i was sitting here thinking about how popular dj'ing is, and pondering why everyone wants to do it.. Im in the states so im pretty much completely removed from the uk soul scene, but ive read complaints on here about everyone wanting to dj, and i definitely see it over here (and i dont even get around much!) ! Myself im a collector. Ive dj'd in the past but i dont anymore yet im still collecting and enjoying my soul records at home. . The most puzzling thing to me is that ive seen people go about buying records specifically with the intent of becoming a dj, buying expensive dj equipment when their collection consists of 20 records! And their whole purpose for buying records is because they wanna dj. Im not too old, but is this a new phenomenon? ? Does this go on in the uk? When i dj'd in the past it was because id already been collecting and had the tunes to play.. Now it seems some folks are going about it the other way.. Am i crazy?? jacob

  On 19/08/2010 at 13:29, rosies dad said:

i was sitting here thinking about how popular dj'ing is, and pondering why everyone wants to do it.. Im in the states so im pretty much completely removed from the uk soul scene, but ive read complaints on here about everyone wanting to dj, and i definitely see it over here (and i dont even get around much!) ! Myself im a collector. Ive dj'd in the past but i dont anymore yet im still collecting and enjoying my soul records at home. . The most puzzling thing to me is that ive seen people go about buying records specifically with the intent of becoming a dj, buying expensive dj equipment when their collection consists of 20 records! And their whole purpose for buying records is because they wanna dj. Im not too old, but is this a new phenomenon? ? Does this go on in the uk? When i dj'd in the past it was because id already been collecting and had the tunes to play.. Now it seems some folks are going about it the other way.. Am i crazy?? jacob

It's manic over here some venues have more DJ's than punters!! And if you go to some place that says bring a box! Well i've seen a family of 4 go on holiday with smaller & less cases

  On 19/08/2010 at 13:54, mrtag said:

It's manic over here some venues have more DJ's than punters!! And if you go to some place that says bring a box! Well i've seen a family of 4 go on holiday with smaller & less cases

And it can be a pig to put a set together,most people in the room have got the same records.

  On 19/08/2010 at 13:56, KevH said:

And it can be a pig to put a set together,most people in the room have got the same records.

Just back from my hols in New York and many collectors there are dj also...

and i see that this topic is still hot news ....

It looks like its gonna be scorchio for many moons to come...

The wise man said..

" Don't play out too often with the same set of records, its like watching my gran putting on her pile cream "

peace and lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrv.. x

I don't think it's a problem if lots of people want to DJ. DJing should be creative and expressive and original, and good DJs bring something new and different to the table. At Move On we've had lots of DJs on that i'd never heard before and aren't on every weekend all over the country. All of them have been different and brilliant.

Of course in the first case you need promoters with excellent taste who know how to pick em....

  On 19/08/2010 at 13:56, KevH said:

And it can be a pig to put a set together,most people in the room have got the same records.

Kev!! Are you following me!! but ur right about the tunes!!

  On 19/08/2010 at 15:02, Matt Male said:

I don't think it's a problem if lots of people want to DJ. DJing should be creative and expressive and original, and good DJs bring something new and different to the table. At Move On we've had lots of DJs on that i'd never heard before and aren't on every weekend all over the country. All of them have been different and brilliant.

Of course in the first case you need promoters with excellent taste who know how to pick em....

well, the amount of people djing makes no difference to me i guess, i was mainly asking about the phenomena of people deciding to dj and THEN collecting records. It seems backwards to me.

  On 19/08/2010 at 15:18, rosies dad said:

well, the amount of people djing makes no difference to me i guess, i was mainly asking about the phenomena of people deciding to dj and THEN collecting records. It seems backwards to me.

Yer right on the money there!! Records First Then DJ later!! old school!!

  On 19/08/2010 at 15:18, rosies dad said:

well, the amount of people djing makes no difference to me i guess, i was mainly asking about the phenomena of people deciding to dj and THEN collecting records. It seems backwards to me.

The trend at the moment seems to be selling collections and keeping a few hundred records to DJ with. I know of several well known DJ/Collectors who are slowly selling up but just keeping a few back to DJ with.

You're right, very few people thesedays will spend years or decades amassing a vast collection and then deciding to DJ from it. Collectors are selling up, dealers are selling up, the only game in town is DJing.

It's a discussion that's been done on here before (the old hotboxing debate) whether it's not best to keep a couple of 250 boxes and keep selling and buying to keep it fresh.

The best d.js dont brag or here's me, here's, me! They come on, play hopefully what people want then quietly exit the stage. I would suggest you keep collecting and at the same time do a few spots to highlight your record collection. Word soon gets around.

  On 19/08/2010 at 15:18, rosies dad said:

well, the amount of people djing makes no difference to me i guess, i was mainly asking about the phenomena of people deciding to dj and THEN collecting records. It seems backwards to me.

Good point...

There have been and will be a good few more done it that way round, who can call whats best... I have seen/ heard many a fine dj who started with little but just bought real quality ( imo ) and choice tunes that where just right for the times, also seen/ heard dj collectors with thousands of records to choose from that go down like the Titanic at certain events...

The hot box is the future some say.... Come back James..

  On 20/08/2010 at 12:15, little-stevie said:

Good point...

There have been and will be a good few more done it that way round, who can call whats best... I have seen/ heard many a fine dj who started with little but just bought real quality ( imo ) and choice tunes that where just right for the times, also seen/ heard dj collectors with thousands of records to choose from that go down like the Titanic at certain events...

The hot box is the future some say.... Come back James..

i see what you mean, when it comes down to it, its really about having the good taste to play the right stuff. I just see some odd dj habits over here, from the ones who set out on a course to dj. Sort of pseudo celebrity stuff. I dont know, i apologize for bringing up topics that have been flogged to death already..

  On 20/08/2010 at 12:27, rosies dad said:

i see what you mean, when it comes down to it, its really about having the good taste to play the right stuff. I just see some odd dj habits over here, from the ones who set out on a course to dj. Sort of pseudo celebrity stuff. I dont know, i apologize for bringing up topics that have been flogged to death already..

I don't think this is a topic that's been done to death, i think this is a good thread because people downsizing their collections to a few boxes for DJing is pretty new i think.

Another reason why some people DJ without vast collections is that might have sold up years ago, but still have a reputation as a DJ and start buying again but this time they are buying to DJ not collect, their circumstances are different.