Our annual DJ census had an incredible 32,222 respondents, making it our biggest and most comprehensive survey of DJs ever, and giving both readers and the DJ industry a look at digital DJing’s current state of play. Today, we are making the best of the results public for the first time.
What DJ software is the most popular among you readers? How many of you are pro DJs, and how many just spin for fun? What’s the average age of a Digital DJ Tips reader? Are there more Windows lovers than Mac fanatics? You’ll find out below.
Before we go on, just to say thanks again to everyone who took the time out to fill out our survey form, and to all our partners who sponsored prizes and giveaways for our prize draw (prime sponsor Denon DJ, and also Native Instruments, Pioneer DJ, Serato DJ, Algoriddim, and Virtual DJ. You’re the best! 🙂
Survey results
1. What is your age?
A huge chunk of our readership falls in the 25 to 44 age bracket, followed by the “young ‘uns” in the 18 to 24 age range. We’ve also got lots of folk aged 45 and above – proof that playing music keeps us (feeling) young!
2. In which country do you currently reside?
Over 30% of you live in the United States, followed by the UK and Canada. Was hoping my home country of The Philippines would land in the top five this year – guess I’ll have to wait again ’til next year!
3. What is your employment status?
Almost 50% of you have full-time jobs, making DJing either a hobby or a side hustle, while a fair amount of our readers are students DJing for fun.
4. What percentage of your income comes from DJing?
Since a lot of you have jobs, it’s not surprising that DJing forms just a small portion of your annual income. A little over 5% of you, however, are DJing full-time and making it the main source of your income (that’s living the dream, in my opinion!).
5. How long have you been DJing?
Close to half of all our respondents have been DJing for more than five years, followed by new jocks who have been at it for just under three years. In this year’s census, I’m suggesting we add a “10 years or more” option so we can see who the real “OG” jocks are in our readership!
6. How often do you play in public?
Over 80% of you play out regularly or once in a while (awesome!) while a small portion are still bedroom DJs. Spinning at home is cool, but make it a point to get out of your bedroom and start playing in front of a crowd. It’s one of the best feelings ever, guaranteed.
7. What type of DJ are you?
Hobby DJs are neck and neck with mobile and pro DJs in our readership, followed by those who produce their own music as well as club / resident DJs. I used to be in the latter, though these days I find myself being more of a hybrid DJ/producer and pro DJ doing weddings and corporate shows.
8. What type of DJ do you want to be?
It’s no surprise that a lot of you want to become touring DJs – there’s something about that jet-set lifestyle and playing in different cities that excites DJs, nevermind the jet lag.
9. How would you describe your skill level?
60% of you are confident in your abilities but are still open-minded and willing to learn new things. That’s a pretty good mindset not just for DJing, but for life in general!
10. What instruments do you play, if any?
Apart from spinning, a lot of you play instruments like the piano, the guitar and the drums. Pulling musical ideas from different instrument backgrounds gives you a broader understanding of the way music works, which can be useful knowledge when commanding a dancefloor during a DJ set.
11. What is your main DJ set-up?
Most of you have a laptop and DJ controller for spinning, or use DJ media players at the club. And look: there are more of you DJing with actual vinyl records instead of using iOS and Android apps! Vinyl is fun (in an old-timey way), but there’s so much you can do these days spinning with a powerful app like djay Pro for the iPad.
12. Which of these do you have and use regularly?
There are more Windows users than Macs in our readership, and Windows PCs have got more reliable these days, though I’m still a bit iffy about those automatic software updates!
13. What software do you use to DJ?
The “Big Three” are still the most popular DJ apps in our survey, with Serato DJ being the number one DJ software of choice for our readers. Traktor Pro is still a close second, and Virtual DJ third, with Rekordbox DJ climbing into fourth place and pushing Ableton Live further down the ladder. Will it become part of the top three this year?
14. What’s the one genre you mostly play out when you’re DJing?
Urban / hip-hop and RnB are huge this year, and they’re the most played genres in our readership followed by EDM / big room and deep house.
15. Which of these sites do you visit at least once a week?
Almost all of you visit the Digital DJ Tips site at least once a week (pro tip: visit our site daily!). DJ Techtools is also a popular destination for many of you, along with Mixmag and DJ Mag which are two sites we feature regularly in our weekly Friday Five roundups.
Finally…
Having a census like this gives us a macro view of digital DJing so we can see where trends are going, and at the same time it gives us insights at a granular level. This is important because the DJ landscape is ever-changing: this past year saw a worthy challenge to Pioneer DJ’s club standard throne in the form of Denon DJ’s Prime Series, and we’re seeing Rekordbox DJ grow and mature into a powerful DJ platform at breakneck speed.
While we weren’t seeing many “game changing” innovations compared to the boom of digital DJ gear in the early 2010s, we’ve got better and more capable gear and software available to us today, which only means that digital DJing has a bright future ahead.
• Watch out for our Global Digital DJ Census again next time around, when you can take part and have your views heard.
What are your thoughts on these results? What questions would you want added in this year’s census? Let us know in the comments.
Joey Santos
