DJing will be in 2028.

have you watched wally?

I love you man. Brilliant answer :)

The Rane 72 is so awesome! It will still be the industry standard.

AMEN! You just cant do any better than the 72. It's perfect in every way.

there will be no need for djs in 10 years, but there will be a few around like the lame wedding djs that do more than dj.

in 10 years,we'll have possibly millions of hours of Dj sets online. Those will replace djs, just like djs replaced bands. Eventually most of the gigs that people are getting now will be replaced be someone or something that may offer a set for 50-100$ from an online source that can be easily added to the venue's sound system. Once people realize they are saving 10s of thousands dollars, djs will be cancelled.

im sure some events will require djs but it should be fairly few and far between.

Same crap was said 10 years ago and will be said in 20 years.

I the last ten years, I've observed MP3 jukeboxes in bars that the patrons actually PAY to play. And the bars seem to do all right. Everyone gets a chance to hear what they want. I've seen a large bar lounge with a dance floor do well on a weekend using videos off a YouTube playlist. Set on autoplay and let YouTube do the work.

My guess, the only events that will require a DJ are ones that require an emcee.

yo man are you sure you don't need professional help with that rane addiction

know anyone that specializes in high end gear addictions?

98 - no dj software, all records, no streaming live sets(not exactly 0 but very close)

2008 - lots of people still using records and cds, many people using dvs and dvs getting popular, some streaming sets, still not very popular

2018 - very few people using records and cds, almost all people using some form digital djing, many podcasts, archived sets from all eras, new sets streamed live, huge internet sites like mixcloud & soundcloud, with hundreds of thousands if not millions of sets. Smart phone A\a pps evolving to mix(like Pyro) and to be able to dj as well. Storage very cheap, millenials become full fledged adults and realize you dont need djs. Music is almost worthless due to the ease of streaming and illegal/legal downloads.

2028 - ???

im not saying no one will dj anywhere, but lets get real, things are headed the same way they were when bands/live music started to fade out.

Less venues set up for a bands, less venues willing to pay for the costs of a band(sound guys, working equipment) and cheaper alternatives(djs or music services that supply venues music)

Even better, not if you want to hear jazzy jeff, you can just put jazzy boiler room on(ive seen this in the last year thats why i use jeff) if you want a house/trance/dnb/techno/etc legend, put on their streamed or video set.

Potential savings to venue
dj -- lets say the budges is 3 days a week 250$ a night --750$
dj drinks -- 3 nights 50$ -- 150$
extra gear and setup equipment - if venue gets gear at least 1000$ one time fee

in the first year the bar could gain 47,000$

venue already has, or is paying for
internet access
soundsystem

lets say you have someone program the system for 20k a year, you still get 27,000K as a bar owner.

of course at this point, most bar owners dont have these services easily at their fingertips and are stuck in the Bar/dj mentality. More and more small bars dont get any equipment and rely on djs to bring pretty much everything anyway. Some pay well, others dont, but i think it would be obvious to most bar owners there is no upside in paying, at minimum for paying 1000$ for a controller but really none for paying 6k for a top of the line cdj/mixer setup.

guess we'll have to wait and see.

I don't know about you, but depending on where you live, live bands are still a pretty huge thing in a lot of markets. I very rarely care for that unless I am going to a concert but just like cheesy top 40 djs there's a shitton of cheesy cover bands in a lot of small-mid sized bars out there to make me cringe.

I am not oblivious to any technology make a dent on things, but if it was going to replace DJs, TouchTunes should have killed us all off already.

but bands arent in every hotel lounge(rarely exist outside of high end hotels) or needed at every club(djs) like they were in say the 70s.

Not saying they arent a big deal, but i'd bet that the reason they are not as big in larger cities is that they're aren't as many djs with the access to the same amount of sound as most bands bring.

Even sound guy/djs are phasing a bunch of DJ's out because they have the gear and are passable as djs, since getting music isnt that hard and they work for peanuts.

