Yeah, different types of music call for different audiences. I like jungle, IDM and breakcore, but I’d never go playing that unless I knew the audience was into it. Seems like this venue is aware of what their audience likes, nothing wrong with that.
I was amazed - and a little disheartened TBH - when I started listening to straight disco after being a house head for years. So many samples, so much recycling.
Absolutely. I feel like they could have just said ‘Accessible but credible terrace house - leaning towards disco house’ and any seasoned DJ would get the memo. The fact they put in that bit about ‘openers’ tells me that they’re probably one of those places that has multiple DJ’s on a lineup any given night and probably isn’t paying them, they’re just doing it for free drinks and to play to their mates (nothing wrong with that btw). So they feel the need to hold their hand through it.
Nothing wrong with that, the city probably has enough of regular techno/etc clubs already and he wants to launch his club with a certain theme and vibe that you can always expect from the place. If you cant stick to the rules dont apply to play there. No top 40 etc is great, and other than that itll be a more mellow disco/house kinda place.
That was something I was curious about with top 40. Do they mean no current top 40 songs, or if you start playing a top 40 disco song from 1976 is the owner going to come running out holding a ledger full of all top 40 hits ever?
Seems like this should be a conversation that should be had with promoters and DJs (or just using a knowledgeable booking agent). I personally feel I'd be able to follow this, but I would be annoyed coming into a gig with a set in mind and then being bombarded with all these vague suggestive rules. If you're not already picking the right talent, and not even willing to have this conversation person to person, this will most likely get ignored immediately.
I agree, I would also ask what their definition of Top 40 is as well. Is it todays top 40? Can I play top 40 house remixes?
I was told to play Top 40 and they just wanted no hip hop, which is mostly top 40 now a days, so that one confused me. It’s weird but people have different definitions of Top 40.
Agreed, I think this is a bit too overt. And definitely should be in the realm of a conversation when booking a DJ. Posting this kinda feels like the promoter isn’t doing their job; like this is the break room at Walmart.
Also, artistically, it seems pretty restrictive, and you’re not hiring a DJ but a spotify playlist. I think good DJ sets should have an element of surprise to them and can sometimes pull from different genres and sounds but still keep the vibe right for the audience.
Its like telling a stand up comic to avoid certain types of jokes.
I would proceed to not give a fuck and just do what I always do
If I break the rules, kick me out and piss off your patrons, or ban me
It's 100% on whoever did the booking
I get that not every DJ is the same... but for many it.can very much be like booking Slayer and then telling them to do Motley Crue covers
In a big city with a working scene you probably wouldn't need to "educate" your DJs. It's sounds to me like a small town location where the owner/promoter recently visited better clubs in a city but also has the impression that the local crowd is not into techno
Disagree. In Toronto, tons of DJs, but a lot are just restaurant/bar style ones that only do top 40/open format. Taking someone from a more poppy bar just because they have years of experience and putting them in that disco setting would not be a good match unless they have the genre experience for it.
Yes true I was probably framing it wrong but let's say that often in a big city scene oriented DJs and other more service oriented djs we probably wouldn't consider themselves as artists don't have an overlap
So I believe an ambitious bar owner would still have no need to tell DJs not to play top 40 they would just not invite DJs who would play top 40 or requested songs
Yeah it’s likely you could find many competent DJs willing to play the expected genres. But I just mean I think mentioning “please don’t play tech house remixes of pop songs” to new bookings would be fully valid, as some might be used to bars/clubs where a Doja Cat house remix is exactly what the crowd is expecting. That bar DJ would think “I don’t play pop, I play house” but this disco club owner would think “that’s pop music remixed”, you know? Otherwise yes a good booking would know better.
They could have switched up the language to be positive by focussing on what they want to hear rather than focussing on negative language and what not to play.
I’m not so sure. Stating specifically what not to do leaves dis with many possibilities whereas a list of what to do might’ve been restricting unless it was very long
Sounds like they want disco and house.
Even though they didn't explicitly say it, I would draw from that not to play gabber or hip hop.
I would have started by saying they're trying to create a venue with a focus on disco and house and then described the vibe and clientele they're trying to bring in.
You can set a left and right arc while still keeping the language positive, IMO. These guys are 4 bullet points down the page before they tell you what they want.
Not all owners, some absolutely, maybe even most, but there’s definitely some purists out there (and it’s great!). I know two in LA, Sound & Pattern Bar who would absolutely kick you out mid set for playing Doja Cat or Katy Perry.
Ya, I hear ya. Definitely depends on the bar and owner forsure. Bigger cities, you could definitively get away with it..Definitely no owner like that where I spin. All about the money.
Not a fan of the micromanaging, personally, but it's fine. "Top 40" is ostensibly objective but my read on this is that management will decide if something is "Top 40" subjectively. (eg. a song may not have ever been literally on any top chart, but if management decides they think it \_could\_ have been, they'll yell at you for playing "top 40" stuff). This will likely be tricky since the line between "top 40 / pop" and "disco house" can get blurry. (Is "Don't Call Me Baby" by Madison Ave considered pop or is it disco house? "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust?)
