How to get signed to a top DJ booking agency

To make it big in the dance music industry you need more than just great music. You need to play at the best events. You need to release music on top labels. You need an engaged fanbase. You need a brand.

Whilst the internet has made it much easier for DJs to build a profile, develop a large fanbase, and get their music released on respected imprints, the concert business is still very much an old system: based on personal relationships and backstage handshakes, aggressive negotiations, legally bound contracts, posturing, politics, ego and greed. It’s tough. In fact, the concert business makes the music business look like a children’s tea party.

That’s why all successful DJs at some point have to hire a booking agent: it’s almost impossible to survive the gig business without one.

An agent or “booker”, as European music industry folk like to refer to them, are a necessary buffer between promoters and DJs. They process all booking requests. They weed out the jokers from the serious, the good gigs from the bad. They negotiate fees on your behalf. They ensure you receive the correct billing on flyers and posters. They actively push your career behind the scenes, in phone conversations, over drinks, and long lunches. A good booker will fight for you. A great one will believe in you.