I see the rise of this in the dj realm, since they work corporate gigs during the week so they have the gear, and don't worry about making 3-500 bucks(or less) for bringing out 4-5k worth of gear. I always kept 2 full range speakers around, and call my sound guy buddy for the rest, which would run around 1k. Now you get some guys with all the sound and serato for 400$. Bottom line is money.

there will be a cheaper better way thru technology (just like serato was), that will eventually take the gigs, and the money from many djs.

The DJ industry is just showing it's growing pains. Like many others, I started out DJing in clubs & bars. I eventually moved on to DJing mostly mobile events simply because the pay is much better. Now I find myself getting into music production and full scale event planning because that is where the industry is headed(and that is where the $$$ is.)

The bottom line is that we as DJs need to evolve with the times in order to stay relevant.

There's something about walking into an event and seeing a real person behind a dj set mixing it up live. Without that, it doesnt seem like a full on party. People always say or ask "Is/Was there a Dj?" That feeling can't be replaced

I got some feedback from a DJ buddy of mine whose younger sister is in high school. When the dance or prom doesn't go well, they're very quick to blame the DJ. Maybe in ten years, there will be software that can read the musical tastes of youngsters. Or the skilled mobile DJ that understands their music tastes is still needed.

its easy to figure out what kids want to hear, its just, what you can play, because of school regulations.

Avic-

I’m not worried at this point but I’m a mobile.

Friday was a wedding that required lots of heavy lifting, coordinating with the other vendors, planning ahead of time, lots of mic use from the guests, MCing, reading the crowd and winging it when random stuff popped up and rotating the music to keep everyone happy all night. And lighting.

Saturday was a private party with more heaving lifting, lots of planning, handling drunks, programming a photo booth for the event that could be run without an operator, taking requests but knowing when to play them and how.

Sunday was a club gig with lots of prescheduled “stuff” but lots of random surprises from a guest MC and again reading the crowd and obviously mixing familiar / new / underground music in a way that keeps it interesting.

If an app can do all of that - then everyone will out of a job not just DJs. For more than mindless passive entertainment the human element is still number one. Hell even video game dweebs prefer playing other humans and those are hardcore technology fanatics.

i can see this 100%, i guess im just an old club dog thats having trouble being a house dog.

to me the idea of a dj being a club and playing wedding jams makes it like a job and being a DJ in a club is like being an artist.

things change i guess

I feel you, the straight up club DJ world is shrinking but so is going out dancing as THE form of entertainment. When I was young everyone want to raves / clubs even if you didn’t dance. These days that’s not the case.

My approach is to try and take that club vibe and apply it to weddings etc... your more limited in what you play but not how you play it. For example Ring of Fire goes pretty damn well with Missy’s Work It... and at the end of the day you get paid properly vs the club making all the money.

In the long run, yes. I don't know if it will happen in the next decade, but I wouldn't discount it out of hand. Maybe it takes the better part of two decades... but it will happen.

Anything a human can do, an algorithm will eventually be able do cheaper and with a higher degree of accuracy.




All clubs used to have 'house bands' that played seven nights a week and paid well enough to support all the members of the band and their families. Then came the jukebox, and later, the DJ. Now there are no more 'house bands'... and in the future, there will be no more DJs.

There are still house bands and there will still be DJs. In just the US economy, there are tons of jobs that don't support families, that's not a band or DJ thing, it's because we don't value much anymore. So it might be one of your 2-3 jobs, but it's not going away. That is a cultural and political problem people just don't want to deal with.

Machine accuracy is not entertaining. No one is going to get excited about watching a robot play basketball or perform a scratch routine - because there is no risk. No one applauds a TV for accurately showing an image but if you can accurately paint that same image people will justifiably be impressed. Cheaper, more accurate and faster are not better when it comes to having fun.

The scary thing is that we are all having this conversation! 10 years ago I would never have even thought DJing as we know it could fade away but now it seems more of a certainty.

