Music Choice and Why the DJ has a Job

You ever wonder, on a semi-busy night where hardly anyone is at stage, but the bar is packed, why no one is sitting at stage?  The customers are drinking, they're watching TV, they're even talking to dancers, maybe even buying them drinks.  But they're not at stage, they're not paying real attention.
Are these guys just broke?  Are they cheap assholes trying to get a free show?  I mean, how are you supposed to sell dances if these guys won't even tip you a couple dollars at stage?

Like most things about our industry, there isn't one simple answer.  It may be that the local sports team is having an important game, it may be that rent just hit, it may be any one of the excuses we make for why business is slow.  Those excuses are easy to make because they are external factors, things out of our control.  We can focus on these things and let them bring down the whole night, OR we can brush them off and focus on the factors we do have some control over.

One of the most underrated of these factors is the music.  This seems like a fairly simple thing on it's surface.  Good music equals good dancing equals good money.  There are songs and artists you like to dance to, that are more fun and easy to move to, and that thus make you feel sexier.  There are songs, many many songs, you are indifferent to, that you could take or leave and that you'll dance to, but are otherwise "meh."  And then there are songs that you can't stand, and that you don't think you can dance to AT ALL.
It all seems simple really.  If you could just dance to the music you want, you'd do a lot better, you'd make more money and everyone would be happy.  So why can't the DJ just take the hint and play you good music, and not play you bad music?

And here is where we get into something that will come up a lot in this blog, the difference in perception between dancer and customer.  This is a key, an extremely vital bit of sublte thinking, and I'll explain how.  It's very easy to take our impressions of the world around us, our sensory input, our emotions, our physical sensations, our mood, and project them outward, to assume that what we see and hear and feel is the objective reality outside of Us.  It's tricky and not automatic to think of things from others perspectives, especially when it's simple things like sensory input.  

For example, say you're really quite cold at work.  Not freezing, just too cold, like you want to put a sweatshirt on.  You can't wear a sweatshirt out on the floor, and you don't want to be cold, so you go tell the manager or bouncer or whoever that you're cold, and would they please turn the temperature up?  What tends to happen?  If they're nice, they say they'll look into it.  If they're not, they'll tell you to deal with it.  Now, regardless of whether or not they are nice, chances are they won't go and fuck with the thermostat.  Are they just being mean?  Why wouldn't they go and change to temperature so that you and the other girls are comfortable?

It's because, generally, you and the other girls aren't really wearing much in the way of clothing, whereas most of the customers are.  You're wearing thin flimsy gowns (if that much) while the customers are wearing jeans, t-shirts, dress shirts, sometimes sweatshirts.  Their clothes are thicker, and they won't be taking them off.  Furthermore, males tend to have a higher body temperature in the extremities than females do, so they tend to get warmer.  What's too cold to you is nice and comfortable to the customer.  And don't believe them if they agree with you that it's cold after you complain to them that YOU are cold.  They're just agreeing because you're a pretty half naked lady.

And it's not that there is a right answer or wrong answer to "Is it too cold?"  It is entirely subjective.  YOU can be too cold, but someone else won't be.  And despite indications to the contrary, you are not the ultimate arbiter of reality.  So, when things like this come up, most dancers skip the thinking about the customers and say "I'm cold, so therefore it is too cold in here."  Not for the customer it isn't, and because the customers are the ones buying the supermajority of drinks, and tipping the dancers and getting lapdances, they are the primary concern of the staff when it comes to issues of comfort and preference.  Yes, it's quite true that without the dancers, the show wouldn't go on and no one would get paid, but the exact same is true of the customers, and the customers don't work at the club.

So, back to the music.  You're young, you probably have a modern taste in music, liking whatever sort of good music is out right now, you know the new songs and new artists as soon as they drop, and you know what's good and what's not.  Our customer, however, is more than likely middle aged, grew up in the 60s, 70s or 80s, and is not up to date on what is happening in popular music.  Furthermore, they are too old to like what is popular right now.  And they're not supposed to either.  Pop music is written for 15-year-old girls, the only people who still physically buy music anymore.

So, when you ask the DJ to play the new Rihanna/Lil Wayne/Pitbull/Skrillex song, think about your customers.  The DJ is.  A weak DJ will just play whatever songs the dancers ask him to, because he wants to get a good tip out at the end of the night.  It's the path of least resistance, and in the end the lazy way to do his job.  The DJ has a few responsibilities that, when executed capably, can turn an otherwise average night into a stellar night.  They manage stage rotation, and thus the flow of energy and money in the room.  And more importantly, they directly impact the mood and spending habits of the customers by choice of music and how well the music is delivered through the sound system.  He has to read the crowd, and not only deliver what the crowd WANTS to hear, but what the crowd NEEDS to hear to spend more money, all while juggling the music that the Dancers want to hear, which is usually the exact opposite of what the customers want and need to hear.  Thats a tough gig.

So, when a DJ puts you up on stage, and it's some older, butt-rock type music you don't like, it's not the DJ trying to fuck you over... it's the DJ trying to make you more money by doing his job.  He's not dumb, he knows where his money comes from: you.  The more money you make, the more you'll (hopefully) tip him.  So he has to weigh and balance the music you want to dance to (which is, honestly, probably nothing all that great) with what he thinks will make you the most money (probably something older, whiter, and also not all that great.)  And you know, if it's a young crowd, or a racially diverse or majority minority crowd, of course the DJ will play the more current, hot top 40 pop and rap.

But when we're talking real money, we're talking middle-aged white guys.  They don't want to hear top 40 or rap (especially not rap.)  They put up with it because, hey, hot naked ladies.  But there's a difference in their enthusiasm when a hot dancer is dancing to Big Sean's "ASS ASS ASS" (what she wants) and Def Leppard's "Armageddon It" (what he wants.)  It's not a conscious thing that happens, where they say "Gee, I like this song a lot, I'll tip more and order another round of drinks."  It's an unconscious, slow cumulative affect.  It's the difference between a customer hanging out for 45 minutes and hanging out for 3 hours.  Music is a primal thing, and it affects us physically as well as psychologically.  We want our customers to be comfortable, so that it's easier to get them to give up their money.  And that's what the DJ is doing when he is playing music you think is shitty.  A good DJ will try and play you what you want (or something close to it) while still making sure the customer is enjoying themselves.  So cut him a little slack if that doesn't go exactly how you want it to.  He has your interest at heart, and is looking at things from the customers' perspectives.

And he also knows where the money comes from: you... after the customer gives it to you.