A disc jockey commonly referred to as a DJ – are artists who perform or play recorded music, beatbox or rap; transition sounds and manipulates them on popular demand.
They are popular hosts in nightclub parties and are experts in engaging the audiences with their coherent music transitions.
Whenever we think of famous DJ artists, names like – David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris, Chainsmokers come to our mind.
They have had their successful DJ careers and have produced multiple music records as well.
If you read their stories, you will learn that they started relatively young, and with time plummeted their presence in the music industry.
Having said so, I now present some more generic qualities that a DJ or an artist must-have, to reign a successful career in their lives.
To become a successful artist in any field you must have the below generic traits:
Table of Contents
1. Practice a lot
They say practice makes a man perfect – they do not lie saying so. This is indeed very important to stay occupied and connected to your passion, finding erroneous mistakes and improving yourself overtime – creating a better version of yourselves every time.
Practice will prepare you to be a master of all trades if you indeed have the sheer resilience and determination to attain the same in your life.
Practice helps in strengthening one’s understanding and also helps in increasing familiarity with their work.
Practicing and rehearsing your work periodically will reduce your stress, improving your performance and co-ordination.
2. Patience and Persistence in required
When you are an artist who has just begun, you will have to keep infinite patience to achieve your pre-determined goal.
There will be failures or incessant hurdles, but the key to success would be to overcome them with patience and persistently keep forging ahead.
An artist should be able to strategically plan his/ her forthcomings and patiently apply them in their work to attenuate the frequency of his failures.
As the saying goes – when there is a will, there is a way, persistence will help you rise even when the times are rough and will assist you in maintaining a successful business career and life.
Persistence boosts one’s inner energy and keeps an individual motivated and determined. In order to overturn failures, one must learn to embrace them and transform obstacles to stepping-stones to success.
Learning to become a successful DJ artist does not end up happening in a day. It comes with constant learning, practicing and nurturing.
It is necessary to understand that you need to trust yourself, before going ahead in achieving ventures.
3. Be Ambitious
Artists should never shy off from experimenting. Taking inspiration from fellow artists and adopting ways in transitioning the music is the key to remaining fresh and unique in your field.
It is necessary to have an instinctive approach as an artist, which shall aid you in becoming a show-stellar. Identifying profound moments in your career and applying them to your work is a necessity to achieve success.
An artist should be ambitious and not fear from taking risks, to be able to create vital possibilities in their career.
Being ambitious helps one to achieve goals that they may have considered difficult before, prompting them to work harder, instilling confidence in them at the same time.
Ambitious people are known to take charge of their own life and are not dependent on others for their needs.
They develop strong willpower and determination over time which in turn helps an artist to grow and flourish in their careers.
4. Become a good listener
A good listener is quite an observant of his/ her surroundings and is able to pick right from wrong, identify loopholes, provide a just review and develop a good amount of patience in understanding problems and rectifying them.
A good listener should be humble, open to criticism and ready to mold themselves as per the feedback received.
A good listener in the field of music should keep an open ear to various sounds around and should be able to assimilate them in his track.
A good listener is open to transparency and open communication. Good communication is obligatory in maintaining meaningful relationships, developing mutual trust which in turn will help one to deliver their work with fewer mistakes.
Being a good listener will also help you in gaining knowledge on new perspectives and shall provide you vital insights related to your work.
5. A creative mind
Being passionate and bearing good skills is definitely an add-on in the path of becoming a successful artist.
Being able to absorb inspirations from surroundings and converting them to your genre is an ability every artist must possess.
A creative mind allows you to rediscover yourself and gives you an ample opportunity to express your hidden talents.
Mastering the skill of DJing with constant practice is not the only way of becoming a successful DJ, but also concentrating on how you express your music to the world.
Focusing on one genre at a time, mastering it and then moving on to the next will widen your skill-set and give you multiple career aspects as a DJ in the music world.
In short, a creative mind is a pre-requisite commodity to every innovation.
A creative mind paves the way in discovering new ideas and applying them to existing proforma.
As a DJ it is important that you stay in touch with music so that you can construct your track diligently.
6. Getting acquainted with modern technology
Modern instruments play an important role in every artist’s life.
A disc jockey’s main role in mixing tracks, amplifying sounds, introducing rap, using turntables, playing recorded music to get along with the crowd is done with the help of modern technology.
When you are stepping into the music industry it is essential that you are tech-savvy enough to be able to present yourself properly.
The recent developments in the realm of software have made playing live and excelling the proficiency to make a seamless transition from one track to another; at the same time modulating volumes and introducing rap in between, quite easier.