All mediums/industries evolve so now its the DJ industries' turn.

I didn't think of DJ sets online, good point. In an ultra cheesy way, to combat the lack of a "human factor" I imagine some company is going to come out with holograms of a "DJ" as part of their stock collection within the next 10 years. Yikes!



Are these sports bars or are these dance clubs? I hear ya with the youtube playlists but do you think a dedicated dance club could get away with mp3 jukebox?



You sir, will do just fine. Sounds like a person with years of industry experience.

Adaptation is essential, although that means moving away from the 1's and 2's. But there will always be people who just want to play some tunes and flex their skills behind the decks.


577er - You make good points about the human element at gigs like weddings. There are lots of announcements and impromptu speeches that require on the fly thinking and reaction. That would currently be hard to automate, although with learning software, I wonder if it would be possible in 10 years. Although you still need a tech to hook up cords.

But the intelligent learning software was something I think - DetroitbootyBass - was pointing out.

it would remind me of what crooklyn clan did with mashups but with all sorts of online sets ex Jazzy Jeff at boilerroom or exclusive mixes from top djs........wait

shit i need to do this lol

the computer will dj better then you

I just noticed Jazzy Jeff's endorsement of 'auto scratch' supposedly to 'learn and practice' lol. on a controller lol.

...of course if Pioneer highers Jeff to tell us there is nothing wrong with a sync button, or 'auto scratch' and it's just technology blah etc. it must be good. Interesting thing he also said is that DJing is about selecting the right music (which Jeff still does, yet doesn't need to very much because it's him playing) but what happens when the algorithms are selecting better tracks than you? Because that's deffenetly the direction we are headed too.

If the computer can technically pull off everything you do including selection why have a DJ?

Even MCing could be more entertaining with hologram or live link to a reality star DJ.

Will there be absolutely no DJ's, of course not. Just like there are still record labels that release rocords on cassette.

The reason is mostly manufacturers making product which make it easier and easier and easier to DJ, to the point where anyone can do it, without practice just press start.

So.... to summarize, we all seem to see technology finally doing away with the live DJ (with a few exceptions) in 10 years. Whether it be recorded DJ sets, boiler room type video replays or a stupid hologram with spikey frosted hair named todd, raising his hologram hands in the air.

After seeing the advances in the last decade, I can't say that this seems too unrealistic. hmmm....

everyone is so full of it, music is going to evolve and change and there is always going to be a demand for a live performance by real human beings. EDM will be dead and will be what we now consider "oldies". There will be some crazy new music that comes out and all the young kids will go crazy over it.

sure, I always say humans will want to see other humans perform..... but, there are plenty places where the DJ guy is what people don't like.

I realized this in a club in Vegas when the club just let some go-go dancers play songs off iTunes, people danced it was fine...

And perform, doing what? Dancing around like an idiot in a both is perfectly good entertainment.

Mobile DJ here.....In the past month I’ve had 2 gig cancellations, one was scheduled later this month (teenage BD party) and the other booking was scheduled to take place in early June (graduation party).

Gig #1-The reason for the BD party cancellation, it was stated that the teenager decided to have his party at his friend’s house who happen to have a integerted sound system (ceilings/walls) built into his home. They plan to play tunes from what I assume an iPod playlist. His parent mentioned to me that the money she allocated to pay for my set was requested to be part of his BD gift. She said she tried her best to convince him otherwise, but he was adamant that they could have just as good of a time by playing their own music.

Gig #2- The parent of the teenager mentioned that her daughter had changed her mind, and would prefer their funds to go toward a hotel room for her and her friends after the graduation concludes. Her plans are to hit some clubs and head to a hotel afterwards. The set was scheduled to take place at her resident.

In both cases I already collected non-refundable deposits, which both clients totally understood and didn’t make mention of when they informed me of cancelling. It appears that this generation aren’t into the private sets. As it relates to technology taking the place of humans I can recall 3-5 years ago being booked for private gigs, and just the sheer amount of people who attended was based solely on the fact that they knew a DJ was going to be present.

