The DiscoStyle blog: Don't call me dj, call me concierge

S'il vous plait, may you explain why some djs don't want to be refered as djs. While understandable for on-air personalities, program directors or compilers since some of them don't gig and/or don't beatmatch.

Now there are djs out there who supplement their income or (solely focus on) compiling soundtracks for retailers, stores and fashion shows. In other words, their job is to select, assemble and sequence songs to provide a mood, ambiance or setting. Some are so successful at it that they don't gig or do clubs at all.

Although looking like a dream job at first glance, it is for those who already have a huge library of records in all forms, have a broad knowledge in music and not only dance music, spread over multiple decades, they are sort of like music librairians, historians and record collectors.

Speaking of record collectors, some have collections that rivals those of world class djs, some do beatmatch, some are self admitted vinyl junkies, most have deejayed at one time or another in their bedroom or relatives' parties, some have deejayed professionally on and off.

Read an article recently about one guy having this dream job of compiling songs specifically tailored for a brand, corporation or individuals who don't have the time to search and collect, former dj Rob Wood sums it up: "Through being a DJ and my consultancy work I've always had to filter different music to different audiences. Music Concierge was just a natural progression from what I was doing earlier in my carreer."

Wait a minute, there are two definitions of concierge. There's the high end and low end of it: Hotel busboy and janitor respectively. What does that got to do with music?

dj ... deejay .... disk jockey ... turntables technician
dr... doctor ... P.H.D. holder... often confused with physician
mc ... emcee ... master of ceremony ... old school rapper
and gotcha!
mc ... music concierge? there's a clash right there! battle of emcees

and on we go:

turntablist ... scratcher... old school hip-hop dj
superstar dj ... deejay touring globally who doesn't use turntables END