Where To Get DJ Gigs In 2024 (Beyond Clubs & Festivals)

Further thoughts on looking for gigs

This was an interesting livestream to have because it’s undeniable that the small weekly club scene seems to be in (sometimes terminal) decline. Of course it depends where in the world you are, and last week’s livestream showed us that there are certain places where things are alive and kicking – which is great to hear.

But whatever the cause, it does seem like overall the number of small clubs where DJs can cut their teeth as residents has dropped. If playing out is fun as a DJ, and therefore something still worth pursuing, then maybe there’s some hope in the fact that it turns out DJing can be more than just DJing in clubs.

Now, many DJs become mobile DJs probably later on in their careers in order to earn money and still DJ. But if you’re not interested in playing weddings and birthday parties and you still want to play the music that you love, there are still options. What you choose to pursue will tend to come down to the same thing though: How you can play for the people who are in your “group”.

In other words look through your phone, who’s in there, who can you put on parties for? That’s where it always has to start – which of course is why people returning to DJing after a break find it harder than people who are of an age where everyone they know is going out every weekend anyway, because of course in that instance it’s a lot easier to just “be the DJ”.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you’re older, there are plenty of scenes in plenty of towns where older DJs have cut a place for themselves playing to a small crowd of people of their age.

Once you’ve kind of found your crowd then it’s about what kind of DJing you should be doing, what kind of night you should be putting on or what kind of event. Now this is going to depend of course upon the type of gig in the first place.

So if you’re playing a tribute night that resurrects what you used to do with your friends when you were younger, that’s going to have a different dynamic to DJing in your local skating rink or bowling alley or your local gym. Likewise, an early doors weeknight rave for the whole family to come (to save parents finding babysitters) is going to have a different set-up to DJing for your local running club or sporting event. And that is going to be different again to DJing in restaurants or cafes, art galleries or museums – all places where our community has told us they’re getting success as DJs.

Is staying in the new going out?

And another way of DJing that it’s definitely worth mentioning is not going out at all, and instead DJing virtually. There are DJs who’ve made a really good job and built a really big following DJing on social media platforms – and the big one by far is Twitch. This in itself can lead to IRL or “in real life” gigs. So don’t discount livestreaming and learning how to do it that way too.

Read this next: The Ultimate Guide To DJ Livestreaming

And finally, I just want to end off by saying that ultimately, DJing is meant to be fun. If you get fulfilment out of just DJing at home, maybe making the odd mixtape, just scratching that itch when you feel the urge to get behind the decks, that’s absolutely valid as well. It need never go further than that if you don’t want it to.

Personally I feel there’s nothing like playing out, but if you’ve spent enough time in the past playing out and are just as happy to DJ at home nowadays, please don’t let me tell you that you’re missing out on something.

As always we’d love to hear your views, so do let us know underneath in the comments what you think about this week’s topic, and we’ll see you for another one very soon.