Is the 'art' of djing really a dying art?

 Djing as an art form is dying!

Not to get all sanctimonious (this isn't what this is about), but to set the scene for those that don't know, I'm now 46 years old and of that 46 years I've been a professional DJ for 25 of those years, meaning I've held residencies and travelled playing a number of variations of set lengths and musical styles in that time. I'm certainly no Carl cox or even remotely close to that but compared to many, many others I've been very fortunate and I'll forever be grateful for the opportunities I've had and continue to have. 

When I started out djing, roughly around 1995/96 it's well documented that djing was different, and to be really honest, djing will always evolve, certainly in its technical iteration will always be moving and so it should. What I'm referring to in this particular instance is the art form from the perspective of its culture, the notion that the music... the clubs, the dark corner clubs, the small intimate venues.... the journey of the set are no longer the most important part of this and seem to be disappearing, certainly from where I'm standing anyway! As events become ever more prominent and we hear of now weekly club closures across the globe in major cities, there's definitely a shift.... is it a good one though?

Now before I go any further this is not me (as I'm sure many will think when reading my age will think) trying to say, "it's not as good as it once was" kind of rhetoric, far from that in fact! I am a huge fan of many of today's iterations musically, I'm still playing after all, so trust me when I say that's not my viewpoint. However, as events get bigger, line ups become more uniform, shorter sets and as mentioned, the many small club closures are impacting (I believe negatively) club culture and the music industry as a whole. There is no longer those spaces where djs 'learn' their craft whether it's playing wedding sets, early warm up sets or that awkward feeling of clearing floors to learn what works and what doesn't. There just doesn't appear to be that platform any more... not in the main! There are exceptions... Space in Miami and Stereo in Montreal are 2 places that instant spring to mind that have continued to follow the ethos of longer sets, varied line ups and the MANY DJs that play there seem to revere the chance to play there. In fact... one that I forgot to mention, much more local to me is Joshua Brooks in Manchester that has recently seen all night long sets from Mark Knight and several other bigger DJs that by all accounts have been huge successes! I am sure globally there are many more and far too many to list but in the interest of being concise these were the ones I instantly think about. So if this is the case and we have DJs that want to play them and the nights/days themselves being a success, why are there not more of these types of events?

As a bit of a Marvel nerd I'm a fan of the quote, "with great power comes great responsibility", and from my perspective there are powers within the industry that should be doing more. However, and unfortunately the money these powers are now making has become the central point rather than the longevity! 

We live in a world now driven by social media, TikTok, Insta reels, stories... 2 minute extended versions of tracks on Spotify. That's the world that has been created for the new generation, and it revolves around attention span and look.... I get it... but.... this was nurtured, it didn't just happen, it was planned, calculated, thought out! So can this not be evolved to benefit these areas that need it? 

I saw a post by a popular DJ, not long back where they were talking on their instagram on the club closures. Important to note this DJ is well established, relevant to the current music styles and age groups, but looking through their events calendar were playing all big events outside the UK (some inside). So I reached out to them, stating that it's so important for those lucky enough to hold large communities to transfer that into supporting that change with things like club only tours (as an example)... after all, how else would they drive change for impacting club popularity? I was hoping I might get something stating a plan for a big tour. After all this DJ has ad continues to use their platform well to create awareness and engagement for movement for many other topics within Dance Music. Interestingly... to this day I haven't even received as much as an acknowledgement from this DJ on that comment. Seems a lot of those 'at the top' only want to spearhead change when it suits THEIR narrative and agenda.

I digress though.... as a music fan I love the idea of a musical journey, I still get excited at the prospect. I'm less attracted to the bigger events these days and as a DJ I find it quite stressful to compile 60 minutes or 45 minutes of 'bangers' that really reflect me but still giving the crowd what they want. 

What do you think? Would you want to see more clubs with DJs playing all night or a warm up set and a headline? What do you think is impacting clubs? Be interested to hear your thoughts...

Thank you for reading if you got this far, see you again soon 👍 x