Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
This is primarily intended for dancers or club employees, I have a second related question for customers.
Namely, how much dancer say in song/music genre choice is allowed in the club(s) you've recently danced at ? Can you choose any song, or music type that you like dancing to, or does club management restrict you from playing certain songs, or otherwise provide "guidance and encouragement" to gear your music choice to the particular customer demographics ?
For customers, do you visit particular clubs in part because of the music they play ? (Or don't play ?) Conversely, have you ever walked out of a club, or declined to enter a club because of the music that it played ?
From my perspective, the vast majority of clubs I've been to have a DJ in them. Notable exceptions were Mons Venus, and some Portland clubs that are really glorified taverns. In those cases, the dancer chooses the song from the jukebox. I'm well traveled, and know that certain places can lean towards country music, others towards rap/hip hop, etc. For the most part, the clubs I've been to play a balanced mix (rock, techno, rap, even occasional country. Texas a bit more than occasional.;D) . There was one Phoenix club that I made the mistake of pulling up to after 9pm (I'd read some rave reviews on dayshift there.) From my car in the parking lot, I could feel as well as hear the BOOMTHUMPABOOM of the loud bass speakers. None of the guys entering or exiting the club looked like my typical coworker/bud, so I bailed. A later PM with a bluesider wised me up to the shift demographic differences- a subsequent Happy Hours (5p-7p) visit at a later date was more like it. Literally a day and night difference in music atmosphere. Same club adjusting the music to the crowd.
Meanwhile at the Mons, dancers choosing their own music worked out to a diverse mix, with maybe a bit of a bias towards rock/heavy metal. But, lately there has been a more rap/hip-hop lean there. Although I don't like rap music, I don't mind it too much as long as there is a mix of other music. Usually, things work out that way. One night several months ago, I walked out of the Mons after about 45 minutes or so of nothing but rap, and went to another club.
Curious about what adjustments, if any, your particular club makes, and other customer experiences.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Most of the clubs I've danced in have let me choose either the genre of music or even specific songs. I've worked in one club that specifically didn't play hip-hop (upscale).
Generally I tell the DJ to play to the demographic currently present in the club. If I pick my own music, then I tend to focus too much on the music instead of the customers. Plus, I'm not very good at remembering track names, especially in the stressful club environment.
If my clientele base weren't aging white dudes, I'd probably choose to dance to 100% R&B/hip-hop, just because those genres have an actual beat to dance to. Everything else is either too fast (techno), too angry/scary/beatless (metal/rock), or too happy to be sexy (pop). But alas, my "play-to-the-demographic" approach means I mostly dance to rock or slower techno tracks that are innocuous enough to fly by the white male "is that rap?!" radar.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
the djs in my first club were very accomodating, i got to choose any songs i liked, and request they be played in a specific order! but towards the end of my stay there they told us we couldnt play rap/rnb music, just rock and country..racist little nh club :/
the clubs im at now we don't pick our music, except maybe once in awhile we can request a song IF we tip. the dj will very rudely inform us that we don't get a say in our music if we complain. they play a lot of edited songs, which pisses off some of the customers, but there are no restrictions on what genre they can play. i wish the DJs would play for the crowd but its mostly just top 40 bullshit and depressing/break up ballad rock :( ick
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
simone87
i wish the DJs would play for the crowd but its mostly just top 40 bullshit and depressing/break up ballad rock :( ick
lol, that's the same crap they were playing in those clubs 25 years ago...
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
In Australia it's rare to be able to choose your music (I've worked at only 1 club where you could do this) the DJ/MC usually plays either classic rock (80's-90's) with a few current pop songs mixed in on the weekdays. On the weekends it's all up beat, pop/dance/r&b hits from the 90's-now ::).
Strip clubs here simply have a few play lists of "fun", up beat type songs that promote a "party", "sexy" kind of atmosphere.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
I don't think I've ever walked out of a club strictly due to the music, although the times I have walked out of a club, it's difficult to tell exactly what part of the experience I liked the least: wasn't attracted to the girls, bad music, too dive-y even for me .... I think these things all build on each other.
