Atlanta DJs Are Not Being Appreciated, and We All Know It

We curate the vibe. We read the crowd. We're the reason people are having a great night, and a lot of the time it's at our own expense. Atlanta has some of the best DJ talent anywhere, and I'll say it plainly: in this city, DJs are not appreciated as much as they should be.

We build the night in real time

When you walk into a club and the energy is right, that didn't happen by accident. A DJ is reading the room song by song, controlling the vibe, deciding what to bring in and when. You're enjoying yourself while we're often taking a hit on a lot of things to make that happen. That's the job, and I love it, but the respect has to match the work.

Last in line for pay and respect

There's so much expectation on DJs. We're frequently not getting compensated for our time the way we should, and we're not getting the respect either. The bottle girls can make more off one night. The parking valet out front can make more than the DJ. Everybody in the building is eating off a night that the DJ is, in large part, driving, and the DJ ends up at the bottom of the conversation.

It's not just the money. There's a difference between booking a DJ and valuing one. When you go through the promoter, then the owner, the DJ can get lost in the middle and treated like the least important person in the room, even though we're doing some of the most important work.

Why I speak on it

I came up doing this on my own, figuring it out without a big team behind me. That gives you a clear view of how the business actually treats DJs. I talk about it because the only way it changes is if we say it out loud and start demanding to be compensated and respected the right way. Everybody in this needs love, and that includes the person in the booth.

If you value the DJ as the engine of your event, book DJ Aladdinn here.

What needs to change

Pay the DJ like they matter, because they do. Respect the booth. The cities that get this right have better nightlife for it. Atlanta has the talent, and it's time the appreciation caught up.

This ties directly into how DJs get paid. Read The DJ Tax Nobody Talks About.