Influencer DJs and Business-Owner DJs

If you love music, everyone should DJ

To begin with, I think that anyone who loves music should try DJing at least once.

When you DJ, you start paying attention to the beats, phrases, structure, development, and layering of sounds in songs you used to listen to only casually.

Why does the room get excited here?
Where does the track change?
Why do these two tracks connect so naturally?

You start thinking about things like this, and the way you hear music itself changes.

So whether you are an influencer, a business owner, or a celebrity, I welcome you starting to DJ.

If anything, I'd like even more people to do it.

They have powerful weapons from the start

On top of that, influencers and business owners have weapons that DJs who have only done DJing don't necessarily have.

Influencers have influence.

Just by introducing the songs and DJs they like, they may be able to bring music to many people who had no interest in dance music before.

Business owners, depending on the person, have funds, a network, planning ability, and the power to make things happen.

They can plan parties themselves. They can invest in new events. They can bring people from outside the music world to clubs and festivals.

Looking at the DJ scene as a whole, these are quite powerful weapons.

Being famous and being a good DJ are different things

On the other hand, having many followers does not necessarily make someone a good DJ.

Having money and connections doesn't mean you can pick great tracks either.

If you have just started DJing, it is only natural that you lack DJ experience: music knowledge, track selection, set construction, mixing, and the ability to read the floor.

The problem is not that influencers or business owners DJ.

It is being satisfied with the influence or title they already have, and not engaging seriously with DJing itself.

Conversely, if they add an understanding of music and real DJ ability to that, they become extremely strong.

That's because they may already have, from the start, the "power to be known by people" that would normally take a long time to build.

Influence × track selection
Funds × understanding of music
Network × DJ ability

You don't need to throw away the weapons you already have and become an "ordinary DJ."

You just need to combine those weapons with music.

John Summit was also originally an accountant

John Summit also didn't live on music alone from the start.

He studied accounting in graduate school, became a CPA (certified public accountant in the U.S.), and kept making music and DJing while working in accounting.

But what matters in his example is not only that "even a former office worker can become a DJ."

He put an enormous amount of time into production itself.

On top of that, he is also quite deliberate about things beyond the music.

During the pandemic, he built a community with fans by doing Instagram Live repeatedly, and tied his own character into promotion of new tracks as well.

After that, he started his own label and expanded into events and a brand.

He has also made statements to the effect that he thinks of himself as something like the "CEO of John Summit."

To me, his rise looks quite strategic.

Of course, he didn't become John Summit through marketing alone.

As a basic premise, he keeps making tracks, sharpens his DJing, and delivers results through the music itself.

On top of that,

he takes on both: making good music and figuring out how to spread it.

I think that is the important part.

On the opinion that "celebrity DJs take away booking slots"

On the other hand, there is also

the view that "when people with name recognition and funds get booked, DJs who have worked only as DJs get fewer chances to play."

That view exists.

I understand this concern.

Because drawing a crowd matters to event organizers, performers are sometimes chosen for reasons other than DJ ability.

But I don't think we need to think only in terms of fighting over the existing slots.

When an influencer DJs, people who never came to clubs before might start coming.

When a business owner gets hooked on music, new events and venues might be born.

When new people, money, and ideas enter the scene, there is a possibility not only of taking a share of the existing pie but of making the pie itself bigger.

So far from rejecting influencer DJs and business-owner DJs, I'd like to see more of them.

If you love music, you should DJ.

And if you already have weapons that other people don't, use them too.

But just don't take shortcuts when it comes to the music.

People with influence and funds are strong when they take music seriously.

That's all I'm trying to say.