This is a problem that has plagued me as well as many DJ's with a tight budget.

Things have been a lot easier since the dawn of the digital age, but even sites like Beatport make it pretty expensive when you try to keep upon the currents. At $2.49 a track, it builds up quick.

So my question is, how does a DJ keep up on knowing the hottest tracks, finding promos worth playing, and keep a playlist so current that people demand to hear you spin...all on a budget of $20 a month?

Ya a good thing to do is ask for promos and tracks. Make a lot of friends that can help you out track wise.

Chris,

I honestly think with your clout with Castthefire.com you should really be able to get more promos.  Maybe ask Kevin Neely, but I think if you change your approach on how you ask for promos you may get more.  I personally send out about 20-30 requests a week for free music.  Yeah I said that right.  I find the track on beatport or trackitdown and then hit up the artist on myspace.  Alot of artists who DO sell tracks will give it out if they believe you having it will benefit them.

20 bucks a month...hmmm.  I probably would never buy anything from beatport.  Seriously you need to stretch that money pretty far.  I personally think it is pretty pretty tough to have that type of budget, but utilize resources that you can control:

1. find mashups...they are free
2. buddy up with good producers that have remixes that they do and can't release because they don't have the rights to the original.
3. Find free bootlegs and download em.
4. Utilize your clout as a tastyfresh.com reviewer.
5. Utilize your clout as a DJ that hosts numerous online radio shows.  You are also the owner of the radio station so yeah use that clout to.
6. Only buy tracks that you believe can fit wonderfully on a mixdisk.  Be more picky purchasing tracks.  Look at it as...hmmm.  Can't get this for free, really really must have it now.  Then get it.

hope some of this is at least a little helpful.

doug

I think you should buy everything that you think is good.... if that means you have to spend $50... so be it.... it's all about priorities....

^Haha.  No but I think I know what he is saying.  When I was going out more, the DJ's that were playing out the most, residencies etc, were spending about $150 week on records, finding tunes that made them stand out.  You can do it a little cheaper if you have the digital equip now.  Music translates to gigs in some respects in that industry, and having it well before its on sale. If I was limited, I would probably save my money until I was playing, then buy some tunes close to the gig...

dude.... you pay all that with just $30,-?

what i do is shop regularly. like 2-3 times a week i go on and see whats new. i then keep a list of stuff i want. then at the end of the week i usually go and grab like the 5 i want most. this way i purchase ONLY what i REALLY like and what will be good to actually own.
i also dont just buy what i like sometimes. i am on a budget as well and i really have to buy what is going to be used while spinning. which means i pretty much ONLY buy funky house and new school disco. i cant afford to branch out and play everything. find that genre and stick to it. that is one of the best ways to do so.

I usually shop for the night I'm DJing...  I will during the week, month, etc put things in my beatport crate... and not check out... they stay in my crate then...  then on the night of or a few nights before when I need to DJ, I go through my selections again... toss the ones that I must've put in there just because I was impulse shopping or just excited by new music...  and then look through them taking the night that I am to be djing in to account...   after that I usually end up with only about 7 or 8 tracks that I have to buy... 

also if I find a track that really stands out and I can find the artists' myspace or something I will email them personally explaining who I am, what I do, how much money I don't make doing it, and see if they want to give me some promo mp3s ...  it works sometimes... other times I just play some classics. 

luckily for my scene (club truth) classics can go a long way...  Shackles House remix still makes the floor go wild and it's a 9 minute track! :-)