Music collection is behind the times.

dbstudios said:

I just did a wedding last night (10/5/19), and even though things went great, I realized that I am painfully behind the times with newer music. I have investigated sites like promo only, but currently can't afford the monthly fees (school, and just moved across the state). What are some of the newer songs I should have in my collection?

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Then you should not offer your services to clients that need a professional DJ with a current library.

How long has it been since you've been updating?

Lizzo - Truth Hurts
Billie Eillish - Bad Guy
Shawn Mendes - Senorita
Lil Nas X - Old Town Road
Jonas Brothers - Sucker
Blanco Brown - The Git Up
Dan + Shay - Speechless
DJ Snake - Loco Contigo

^ These are all on the Billboard Hot 100 right now, and I've played them at a wedding this season at least once.

If you're going to add more hip hop into your sets, you also need to add:

Young Thug - London
Drake - Money in the Grave
Post Malone - Wow. (Sunflower and Circles are good to have too)
DaBaby - Suge
Megan Thee Stalion - Hot Girl Summer

But that's basically just this season. Depending on how long since you've been up to date, you might have more gaps.

If you need a good resource for modern hits, I'd look at the Now Series: Music - (http://www.nowthatsmusic.com/music)

Not necessarily to buy the album because you may want intro edits, clean versions, whatever. But you can get a pretty good sense of what the hits have been in top 40. They aren't SUPER up to date, but they are close.

Ross gave a bunch of current mainstream tracks that are popular... but it really depends on how outdated you are. Also demographics could play a part of it too... up here we get more club/house music requests with certain crowds. Proms are a whole different animal as those kids are constantly changing musical preferences by the week.

What were examples of songs that you didn't have?

dbstudios said:

My collection was up to date ( for the most part) when I stopped DJing in 2008. After that I decided to try going solo, which is when a lot of my music vanished. I have been able to recover a lot of it, but after getting requests for Drake at my last wedding, I realized my 8000 songs are still lacking.

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11 years of hits may be a somewhat expensive undertaking, do you have the financial resources to do this, even if it’s one track at a time from iTunes it could be $20 a gig for a while

dbstudios said:

So your advise is to close up shop until my collection is current? Even though my 8000+ songs do get the job done, I just don't have some current requests, just shut down until I am caught up with a constantly changing industry. Got it.

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No, I did not say that. Please read and respond to what is said/written, not what you incorrectly infer via triggered defensive reactionism!

What I specifically said was, "you should not offer your services to clients that need a professional DJ with a current library."

There are events that need professional DJs that do not provide current/contemporary music.

dbstudios said:

I was hoping for some ideas of artists that are hot now, and I can start getting some of the newer stuff, and be able to do my job better, but I get it, it's better to stop completely.

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Didn't they have charts and hit lists WAAAAAY back in the 2008s?

They still have 'em. Unfortunately, contemporary radio play charts do nit provide a definitive list in these www times.

You will have to review charts from various sources to get a more comprehensive and useful understanding of "popular" songs.

Researching charts from Billboard, Itunes, mediabase, various DJ pools and others need to be combined toget a best, most, although never completely comprehensive request prediction chart.

Good Luck.

dbstudios said:

Thank you.

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You are very welcome.

dbstudios said:

My collection was up to date (for the most part) when I stopped DJing in 2008.

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Maintaining a current/contemporary music library is a CONSTANT, ONGOING, NEVER ENDING exercise.

If you have not been keeping your library current since 2008 you have 11 years of catching up to do and likely need to contact a service like Promo Only or MasterMixDJ.com and get, a/k/a purchase the available missing hits and recurrents from those services during that time frame.

FYI, Ross' advice, while useful, is absolutely temporary and might serve you for the next few events but beyond that and given the rapid audience disinterest that plagues contemporary HIT music I refer you to the first sentence in this second response.

If the expected monetary costs are too great of a hurdle, team up with a reliable, legitimate DJ that has the library you need and work together.

wifedj said:

No, I did say that. Please read and respond to what is said/written, not what you incorrectly infer via triggered defensive reactionism!

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Perhaps YOU should read what is said.

He is asking for advice on where to get new music....
and instead, you chew him out....for not having new music.

Rather than jumping on an opportunity to give someone a hard time,
why don't you try HELPING someone for once?

dbstudios said:

As long as something doesn't come up last minute, I have until June to get the music I need. I am hoping to spent 50 to 100 per month to get up to date by then. Unless I get into a music pool for cheaper.

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I would look at Direct Music Service (DMS). For $30 per month, you'll be able to get a lot more tracks than if you spend comparable money on Amazon. And you'll get easier to mix with intro edits and radio versions instead of having to scrub it yourself.

Ausumm said:

Perhaps YOU should read what is said.

He is asking for advice on where to get new music....
and instead, you chew him out....for not having new music.

Rather than jumping on an opportunity to give someone a hard time...

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You sure do love riding in the wambulance.

Anyone that was in the game in and/or prior to 2008 needs very little advice on where to obtain music today, because it hasn't changed all that much.

In my appreciation, the question was not as simple as your take suggests...but I acknowledge simple when warranted.

Ausumm said:

why don't you try HELPING someone for once?

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Why don't you try NOT using hyperbole for once?

However, see post #9 in this thread to evidence the most recent attempt to truly help.

For the sake of discussion, I submit that providing help to every requester is not some badge of honor, it is predictably foolish and eventually worthless and possibly contributory to continued ignorance and detriment. (See any thread started by DraMachoman).

Ever notice how the same beggars are on the same corner for years...they are not seeking solutions or knowledge, they are just trying to lazily get past some current circumstance with simplistic solutions.

Teach a man to fish. Don't give him your stale anchovy.

IMHO, young people have a short attention span, and their music a short shelf life, so I'd concentrate on the (relatively) newest releases - songs that are getting a lot of airplay.

I have to say I love Sirius/XM radio for this, because it shows Song/Artist info right on the radio's screen. Riding in the car my phone is always set to camera mode - if I like the sound, I just take a quick picture.

Handinon said:

IMHO, young people have a short attention span, and their music a short shelf life, so I'd concentrate on the (relatively) newest releases - songs that are getting a lot of airplay.

I have to say I love Sirius/XM radio for this, because it shows Song/Artist info right on the radio's screen. Riding in the car my phone is always set to camera mode - if I like the sound, I just take a quick picture.

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Spotify charts are also a good source for hit info...albeit just as rapidly subject to spoilage as Itune, mediabase, etc.

However, beware the data source:

For starters, take a look at prior DJ Intelligence through those years. You'll want to write (spreadsheet) the list of songs for End of Year 2009. Then check out each year thereafter against the prior year. Some always fall out of favor and new are always added; Top 200. Soon enough you'll have a more up-to-date Top 200 list. I can't say that ALL of the songs on the current and prior Top 200 are still "popular" today. I believe DJ Intelligence also has Country listings as well.
You can also look at past Prime Cuts listings (until they went out of business a few years ago), too. They have top end-of-year lists.
Maybe you'll find enough hits that will carry you into the 2020 decade.

my suggestion may be a bit of a different direction... but perhaps to cover yourself for the last 10 yrs in a general sense... watch other dj's videos such as myself, bob carpenter, sce event group, etc and see the tracks that are being used. Chances are you'll catch the ones from back then that may still be relavant today or are worthy of having just in case. Shazam is a great tool to identify track/artist

dbstudios said:

I have Sirius, and have thought about this.

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I have Technology, and I know how to use it!

SoundHound (and similar apps) also work, but require too much monkeying around with the phone - NOT GOOD while driving.