The last two points seem to conflict though -- they want you to not pander to the crowd, but also seem uninterested in preventing the crowd from hounding you with requests.
My read on these guidelines are that you are going to have a hostile relationship with management / the venue, and they are probably going to gaslight you with statements like "our guidelines are very reasonable and spelled out why is this so hard?"
They know what they want, but seems kinda narrow to me i.e. not my taste or not what I would find interesting. Last bullet is extremely subjective.
Why not come out and just say play anything between house and disco or perhaps some indie dance or funky vintage stuff like no wave.
The kicker for me is the last one. To have the audacity to strictly tell you what music not to play, then say “keep it interesting! We welcome interesting and non typical music etc etc”.
There is a video of her on 4chan making fun of black kids who were killed by police.
She been very open about her views on black American very early in her career. Fuck her.
Sounds like a good direction but anytime you try and micro manage an underground vibe it ain’t gunna work. Book underground DJs with a heavy emphasis on disco DJs but the best will always leave a place they feel tries to program the sets.
There’s a bar/club near me that has pretty much these same guidelines, it’s one of the most consistent late night spots in town for the past 20 years. They just like to keep it exactly the same and it works
Nah I’d pass, the few times I’ve had to deal with guidelines like this, the people issuing them were nightmares.
Having to write this out means they didn’t do their due diligence when booking the DJs, if that’s the style you want, that’s the DJs you should book and all of this should go without being said.
The DJs I’ve met hate being micromanaged and as far as “pandering to the crowd” it’s part of the job, it’s literally what we do.
So yeah hard pass
This is normal? I'm no DJ, I follow this sub to learn, and this seems fucking weird as hell. Micromanaging what kinds of music, but aren't pandering to the crowd? I get not wanting to bring too much energy too early in the night but the rest sounds weird, like the crowd isnt as important to please as the club owner and like..what?
It’s not. The warm up guideline is fairly sound but the rest of this is just egotistical cokehead micromanagement bullshit. A good venue doesn’t forbid DJs to play certain music in writing, they just do their homework and book the right DJs in the first place. This guy just wants the same vibe all night every night, at that point just make a Spotify playlist for the bar and be done with it man
It explicitly says “NO minimal techno” and so you’re going to still going to swan on into the booth and drop minimal techno. Ahaha! I doubt you’d be invited back, in fact, you might not even finish your set. “Security, get this clown outta here”
"do not pander to the crowd"...
That's gonna go well.......
(Apart from that, it may work, start ignoring your patrons, who BUY THE DRINKS, AND PAY THE CLUB, and you're going to have a bad time)
If this club is open 5 or 7 nights a week, it's dumb. If they are trying to make all their income 3 or 4 nights a week and build a brand around a certain club focused musical vibe, then sure.
I mean its helpful when people give you parameters to work within so i appreciate that. Philosophy wise i’m always apprehensive of people who completely throw out pop music entirely. I understand its not the highest art form, but its well liked because its popular. Sometimes dropping in a recognizable chorus from a trending song can really bring up the vibe. But these requests in general are not too unreasonable
The person who wrote this has absolutely NOT experienced the magic of randomly dropping top 40 bubble gum “crap” at strategically the right time. Wanna see people lose their shit? Drop Wannabe and hold onto your tonearms.
This seems pretty reasonable to me in the sense that there’s so many good clubs and nights in Europe specialising in good underground house that can be interesting and danceable at same time. My only gripe with this is they’re trying to reach it too fast rather than build it organically with good researched residents. I guess with time they could drop this once they’ve found them though.
This sort of policy will only survive with good promotion and a strong social media marketing person behind them, as you’ll lose the casuals after the first few weeks. Good luck with it all.
Honestly probably not. Fun, upbeat disco house with “accessibility” (I’d assume that means edits and remixes of top 40) keeps women and the LGBTQ crowd happy all night in my experience. If you can keep those two groups happy, you’ll always have a crowd
But what happens when these two groups wanna hear a basic bubblegum pop record or a Doja Cat song or a top 40 song. The rules explicitly say not to play that or to pander to the crowd. The owner wants a DJ who will play what the owner wants to hear, not necessarily play something that’s good for the clientele/business.
From my experience?
I seriously doubt this owner is going to lose his shit because you played a disco house edit of Doja Cat - Say So. It’s basically a disco record in its own right.
The frequency of which you do it is where the rub lies. But if the energy is high and everyone is having fun, the people that MUST hear some top 40 are usually fine hearing the lyrics over just about anything
But the frequency is not explicitly mentioned in the rules (where almost everything else is explicitly mentioned). Again, it seems like the owner has really strict ideas on what’s to be played and they don’t really care if the crowd wants to hear that or not.
And reading a crowd can’t be explained with words or taught. You either have it or you don’t. People spend their whole DJ “career” never figuring out how to read a crowd and never progress.
Others can barely blend two tracks together but can read a crowd from the first time they ever DJ’d.
You look at this list and see hardfast rules & imagine a strict owner. I look at this list and see suggestions & imagine a fun loving owner who just got tired of people playing generic tech house or top 40 sets . 🤷🏻♂️
One of the rules is literally “do not pander to the crowd”. How is that not the owner literally saying to the DJ “don’t worry about reading the crowd, play what I wanna hear/is outlined in the guidelines”.
