New Survey: ‘DJs to be replaced by VJs’

New Survey: ‘DJs to be replaced by VJs’

20 March, 2007 | 1.34PM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: dj yoda, dvj-1000

DJs could soon be replaced by video jockeys or VJs, a new survey has revealed.

Global technology market analyst firm DTC surveyed 354 club DJs from around Europe and found that almost a fifth (18%) of DJs are already using visuals when they play, and nearly half of the DJs questioned said they were interested in syncing video with music in the near future.

Like vinyl being superseded by digital (90% of DJs now own CD decks compared with 65% who own traditional vinyl turntables), DJs who solely play music could soon be a thing of the past.

One DJ who has fully embraced the visual revolution is scratch turntablist DJ Yoda, who will use this year’s Musikmesse trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany, to showoff his new VJ skills.

“I’m really looking forward to Musikmesse this year,” he commented.

“I’ve been touring with Pioneer’s new DVJs for the last few months, and I can’t wait to see some industry reactions to my DVD scratch set!”

One company who would love to see DJs incorporate visuals more into their sets is Pioneer.

At Musikmesse 2007, the Japanese electronics giant will unveil their latest kit for VJs, the groundbreaking DVJ-1000, which is a successor to their DVJ-X1 hybrid DVD/CD deck.

The DVJ-1000, which is currently retailing for around $2500 US, combines the capabilities of the prolific CDJ-1000 CD turntable with the ability to perform multimedia sets.

Like the CDJ-1000, Pioneer hopes that their audiovisual wonder kit will become the industry standard.

“More and more DJs are expressing an interest in mixing visuals with their music,” said Lucy Sheasby-Preston from DTC.

“Manufacturers are now offering CD compatible DVD mixing decks so that DJs used to working with CDs can apply the same techniques to DVDs to easily create engaging AV sets.

She predicted: “As these systems fall in price, more clubs and DJs will buy them to future proof their investment.

“As a consequence we’ll see the number of DJs playing AV sets increase particularly in clubs.”

For full details of this year’s Musikmesse trade fair check out Beatportal’s Event Calendar.

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