I've been to one club where there is a DJ, but the girls pick their own music. You see them in the DJ booth before their sets, picking out their songs. If the girls don't pick their songs out, the DJ just plays the songs from their last set again, or plays songs he knows she's picked before. The DJ does has veto power over songs that the club doesn't like (hardcore rap, etc). This system worked so well, from my perspective, with girls really enjoying dancing to their fave songs, that I wonder why I've only ever been in one single club that does this. And, being in other clubs and having to watch a girl dance to a horrible "penalty song" because the DJ is pissed at her and teaching her a lesson, makes me wonder even more so -- there's nothing in it for the club, that I can see, to let the DJ screw a girl up and subject the customers to bad music, just to pressure girls for tips. I suppose I understand that if the club wants the DJ's salary to be in tips, he has to give the DJ some kind of leverage with the girls, but in the aforementioned club I spoke about, it's the DJ who controls when the girls go on break and for how long, and that seemed to be sufficient. The girls danced to what they wanted, and the power plays around tipping happened behind the scenes rather than in a way that directly effected the customer or the girl's ability to make money.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Most clubs I've worked in have been pretty flexible. My club in Daytona was one stage, 3-song sets. They supposedly forbade hardcore rap, but sm of the girls played it anyway, & I guess b/c of the setup they let me have even very slow songs, which is a bit more my style ('Stay' by Shakespears Sister; a piano cover of 'In the End' by Linkin Park), as long as the other two were faster.
Tx clubs, not so much. On the plus side I've discovered faster-paced remakes of sm of my favourites, i.e. Elwood's cover of 'Sundown' by Gordon Lightfoot.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Some clubs I have worked in just have music on and you get up on the pole in turns, to whatever song's playing at the time.
Some have had a DJ and you can choose your own song, but the choices were sometimes limited.
Sometimes an automated DJ machine is the case, again limited choices and I can't dance to whatever I want, but I can choose what I want from what's there. It varies. I'm in the uk.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Most of my faves work in clubs where the DJ picks the songs but the dancers have input. They all have folders on the DJ's computer with the type of music that they prefer.
I have never walked out of a club over the music but I have found that, if I don't like the vibe in a particular club, the music that they are playing is usually part of that. One of my ATF's is currently working in a club that plays the absolute worst selection of music I've ever heard in my life. She manages to do a very good job of getting me to ignore the music and focus on her and that is as it should be. Frankly, I think customers spend way too much time talking about and worrying about the music in a strip club. I go for the girls...
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
In so cal, all the clubs I've been to have significant dancer involvement in song selection. Management exercises some say and limits really hardcore rap, but dancers want to dance to something they like and they put on the best show as a result. Given the tipping culture in the business, there is an expected reciprocation between dancers getting the music they want and the DJ playing it, and being taken care of.
These are higher end places and all play rap/hip-hop/techno/dubstep with a little rock (Deftones a big exception and the most common...)
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
A favorite club of mine used to run two or three song sets with multiple girls on stage so the only way a dancer would get her "request" would be if she tip the DJ before she went up. The club used to run a 2 for 1 dance special every afternoon. If I was at the club my then-fave would save the special for me and we would dove-tail it in to an additional 8 or 9 dances. This was back in the early 2000's. One afternoon the DJ played "My Sacrifice" by Creed and "Sexual Healing" By Marvin Gaye for the dance special (they didn't cut songs back then). That creed song really got her going and by the time "Sexual Healing" was over we were both spent and soaking in each others sweat. I really never experienced anything like it before and this was strictly PG as far as contact went. After that afternoon I used to tip the DJ myself to play those two songs for the dance special. It was worth the five bucks...8)
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
This was a must for me and I would never work in a club where we had to dance to what they played. I danced strictly to classic rock or alternative and would never consider anything else. One club I auditioned at told me they only allowed top 40 dance pop (gag)so I ended up never working there.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
I really don't care what music they play. I figure that if the dancers like it then their dances will be better in the back. Lol I remember watching a ridiculously hot black dancer struggle trying to give me a lapdance while the DJ played Disturbed Down With the Sickness. It just wasn't her thing and she finally aborted the dance 45 seconds in. We waited until a song meeting her approval was played before we continued.
The only club that I ever walked out of because of music was a shit-kicking place that only played C&W. Not my thang and I bounced after about 10 minutes.
Re: Dance Set Music- Dancer Choice, or DJ/Management Choice?
Which club did
You work
In ? Was
It
In NYC ?