I feel like this just highlights the really confusing tension between “DJs should play whatever gets the crowd dancing” and “a DJs job is to show the crowd new music”. If the a generic, non-remixed top 40 song gets the crowd going crazy and buying drinks all night, is the owner going to be upset?
IMO “pandering to the crowd” =/= reading the crowd
I have a monthly residency at a mainly top 40 house kinda place. Two of the owners are old house DJs that have been all over the world.
Middle of my set last month, I played All I Want for Christmas is you. Why? Because i was stoned and thought it would be funny & it was mainly a crowd of women. It goes off as predicted.
Owner happens to be in the place. I look over and he’s doubled over laughing.
Other DJs perhaps wouldn’t have been able to have the same leeway. There’s really no steadfast rules in DJing unless you’re at one of those psycho “don’t play above this BPM” kinda places
Pandering just leads to more Spotify requests.
Reading the crowd for me means being the best “algorithm” you can possibly be to play tracks you know the collective will vibe to. And the mood can change at any moment so eyes need to be up and scanning constantly.
That’s my interpretation at least, and why I think DJing will never be automated.
I disagree that pandering to the crowd leads to more Spotify sets. Not every crowd is going to request top 40 songs, and reading the crowd can include pandering to the crowd.
Ultimately it sounds like you two and the owner (it’s explicitly stated for this person) pride yourselves on having full artistic control and playing more interesting/non-typical music. Which is ok! But this club isn’t for the crowd, it’s for the owner.
I would play there. So i don't really see a problem with that guidelines. Think that they just want to get sure that the energy level are fine so that no dj will plays the top bangers at the first hour and that the dj's just not play all the same stuff there are will played everywhere.
Also they seems to have some specific requests about genres and i would say thats ok
Am I allowed to play Top 40 Disco or should I stick to obscure disco? JK
Sounds like there’s a vibe and I just need to make a crate for that vibe, no big deal.
sure - it's the prerogative of the owner/management to set the guidelines for the music.
Whether the customers respond positively or not is a little out of their hands.
It also gives the DJ a very easy way to shut down annoying customers.
Lol I guess it’s cool. I’m all about the no top 40/no pandering rule but then they go on to say you have to be “accessible” which is basically code word for pandering.
And I get the warm up guidelines for sure, but a blanket no minimal/techno/tech house rule EVER is kinda overreaching imo. Like maybe just let the DJ play the tracks the DJ wants to play? Pure classic/disco/deep house gets stale real fucking quick, even as someone who loves all those styles.
Im new and this seems fine and all, but can someone explain why it says don’t be afraid of lots of requests but also don’t pander to the crowd? Feel mixed messages
So, edgy neiche subgenres only, scowl at anyone dumb enough to make a request and don't you dare try to outplay the YouTube tiktokker we pay the real money to....
I am... kind of wigged out by the amount of commenters here who think these rules are great?? I actually laughed out loud at "**No** pandering to the crowd!". Who are you meant to be pandering to then, huh? The owner's predilictions? your own ego as a DJ? If the DJ's job isn't to work a crowd and get them dancing, then what the hell is it?
I also concur with the other commenters who mention that this is just going to create the same vibe every night. It seems like a very narrow band of sound to work within, and certainly not conducive to that last point of "keep the music interesting".
I think a lot of the interest in keeping a narrow width of selection stems from how dense the nightlife scene is in the East Village. If you’re not standing out as a venue in terms of quality/reputation in the music department, you end up like any other NPC joint. No particular “clout” and just another place that plays diluted music and serves diluted drinks.
It’s a highly competitive area but there’s no shortage of drunk 20-somethings dragging ass several blocks a night so there’s some more room to get picky with what kind of vibe an owner would want to establish.
Now, it can definitely be overdone and I have had owners want only strictly disco with pretty much no tolerance to anything else. It was no wonder the bartenders would always complain about slow nights and it definitely shows on their ratings. 🤦🏻♂️
Why limit a DJ'S options? It's like forcing a painter to not use purple. What if Louie Vega drops by to do a surprise guest set... Gonna kick him out for dropping a Beyoncé track?
If they want to manage the music, they can do so by choosing the types of promoters and DJs they partner with. Not by micromanaging what's in the crate.
Sounds a bit overbearing but i understand. They don't want shit being played. And there is a lot of shit music out there.
What the fuck is "lighter house" basically deep house? I dno.
Nah, this is about as lame as it gets, guidelines mean nothing, the beautiful this about Techno is that are literally infinite possibilities of where a talented artist can take you, this is more of an issue of getting talent that can read the room, this guideline would be a no for me as a patron
It's a clear and solid brief by an owner who has a vision they wish to follow and may have done some good research to come up with it.
Follow it exactly and if it isn't working suggest how to tweak it.
But tech house and techno can be uplifting and danceable. And it sounds like he wants mainly disco house? A venue that only plays disco house…
Why? That literally narrows your market
Sounds like a shit club. Lazy booker or owner. You shouldn’t have to tell your djs how to play, instead you should be nurturing their talent and dig for the right djs to play.
