It’s time to end the devious promotion practice that makes smaller DJs pay to fill their own gigs
4 July 2023 2023-07-07 16:26It’s time to end the devious promotion practice that makes smaller DJs pay to fill their own gigs

It’s time to end the devious promotion practice that makes smaller DJs pay to fill their own gigs
‘Pay-to-play’
Global Festival
Acid House
Manchester-based acid house duo Posthuman have pointed out to us that this practice has existed outside of electronic music events for as long as there has been money involved. “‘Pay-to-play’ has been an established thing in rock and pop music for decades,” they say. “Huge touring bands like The Rolling Stones would often sell the support slots to record companies desperate for their acts to play on the same stage – the publicity and exposure equal to a well-funded advertising campaign. Some big EDM stars have pretty much gone on record saying they paid their way into the big gigs.” The practice reached its zenith in March when KFC paid for a 15-minute set from Colonel Sanders on the Ultra main stage.
Booking a new DJ
Fast-Rising
Fast-rising Manchester tech-house producer and DJ Mason Maynard has a story from fellow club DJ who had to buy 25 tickets to sell in order to play at a top club, and on top of it got “a bollocking” for not shilling the event as effectively as the promoters would have liked. The set he got that night was half an hour long. At 5am.