This is the way I see it. If you came up in the era of live bands and when a dj was the center platform of a party (80s-90s), you cherish that and will usually seek it out as a client a live band or DJ when it time to throw down an event....that nostalgia effect. In this new era there’s so much tech out there that tries to emulate that vibe and atmosphere, and with people attempting to save a dime, the DJ is the first to come to mind to save a dime. Check CL out. People have undercut themselves so much that they are willing to run a set for 4-5 hours for $100-$150 total. In return, individuals seeking our service are slowing thinking that what we do is just a minuscule mundane task that’s undeserving of what it costs to provide professional services.

Exactly why I keep DJ'ing as a hobby and have a phenomenal day job that allows me to sit around, stare at a screen, receive exceptional retirement benefits and post stuff on these forums all day.

You’re a webcam girl?

lol
or a Russian.

exactly.

also everyone wants to control the music. Well with about an hour making a playlist they can. and if you dont have it, someone else can plug in their phone....

want a real dj, turn on youtube/mixcloud/soundcloud and find a mix.

again everything comes down to money. Like you(the quoted post) said, first money that goes is the dj. Every kid knows you dont need one. Older folks, people plus 40, knew the pain of having to switch records/tapes/cds and they think, 'we need a dj', younger folks never had that.

They have heard their beginner friends play crappy music, and think anyone older than 25 wont connect with them(because they wont) and/or they went to some party and they had a wack ass mobile dj and they are afraid of that happening to them.

Its the same thing in bars. They arent going to fire the guy or gal making 2$ at the bar or the cook or the security, YOU, the dj, are the no 1 cost.

Guess who'll get the the boot first? THE DJ

“everyone wants to control the music.” this is why DJs will still be around - too many chefs spoil the broth. Too many half ass ego maniacs who couldn’t plan 4 hours of music if their life depended on it sure as hell is not the answer. Maybe you don’t add anything beyond playing songs iTunes style but real DJs will always be in demand.

if the app is selecting and mixing and etc. for you, that's not DJing.

The “everyone wants to control the music” comment is spot on! In the past 2-3 years people requesting a song to be played has skyrocketed. I somewhat write this off to all the sub-genres that have popped up over the past few years. Grant it, I’m a old school hip hop guy who has kept up with the trendy stuff that I dig to certain degree. As we move forward many artists are crossing over across multiple genres to capture a larger market, and quite frankly most of it doesn’t line up with my style of djaying.

I have a deep library of over 100k songs on my external hard drives, and typically move songs over to special playlists depending on the client’s wishes and the type of event being held. My aggravation has always come from the younger generation, 18-40, who just insist you play song after song from some obscure artist I have never heard of. I use 3 music pools and can say that I do keep up with the latest stuff, but our millennial generation will test you.

If I have a roadie with me one of his/her job is to block requestors. If it’s not a client request I try my best from taking special requests from people who think we are simply a jukebox. Of course they may think we’re not “real djs” because you don’t play those obscure songs or not take their requests. This contributes to a certain group who think they can rock a party better than a paid dj. Just my .02!

Good thoughts. Bummer about the cancelations but you're a vet by getting those non-refundable deposits. Bravo :)

Eek! Never thought of it that way, but it's true. As an old person, my mind automatically jumps to the "pain" of having to do that. Shooooot, I don't have music or apps on my phone because of "the pain"

18-40 is younger generation?

Yes....As it relates to me. I still trying to get my 32 year old son to avoid growing pains!!! Sometimes I think I’m talking to a brick wall..lol Kids I tell ya!!!