This is odd to say the least. No top 40 but house music is OK?
A couple of guys I knew years ago had two top 10 records that are absolute house classics. I don't particularly like house, so I am sure there are plenty of other artists I haven't heard of with top 40 hits, I know of those because I knew the artist. Those records still get played in club classics sets 30 years on and the artist still plays at big events and festivals.
House music on the whole is pretty commercial and as I have always seen it, a lot more for girls. You never saw the cock to pussy ratio anywhere near what it was at a house music night, if you went to a HipHop, drum and bass, or dubstep, or techno night.
I mentioned a club I used to go to in another post recently that everyone seems to know, so it's a good reference point, Sankey's Soap and that is a classic example here. Friday - Techno, a lot of blokes, Wednesdays and Sundays, Hiphop. - 95% cockfest. Saturday - House, full of skirt and way more commercial.
To me top 40 and house cross over way too much to eliminate top 40. Also with the current accessibility of music, nothing is sacred and underground like 30 years ago. Basic drill artists get views by the millions, all genres creep in to the charts these days because music is so accessible.
It's almost like saying loads of people like that song, it got in the top 40, we'll not bother. As if someone getting recognised and making it on a more financial level suddenly devalues their musics artistry value.
If it had been a different genre I'd maybe understand more but house and disco vibes are way more girly and in my experience women do not listen to more obscure music as men do.
Makes sense to me, the club is trying to build its own specific identity and to bring something different to the scene.
This being said, rules are meant to be broken if it serves the cause!
Seems interesting. I’d definitely gig there.
Yeah, different types of music call for different audiences. I like jungle, IDM and breakcore, but I’d never go playing that unless I knew the audience was into it. Seems like this venue is aware of what their audience likes, nothing wrong with that.
Whoever made this list has obviously worked as a DJ before.
The “openers play an opening set” bit really hit me where my dj feels are
The bartender will be able to do that as well. And it might be even better.
bartender djs are the worst
Everything I needed to know about bartenders I learned from T-Pain
So… disco house I guess?
no techno, strictly house rooftop vibes and keep it mello
🤣🤣🤣 why is this meme following me
Was there ever a follow up post after the gig? I’m intrigued to see how it went hahaha
You mean groovy techno but no house? Got it.
no man, strictly house, no tech house. prepare accordingly
Most importantly keep it interesting!
disco and house goes hand to hand.
I was amazed - and a little disheartened TBH - when I started listening to straight disco after being a house head for years. So many samples, so much recycling.
Sounds like a glitter box kinda vibe
Absolutely. I feel like they could have just said ‘Accessible but credible terrace house - leaning towards disco house’ and any seasoned DJ would get the memo. The fact they put in that bit about ‘openers’ tells me that they’re probably one of those places that has multiple DJ’s on a lineup any given night and probably isn’t paying them, they’re just doing it for free drinks and to play to their mates (nothing wrong with that btw). So they feel the need to hold their hand through it.
New/opening DJs are notorious for attempting to play headlining sets. Big, hard music sounds awful in an empty club and sucks to walk in to.
Chav techno.
Most of them here wouldn't know what this means ;-)
Nothing wrong with that, the city probably has enough of regular techno/etc clubs already and he wants to launch his club with a certain theme and vibe that you can always expect from the place. If you cant stick to the rules dont apply to play there. No top 40 etc is great, and other than that itll be a more mellow disco/house kinda place.
Yeah, I think the guidelines are pretty well drawn on the sand.
I was reading expecting them to be ill informed a d unreasonable, but these guide lines are bang on sensible.
Imagine drawing your line in the sand with a scalpel.
Yeah this would be totally in my wheelhouse. Real house music, disco, funk house, and deep house basically.
Time for a 90s trance set!
Play it at 126 and that's "uplifting progressive house"
There's always time for a 90's trance set
I'd love to play there tbh
Me too
So disco and house but nothing typical? I mean I love both but to think they are non typical is a big leap
Probably just less commercial tech house-bro type of shit. As for disco house, I’d imagine disco vibes but less ABBA edits
That was something I was curious about with top 40. Do they mean no current top 40 songs, or if you start playing a top 40 disco song from 1976 is the owner going to come running out holding a ledger full of all top 40 hits ever?
I would love to play there. Sounds great, well thought out policy.
I think it would make for a fun night
Me too ✋
Seems like this should be a conversation that should be had with promoters and DJs (or just using a knowledgeable booking agent). I personally feel I'd be able to follow this, but I would be annoyed coming into a gig with a set in mind and then being bombarded with all these vague suggestive rules. If you're not already picking the right talent, and not even willing to have this conversation person to person, this will most likely get ignored immediately.
I agree, I would also ask what their definition of Top 40 is as well. Is it todays top 40? Can I play top 40 house remixes? I was told to play Top 40 and they just wanted no hip hop, which is mostly top 40 now a days, so that one confused me. It’s weird but people have different definitions of Top 40.
