dj culture - eroding or evolving?

the start:

its been interesting to observe the evolution of the dj in a society that is becoming more and more individualistic and driven by ego. especially since, from at least what i understand, being a dj was never really about the individual or the ego. 

undoubtedly we live in the age of influencer culture dominating most spaces, social media is everywhere, and visibility has become a form of currency. more and more it feels like everyone is encouraged to treat themselves as a kind of brand - their being as an enterprise. especially within the world of music.

and i don’t necessarily have all bad things to say about that. i am very much part of that world, engaging in it. importantly, i want to succeed within it. but watching it unfold has been getting my sociological and analytical brain ticking. naturally.

when i look at footage from “back in the day” (which makes me sound about 90; i am literally in my mid-20s lol), or even just comparing when i first started going out in london (shout out to junglesplash), something feels different now.

visibility:

it was never really about watching the dj. no one seemed to care what they were wearing, what angle the camera would be capturing them from and whether you'd be in the shot, or what content would come from the night. similarly it wasn’t about knowing exactly what they were doing behind the decks, it was more about knowing they were there, curating an experience for the punter. but now that visibility of where they are and what they are doing is crucial. as a result, the dj feels weirdly accessible but not through relatability. but the ability to critique, monitor and judge as if it were a spectacle.

i sometimes have these moments at events, where it feels like im watching a skit of what it is to be the dj. with the crazy lights, massive visuals, raised stages, five different camera angles and videographers for days. even the rise of sets being filmed so heavily and carefully staged has solidified it as a bit of a display. and, correct me if im wrong, but this shift feels like it is saying something deeper without actually having to say it.

time for social theory:

i have been a bit of a nerd for social theory since i studied it at uni. and one ideology/political mindset that has become a bit of a buzzword - and one i have been revisiting while unpacking all of this - is neoliberalism.

one way of understanding neoliberalism comes from the philosopher Michel Foucault, who argued that it produces individuals as “entrepreneurs of themselves.” essentially, you become your own enterprise. your personality, your skills, your image - they all become forms of capital. and the visibility of those things becomes value. meaning that both your successes and your failures are positioned as entirely your responsibility, something only you can manage. i kind of love the idea in some respects, but also hate it at the same time.

now applying this to dj culture today - a career path many people want to take, including myself - there’s a lot to consider. when you combine this mentality and the need for visibility with something like djing - there becomes a lot more to it than selecting records and reading a room. the list starts to look more like something you would see in any business model.

managing a brand, posting consistently, networking strategically, monitoring your analytics (yawn), curating an image & creating virality.

so at least at the beginning, when you are trying to climb the ladder in the music industry, you are not just playing music. you kind of have to lean into the idea that you are a start-up business. you are your own boss and your own employee, managed by algorithms and metrics. and then once you “make it,” this only becomes more intensified as you try to maintain that performance (circling back to my previous observations). somewhere in all of that, the human connection aspect of what djing really is - and, as far as i am concerned, has always been - can start to feel a little more distant.

which brings me back to something i keep thinking about: while outwardly the dj seems free and independent -“the best job in the world,” right? - they are constantly measured and monitored. analysed and monetised. and that must be kind of scary. it must be difficult not to become ego-centric if your livelihood depends on that visibility - if that becomes the thing that allows you to live and exist in the industry.

neoliberalism sells us the powerful idea that anyone can make it. if you hustle enough, brand yourself enough, and optimise enough, you can rise to the top. but what it doesn’t tell you is that the market - in this case, the music industry - already privileges those who hold capital: social, economic, and cultural. and in most industries, including music, that capital has historically belonged to the white, the male, the rich, and the heteronormative. oh, the joys.

so when djing becomes about branding, image, confidence, and networking, it starts to function like any other enterprise operating within a neoliberal system. and like most markets, it isn’t an equal playing field. it doesn’t impact everyone equally.

and of course plenty of people still make it from the bottom up. i’m not trying to be a complete debbie downer here, nor do i want to romanticise the past or pretend as if i haven’t benefited from some of these shifts. but it is still a notable change worth questioning. and i guess what i keep coming back to is this:

will djing ever return to a point where community is centred over self-promotion? can people build sustainable careers without fully adopting a brand or business mentality? and if the answer is no… are we comfortable with that?

i don’t have the solutions, and i can’t offer a revolutionary fix. but i do think it’s important that we sit with the questions. because when the club shifts from a community space that understands the culture into a stage so far removed from it - something that starts to feel more like a business model - something about the inherent musical connection changes. and it becomes harder to tap back in.

and whether this is evolution or erosion of the culture itself… i’m still not entirely sure.