"Do you have a playlist I can see?" A question that makes us go "Huh?"

"Do you have a sample music playlist I can see?" This is a question I get from time to time by potential clients. This question always boggles my mind and it's somewhat of a difficult, yet at the same time, not so difficult question to answer. When someone asks me if I have a sample music playlist, this is difficult to answer because as most DJs should, we never have a set or pre-planned playlist for the events we DJ and we never play the same songs for every event.

As you can imagine, every event we perform at is always completely different from each other. The demographics changes from one event to the next so as a professional DJ, we have to know how to adjust our song playlists accordingly to fit the tastes of our audience for each event. Each time we DJ an event, whether it be a wedding or corporate function, the songs that we decide to play is never pre-planned and we never play the exact same songs. So because of this, to be able to give a sample playlist to someone is almost impossible to do.

As a DJ, we always want to cater to the musical tastes of each and every client. So if I were to provide someone with a playlist from a wedding I DJed last weekend, it may not fit the tastes of a wedding client who wants me to DJ their wedding in a few months. They may want to hear mostly Hip Hop or EDM, but the play list from last weekends wedding was mostly Old School, 80's and 90's and Latin. A playlist will only tell you a very tiny part of the story when it comes to trying to get a sense of a DJs abilities or knowledge of music.

So the next time you want to know what kind of music a DJ is able to play for your event, asking for a sample music playlist may not be the best question to ask. Instead ask them if they can play whatever style of music you would like to hear for your event. Better yet, ask them if they have any sample mixes online that you can listen to so you can get a sense of their style and mixing capabilities as a DJ. This will be much more helpful for you when deciding on who to hire to DJ your event. If they have Youtube videos online where you can see them performing live that's even better. Hearing and seeing is believing!