Over the holidays nearly 10,000 of our readers took our Global Digital DJ Census, making it even bigger than last year’s survey. This census was made by Digital DJ Tips to give both readers and the industry an unprecedented look at digital DJing’s real state of play today.
We’ve picked out some choice statistics in this article: What’s the most popular DJ software among you? How many of you are pro DJs, and how many just spin for fun? What’s the average age of the regular Digital DJ Tips reader, and where are they from? We’ve got them all below!
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 (Native Instruments, Pioneer DJ, Denon DJ, Serato DJ, Algoriddim, and Virtual DJ).
2015 census results
What is your age?
A large chunk of our readership falls in the 18 to 44-year-old bracket, with the bulk of you now between the ages of 35 and 44. DJs over 45 have grown to almost a fifth of our readership, too – further proof that DJing takes a few months to learn but a lifetime to master…
What’s your gender?
Same as last year, the overwhelming majority of our readers are men, with only 5% of respondents being female. We’ve always pushed for equality for all genders, and we’d like to see more female readers as time goes on.
In which country do you currently reside?
A lot of you live in the USA, UK, and Canada (the usual suspects), but new to this year’s top seven include our Irish friends. Still not in this list, though, is my home country of The Philippines. Folk from back home: we need to step it up!
To the people who answered with the “My Country Is Not Listed” option – tell us what it is and we’ll list it this year.
Are you…
Almost half of our readership are married (or so they think…), and have taken over the lead from the singles. Separated / divorcees have also risen ever so slightly – hopefully not a byproduct of their DJing.
Special shoutout to those who answered “Other” here: I feel you.
How many children under the age of 18 currently reside in your household?
Over half of our readers don’t have kids at home (yay, more time, money, and sanity for DJing!), while the other 40% have one or more children under 18. Pro tip: start turning them onto this site before they begin searching for naughty things on the internet!
How long have you been DJing?
More than a fifth of you have been DJing under three years, with a healthy 10% “just starting” – you’re in for a ride! Almost half of you have been at it for more than five years (the fun doesn’t stop, does it?).
How often do you play in public?
Almost 75% of our readers are now playing in public, whether regularly, once in a while, or even just for friends and family (the most memorable gigs, at times).
For those of you still rocking a crowd of pin-up girls and hipster band posters, we’re here to get you out of the bedroom and in front of a crowd: if that’s your aim of course (I still have those pin-ups and bearded men on my walls, nothing wrong with that!)
What type of DJ are you?
Little change here from last year – majority still fall under the mobile, party, and bar / pub DJ, with DJ/producers coming in at fourth place (nice one!). The only noticeable change here is the lower number of club residents, now at just under 20% of our readership.
What type of DJ do you want to be?
Related to the previous graph, more than half of our readers want to make the transition to becoming a DJ/producer and making their own tunes. If you’re one of these aspirants, have you checked out our Music Production For DJs course yet? I hear it’s the best and fastest way to get started, plus it’s taught by a dashing gentleman 😉
How would you describe your DJ skill level
Almost 60% of you are confident in your skills but acknowledge that there’s still work to be done (such humility!). Joking aside, you can never be too confident in DJing – trust me, I’m the least confident person I know. I just kind of taught myself how to handle my anxiety.
There’s also a slight rise in complete beginners – welcome to your new obsession!
Have you purchased any Digital DJ Tips courses?
Nearly one in four of you has taken some training with us, which is absolutely awesome, but if you’re one of the rest, you may be surprised to know we have a whole pile of DJ courses teaching a range of skills from beginner to pro. So if you’re a first timer, or ready for some more, check out our DJ courses here.
Have you purchased DJ training from anywhere else?
Good, because you should only be purchasing DJ training from us. Joking! We’re all in this together. We’d love to hear what’s working for you…
Do you…
Almost half of you want to produce and DJ with your own tunes, and also play on the radio (our course tutor Steve Canueto does it every week), plus near 50% of you have at one time or another, taught someone else how to DJ (Note: dates don’t count as “DJ lessons”). Good karma!
What’s your main DJ set-up?
