Resident DJs hear this almost every night at the club. Unless you’re a well established DJ, people are going to come up to you and ask for the song they want to hear. This is usually great to find out what your regular audience is expecting from your set, at least genre-wise. However, there is another type of individuals that show themselves every now and then…
…the “I want this song now and if you don’t have or play it, I’m gonna bug you the entire night” type.
In some cases they will become as annoying as a landlord that’s ever more demanding about payment, even though the rent is always paid on time. So how do you go about pleasing each request without disrespecting anyone? DJs shouldn’t take insistent and aggressive people too seriously, just like they shouldn’t be taking themselves too seriously. Therefore you should…
…listen to each plead for any song, no matter how uninspired it may seem. Any suggestion is a future lead.
If you do have the song that someone is asking for, chances are you will find an opening to slip it in the set during an entire night; when the party has ended for some time and that someone is still saying “Can’t touch this” should be next, it’s ok to remind him that the next party is coming soon. It pays to heed the ideas of your public if you’re playing for more than 2 hours and even more so if you’re going to mix ALL night, but don’t indulge every request if you know your performance or reputation will get affected in the process.
Don’t make promises to desperate faces and, instead, convince them that it’s best to go about enjoying themselves, rather than be concerned that one of their tracks didn’t get played.
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