7. Flexibility
Reading the audience and preparing yourselves to be flexible is the new mantra – it ables a performer to adapt to his/ her surroundings and be the best version of themselves.
DJs sometimes face an immense pressure of entertaining crowd or play music as per public demand.
Changing an atmosphere is a crucial step and it does develop within an individual with patience and practice.
Learning how to gauge the audience with your taste and your energy is a skill that you should learn as an artist.
Flexibility helps you to learn how to overcome challenges and encourages you to step out of your comfort zone.
One must also keep in mind, that even-though technology today has helped us to a great extent, however, nothing can replace a good taste and a good skill.
As a DJ it is necessary to identify what your audience wants and keep trying to make it better for them.
In the end, we need to understand that we are in an entertainment business and we need to be able to act on instinct but be careful at every step.
8. Correct exposure and connecting with the right people
Correct exposure is an essential step in building a career, provided this is done in baby steps, patiently and correctly.
Starting with small gigs and eventually creating an online platform wherein you engage with your fans and express your talent constructively and immaculately is a mandated step to gain positive popularity, which will, in turn, help you in boosting your career.
Take up small ventures to gain the correct exposure and experience. Promoting your music online is a good idea, however, this is best if done after creating a small fan-base for yourself.
Connect to your fans on a regular basis and encourage them to spread your work.
Uploading videos of your performance in social media is the most popular way to achieve fame in your work.
But do keep in mind that an exuberant hype can be off-putting hence try to be honest with your fans and appreciate your fellow colleagues. People will love you more if you are humble towards others.
Connecting with people in the industry and taking notes on how to progress within the industry as a fresher, will give you a fair idea of what to expect in your journey.
It is important to understand that there will be a fair amount of struggle in establishing yourself in the industry. Staying in touch with music labels and staying up to date with every music publication will help you stay focused on your career.
Avoid wrong people in the industry as it may lead to confusion and also set up a false boundary that you may not be able to cross mentally, which shall inhibit you from building a successful career.
This, in turn, will pull you off from venturing ahead in pursuing a successful career.
As an artist it is important to understand that it is okay to fail, however, it is more important on how you learn to pull yourself together and not stop altogether from following your passion.
Please remember to not let anyone else take control of what you think and what you must do.
It is okay to listen to others for advice and guidance; however, you must be the only one to decide on how to progress further in your career.
9. Self-confidence
A confident individual will not deter under undue stress and will perform their best no matter what. Self- confidence equates leadership qualities in an individual which will in turn influence others around.
A confident person exudes positivity, motivation and eminent presence.
Self-confidence helps in getting rid of societal pressure and anxiety and makes one fearless and comfortable enough to face the world.
As an artist, a DJ must be confident enough to face a large crowd and play their track without any hesitation.
10. Originality in music
This is the foremost important aspect to be taken care of, by every artist. As an individual and human being, it is necessary to understand that plagiarism is not OK.
Stealing someone else’s work and representing them to be yours, without giving actual credit to the original artist is cheating and is referred to as ‘wrongful appropriation’ and ‘stealing’.
It is important to understand that every artist may or may not come up with original ideas, but yes presenting them in an original way is important.
As an artist, it is also important to understand that every work is delivered with utmost efforts – hence addressing this trait is a work ethic and should be followed by all.
11. Staying humble
It is worth noting that even though you develop a huge fan base and become highly popular, you would still meet people who may not like your work and that is okay – you can never please everyone in the crowd.
Staying professional, supporting your fellow colleagues and being thoughtful and considerate towards others will earn you love and support from people.
As a DJ it is important that you address requests from the audience, however, you also need to understand where to draw a line.
Try to be polite but firm when a request cannot be catered – people will understand.
12. Discipline and Punctual
In addition to what has been discussed, please do remember that dressing yourself to suit an occasion and reaching the venue on time also counts up to how professional and serious you are with your work.
As a professional it is also important to note that you are always on time – this increases your credibility. Respecting people’s time will earn you respect as it reflects your commitment to your work.
Conclusion
To summarize, in order to become a successful DJone needs to learn to play different musical instruments and take classes on how to mix genres efficiently.
Finding inspiration around, taking advice from seniors in the industry, setting goals, keep making music and using the appropriate medium for marketing is significant to build a successful career.
Set up a brand for yourself and create your online presence. Also, try deciphering chances to perform live to increase your audience.
I hope the above-mentioned points help beginners who are fond of music build a successful career in the music industry.