tranceaddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- USA - West Coast / Las Vegas
-- Are "HEADLINER" DJ's Really Needed?
Pages (2): [1] 2 »

Are "HEADLINER" DJ's Really Needed?

Alright children, today's lecture: Are "HEADLINER" DJ's really needed or are they an added expense for CLUB nights?

For years the EDM club nights had relied on international headliners but now that EDM is back on the mainstream are they really needed? If you would've asked me this question several years back, I would've said YES. But now, I'm not sure.

A friend of mine just took over Friday nights at The Yost. It used to be a Giant night. Friday was his grand opening. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. The place is big and he had no DJ's on the flyer other than himself.

My other friend promoted the second floor and brought in Erphun, which is an Incognito regular.

I got there a little after 11pm and the main room was already at or over capacity and it had some awesome production. The second floor was empty.

Yes, it was two contrasting formats where the main room had the SHM, Guetta, Chuckie, Avicci type of house and the second room had techno.

If my friend was able to sell it out with no headliners other than himself, why wasn't Giant able to do the same thing with their headliners?

I'm thinking it's all about having the right promotional team, knowing your crowd and building relationships, but who knows. I'm sure he saved the cash from the headliner and was able to use that towards promotion and putting in a good show.

What you guys think? Discuss...

It's all in the promotions yo. But depending on promotions alone doesn't cut it especially if doing a weekly party. Same as having major headliners every week. People get tired of going out to the same place every week.

Needed for what? To make money or to please the fans?

a good example are the Hollywood clubs. Hardly host any events with headlining djs but still pack the place and make money. its great promotions with specific targeting.

quote:

Originally posted by 72hrpartyanimal It's all in the promotions yo. But depending on promotions alone doesn't cut it especially if doing a weekly party. Same as having major headliners every week. People get tired of going out to the same place every week.

Exactly, so why is it that a lot of promoters don't get that if their club nights depend on it?

quote:

Originally posted by 72hrpartyanimal a good example are the Hollywood clubs. Hardly host any events with headlining djs but still pack the place and make money. its great promotions with specific targeting.

Another example is my club. I've been there for 6 years and we've never had a headliner, just the same 3 DJ's and rarely do we bring in any guest DJ's. Yet, week after week we keep selling out. Well, most of the time anyways.

quote:

Originally posted by jonmitz Needed for what? To make money or to please the fans?

To make the club work. If you're making money, you're pleasing the fans because they keep coming back. Otherwise you'd be out of business.

Obviously you don't need headliners but if you're going headliner-free you need to have the reputation/promotional muscle to make up for it. It's much easier to pull this off with top40 because most people can get down to it whereas EDM has historically had more of a niche audience. These days vegas-house is becoming more of the default party music which enables crews to have successful "EDM" nights the same way they do for top40: promotion.

quote:

Originally posted by Sadface Obviously you don't need headliners but if you're going headliner-free you need to have the reputation/promotional muscle to make up for it. It's much easier to pull this off with top40 because most people can get down to it whereas EDM has historically had more of a niche audience. These days vegas-house is becoming more of the default party music which enables crews to have successful "EDM" nights the same way they do for top40: promotion.

Yes, but this was his first party in years!!! His crowd used to be very different. But I hear you loud and clear.

quote:

Originally posted by DjWoody Yes, but this was his first party in years!!! His crowd used to be very different. But I hear you loud and clear.

Good for your friend, man. Seems The Yost has found its headliner!

It's a combination of promotion and community. Psytrance, Hardstyle, Industrial, etc. type events usually don't have much in the way of headliners, but the community rallies around the concept and event itself.

Trance used to be that way in the late 90s. People went to the party because they knew the group throwing it was awesome.

Honestly, I think with EDM as mainstream, it actually hurts not to have a headliner. The mainstream crowd wants to be seen and wants to be around fame.

quote:

Originally posted by Quazar The mainstream crowd wants to be seen and wants to be around fame.

That's another very valid point that I didn't think about. You're absolutely correct.

I think that's what happened with MNS after it moved to Playhouse and it became more mainstream. Playhouse is the place to be seen at, so a lot of people go simply because it's Playhouse and have no clue who the DJ is.

Re: Are "HEADLINER" DJ's Really Needed?

quote:

Originally posted by DjWoody If my friend was able to sell it out with no headliners other than himself, why wasn't Giant able to do the same thing with their headliners?