No surprise here: most of you have a laptop and DJ controller for DJing. iOS and Android DJing are still a way off, and pure vinyl (DVS doesn’t count) actually increased by a small margin, no doubt due to records being sold as sonically superior pieces of audiophile essentials used by real DJs who can hear the warm sweetness of analogue in their headphones in a cramped DJ booth! I’m kidding… I love vinyl, I really do.
Which of these do you have and use regularly?
Nearly half of our readers are Mac users, meaning Windows still dominates narrowly as your OS of choice when DJing. Windows laptops have got more reliable and inexpensive, and the truth is both platforms can crash out on you if you’re not careful how you look after them. Yikes!
Do you use any of the following?
Based on our survey, almost 50% own a PA system for gigs and more than half own and use a microphone (shoutout to all the mobile jocks!). One-third of you don’t use a PA, mic, and lighting equipment at all – you’re reliant on the venue to provide all these, which tends to be the case with club / bar / pub and party DJs.
What software do you use to DJ?
The “Big Three” are in here, with Serato DJ holding court as the new number one DJ software of choice for our readers (taking over from Traktor), Traktor Pro a close second, and Virtual DJ third. Under 20% of you use Ableton to DJ (you’ve probably been producing, too) and newcomer Pioneer Rekordbox / Rekordbox DJ comes in at fifth in our chart. Will we see Pioneer DJ’s app climb higher this year?
Which of these best describes your DJ style?
A big portion of our readers are multi-genre / open format mixing DJs, with multi-genre mic-rocking pro / mobile DJs coming in second, and specialised one-genre jocks picking up the slack at third.
Salute to those who answered Other, which could mean they’re all three DJs put together (send us your e-mail, we’re getting you for our next party!).
What music do you play?
A lot of you play urban / EDM / chart music mainly (you could choose up to three genres) with some tech house and techno sprinkled in. Past the top five genres, lounge and bass music is also well represented, possibly as a secondary style of music to play.
Trance fans won’t be happy though as they’re at the bottom three – clearly not enough people requesting Sandstorm these days.
Do you buy music from online download stores?
80% of you answered that you buy music legally from online download stores. Break out the champagne: That means that now a whopping 20% of you are actually being honest, up from last year 😀
I kid, that fifth of our readership that answered No possibly gets their music from online download pools or from actual brick and mortar music shops (remember those?).
Which of these stores do you actually use?
In relation to the previous graph, over half of you buy your music from iTunes and Beatport Pro, with a small percentage checking out other stores like Traxxsource, Juno, and Amazon. Digital downloads are the main form of music delivery these days, but will streaming be the next big thing?
Do you use a music streaming service?
Nearly half of you answered Yes to this question, a number that has grown from zero of course just a few years back. As streaming music services proliferate and mature, and DJ-focused services like Pulselocker promise to integrate into DJ software offering offline, legal ways to pay streamed music, it’ll surely grow.
Which of these streaming services do you subscribe to?
No surprise here, as Spotify takes the majority of your votes. Apple Music is a distant second – I guess that free U2 album come-on isn’t working as well as Tim Cook thought…
Do you subscribe to a DJ download pool?
Nearly 25% of you said you subscribed to a DJ download pool, with Promo Only, DJ City, and Digital DJ Pool being the most popular choices.
Which of these sites do you visit at least once a week?
We are pleased to report that 86% of you are regular Digital DJ Tips readers (naturally :D), and other sites that get your attention include controllerism stalwarts DJ Techtools, dance magazine Mixmag, and music / lifestyle blogs like YourEDM and Thump.
In closing…
We’ve got a real mixed bag of readers who perform as different types of DJs playing different types of music, but the cool thing is we all share a couple of common thread: we all primarily use digital DJ gear in our craft, and we all clearly are bonkers about music.
More and more of you are taking the DJ/producer path, which is awesome because it opens different doors for those who’ve been DJing for quite some time now, and for those just getting into the game, producing your own tunes and remixes / edits gives you a new level of expression that wasn’t readily available prior to the digital DJing (and digital audio workstation) revolution.
• Watch out for our Global Digital DJ Census again later this year to be counted as part of the growing digital DJ populace and for a chance to win even bigger DJ swag and prizes.
Any thoughts on the data from the survey? Do you think it’s an accurate depiction of digital DJing today? Are there any questions you’d want to add in for this year’s upcoming survey? Let us know below.
Joey Santos
