DJs: Why I want to help you succeed

Hello there – I’m Danny Savage, an events and marketing expert who wants to help you achieve your full potential as a DJ. I’ve been through the whole journey myself from bedroom DJ all the way through to club promoter and event manager… I’ve certainly had to learn the hard way how to get DJ bookings, but the good news for you is I’m going to be producing a series of blogs and how-to podcasts to help give you the kind of DJ marketing knowledge I wish I had when I was starting out.

A bit more about me:

I run Igloo Disco, a nationwide pop-up events company and Savage.Digital, a niche marketing company specialising in events, entertainment and venues, based in my home city of Leeds, UK. For seven years I ran various award-winning club promotions and event-managed two of the UK’s most successful nightclubs; Mint Club and The Warehouse, both in Leeds.

I’ve had the honour of booking some great DJs and acts down the years, such as: Faithless (live), Calvin Harris, Afrojack, Jamie Jones, Alesso, Solomun, The Martinez Brothers, Frankie Knuckles (RIP), Laidback Luke to name a few. And for a time, Hot Since 82 was my resident DJ… back then I was only paying him £250 a gig!

I also run my own music festivals, having hosted over 500 events worldwide. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with legendary international festivals such as Burning Man, Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Day Zero. Like many on the scene, I’ve done my stint in Ibiza too. Four years as a resident to be precise, managing events at various different venues all over the island, and hosting the infamous ‘Filth Villa’ parties.

My DJing career, meanwhile, took me to some fantastic places. I’ve been lucky enough to play regularly at some of the world’s leading clubs and festivals including Burning Man, Space Ibiza, Glastonbury, Ministry Of Sound and Sankeys.

The marketing knack:

To facilitate my need for adventure I have taught myself to work remotely, running my many businesses whilst travelling the world. One of the bonuses of travelling whilst working is that I have met and worked with a multitude of international events entrepreneurs and music marketing experts. I know what makes them tick, and I know they’ll be willing to give new artists a chance if I put them their way. It seemed like a natural progression to use this network to help other artists and small businesses kickstart their own marketing efforts.

Spreading the gospel:

So why am I writing these blogs? Well, like many people I left school with no qualifications and no direction. All I knew was that I wanted to make a career in the music industry but had no idea how to do it. I’d been DJing since the age of 12, but I never quite made it as a DJ until I started throwing parties in Leeds back in 2006. The success of these events led me to start my own club night called Filth, and then things snowballed from there.

I learned pretty quickly that the success of the events I was running was largely down to the marketing. Yes the music was good, yes the concept was good, but it only achieved what it achieved because of the marketing. I was one of the first promoters to completely dominate MySpace as a promotional tool. MySpace & then Facebook helped Filth become one of the UK’s leading club promotions which in turn helped me build my own career as a DJ. Starting with just £300, it quickly turned into a significant regular income. And it was all about building my audience and marketing correctly.

Fast forward to 2016 and one of the projects my marketing agency was involved with required us to carry out extensive interviews with over 200 bedroom DJs. It was through this that I came to realise that most DJs didn’t really have any idea how to market themselves. With just some basic guidance on things like Facebook, Soundcloud  and Instagram marketing, a DJ could really push themselves forward and fulfil their potential. There are so many talented DJs and producers out there who simply plod along working in the bedroom without ever really getting the recognition their skills deserve, so I have made it my mission to do what I can to help them.

Over the coming months I’m going to be giving tips and advice to help you build your career and get your name out there. I’ll be starting with some basic stuff at first but we’ll also be looking at more advanced topics for those of you who are a little further up the ladder. There’ll be interviews with top international DJs and marketing experts, guest bloggers providing regular top-quality content, and a regular podcast covering a whole range of DJ marketing topics. The podcast is something I’m particularly excited about; it’s going to be full of great tips and interesting stories and it’s going to be a lot of fun, so stay tuned for that.

Get involved:

You’re never going to progress unless you take action! There’s going to be tons of FREE content coming soon, so simply hit the ‘Subscribe’ button to make sure you’re the first to know about it.

Please feel free to leave a comment below on how I can help YOU improve your DJ career

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