KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

I was at my brother Lee's wedding this weekend - he finally got around to marrying Rose, who's been one of the family for eight years already! A lovely day was had by all and the whole thing went without a hitch. If only the DJ had understood that his job was to entertain the guests, it would have been perfect! 

Naturally, nothing was going to spoil the day as an overall event, and we all had a fab time, but I have to ask myself at what point any DJ can look at a room full of people ranging in age from roughly late-30s to the more mature parents-and-grandparents bracket, and think that the right music to play would be 90s, erm, 'classics'? It struck me, as we listened to yet another floor-clearing, headache-inducing dance mix, that knowing your audience is one of the most important things that any performer has to do.

So let's see... taking the late-30s people, we can easily work out that someone who is currently 38-ish would have grown up in the late 80s, so everyone older than that would clearly favour 70s and 80s music, and the older guests would be happiest with 50s and 60s music. But no, hour after hour of 90s dance tunes was what we were treated to - with the net result that the floor remained pretty much empty for the majority of the night. 

Is it just me? Or is working this kind of thing out really very simple? Dance floor empty = I'm not playing what they want. Look at age range, take a punt and change the music then! DJs shouldn't be paid to play what THEY want to hear. 

---