BTW...When I say kids.....I mean no disrespect nor are my intentions to generalize the group I’m referring to. There are many individuals who this doesn’t apply to. I’m only speaking on my personal experiences, so my words are only a representation through my lenses.

but thats the point. if someone doesnt have a song or is playing wack songs, someone just takes the aux cord or the bluetooth connection over.

and im not saying the people can do it better, but people arent seeing the value in dj'ing since you can, basically (very basically, to certain extents), do it by yourself.

its like cooking a burger, you can do it yourself, go get the ingredients, fire up an oven/cook top/grill, get the plates, napkins, etc, and then finally eat OR you can go to mcdonalds and get a hamburger, or even go to a store and get a frozen hamburger and heat it in the microwave. 9/10 people dont want to take the time/effort/money these days to make a proper burger.

my real question is where will music go from here.... I mean with synths we have infinite possibilities but what can we make that sounds good, that doesn't already sound like something that has been made popular before
i also think it's ironic that in a world where you can create practically any sound you want everything sounds so similar

everything sounds the same in the small slice of music you've been exposed too. lots more out there.

but, the more same sounding music people want, the easier it is for a computer to fake DJ.

How will this affect pricing? Will DJs be forced to drop pricing so that they don't loose gigs to an IPad.

i'm talking more about pop specifically. I mean I know it's the same genre but still

As a DJ, I am still going to be really cut-throat with my response, I am also pretty tipsy, so lets see where this goes.

The only real advantage a DJ brings is being able to read a crowd, and play music that will make the crowd go nuts. That being said, i dont think you can "program" spontaneity. But in reality, that is the only "thing" that a DJ has that makes them special. From gig to gig, we can change up what we play or how we play it, but honestly most of what we do can be automated.

Play only top radio songs - just automate it
Play only requests - just automate it
Play scratch sounds - automate different scratch loops to the beat

Much of what we do relys on our ability to take what we have, and adapt. That being said, i think within 10 years, the technology/software will exist where computers can visualize the dancefloor, and adjust accordingly.

The scary thing is, as im writing this post, im realizing how automated our profession really can be..

1.Pick a few Genres the crowd will most likely want to hear
2. Select 100 songs from a database of the most played songs the last year or 3 years
3. Mix in requests from a crowd before the event (send invite asking crowd what they want to hear); take top requests and make sure to play them
4. Use visualization software to see what the crowd responds well to

All this is stuff we (at least mobile DJ's) try to figure out during a gig anyways.
The only thing a computer cant do is read the crowd and be creative. but honestly someone will probably make the software to do so, soon.

When it comes down to it, the thing that makes the most excited about DJ's (personally) is their ability to pick the "perfect" song for a moment. I dont think a computer will ever be able to do that, because that relies on not only seeing how many people are dancing, but reading their facial expressions and body emotions as well, , and again spontaneity/creativity is impossible to program, but as far as...
1. having a sound system
2. having a means to play available music (i.e the internet)
3. being able to play music a crowd enjoys
we are probably in trouble...
Did yall see the google duplex presentation at google iO 2018? We are soon to be a dying breed lol. We arent cost effective. People will probably just start renting our equipment hahaha

like i said, im fairly tipsy, so i wanna see what sort of hate/response i get from this.

I don't think technology can't take our jobs (to a limited degree) but I don't think the special event market / dj market is large enough for the sharpest minds to stop working on self driving cars and focus on automating fun. Hell the real money is in video games not dancing theses days.

When I go out it's because of the DJs selection & the vibe they set with their party. Everything else is secondary even the mixing although that's genre specific - not going to give a wack d&b dj my money - but lots of genres I'll let even wack mixing slide if the party is good. A computer is never going to create a "vibe". I'm never going to walk over the booth and say damn C3PO that shit was bananas, where did you find that cut? Just ain't going to happen.

I love this point so much, and i agree with you. But the only thing that makes a DJ different from a computer is creativity, including the different versions we can get of a song.

We're probably safe for like 15 years...

There is a tone of work being done on all sorts of curation algorithms. DJs might still be able to make interesting selections. But most likely algorithms with access to the right data and music will make better selections overall. Also, if it is listening to you play and watching reactions - go ahead and play the secrete party banger - it will play it too in a similar situation.

