Spotify - crossing over to the dark side

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The other issue is say, you can't play their request (exlplicit or you know it's a floor killer, too weird, etc) so you skip it, with a nice excuse..
Well, they'll just come back, drunker, with it on their phones 'here play this!! I have it ready for you!'

Which is exactly why I believe my policy of getting people's requests in early and then politely telling any of them that come up after my cutoff time "sorry, I already have more requests than I can play" is the best way to handle things.
 
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Please, explain to me in all your wisdom and knowledge then Pro, how with the ability to have theoretical access to every track available, you would handle a request you didn't want to play for whatever reason? You can't use the excuse anymore that you don't have it and if you are better at hospitality than the rest of us, you should play it and indulge that one person right?

These are YOUR limitations not mine.
I'm sorry you're so restrained. I am not. Customers can see the difference even if you can't.
 
Which is exactly why I believe my policy of getting people's requests in early and then politely telling any of them that come up after my cutoff time "sorry, I already have more requests than I can play" is the best way to handle things.

Policy? C'mon, that's not "polite" it's just cowardly off-putting. Customers know your lying, and they don't respect you for it.

If the event is 7-12 I'm still open to requests at 11:56 - you're just going to need a very convincing case to get me to agree with you.
The best way to handle things is to have the balls to tell people what you're doing when you're doing it, and whether or not their idea will be a part of it.

It's a wonder some of you guys get booked at all practicing such phony customer care. Maybe you're not getting booked - which is why you're so quick to speak "hypothetically?"
 
Does that make me hard to work with?

Yes.
Learn to negotiate.
It's business - not personal.

Half the crap people claim is "policy" is just an example of them personalizing things and making their ego the first thing they unload on people.

You call that woman back and listen to her perspective - then you talk it through with her to get your price for those up lights, and contract terms you can both agree to. Act like a salesman instead of a dictator and negotiate deals not your self-esteem.
 
BS on this one.
If it's a wedding I have an ending planned - and no, i'm not taking requests with ONE or even two songs to go. And neither are you - you're just trolling wiht a statement saying you are - or lying to the person "sure, i'll try!" and the even'ts over in 2 songs..he knows you lied.

I'm finding it much more common that if the dance/wedding/etc is over at 10 then they mean 10:00..not 10:02. And because of that yes, you gotta know when to cut the requests - and yes, it at times makes people unhappy.

SO you suggest telling them their song choice is bad so you won't play it? Is that what i'm understanding? Yeah, that will make for happy guests - not.

Policy? C'mon, that's not "polite" it's just cowardly off-putting. Customers know your lying, and they don't respect you for it.

If the event is 7-12 I'm still open to requests at 11:56 - you're just going to need a very convincing case to get me to agree with you.
The best way to handle things is to have the balls to tell people what you're doing when you're doing it, and whether or not their idea will be a part of it.

It's a wonder some of you guys get booked at all practicing such phony customer care. Maybe you're not getting booked - which is why you're so quick to speak "hypothetically?"


Some people give you red flags - they're doing to be demanding, overly so, figure $300 is fair but since nobody works for that she'll pay $500 and be a bitch about it - expecting way above what $500 will get you. it's a mindset no amount of negotiating will change.
Yes.
Learn to negotiate.
It's business - not personal.

Half the crap people claim is "policy" is just an example of them personalizing things and making their ego the first thing they unload on people.

You call that woman back and listen to her perspective - then you talk it through with her to get your price for those up lights, and contract terms you can both agree to. Act like a salesman instead of a dictator and negotiate deals not your self-esteem.
 
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BS on this one.
If it's a wedding I have an ending planned - and no, i'm not taking requests with ONE or even two songs to go. And neither are you - you're just trolling wiht a statement saying you are - or lying to the person "sure, i'll try!" and the even'ts over in 2 songs..he knows you lied.

I'm finding it much more common that if the dance/wedding/etc is over at 10 then they mean 10:00..not 10:02. And because of that yes, you gotta know when to cut the requests - and yes, it at times makes people unhappy.

SO you suggest telling them their song choice is bad so you won't play it? Is that what i'm understanding? Yeah, that will make for happy guests - not.

+1
 
These are YOUR limitations not mine.
I'm sorry you're so restrained. I am not. Customers can see the difference even if you can't.

I'd love to see how your 'non limitation' works for offensive or explicit content, with kids present - or for running overtime because you had to play a mess of requests at 11:56 - with some of them being unavailable.
 
