When Worlds collide or the structured DJ

logoDjingWith summer going on – and especially a REAL summer like this one – it seemed my usual sources of inspiration were running dry. But then, all of a sudden, after discussing with a fellow DJ who happens to be a master student of mine, the idea was there, bringing together my favourite three topics: marketing, DJing and management.

We were talking about the life and career of famous acts. Now if you look at those people´s vitae, it very often seems that their career is mostly a mater of sheer luck – being in the right place, having the right contact at the right itme. Would they also be famous if their contact with an important producer had happened two weeks later? Maybe, but maybe not!

Now you could of course say, that´s life and so on, but I´d like to show you a different approach, starting with this very article. Bringing together management and marketing knowledge with the beginning career of a young and ambitious DJ. Very often you´ll hear that is impossible, you can´t combine creativity with structure, but that is exactly what all those successful(!) people working for advertising agencies do all the time. Producing a creative idea for a product campaign they integrate customer information, potential benefits with a lot of advertising psychology. Only following this road you end up with the great examples of advertising like the Marlboro Man, Frito Bandito, the Old Spice campaign

Which brings me to another interesting similarity between artist and companies. In fact a DJ is a one man/one woman brand: offering a product, having a certain image and specific core competencies, communicating messages and negotiating deals. But compared to successful businesses most DJs DO NOT spend much time with structuring their path to success, it´s rather a mater of luck or none such. If you look into the „How to“ books of DJing you´ll find a lot of information on transitions, beat matching, building a set and so forth, but nothing about how to differentiate yourself from other DJs and how to make yourself attractive for club owners.

But who ever said that structered marketing approaches, working so well for companies, do not work for an artist? Stay tuned!

Mehr zu diesem Thema…