I already run all of my gigs off an iPad. Zero effort, zero mixing. I'm not even in the booth half the time, typically eating appetizers and at the bar.

Eventually they will get tired of fighting over who gets to choose the music and deciding what songs to play. They will designate someone to be in charge of the music. I wonder what they will call that person? My guess is The DJ.

my guess is they will just let it stream and call it the computer

'Deep Dream' and 'Aiva' prove that AI already possess the ability to create original and uniquely creative works autonomously.

I hope so. I'll be over 60 years old and probably can't carry a turntable case.

even if it's not 'creative' it could seem that way.

you know how people think the computer is reading their minds with the curated adds that pop up just for them - yeah like that

I think the true threat is Spotify & Pandora. In past it was about your music collection ($) and sound equipment. People can get what they want and when they want it without a significant investment. The on-demand culture is allowing people feel in-control and impatient. It is that feeling of easily being in control that scares me about the DJ culture future... For DJ to thrive… we need trust and patience to let us work…

However, I don’t see djing dying though… The tech in 10 years will probably weed out the whack to average djs entering the scene now and the money will dry out for the normal DJ. Like we are starting to see now you will have to supplement your dj skill with other things to survive (like marketing, producing or being your own promoter) or have a day job. Tech will never replace the “soul” and when you hear a good DJ that connects with their crowd, its undeniable. But if the youngins don’t hear a good one, we are in trouble. We are moving to a place where we will have to prove our worth instead of ppl just knowing “hey I should get a DJ”. In summary, I think the tech will weed out the non creative no talent dj, which might not be a bad thing in the long run.

Pandora is pretty good and it'll get better. I have a lot of music but I listen to pandora all of the time. It's hella good at picking more songs that I want to hear.

They are good but I worry about the long term future of the company. They have been cutting a lot of staff over the year.

I would expect it to be a streaming service working with software/hardware companies that come up with a fully automated DJ service.

I think within the next ten years or twenty we will be surprised at how creative, soulful and personally connecting computers can pretend to be.

all started with that bitch ass sync button

some 15 yr old will write the auto dj software in 5-10 years for his high school science project.

Yep this is probably going to be the case. But will only play the future version of dubstep until some middle management type see the real potential.

There was a comment back about school gigs... I just did a rather large prom Sat night for a well mixed demographic. Whew - that was nerve racking. All the kids kept doing was coming up and requesting ghetto songs that didn't even have clean edits available (on several pools). Thank goodness my partner gave them the scoop on explicit song requests. Finally, one dude asked..."Don't you just use youtube?" Man - kids these days. Instant gratification and no appreciation for the work we do.

Anyways, I got booked for next year already, so... :)

i got a rubber stamp that I brand people with that says " No Requests" in Red! only cotst £8

so far its been doing the job.

Typical high school kids, however when I was doing those gigs I would just play whatever they wanted to hear and didn't GAF about it being clean or not. Especially when doing songs in the ghetto, they don't care at all.

my middle school had a large hispanic and black community, and the kids there blasted explicit rap in the hallways all the time. The teachers just kinda gave up telling them to stop.

Maybe teachers expect profanity in music and is ok with it as long as it doesn't promote violence or demeaning to women.

It's a razor's edge man!

so, not rap then lmao
hoesbitcheshoeshoesbitches

I think it depends on the genre to be honest. For house and techno, spotify and things like that will not work because their libraries for these genres are too limited in this regard. But for genres like hip hop and the like, you could make the case.

If the tech gets to the point where it can mix and improvise, surprise people and be cheeky then we won’t have any clients because everyone will be out of a job. I’d be more worried about the economy at large going south due to tech replacing middle class jobs than mixing software or Spotify - which is busy locking itself away from auto mixing and DJ platforms.

To OP:
At raves as usual.

:V