Discrimination in the DJ Industry
As I’ve mentioned before, there are a lot of different types of gigs that DJs can work, and there are a lot of possible issues that DJs can run into at said gigs.
Apart from issues with audience requests, crowding the DJ booth or even unruly or (worse!) unresponsive crowds, there’s one particular problem that many DJs have run into that makes all other issues pale in comparison. That problem is the boss, the club owner, the person who hired you for the job.
You hope that the person in charge will respect your expertise and allow you to do your job. You may, however, run into a boss who will dictate to you exactly how he or she wants you to do your job. I played a gig once where the man who hired me didn’t want me to take any breaks! You can argue all you want. But in the end, you kind of have to do what you’re asked to do (within reason, of course!).
Tell me what kind of issues you’ve run into.
How about discrimination? Lauren Andio writes about DJ Reddy Fox and a manager who asked him not to play reggae or hip hop because those genres may encourage a “bad element” to come to the club. It is absolutely not acceptable to be classifying anyone like that.
Read about it here.