I think Giant also sold out on their opening night with CL and on a few more nights I was there. But specifically for last Friday there was no competition, in OC or LA. Let's see what happens the following Fridays. 2/24 Sutra's got Eddie Halliwell and Dash Berlin is at the Palladium. 3/9 LMD is at Shark and Insomniac at the Exchange.

Re: Re: Are "HEADLINER" DJ's Really Needed?

quote:

Originally posted by MelBeat I think Giant also sold out on their opening night with CL and on a few more nights I was there. But specifically for last Friday there was no competition, in OC or LA. Let's see what happens the following Fridays. 2/24 Sutra's got Eddie Halliwell and Dash Berlin is at the Palladium. 3/9 LMD is at Shark and Insomniac at the Exchange.

Yeap! That's exactly what I was thinking. Opening nights usually do good. Keeping the momentum going is the hard part and it's yet to be seen.

quote:

Originally posted by DjWoody To make the club work. If you're making money, you're pleasing the fans because they keep coming back. Otherwise you'd be out of business.

would you deny there is a difference between mainstream America and EDM fans?

making mainstream America happy is not difficult. Americans are fucking stupid as a whole. You can please the mainstream crowd by putting on a top 40 swedish house mafia/guetta/etc compilation cd every single night and have some raggedy euro-trash looking guy pretend to dj and you will make bank vs paying some raggedy looking eurotrash $50,000 to come dj (ex: Steve Angello).


or you can pay whatever it cost to bring in some real EDM talent (probably less than the euro trash dj) and probably not sell as many tickets, but make the EDM fans happy.

i guess you have to just be clearly what you mean by "fans" as it's somewhat ambiguous in your OP



e: and to be clear, i am aware this is a very simplified view, but this is TA and i refuse to put in any actual effort in making an argument

quote:

Originally posted by jonmitz would you deny there is a difference between mainstream America and EDM fans? making mainstream America happy is not difficult. Americans are fucking stupid as a whole. You can please the mainstream crowd by putting on a top 40 swedish house mafia/guetta/etc compilation cd every single night and have some raggedy euro-trash looking guy pretend to dj and you will make bank vs paying some raggedy looking eurotrash $50,000 to come dj (ex: Steve Angello). or you can pay whatever it cost to bring in some real EDM talent (probably less than the euro trash dj) and probably not sell as many tickets, but make the EDM fans happy. i guess you have to just be clearly what you mean by "fans" as it's somewhat ambiguous in your OP

Off course there's a difference between mainstream fans and EDM fans. In my original reply I should've said club goers rather than fans. My bad. But I did mention it was to make the club work. If you're pleasing your patrons, they come back regardless if you have a headliner or not.

Clubs in SoCal can't just rely on die-hard fans like us anymore. There simply aren't as many. The people who used to eat, sleep, and shit EDM in its many incarnations have grown older and we simply don't go out as much. Just look at Digweed. He used to be able to sell out The Mayan on Wednesday nights and now he doesn't.

Throwing a successful Top 40 is by no means a piece of cake. It's pretty hard, just not as hard as throwing an EDM club. I've seen plenty of Top 40 club nights go down just as quickly as they went up.

Everyone would love to please the fans, but lets be realistic now. Being a promoter is not all fun and games, it's also a business. You have to find the right balance between pleasing your fans vs going broke. That's one reason why undergrounds exist: they're way cheaper to throw and it cuts a lot of the red tape.

Sux I went overboard on my nap and didn't make it. Next time. I think it's the production. Specially with all the etards of today.

sorry for being so negative in my post, i implied that it was easy to run a club and I know it's not, and wasn't my intention.

I'd say yes it's possible to run a club (not considering any genres) without headliners, it'd be all about the crowd and atmosphere. There are certain clubs in SF i refuse to go to anymore because of the crowd and/or atmosphere, and there are clubs I'd go to because of the wonderful crowd/atmos (the independent, monarch, mighty[maybe?])

Another anecdote: Vanguard way back when I was in college is a good example of good music, shitty crowd&atmos. I would have never gone to that club without the headliners. And on the other side, I'd have/did go to Circus without headliners

Is it just me or does this event look more like a rave than a club? What was the average age of the people who went to the event?

As everyone mentioned, keeping it going after opening night is tough. Are they going to be able to come up with a production like this week after week? If you don't spend money on a headliner then you could diverge that money to upgrading the props and costumes but creativity would be key. I wouldn't go back to this event unless it was changed up EVERY week. Seeing the whole production would be cool but not same one over and over again. Hiring kryo pumping midgets can't be cheap either.

