I mentioned last week that I have been thinking about how much easier it is to be an artist now: you have inexpensive, powerful tools at your disposal and it’s easier than ever to connect with your audience. I’ll discuss that a bit today, but first let’s find something to listen to.

Nick Warren’s set on Friday night was amazing. He is a fantastic DJ. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t think he’d be so good. It’s hard to convey the energy in the room that night, but you can hear his mixes here and here (I’m listening to the second one as I type this). You might also want to check out this video.

Nick was DJing off a laptop, and he wasn’t using headphones at all. Stochastic pointed out that we could see his screen in the mirror behind the DJ both. So here’s the thing: he was using a 2-year-old Apple laptop (the same one I have) and Ableton Live software (I have that too). And this got me thinking about about how great a time it is to be an artist.

When I show up to see professional DJs, they’re using the same equipment I do. The same computers, the same CD decks, the same turntables, the same mixers, the same software. They connect with their audiences the same way I do as well: Twitter, Facebook, etc. Granted they probably spend a lot more time at it than I do, and granted most of them have PR people helping spread the word.

But the path from here to there is straightforward, and anyone can get there using the same tools. Stochastic started DJing about a year ago. The first thing he did was buy a professional setup: two Pioneer CDJ-1000s and a DJM-800 mixer. The same thing you see in the clubs. Then he spent a year practicing. A few weeks ago he flew to Chicago to hear one of his favorite DJs play a seven hour set. His takeaway: “I’m at least as good at mixing as this guy, if not better.” Pretty cool, right?

The same thing is happening everywhere. The tools the pros use are available to everyone, as are the means of publicity and distribution. It’s one heck of a lot easier to pick your path and walk it these days. Now we all just need to get a little bit better at calling attention to ourselves…

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…