Making money from turntablism?

[Steve]

How many DJs do you reckon actually make money from it?

Qbert recently released his new Wave Twisters Origins album as a limited edition of 1,000 copies on vinyl, but it took a fair while to sell out. He made the digital version free.

I'm sure Qbert still makes decent money from live performances, but I can't imagine that many other DJs do.

Back in the early days of the DMC, I remember the winners appearing on TV shows, like Cutmaster Swift and DJ David appeared on a prime time talk show on BBC1 here in the UK. I also remember a segment on a music show in the late 80s that talked about how winning the DMC could earn you 20 grand a year from live shows. That would be close to 60K now, which is certainly not a bad income!

Obviously, people don't get into this shit for the money, and never have. It's something that's always taken a ton of work/practice where only the very top tier have even come close to making decent money from it, but it kinda sucks in way, cos you see turntablists pivoting away from it into production and going down the sort of route that A-Trak has gone down, for example.

[Jon]

Doing 'just routines' or being a incredible freestyle scratcher has not been a career path for many in the time I've followed turntablism (Qbert is the only person I can think of who can be a draw and command decent fees for just being an incredible scratcher) without combining it with additional skills or providing a service for a more established act with a budget. E.G. gaining a following for performing your original music with turntablism (which in turn means also being a producer or working with one), becoming known as an exceptional club DJ who incorporates turntablism (but even then you really need to be a producer to gain that interest) or creating a truly unique live show, playing a role in an established artist's band or as a tour DJ and getting to do some scratch parts.

There's still money in making scratch records, particularly for the portable scene, but then again that involves some production and mixing/mastering engineering knowledge.

I think this is kind of the same for any musician - you either provide a service for someone else's project (granted that the opportunities will be fewer with turntablism) or you have to be writing original music and cultivate a fan base, or be able to entertain people on a functional level (I guess that's being a club DJ to some extent), else you're just good at playing an instrument and the differences between you and someone else on a similar skill level won't be really noticeable to Joe Public.

I know a few people who do this full time, including myself, but they have ridiculous work ethics or have been doing it for so long that they have huge followings, but pretty much all of them do a bunch of stuff and have various projects - but that's also quite an interesting part of 'the job' as it's constantly changing and with new challenges.

Also contrary to what I consider popular belief that only us scratch nerds want to see routines - audiences are super down with routines or quite nerdy live shows as long as you know your audience. Pre- pandemic, Shield and I were on really good fees in the USA and getting booked for festivals for doing essentially an hour + of routines with original music we'd made.

 

[TBearOne8III]

I'll say very few actually make money from it.  And the usual suspects offer something else, not just scratching.  Beat junkies have a dj school.  both dj scratch and skratch bastid have subscriptions services on their own website.  skratch bastid sells bbq sauce also.  Rob swift is opening up an online dj school after having small success teaching private lessons to people and teaching a class at a local college.  even those guys stll dabble in production.  I dont know of anybody that actually gets paid for being a dope turntablist.  hell, i didnt realize how hard it is just to get people to watch you spin live on a free platform. not to mention asking for donations.  

[mfsop]

It's really easy to make quite a bit of money...

 

 

 

 

 

...by selling those piles of stupid records that you haven't used in years FFS!

[JHouse]

MMM and Z-Trip are good examples of DJs making loot from the business. Pre-pandemic, they were touring quite consistently, working with various artists (e.g. Cypress Hill, LL Cool J) and opening for others (Metallica), selling merch, etc. Google their net worth, it might surprise you. However, they both are rare examples compared to the many DJs on the planet not making a got damn dime.  Z and M continually put in mad work though on so many levels and genuinely deserve the rewards. Success is hard, especially staying successful.