Can having multiple DJ personas hurt you?
Can having multiple DJ personas hurt you? Posted on: 05.06.2013 by Malka Wickerham Hey everyone. I have been DJing Techno records since I was 16 and I used to never except gigs doing general bar/club/top40. I'm 30 now and a few years back I got offered a Top40 gig. Times were tough, needed the money, and found that I could DJ club music in my sleep(especially since most music now is House speed, which I was very familiar with already) I took the gig, downloaded some club music and within that year had 4 gigs a week which I still maintain. So now I have two personas. Chris Macom as my techno stuff and Les Hawk as my Top 40 stuff. So technically I have one persona LOL. When I get a techno gig I just get someone to cover for me at the bar and I never have scheduling conflicts. I am wondering if anybody believes that this can hurt me in some way. Luckily no one has seen me DJing a Robert Hood track in Detroit and been like, "Hey, didn't I see you playing Justin Beiber at Club X last evening
". Not that I care personally but everyone knows how people in the scene can be. Also, I have been believeing of dropping the two names and just DJing as my real name Chris Macom at all gigs. Has anybody been in a similar position, and did you run into problems with booking or have conflicts in general? If anyone has any insight I would appreciate it. | |
| Joesph Kasian 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by smittten
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| Wilton Keuning 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by Frank112916
FTFY |
| Gaynell Rydberg 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by Frank112916
Eric Prydz confuses the shit out of me still. I wish he would pick just one and stick with it. I never know which one I should use. Armin van Buuren AKA Gaia. Avicii AKA Tim Berg. They're all over the place. |
| Len Lukawski 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by DubluW
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| Harry Wardley 07.06.2013 | I believe people's attention spans are the most harmful thing here. I pay attention to new releases and still miss that new acts are just new names for famous DJ's. In the same vein, we do a lot of recognition by the little style tag on the flyer and mine ends up saying (808s) because I don't stick to a genre whatsoever. If you cover too much ground, people will have to see you a lot to have any idea what you do, whereas someone who sticks to one thing, or even one shade of a thing is easier to pinpoint or pigeonhole. I've decided that whether it's folk or acid, I'm SR388, but with some reservations for a few MC projects that need to be delivered entirely facelessly. Flying Lotus is Captain Murphy. I saw a lot more press when he was a mystery man than when it was revealed, because we had a bit of a Mr. X with huge names supporting him. Now it's like "Oh yeah, that's Flying Lotus as a rapper." I'm sure he couldn't have kept it a secret for long, but acts like Danger and Black Moth Super Rainbow have made me rabidly pursue information solely out of scarcity. It definitely runs both ways. |
| Ashanti Andreacchio 07.06.2013 | A race driver can also be a cab driver. When he races his does everything the way he wan't to. As a cab driver he is free to drive the way he want's to within sertan limits but the destination is made by his cutomer. in bouth cases he is driving. I've released CD's in the past under 3 diferent names because of the difrences in music style. I've also uploaded music to the net under other 5-6 names. My fans know me from one or all of these names based on what style they listen to. It dose not hurt in my case. |
| Pierre Aliseo 06.06.2013 | Clockwork = RL Grime Boom. |
| Lannie Kutay 06.06.2013 | i really believe Eric Prydz is the best example. he has been successfully producing under 3 names for years. Alot of people dont even know its the same person. Each moniker makes quite different music though. Its pretty cool, BTW im going to see him on Saturday evening , that has been on my bucket list for years. |
| Joesph Kasian 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by smittten
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| Malka Wickerham 06.06.2013 | Thanks everyone for the replies. What I'm gathering is that playing the different genres won't hurt me but could be possibly damaging if I used the same moniker. For now, I will stick with the two. |
| Wilton Keuning 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by Frank112916
FTFY |
| Gaynell Rydberg 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by Frank112916
Eric Prydz confuses the shit out of me still. I wish he would pick just one and stick with it. I never know which one I should use. Armin van Buuren AKA Gaia. Avicii AKA Tim Berg. They're all over the place. |
| Margie Pavell 06.06.2013 | maceo plex = maetrik |
| Dino Hapgood 06.06.2013 | See: Eric Prydz, aka Cirez D, aka Pryda. All different types of tracks produced under the different monikers. Or Tiesto, aka Da Joker and aka (my personal favorite btw) Steve Forte Rio. Or David Guetta, aka El Terrible |
| Jerica Salava 06.06.2013 | No. It hurts you if you have one persona and produce different genres. If Wolgang Gartner released a disco house track he would use an alternate moniker. |
| Len Lukawski 06.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by DubluW
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| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 06.06.2013 | I wouldn't mix business and pleasure, the underground club goer's are a fickle bunch.. Look at oliver klitzing/reloop/kaylab/twisters silence/analog system/chromeoxide/about 5 other names. Multiple monikers never hurt him and he was huge in the underground a few years back LOL |
| Brunilda Kora 06.06.2013 | This is why Daft Punk wear masks. It's because they are really Simon and Garfunkel in disguise. Untitled.jpg |
| Lillia Datson 06.06.2013 | I say it doesn't, but the other one says he'll hurt me if i say that. |
| Doreen Schurle 05.06.2013 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissoci...ntity_disorder |
| Len Lukawski 05.06.2013 | I'd never play a top 40 gig, no matter what I was offered. I'm far too picky for that nonsense. Strictly top 30 for me. |
| Ara Tima 05.06.2013 | I've been doing this for a few years now myself. I don't believe it hurts. Well it hasn't hurt me. That said I keep pretty quiet about my top 40 gigs when I'm playing techno shows, but that's more because I'd get shit from the other guys. I doubt it'd stop me getting booked. It's a great way to actually make decent money from DJing. I can play a few techno shows for 60-90 mins each where the cash just covers taxis etc.... Or I get 6 hours paid for a very easy evening s work which nearly pays my rent for the month. That said the top 40 gigs do get pretty draining.... |
| Darlene Strohbeck 05.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by djproben
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| Danae Dumler 05.06.2013 | Everyone knows where the money is. There's no shame in taking top 40 gigs if you don't mind it and you have the skills; every big name DJ had to start somewhere. The fact that you can play top 40 sets well should not detract from whatever skills you have as an underground DJ, so what's the big deal? Anyone who wants to bitch about something like that has too much free time on their hands and is just looking for reasons to bitch. |
| Darlene Strohbeck 05.06.2013 | When it comes to "branding" and names there's no right or wrong. There's guidelines but I can give you dozens of examples of companies that failed to meet those guidelines and are still the most successful companies out there. Lot's of DJ's/Producer's operate under multiple pseudonyms and many have been successful with all of them. Just off the top of my head, Jacques Lu Cont, also uses the name Thin White Duke (among many others), and plays in a band called Zoot Woman. |
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