to wake up.
You have to have a little bitof both online and live stuff,
so, yes, learn both.
Ilia (22:14):
Learn both skill sets.
Learn, I mean, continuepracticing at home, I mean,
that's very necessary but learnwhat is required of you when you
actually go to a live event,whatever venue you're interested
in, whatever type of gigs youlike to be a part of, there are
lots of things that areimportant to know aside from
(22:35):
playing the music.
So, yeah, lots of things havechanged uh, in the last five
years.
Can you believe it's been fiveyears, been five, five plus
years.
The the covid cases uh startkind of like uh, going up in
2019, end of 2019, right, yeah,um, but uh, like we said, it's
not just covid, it just therewas always the whole bedroom.
(22:57):
Dj phenomena.
Where, know you see, people areshowing up in the industry in
live gigs with zero experience,at a pre-big gig where it
requires a certain type of adoing this as a hobby and you're
treating this as just somethingyou know to play music for fun
(23:24):
and you're not focusing on allthe skills of being a dj and
dealing with the crowd, dealingwith the clients, dealing with
running the business then you'reup for a rude awakening, yeah
make sure, if you're doing live,uh, online stuff and you have
success online, make sure youtry to get at least a couple of
(23:45):
live gigs right.
Nino (23:46):
Yes, exactly, at least a lot, at least with your friends,
right, just just to get itplaying in front of people right
because that field, you knowthat a person coming up to you
interrupting, telling youcertain things, requesting,
songs for me.
Ilia (24:02):
Requesting a song with with their, their phone in your
face or getting drunk and justdeciding.
You know what.
This is a good time to talk toyou.
You need that live, live,aspect.
Nino (24:12):
Man for it to translate.
Well, live right yeah.
Ilia (24:16):
So if, let's say, you're a bedroom or whatever DJ like you
, you do on, you stream and younever really had the live aspect
, uh, you never reallyexperienced a live aspect of the
job, uh, of the of this career,but you have it from other kind
of um experience, uh, in thepast.
(24:37):
Or you know, you've been, youhaven't been doing it, but
you've been theoretically,you've been like learning about
it.
Then, yeah, that's, that's adifferent, that's a different
thing.
Then that's pretty much whatI've been doing, right, I've
been learning, practicing,taking a couple of courses, but
then the whole goal was to endup doing live.
Doing it live, yeah.
So how, how did you getaffected, uh, by the whole last
(25:02):
four or five years of COVID andthe surplus of bedroom DJs
coming to the market and theoversaturation?
Nino (25:10):
Let us know your experiences in this past couple
of years and what your take ison this actual subject, If you
have anything to say.
Did you think we're spot on, oryou?
Ilia (25:22):
know All right Well, have a great one.
Thank you for joining anotherepisode of the Clever DJ.
Nino (25:27):
See you, guys, in the next one.
See you in the next one.
Peace, we'll see you next time.
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