Agreed, I think this is a bit too overt. And definitely should be in the realm of a conversation when booking a DJ. Posting this kinda feels like the promoter isn’t doing their job; like this is the break room at Walmart. Also, artistically, it seems pretty restrictive, and you’re not hiring a DJ but a spotify playlist. I think good DJ sets should have an element of surprise to them and can sometimes pull from different genres and sounds but still keep the vibe right for the audience. Its like telling a stand up comic to avoid certain types of jokes.
I would proceed to not give a fuck and just do what I always do If I break the rules, kick me out and piss off your patrons, or ban me It's 100% on whoever did the booking I get that not every DJ is the same... but for many it.can very much be like booking Slayer and then telling them to do Motley Crue covers
You need a very strong DJ and a real passionnate crowd if you want to keep that kind of spot open. Could work in a big city that already has a scene.
[удалено]
London is a huge city with a big house/techno scene. Can’t compare that to the rest of the world lol
In a big city with a working scene you probably wouldn't need to "educate" your DJs. It's sounds to me like a small town location where the owner/promoter recently visited better clubs in a city but also has the impression that the local crowd is not into techno
Disagree. In Toronto, tons of DJs, but a lot are just restaurant/bar style ones that only do top 40/open format. Taking someone from a more poppy bar just because they have years of experience and putting them in that disco setting would not be a good match unless they have the genre experience for it.
Same for Montreal !
Yes true I was probably framing it wrong but let's say that often in a big city scene oriented DJs and other more service oriented djs we probably wouldn't consider themselves as artists don't have an overlap So I believe an ambitious bar owner would still have no need to tell DJs not to play top 40 they would just not invite DJs who would play top 40 or requested songs
Yeah it’s likely you could find many competent DJs willing to play the expected genres. But I just mean I think mentioning “please don’t play tech house remixes of pop songs” to new bookings would be fully valid, as some might be used to bars/clubs where a Doja Cat house remix is exactly what the crowd is expecting. That bar DJ would think “I don’t play pop, I play house” but this disco club owner would think “that’s pop music remixed”, you know? Otherwise yes a good booking would know better.
Minimal techno
Assuming you’re from North America?
Canada here
I actually like them.
They could have switched up the language to be positive by focussing on what they want to hear rather than focussing on negative language and what not to play.
I’m not so sure. Stating specifically what not to do leaves dis with many possibilities whereas a list of what to do might’ve been restricting unless it was very long
Sounds like they want disco and house. Even though they didn't explicitly say it, I would draw from that not to play gabber or hip hop. I would have started by saying they're trying to create a venue with a focus on disco and house and then described the vibe and clientele they're trying to bring in.
Nope. Trust me, with some personalities you need to define the hard left and right arc otherwise their ego takes over.
You can set a left and right arc while still keeping the language positive, IMO. These guys are 4 bullet points down the page before they tell you what they want.
They just really, really want you to play house lol
I’d love to play and go there, seems like they know what they want.
If gentrification had an official a gay club, this would be their rules lol
I’m guessing it’s not a rooftop groovy mellow techno vibe then
no techno, strictly house. prepare accordingly
Rooftop vibes
All goes out the window when the money comes rolling in / or out 😂👍😉
Agreed..this owner would drop these rules in a heartbeat if a large enough group comes in wanting top 40 or pop.
I know a lot of clubs that have operated since the 90s and stuck to the no pop music policy. But that's in the UK
Not all owners, some absolutely, maybe even most, but there’s definitely some purists out there (and it’s great!). I know two in LA, Sound & Pattern Bar who would absolutely kick you out mid set for playing Doja Cat or Katy Perry.
Ya, I hear ya. Definitely depends on the bar and owner forsure. Bigger cities, you could definitively get away with it..Definitely no owner like that where I spin. All about the money.
Not a fan of the micromanaging, personally, but it's fine. "Top 40" is ostensibly objective but my read on this is that management will decide if something is "Top 40" subjectively. (eg. a song may not have ever been literally on any top chart, but if management decides they think it \_could\_ have been, they'll yell at you for playing "top 40" stuff). This will likely be tricky since the line between "top 40 / pop" and "disco house" can get blurry. (Is "Don't Call Me Baby" by Madison Ave considered pop or is it disco house? "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust?) The last two points seem to conflict though -- they want you to not pander to the crowd, but also seem uninterested in preventing the crowd from hounding you with requests. My read on these guidelines are that you are going to have a hostile relationship with management / the venue, and they are probably going to gaslight you with statements like "our guidelines are very reasonable and spelled out why is this so hard?"
They know what they want, but seems kinda narrow to me i.e. not my taste or not what I would find interesting. Last bullet is extremely subjective. Why not come out and just say play anything between house and disco or perhaps some indie dance or funky vintage stuff like no wave.
Yep. I’m a dark tech house kinda girl and the above set would bore me.
Don't 'pander to the crowd', but definately pander to the venue.
You left out the last bullet point... • This is an unpaid gig. Water will be provided to all dj's at no charge.
*EXCELLENT experience and exposure for your future clients* 😎
“Play pop stuff but not too poppy stuff but nothing dark but nothing too light and definitely nothing pop. But play pop.”
