The Enterprise Of Being A DJ

Being a DJ isn’t always easy. Sure, the party is fun, and nothing beats getting to share music you love with people on the dancefloor. But you know what isn’t fun, the hustle. New York is one (if not the most) expensive cities in the world so DJs often play multiple gigs in one weekend to help make the rent.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that there’s a lot more to DJing than just showing up and playing some tunes. For some sets, a full day's work might be required before the party starts. Some DJs spend hours digging through their records to find the right vibe for the party. The more records you have, the longer this takes because it’s easy to forget what you have in your collection when you have hundreds or thousands of them. If you’re a digital DJ, or play both vinyl and USB, you’re digging through websites like Bandcamp, Juno, and all the other music websites to find the hot new tracks. In the internet age, there are thousands of tracks released every day.

Then there’s the promotional side, which is a whole other beast. You need to be constantly sharing on your social media pages to get people to the party. Flyers don’t get many likes so you need a folder full of cute or funny pictures to get any traction.

All of this is to say that the time and effort that is put in by DJs to make the party happen isn’t always seen, but we see you. This week we have three parties featured with DJs who have been hustling for a long time. Love Injection is celebrating its 9th Anniversary, Analog Soul have been on the scene for 20+ years while DJ Spinna is an OG, DJing for more than 30 years. To you, we raise our glasses.

1.27 - Love Injection 9 Year Anniversary at Public Records

Since Love Injection’s inception, the publication has always been about community and culture. The fanzine co-created by Barbie Bertisch and Paul Raffaele has always sought to fill in the gaps of NYC’s nightlife’s untold histories while also sharing the stories of the next generation. Nine years later they take that ethos with them into all their projects, whether it be their record label, parties, radio show, music productions or DJ sets. This Saturday, Bertisch and Raffaele are celebrating it all with a full club takeover at Public Records. They will be playing in the Sound Room while Mark Grusane and Butter is in the Atrium and Monk One is Upstairs.

1.27 - Analog Soul at House of Yes

Jacky Sommer and DatKat have lived and breathed NY nightlife culture for the past 20 years. They started DJing as Analog Soul on East Village Radio in 2004 and have since held residencies at local clubs like Nowadays and Public Records, played at festivals all over the world from Honcho Campout in Pennsylvania to Gala in London to Suncebeat in Croatia, and done numerous sets at Panorama Bar. They play everything from house and techno to acid and electro but they don’t take it too seriously the way many modern DJs do - their sets are laden with funk and fun. You can catch Jacky and Kat and their eclectic grooves this Saturday when they headline House of Yes’ Age of Aquarius party.

1.28 - JOURNEY with DJ Spinna & musclecars at Good Room

DJ Spinna's life has been much like a musical journey. From the funk, soul & jazz he grew up listening to, to the explosion of hip hop when he was a teenager, to house and electronic music he heard as an adult, Spinna has spent his almost 30 year career connecting the dots between the music of his life and made a number of achievements while doing it. Spinna started his JOURNEY party 10 years ago to show how these styles (and more) are interconnected and coexist. He's bringing the party to Good Room this Sunday where he’ll be celebrating his birthday with musclecars.