I think requests can be handled up until the very last possible minute. At weddings and sweet 16's I know my last song already, so if I get a request at 1052 for a party that ends at 11... AND IT FITS... sure I'll make that guest happy. There's appropriate times to be flexible and some when not to be. If it's 1055 and I get a request I simply say sorry the last song has already been chosen by the couple and they 100% always understand.

It's really all about judgment and knowing how to approach each on a case by case basis. Again I have some events that I'm not even supposed to take requests so it's important to know how to handle those situations as well.
 
Yes I did say there are always extenuating circumstances and every situation is different.
We all have our policies we put in place to make sure an event goes smoothly, but by the nature of the work we do, very little is actually set in stone.
In most cases, I am not lying as Pro has accused. There is nothing for the customer to see through.
As the night goes on and if you are in tune with the flow of the event, as the dj you are making your own "requests" and adjusting your playlist based on that flow, and if you have tracks that you know are going to work, you are less likely to want to take requests from guests unless you know it fits very well with that energy flow.
Trust me when I say it has nothing to do with ego.

Also as the night goes on and people get more intoxicated, the "sorry I'm full" policy makes it much easier to deal with and it deflates the drunks much simpler than having to argue with them as to why their request is inappropriate.

Yes, it's a wonder with our ego driven limitations that we are ever booked at all.:rolleyes:
 
Just in case some might think that I am unequivocally saying no and turning the requester away without even hearing what their request is, that is not the case.
I initially tell them I am full but still ask them what they wanted to hear just in case I already have it in the playlist or as was mentioned it's a gem that fits very well. In the majority of cases the answer will still be "sorry I'm full", but I still make note of it and if it's something that works well and I can work it in, in many instances I will.

It's also quite satisfying to see their reaction when I do play their request even after turning them away.;)
 
There is nothing wrong with Spotify. It's a tool, it works well, and sounds decent, it solves problems. I bring my entire researched and vetted set list specifically designed for the event with me as FLACs and high quality MP3s and it is ready to go in case of a flaky streaming environment. But I also have Spotify, with my entire set list saved as playlist(s). So I can play my setlist or portions thereof from my laptop or Spotify on my Ipad Pro. My laptop is hooked up into my mixer and ready to go with the same set list in Virtual DJ. I will be buying a professional DJ controller in the next few weeks, the one from Pioneer with the 2 USB drives, so that I can mix that same set list using the controller. And then there's my phone as a 4th source. So I have 3 core sources and my phone from which to source my set list. I'm all about redundancy.

And then, for requests, you have Spotify and ITunes. This combination of technology and sourcing seems to me to be able to handle anything that is thrown at me.

If you haven't tried DJay Pro with Spotify on an Ipad Pro, you really need to do that. It's jaw dropping really. It's a magnificent tool in our toolbox.
 
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Can somebody that knows spotify or similar streaming services better than I do have any idea how many seconds ahead they cache/buffer for?
 
Can somebody that knows spotify or similar streaming services better than I do have any idea how many seconds ahead they cache/buffer for?
Not sure I would stream live, since there are many points of failure .. some you don't have any control over .. but the paid subscription lets you download the song completely to your device. Then playback should be stutter free.
 
Thank you Al Gore for the internet. Thank You DJ TJ for WiFi. (Good grief!)

Ignorant would be thinking any of these self-imposed limitations will be appreciated or respected by clients or customers. What really stands out about a lot of posters on this board is how many excuses they can muster for being difficult to work with and copping a sh**ty attitude with customers. Good luck with that.

What do you believe really stands out about you on this board?

The irony of someone copping an attitude about others copping an attitude is quite humorous.

How about trying not copping an attitude with anyone? That way you don't have to remember to fake it when you are in front of a customer.
 
Not sure I would stream live, since there are many points of failure .. some you don't have any control over .. but the paid subscription lets you download the song completely to your device. Then playback should be stutter free.

Yeah, that was going to be my next message. Way too many variables in the chain from server to your device to trust streaming. I knew the paid version cached the whole song for offline playback but wasn't sure if the free version did the same but just didn't allow the offline feature.
 
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Some people give you red flags - they're doing to be demanding, overly so, figure $300 is fair but since nobody works for that she'll pay $500 and be a bitch about it - expecting way above what $500 will get you. it's a mindset no amount of negotiating will change.

This is just an excuse - not evidence. You're not a mind reader. You don't know the mindset or expectations of any of the ambiguous "some people" you speak of.

I get it - it's easier to make sh*t up about what can't be done, or over state the value than than to find ways to succeed.
 
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