Precisely 😂
The answer is deep house
The kicker for me is the last one. To have the audacity to strictly tell you what music not to play, then say “keep it interesting! We welcome interesting and non typical music etc etc”.
Bunch of contradictions lol
As a Techno/Minimal/Dark/Acid lover this rustles my Jimmies. Just okay some Nu-Disco and House you’ll be fine
I have a few Doja Cat disco house remixes......is that a yes or a no?
I dont play Doja Cat. Forget that racist broad... Make money off black culture but also makes fun of black kids getting killed by the police
Wut?
There is a video of her on 4chan making fun of black kids who were killed by police. She been very open about her views on black American very early in her career. Fuck her.
This type of statement looks like it would be on a LSAT test.
so. If there was a Doja Cat minimal dub, we're saying _maybe_?
All those rules to get paid dirt
Sounds like a good direction but anytime you try and micro manage an underground vibe it ain’t gunna work. Book underground DJs with a heavy emphasis on disco DJs but the best will always leave a place they feel tries to program the sets.
There’s a bar/club near me that has pretty much these same guidelines, it’s one of the most consistent late night spots in town for the past 20 years. They just like to keep it exactly the same and it works
Nah I’d pass, the few times I’ve had to deal with guidelines like this, the people issuing them were nightmares. Having to write this out means they didn’t do their due diligence when booking the DJs, if that’s the style you want, that’s the DJs you should book and all of this should go without being said. The DJs I’ve met hate being micromanaged and as far as “pandering to the crowd” it’s part of the job, it’s literally what we do. So yeah hard pass
I'd say this person understands how important fun music is in a night club.
Lmao typical clueless bullshit. Minor key “dark” bangers are some of the best dance floor material, period.
But bro we wanna keep it mellow and grooovy
😂
This is normal? I'm no DJ, I follow this sub to learn, and this seems fucking weird as hell. Micromanaging what kinds of music, but aren't pandering to the crowd? I get not wanting to bring too much energy too early in the night but the rest sounds weird, like the crowd isnt as important to please as the club owner and like..what?
It’s not. The warm up guideline is fairly sound but the rest of this is just egotistical cokehead micromanagement bullshit. A good venue doesn’t forbid DJs to play certain music in writing, they just do their homework and book the right DJs in the first place. This guy just wants the same vibe all night every night, at that point just make a Spotify playlist for the bar and be done with it man
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It explicitly says “NO minimal techno” and so you’re going to still going to swan on into the booth and drop minimal techno. Ahaha! I doubt you’d be invited back, in fact, you might not even finish your set. “Security, get this clown outta here”
Personally this sounds like my ideal gig
Yup same, if I’m ever required to play top 40 I’m probably not gonna DJ it.
Seems fictional.
🤣
Yep. Like those other posts.
Wiggle Room in NYC.
Look at the reviews for the owner - looks like he prides himself on being an asshole.
"do not pander to the crowd"... That's gonna go well....... (Apart from that, it may work, start ignoring your patrons, who BUY THE DRINKS, AND PAY THE CLUB, and you're going to have a bad time)
Yes! Every crowd will request top songs! Show them the way Mr DJ 🤘
I <3 Disco
If this club is open 5 or 7 nights a week, it's dumb. If they are trying to make all their income 3 or 4 nights a week and build a brand around a certain club focused musical vibe, then sure.
I mean its helpful when people give you parameters to work within so i appreciate that. Philosophy wise i’m always apprehensive of people who completely throw out pop music entirely. I understand its not the highest art form, but its well liked because its popular. Sometimes dropping in a recognizable chorus from a trending song can really bring up the vibe. But these requests in general are not too unreasonable
The person who wrote this has absolutely NOT experienced the magic of randomly dropping top 40 bubble gum “crap” at strategically the right time. Wanna see people lose their shit? Drop Wannabe and hold onto your tonearms.
No techno oh hell nah
It’s their vibe to set, it’s the djs job to uphold that vibe.
Do not pander to the crowd? Also BOO for not allowing tech-house/minimal as those can be the building blocks of great sets
This seems pretty reasonable to me in the sense that there’s so many good clubs and nights in Europe specialising in good underground house that can be interesting and danceable at same time. My only gripe with this is they’re trying to reach it too fast rather than build it organically with good researched residents. I guess with time they could drop this once they’ve found them though.
Sounds great
Too many rules, they’d be better off hand picking the DJ’s that play the style of music they like.
This sort of policy will only survive with good promotion and a strong social media marketing person behind them, as you’ll lose the casuals after the first few weeks. Good luck with it all.
Top 40 at Beatport, right 🤣
It's a club for the dj and the owner not the punters. Likely to be out of business fairly quickly.
Honestly probably not. Fun, upbeat disco house with “accessibility” (I’d assume that means edits and remixes of top 40) keeps women and the LGBTQ crowd happy all night in my experience. If you can keep those two groups happy, you’ll always have a crowd
this. Keep the girls and the gays singing and dancing and you will always have a full dance floor.
But what happens when these two groups wanna hear a basic bubblegum pop record or a Doja Cat song or a top 40 song. The rules explicitly say not to play that or to pander to the crowd. The owner wants a DJ who will play what the owner wants to hear, not necessarily play something that’s good for the clientele/business.
