Gigs & business
Touring DJ
A touring DJ plays regularly in cities other than their own, usually through an agent, with travel and accommodation part of the booking. The mixing is a small fraction of the job.
In practice
The mixing is the small part. Sleep, logistics and a stick that works anywhere are most of the job.
Advance every show properly and keep the answers on your phone offline. Carry redundancy — two sticks in different pockets, an adapter, spare headphones if you can — because a problem in an unfamiliar city at midnight has no easy solution. Build a library that covers more than one kind of room, since you will not know which one you are walking into. And treat sleep as part of the preparation rather than something you catch up on: a tired set is a worse set and everyone can hear it.
Offline
Where the day sheet lives
2 sticks
In different pockets
Sleep
Part of the preparation
Where these come from: Touring practice, not a catalog figure. For what we can measure, see the message that prevents most of it.
Why it matters
The work is logistics. Flights, visas, withholding tax, sleep, equipment that varies by country, and a body that has to perform at 2am in a timezone it does not live in — none of which is glamorous and all of which decides whether the set is any good.
It also changes what a library needs to be. A touring DJ cannot rely on knowing the room, so the pool has to cover several kinds of crowd, and everything has to be on a stick that works everywhere rather than on a laptop that might not be welcome.
Frequently asked
What is hardest about touring?+
Logistics and sleep rather than mixing. Performing well at 2am in a timezone your body does not live in is most of the actual difficulty.
Do I need an agent to tour?+
It becomes impractical without one fairly quickly — advancing shows, chasing fees and negotiating across territories is a job in itself.
How should a touring library be built?+
To cover several kinds of room, because you will not know which you are walking into, and on sticks rather than a laptop that may not be welcome in the booth.
Related terms
Advance
Advancing a show is the exchange of practical information between artist and promoter in the days before it — times, equipment, travel, contacts. The document that results is usually called an advance sheet or day sheet.
Booking agent
A booking agent sells your live dates: they take offers, negotiate fees and terms, advance shows and chase payment, for a commission on the fee — commonly around ten to fifteen per cent of it.
Per diem
A per diem is a fixed daily cash allowance for food and incidentals while travelling, paid separately from the fee. It is normal on multi-day trips and tours and unusual on a single local booking.
Two USB sticks
Bringing two identical prepared USB sticks is the standard club precaution. Sticks fail, get left in players and get taken by mistake, and the second one turns any of those from a disaster into a pause.
Explore: DJ tech rider template · Advance · Booking agent · All DJ terms