I mean......it's too many ways to look at it, and I'm not sure what your agenda is (although I'm pretty sure you have one.)

I'll speak from both points of view.

Sometimes, I'll go to a club and realize what the DJ doesn't play...whether it's a new song, or anything from a certain artist, or an entire genre. In most cases, I assume that he's qualified and knows the crowd he has, so it's no reason for him to play that...and I also assume that the promoter or owner told him not to play this as well.

On the other side...sometimes I feel like the DJ is allowed to go wherever he wants, but is either limited in his knowledge, or with that crowd. So this means that he may be playing all Genres, and he gets the biggest response from 80's Rock...but because he only has 5 songs, he only plays these five, and spends the rest of the night crap shooting hoping to get some kind of reaction.

What I think is more common at legit spots is scenario one. I have plenty of friends who will complain about what the DJ at certain spots don't do..."you shoulda DJ'd, he was playing bullshit! He would play Nelly, then Chingy, then Genie in a bottle!! It's 2012, WTF!!!!"...yet they don't even halfway realize that he might be ordered to play this. Some DJ's do this, and will say "fuck it, this crowd wants Party rock" and he'll play it, get great reaction, then get cussed out by the promoter who said "NO FUCKING PARTY ROCK!!!" and immediately transition into some BS, and have the crowd like "the hell are you doing????"

What also happens is that some of us DJ's are still too selfish, as the regular club goers are, and only wanna hear what WE wanna hear...so we might judge a DJ for things that we shouldn't. My favorite song is probably Problem "Like whaaat" but if I go to a club where there's barely any Rap, or a Down South locals Rap club that ONLY plays Southern music, I'm not gonna say "man this DJ need to play 'Like whaaat' because that's what EYE want to hear." What I might say, is "damn, he really played all the new hits EXCEPT All Gold everything, Birthday song, Pop that, and Bandz....I wonder why not...." but that rarely happens.

I don't know....it's late and I probably rambled a 5 point essay that might not even answer the question, but yeah.

As far as your thread question, thats kinda like a band askin if people have to like how they play to be a good band.

From my experience as a dj i HATE HATE HATE when people do the "why didnt you play any ".....yes miss your absolutley right its my fault YOU showed up to an event clearly labeled wobble bass wednesday with 5 dubstep djs booked full of dubstep fans and noobe played rick ross" obviously IM the asshole in this situation and i appologize that you went to the wrong place for what you wanted, heres your $10 cover back why dont you go down to tacobell and pick up some pasta for later

I can say from experience that sometimes I just forget to play some tracks. I have left a gig and on the drive home myself been like "crap, I could have played this, this, and this." Or some nights I purposefully don't play certain tracks so my nights don't sound like they repeat every week. But personally I think catering to the crowd is necessary. If you want the crowd to stay then you need to play what will keep them there. Even in Bezzles example it's true. He caters to the dubstep/wobble bass crowd on a certain night. Just because an individual doesn't get it is tough titties. The crowd dictates the style of music.

Not necessarily, there are situations that you DONT want the crowd to stay, if your venue decides to cater to a particular venue it may be necessary to run off people. For example my at my past residency we had an urban crowd, we merged with another club and the decesdion was my section would beggin catering to more of a hipster/EDM crowd, thats the crowd they wanted in that area so it would be counter productive to keep catering to the crowd we had and not going for the crowd we wanted. If i want to attract a crowd (or a following for myself) of people that want to hear excision and zomboy all night it does neither me or the venue any good to please the person who DOSENT want that and wants flo rida all night.

BTW just reread the comment i quoted....not sure if you were agreeung if disagreeing, you kinda took a left turn mid point lol

was agreeing with you bro...hahahah i know its hard to believe but not everyone is out to get you ALL the time

Yeah, sorry man. Agreeing.

Lol! Glad were all on the same page!

You always have to cater to a "crowd" in some way. Even if the crowd is your following. You have to cater to thme in the way they would expect. That way could be just simply playing what you want to play but it's still catering to a crowd in a way

I agree

Man if a crowd wants catering let them call out for chicken wings and finger foods, if they want that hotfya they can come watch me cater to myself lol

hotfya?
Watchwww.youtube.com

yes

mmm taco bell pasta....

If you're SUPER lucky you have a residency that you can play the stuff you like on an off night. If you're playing a MONEY night like Fri/Sat I expect to cater to the masses and maybe squeeze in something interesting here and there.

I still think even with youtube/soundcloud/etc DJ/VJ are in the position to educate their crowds to great new and sometimes underground music. You can't just get so ego driven you beat people over the head with it.

Thx 4 all replies !!!

Very Interesting

the thing I hate is how these new dj's play the same shit over and over again. seriously. I know a dj that uses virtual dj and a laptop in the club and he uses sync and automix. the promoter sux and he went from the best dj's to the worst dj. but they play for the crowd. last week kid fresh was in the club and the promoter was like you gotta get on and he was like there is no turntables, just a guy on a laptop and no mixer. we was laughing our ass off. some of these dj's get $50 to spin or do it for free.

also i wont say catering to the crowd makes you a better dj if you have just a laptop and virtual dj

This just happened to me. I realized I was in a rut and would generally play a lot of the same songs together. So I play older stuff now to keep it fresh (oxymoron?) and try to squeeze newer music in between bangers more often. I am currently trying to get my crowd to learn and get into Bubble Butt.

Meh, everybody can play the new shit on repeat all night. I figure if you can find and work in those "damn! I forgot how good this song was" tracks all night....people will remember you more than just playing the top40 all night.**

**May not be true for sheep.

I threw Juicy over fucking problems, that good a good ass reaction. Also played Hotel by R.Kelly at the end of the night, ohh shitt reaction too.