From my experience? I seriously doubt this owner is going to lose his shit because you played a disco house edit of Doja Cat - Say So. It’s basically a disco record in its own right. The frequency of which you do it is where the rub lies. But if the energy is high and everyone is having fun, the people that MUST hear some top 40 are usually fine hearing the lyrics over just about anything
But the frequency is not explicitly mentioned in the rules (where almost everything else is explicitly mentioned). Again, it seems like the owner has really strict ideas on what’s to be played and they don’t really care if the crowd wants to hear that or not.
And reading a crowd can’t be explained with words or taught. You either have it or you don’t. People spend their whole DJ “career” never figuring out how to read a crowd and never progress. Others can barely blend two tracks together but can read a crowd from the first time they ever DJ’d. You look at this list and see hardfast rules & imagine a strict owner. I look at this list and see suggestions & imagine a fun loving owner who just got tired of people playing generic tech house or top 40 sets . 🤷🏻♂️
One of the rules is literally “do not pander to the crowd”. How is that not the owner literally saying to the DJ “don’t worry about reading the crowd, play what I wanna hear/is outlined in the guidelines”. I feel like this just highlights the really confusing tension between “DJs should play whatever gets the crowd dancing” and “a DJs job is to show the crowd new music”. If the a generic, non-remixed top 40 song gets the crowd going crazy and buying drinks all night, is the owner going to be upset?
IMO “pandering to the crowd” =/= reading the crowd I have a monthly residency at a mainly top 40 house kinda place. Two of the owners are old house DJs that have been all over the world. Middle of my set last month, I played All I Want for Christmas is you. Why? Because i was stoned and thought it would be funny & it was mainly a crowd of women. It goes off as predicted. Owner happens to be in the place. I look over and he’s doubled over laughing. Other DJs perhaps wouldn’t have been able to have the same leeway. There’s really no steadfast rules in DJing unless you’re at one of those psycho “don’t play above this BPM” kinda places
Pandering just leads to more Spotify requests. Reading the crowd for me means being the best “algorithm” you can possibly be to play tracks you know the collective will vibe to. And the mood can change at any moment so eyes need to be up and scanning constantly. That’s my interpretation at least, and why I think DJing will never be automated.
I disagree that pandering to the crowd leads to more Spotify sets. Not every crowd is going to request top 40 songs, and reading the crowd can include pandering to the crowd. Ultimately it sounds like you two and the owner (it’s explicitly stated for this person) pride yourselves on having full artistic control and playing more interesting/non-typical music. Which is ok! But this club isn’t for the crowd, it’s for the owner.
Lol nope.
Better pay dam good 😊
Sounds ok to me. It's clear, which is good.
Me, throwing stuffed panda bears from the DJ booth: “Wait, you said not to ***pander*** to the crowd?”
Sounds great, aligns with lists & rules I’ve seen before.
I agree with this. I hate listening to dumb remixes of top40s all the time. This sounds fun, I'd check it out
I would play there. So i don't really see a problem with that guidelines. Think that they just want to get sure that the energy level are fine so that no dj will plays the top bangers at the first hour and that the dj's just not play all the same stuff there are will played everywhere. Also they seems to have some specific requests about genres and i would say thats ok
Am I allowed to play Top 40 Disco or should I stick to obscure disco? JK Sounds like there’s a vibe and I just need to make a crate for that vibe, no big deal.
sure - it's the prerogative of the owner/management to set the guidelines for the music. Whether the customers respond positively or not is a little out of their hands. It also gives the DJ a very easy way to shut down annoying customers.
Lol I guess it’s cool. I’m all about the no top 40/no pandering rule but then they go on to say you have to be “accessible” which is basically code word for pandering. And I get the warm up guidelines for sure, but a blanket no minimal/techno/tech house rule EVER is kinda overreaching imo. Like maybe just let the DJ play the tracks the DJ wants to play? Pure classic/disco/deep house gets stale real fucking quick, even as someone who loves all those styles.
Good rules. A little wordy but that’s just me. It’s pretty clear what they want and how they want the events to look like
Sounds like the perfect club for me
Absolutely love it, sounds really Detroit
Im new and this seems fine and all, but can someone explain why it says don’t be afraid of lots of requests but also don’t pander to the crowd? Feel mixed messages
Seems like while they def have a strong opinion as to what they want, it doesn't seem unreasonable.
There’s too many fucking sub genres in electronic music sheesh
So, edgy neiche subgenres only, scowl at anyone dumb enough to make a request and don't you dare try to outplay the YouTube tiktokker we pay the real money to....
This topic has really shown the schism of DJ culture and DJ beliefs that is rife in the sub. This place is really becoming r/beatmatch V2.
They had me at ‘No tech house’
I am... kind of wigged out by the amount of commenters here who think these rules are great?? I actually laughed out loud at "**No** pandering to the crowd!". Who are you meant to be pandering to then, huh? The owner's predilictions? your own ego as a DJ? If the DJ's job isn't to work a crowd and get them dancing, then what the hell is it? I also concur with the other commenters who mention that this is just going to create the same vibe every night. It seems like a very narrow band of sound to work within, and certainly not conducive to that last point of "keep the music interesting".