You also got to consider if you are going out to see a production, for music, or for a specific DJ. I would be pretty upset if all the clubs just went for production and I never go to see new headliners.

quote:

Originally posted by jonmitz sorry for being so negative in my post, i implied that it was easy to run a club and I know it's not, and wasn't my intention. I'd say yes it's possible to run a club (not considering any genres) without headliners, it'd be all about the crowd and atmosphere. There are certain clubs in SF i refuse to go to anymore because of the crowd and/or atmosphere, and there are clubs I'd go to because of the wonderful crowd/atmos (the independent, monarch, mighty[maybe?]) Another anecdote: Vanguard way back when I was in college is a good example of good music, shitty crowd&atmos. I would have never gone to that club without the headliners. And on the other side, I'd have/did go to Circus without headliners

No worries. I'm just like you, there's clubs I refuse to go because of the crowd & atmosphere. Actually, my friends new club night is one of them. LOL... Eventhough he had a very successful night, I probably wouldn't go back unless it was a special event or he had someone that really interests me. I'm just not down with hearing Chris Brown or Pitbull in the middle of a "house" set. lol

I felt the same way about Vanguard too and lately I've been feeling the same way about Avalon. I used to LOVE Avalon, but there's something about it now that I don't like anymore. I don't go there anymore unless there's a headliner I'd really like to see.

I think as I'm getting older, I'm getting pickier with my outings.

quote:

Originally posted by 3tlk Is it just me or does this event look more like a rave than a club? What was the average age of the people who went to the event? As everyone mentioned, keeping it going after opening night is tough. Are they going to be able to come up with a production like this week after week? If you don't spend money on a headliner then you could diverge that money to upgrading the props and costumes but creativity would be key. I wouldn't go back to this event unless it was changed up EVERY week. Seeing the whole production would be cool but not same one over and over again. Hiring kryo pumping midgets can't be cheap either. You also got to consider if you are going out to see a production, for music, or for a specific DJ. I would be pretty upset if all the clubs just went for production and I never go to see new headliners.

lol Yeah, it looks like a rave. I was wondering the same thing about the age. I felt OLD there. My friend who did the upstairs room said it was 21 & Over, but to me it looked like 18 & Over or a really young looking, just turned 21 crowd.

From what I've been told, they are going to change the theme every week. This week is Glow. He has a HUGE advantage. His partner owns a production company and owns all the equipment. I'm sure that cut a lot of costs.

One thing I did noticed there, even though the club was sold out, I wasn't feeling the vibe at all. The energy we normally see at true EDM clubs just wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, the crowd would scream once in a while, but it wasn't the same. A lot of people were just standing around.

quote:

Originally posted by DjWoody lol Yeah, it looks like a rave. I was wondering the same thing about the age. I felt OLD there. My friend who did the upstairs room said it was 21 & Over, but to me it looked like 18 & Over or a really young looking, just turned 21 crowd. From what I've been told, they are going to change the theme every week. This week is Glow. He has a HUGE advantage. His partner owns a production company and owns all the equipment. I'm sure that cut a lot of costs. One thing I did noticed there, even though the club was sold out, I wasn't feeling the vibe at all. The energy we normally see at true EDM clubs just wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, the crowd would scream once in a while, but it wasn't the same. A lot of people were just standing around.

Why are you complaining? Would you rather have everyone standing or parking there asses on the dance floor in a cuddle puddle!!!

simplisticly, it depends on the music IMO.

if the music, is the Top 100 at Beatport, then you might not need a headliner. You can focus on production.

if the music, regardless of genre, is underground, then you need a headliner.

quote:

Originally posted by 3tlk Why are you complaining? Would you rather have everyone standing or parking there asses on the dance floor in a cuddle puddle!!!

I would much rather see everyone dance than stand around.

I'd say it depends on the venue. A new venue in Hollywood can usually be the hot spot for about 6 months before they see their numbers go down and think about remodeling and changing the name.

There is a big difference in crowd and the way the door is ran at Playhouse on Monday vs. Friday. There are probably more people on Friday nights that have no idea who is headlighning. I think Playhouse has done a great keeping things hot and busy.

A venue like Avalon likely needs a headliner to keep the place packed. Sure, I'm sure if they take out the headligner the washers will likely still come week after week.

At the end of the day, it is all about promotion. Emails, texts blasts, birthday parties etc.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.