With the entire world of music at our fingertips, made possible by our friend the internet, it’s relatively easy for DJs to amass an extensive music library. As a mobile disc jockey this is a fantastic realization. DJs no longer have to buy expensive records or even CDs and what’s even more appealing is that two hundred pounds of records has now been shrunk down into a half-pound external hard drive. Services like iTunes and Real Rhapsody make it possible to legally download huge amounts of musical data right from the comfort of your home.

Despite all the conveniences the internet brings to the mobile DJ table it is still very possible to incur massive holes in your music library! Let’s face it, even the biggest external hard drives cannot hold all the world’s music. So what do we do as DJs? We try to make sure we have the top songs from popular artists and try to anticipate what requests might be for each individual event.

That being said, there is always a chance you make not have the song, best man Jim Johnson wants to lip sync at his best friend’s wedding. Or perhaps a brand new song has just aired on the radio, it slips under your DJ radar, and someone requests it at a Sweet 16.

Well as a DJ, the words “I don’t have that song” NEVER want to leave your mouth. To combat such statements from even entering the forefront of a DJs brain, a few core values must be bent. Most DJs are honest, passionate, friendly individuals — but when it comes to the embarrassment of not having a song, honesty sometimes takes a back seat.

That brings me to our list of the Top 6 DJ Excuses for Not Having a Song Request:

1.) I’m sorry, the version I have is not edited — and I can only play clean music.
2.) That song is a little too up-tempo for right now, I’ll play it when the music gets “dancier“.
3.) Bah! This is terrible… the CD with your song on it is scratched.
4.) I know I have it, just give me a minute to find it.
5.) It’s almost dinner time, I can only fit a couple more songs in.
6.) I have about 11 requests to fulfill before yours, be patient [...hopefully forget about the track...] and I’ll play it after the other eleven songs.

Now, only a couple of those excuses are backfire-proof. Most of the excuses rely on the guest either forgetting about their request or simply not wanting to bother the DJ again. However, there are always a few persistent guests who return to the DJ booth three, four, or even five times nagging the DJ until their song gets played. In that situation you’ve got to be resourceful.

Most venues have a wireless internet connection that a DJ can tap into in the case of a music request emergency. Also, the majority of our DJs have made the cellphone switch to the iPhone and with the iPhone you can download a song from iTunes virtually anywhere in the world.

As easy as that sounds, it is still quite a hassle to take your concentration off the mix — find the appropriate wire for the iPhone — plug it into your AUX port — download the song — and somehow smoothly mix into it from the iPod. Wireless internet technology is improving every day and the hope for DJs is that in the future we will never have to make up excuses for not having music — but until the technology becomes faster, more convenient, and easier our list of six will continue to sustain disc jockey pride.

Tags: DJ Strato