DJs’ tips for success in 2009

DJs’ tips for success in 2009

8 January, 2009 | 9.50PM

• Written by: Mr Tunes
• Filed under: Music News: tutorial

With the new year here, resolutions are no doubt already being broken. But what can DJs and producers do to kick start 2009 in the right way?

Beatportal’s Mr. Tunes, a self-confessed tech junkie and accomplished music producer in his own right, grabbed his notepad and pen and wrote a quick self-help guide for DJs and producers in 2009.

There’s never a better time to give your brand a makeover than now, because when things start to get busy again, it’s one of the last things you’ll want to get bogged down with

Gear

Take the time to go over all your equipment and see what could potentially use an upgrade this year.

Also try to figure out what isn’t being used so that you can sell it to make funds for any new purchases.

I myself usually do a lot of random upgrading just after Christmas time because it’s convenient with the time-off and all the sale promotions, but there should still be some bargains out and about for a bit of time to come.

This also might be the time when you’ll tell yourself that you are confident in the gear you have and that you shouldn’t have to spend any more money on it this year.

Around this time of year, it’s a good time to brush up on your skills.

If your software doesn’t come with a printed manual, print it yourself, then use a giant hole punch to stuff it into a binder.

Look into any short workshops that are offered and see if you can find a place to pick up some instruction on things you have been putting off learning.

Market

Is your logo looking tired? Your website still running old HTML, leaving you to depend on your MySpace page as your sole channel of communication with your fans?

There’s never a better time to give your brand a makeover than now, because when things start to get busy again, it’s one of the last things you’ll want to get bogged down with.

Your brand starts with your DJ or production name, and extends to every place people might see and hear you.

It might even involve your hairstyle and choice of clothes as BT might be able to tell you.

Overhauling your image can be done on your own, but it’s best to consult with someone like a graphic designer who you respect to help define a look for your work.

You need a toolkit that will help you update this image on all your marketing materials, and that kit includes a set of fonts that fit you, color scheme, potential logo, and a set of promotional images.

Once these are all in order, use them to update your web sites, business cards, demo materials, and press kits.

Try to figure out if there are any social networking services which you might want to make use of this year, such as Twitter, imeem, or Soundcloud

And speaking of social websites, let this be the year that we all realize that MySpace looks and sounds horrible! Although it should keep its place for networking and promotion (alongside Facebook), consider having your own unique site developed.

Beatportal will be covering this topic soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, if you can’t find anyone to help you with these things, a good place to start is by looking at tutorial sites such as PSDTUTS, NETTUTS and Smashing Apps.

Think Business

Even though tax time is closer to the spring, now’s a good time to review your budget and make sure all the accounting is sorted.

You should have a good idea of how much you made last year, and set projections for how you want to improve on those earnings this year.

Think of other avenues you’ll use to keep your projects growing.

If you’re a DJ, you might want to consider any options for doing say weddings or corporate events on the side, and if you’re a producer you might want to look at ways to get your music placed in films.

Or if you’re both of these types, maybe you’re thinking about making a compilation album this year?

Another area to pay attention to, is finding any opportunities to earn “passive income”, meaning a project that you work on which can keep earning money as other business slows down, eg: compilation albums or even tutorial DVDs on how to DJ Trance for your local bookstore to sell.

Organize

Is your music collection a huge mess?

Have you backed up all of the songs you’ve purchased from Beatport?

Take the time to analyze just how disorganized you are, and act on it. Backup all your sessions and store them off-site.

A good way of doing this is putting some of your most precious data on a harddrive or key, and giving it a family member or close friend that either lives in another part of the city, or better yet another part of your country in the event of a disaster striking.

If you work in a basement, then be sure to keep backups on a higher floor in the event of a flood which is the most common small disaster.

Also consider taking care of some of the basics, such as refreshing your office supplies and maybe getting a filing cabinet to keep all your paperwork centralized.

Get a good calendar and dayplanner, and use them well to make sure that you’re on top of all your appointments and deadlines for the year.

Use Leechblock to keep you from visiting your most addictive sites (except Beatportal of course).

Work on assembling your team that will help you get things done.

This could be friends, family, and most importantly, your fans. If you’re making good money and someone ends up showing good value to your project, pay them accordingly so they can continue to help you reach your goals in achieving global domination.

Most importantly, even with all the talk about the “economy”, now’s a good time to be positive above and beyond all the things we’ve listed here.

Make an effort to start exercising or to eat healthy, whatever you need to do to kick this year off right.

Here’s to a good year ahead.

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