Most new DJs know they need advice. They know they don't
know what they need to buy to get a great sound at an
affordable price!
Some people are outgoing enough to be able to hang around
successful DJs, or even approach them specifically, and ask
for advice.
If that's you: great! Do it. You have nothing to lose and
LOTS to gain from such an approach.
Earl Nightingale said "Everything in the world we want to
do or get done, we must do with and through people".
But not everyone is brave enough to take that step. Anyway,
there's a practical issue. What if the DJs you have access
to are playing very different music, in very different
sorts of locations, to very different types of audience
than you intend to?
How would you know the advice you were getting applied to
YOUR situation, and YOUR preferences?
Maybe most of us don't articulate things quite that
explicitly, but in fact that's exactly the reasoning that
drives lots of new DJs to their nearest physical store.
Now I'm not going to knock the stores!
I've bought equipment from them in the past, and many
people who work in them have great integrity.
But, compared to the internet retailers, their cost base is
high and (because some DJ gear is large and expensive) only
the most successful physical stores can offer a truly wide
selection of equipment.
And that could be your downfall.
Chris Anderson called this "the tyranny of locality" in his
book The Long Tail. "..retailers will carry only content
that can generate sufficient demand to earn its keep.
However, each can pull from only a limited local
population." This means that only products that achieve a
certain degree of popularity – mass-market appeal – can
make it into most physical stores.
And I don't know about you, but I have views about how I
want my performances to sound – and I want to be memorable
in part for the way my gear transmits the music.
Mass market limitations on the equipment I use would have
held me back.
Now, web retailing has taken off the way it has – I mean,
look at Amazon now! – because of the innate power of "the
long tail" phenomenon.
You know the idea even if you haven't read the book: one of
the examples he focuses on is one you (as a music lover)
will probably know really well – the Rhapsody music service.
The numbers are probably even more extreme now than they
were when he wrote the book, but in my edition, he says
that whereas Wal-Mart carries 4,500 CD titles, Rhapsody
carried 1.5 million tracks. That's Rhapsody's long tail…
You don't need me to go on in order to get the point, do
you?
The web retailers – you can find some great ones listed in
the book at www.djequipmentsecrets.com – can provide a
breadth of range that few physical outlets can match.
It doesn't really matter to them if they only sell a
particular turntable once a year. Does that matter to a
physical store? You bet it does! That's space they're
paying rent, heat, lighting and staff time on to keep
displaying something that isn't making them money in return.
It's cheap and easy for the web retailers to provide great
customer advice too.
And their costs are low, so their prices are competitive.
Of course, you need to know what to buy, and which items
work together effectively.
Which is where insider knowledge becomes so important, and
can cut years off your learning curve.
I can only say what worked for me in my career, but as soon
as I gained the knowledge to buy sensibly, I switched to
sourcing gear from the web retailers. I've saved hundreds
if not thousands of dollars, and been able to exercise much
more powerful choices than if I'd had to shop locally.
----------------------------------------------------
Carlton Brown
http://www.djequipmentsecrets.com
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