"Nothing will work unless you do." - Maya Angelou.
Finding gigs might be hard. You’ve tried many ways, including signing up on Cueup. But why haven’t you gotten more gigs?
Here are some tips from us for you to get more paid DJ gigs.
1. Define yourself as a DJ
- Create new mixes of the kinds of music you’re into.
- Don’t forget to upload your mixes on some music platforms, like Soundcloud, Mixcloud or Youtube to introduce yourself and keeping the existence in the industry.
- Decide if you want to specialize in certain events like wedding parties, office parties, night clubs, beach club, or just everything.
- While you try to sift through tracks that suit your style, take a risk to balance it with music that the audience has never heard before.
- Practice, practice practice. Many blogs and videos are helping you to improve your DJ skills. Here are some of our favorites:
Digital DJ Tips
DJ Tech Tools
Studio Scratches - Scratch Tutorials
Native Instruments - Traktor Tutorials
2. Power up on social media
Complete your social media profile and your Cueup profile. Existing on more platforms will give you more benefits. Upload only relevant pictures (in this case better to put up pictures about your job as a DJ than just lifestyle pictures), share your Cueup profile link and your next gigs on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Be active!
3. Check up on new events
This is an important thing if you don’t want to miss any paid gigs. In Cueup, you have to be active to check the platform to see any new gigs. When you get a notification of a new gig in your area, make an offer! Don’t be too picky about this. Text your proposal to them. The key is to keep making an offer every time you get a chance of a new gig. The more gigs you have played the higher the chance of getting more!
4. Follow up
Don’t just make an offer and leave. Follow up with the event organizers by messaging them. Build their trust in you and gain their interest by making conversation and help them plan the event. You can ask about the event details, and if they have any special wishes or expectations. If you find any problem with the apps you can always send Cueup a message through our customer service on Twitter or Instagram.
5. Prepare well
You may have your tracks ready but it doesn’t mean they’ll mix well together! Play around with your tracks beforehand to explore what tracks mix well together, and if you discover a great mix, note it down or order your playlist accordingly. Also, prepare for the worst — know your hardware inside and out and have a backup plan if anything breaks. Especially if you’re using a laptop you need to have a playlist ready on your phone, in case you need to restart the laptop.
Remember you need to please the crowd with your set and your vibe, read the crowd and be flexible. Are they into what you’re playing? If not then be prepared to switch up the vibe, so having multiple different playlists can be very helpful.
6. Perform outreach
If you don’t see many gigs coming in on Cueup, you might want to reach out to get some gigs yourself. Allocate time for marketing! First, you can start to go out and mingle at parties to meet people in the industry. Becoming friends with other DJs can be extremely helpful as they can bring you along at some of their gigs or suggest you as a DJ in case they can’t play themselves.
Second thing, send emails and introduce yourself to some promoters or event and wedding organizers. Include some links to your mixes or social media. You can even ask the organizer to book you through Cueup to get more reviews and increase your creditability on the platform.
7. Ask for feedback from the organizers
Getting feedback from your clients will always be good for you. From this, you can see what things are needed to improve and what things already work well. Also, ask the organizers to write a review on your Cueup profile. This will make your profile more attractive and get you the trust of future clients.
That’s some of the basic tips you need. What do you think? Leave your comment, feel free to ask us about anything.