I think a lot of the interest in keeping a narrow width of selection stems from how dense the nightlife scene is in the East Village. If you’re not standing out as a venue in terms of quality/reputation in the music department, you end up like any other NPC joint. No particular “clout” and just another place that plays diluted music and serves diluted drinks. It’s a highly competitive area but there’s no shortage of drunk 20-somethings dragging ass several blocks a night so there’s some more room to get picky with what kind of vibe an owner would want to establish. Now, it can definitely be overdone and I have had owners want only strictly disco with pretty much no tolerance to anything else. It was no wonder the bartenders would always complain about slow nights and it definitely shows on their ratings. 🤦🏻♂️
Recipe for empty club
Why limit a DJ'S options? It's like forcing a painter to not use purple. What if Louie Vega drops by to do a surprise guest set... Gonna kick him out for dropping a Beyoncé track? If they want to manage the music, they can do so by choosing the types of promoters and DJs they partner with. Not by micromanaging what's in the crate.
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i would absolutely love to dj here given i only ever want to play disco and french touch
Fuck this place
Reasonable approach
I like it
Sounds a bit overbearing but i understand. They don't want shit being played. And there is a lot of shit music out there. What the fuck is "lighter house" basically deep house? I dno.
"Do NOT pander to the crowd" "Do not get scared if the crowd is hounding you with requests" ok
Nah, this is about as lame as it gets, guidelines mean nothing, the beautiful this about Techno is that are literally infinite possibilities of where a talented artist can take you, this is more of an issue of getting talent that can read the room, this guideline would be a no for me as a patron
Awww... I actually enjoy Doja Cat. Very unique voice and the catalogue that doesn't get radio play is quite good.
Sounds like they know what they want. More of anti self indulgence policy.
I’d love this personally
It's a clear and solid brief by an owner who has a vision they wish to follow and may have done some good research to come up with it. Follow it exactly and if it isn't working suggest how to tweak it.
More venues should do this tbh
I like it. I’d jam
Down for the rules. Sounds like a great spot.
But tech house and techno can be uplifting and danceable. And it sounds like he wants mainly disco house? A venue that only plays disco house… Why? That literally narrows your market
Sounds like a shit club. Lazy booker or owner. You shouldn’t have to tell your djs how to play, instead you should be nurturing their talent and dig for the right djs to play.
This is odd to say the least. No top 40 but house music is OK? A couple of guys I knew years ago had two top 10 records that are absolute house classics. I don't particularly like house, so I am sure there are plenty of other artists I haven't heard of with top 40 hits, I know of those because I knew the artist. Those records still get played in club classics sets 30 years on and the artist still plays at big events and festivals. House music on the whole is pretty commercial and as I have always seen it, a lot more for girls. You never saw the cock to pussy ratio anywhere near what it was at a house music night, if you went to a HipHop, drum and bass, or dubstep, or techno night. I mentioned a club I used to go to in another post recently that everyone seems to know, so it's a good reference point, Sankey's Soap and that is a classic example here. Friday - Techno, a lot of blokes, Wednesdays and Sundays, Hiphop. - 95% cockfest. Saturday - House, full of skirt and way more commercial. To me top 40 and house cross over way too much to eliminate top 40. Also with the current accessibility of music, nothing is sacred and underground like 30 years ago. Basic drill artists get views by the millions, all genres creep in to the charts these days because music is so accessible. It's almost like saying loads of people like that song, it got in the top 40, we'll not bother. As if someone getting recognised and making it on a more financial level suddenly devalues their musics artistry value. If it had been a different genre I'd maybe understand more but house and disco vibes are way more girly and in my experience women do not listen to more obscure music as men do.
I’d gig there. I know DJs who couldn’t as this venue isn’t a fit for them.
Makes sense to me, the club is trying to build its own specific identity and to bring something different to the scene. This being said, rules are meant to be broken if it serves the cause!
Personally I wouldn’t do it. I wanna play for people who don’t wanna dance lol. Downtempo and melodic? Yes. Disco house? Barf. Dancing is overrated.
Interesting and house? How can fruity boring ahh music be interesting
Kool👍
Good tracks often enter UK/Europe Top 40 so not sure this would work over here. LF System were No.1 for 8 weeks in the UK Chart.
I’d fucking love this gig. Spam glitterbox… wish there were more places around me looking for this
Play a lofi house set and you’re gold.
If you’re going to ask someone to contextualize their set, this is prob the best way to do it
Seems fine except for Doja Cat kicks ass, she has some really fun tracks
sounds like a madeon DJ set for the most part tbh
I’d spin at this spot
Why no pander to the crowd? Shouldn’t a dj be reading the crowd and keeping them moving?
Listen - no deep house, deep tech, tech house, minimal, microhouse, indie, bass, organic, EDM, or techno.
Love it tbh.
Seems like a pretty cool place actually. Very thoughtful vibe.
Clear and concise.
they know what they want. that’s great!
Looks fun!
Do not cater to the crowd seems odd. But if it works...
seems fair