Rather than "hating" DJs, perhaps we could better serve our own interests by trying to learn something from them.
Why would anybody hire a DJ rather than a full band, or even a solo musician or duo?
Is it the cost? Maybe, but then again, it isn't hard to find bands or solo musicians who are willing to work for nothing, or close to it.
Is it the quality of the music? Maybe. "Quality", in this context, meaning consistent faithful reproduction of familiar songs as they are known to the audience rather than some subjective definition of what is "good" music. Every DJ, as well as every jukebox or satellite radio, can serve up versions of known songs that are 100% consistent in all respects to the originals, for the simple reason that they are the originals. Cover musicians - even "tribute" acts - can only come so close to reproducing the original songs precisely, so the DJs will always have an edge in that department. If 100% accurate reproduction of original songs is the goal, why would anybody ever hire live musician(s)? As much as many of us might like it to be, it isn't "all about the music." If we're going to try to compete with DJs, it might be a good idea to do so in some area other than where we are at a disadvantage from the start.
What about originals, then? As a musician, I must certainly have the advantage here, because no DJ in the world has copies of my music! Right, and neither does practically anybody else, so the idea of "familiar" probably doesn't apply. It doesn't matter that my original songs are "way better" than anything produced by all those "hacks" who somehow still manage to sell millions of CDs and downloads, have gold records on their walls, and get their crap played on commercial radio all day long. If I had their money, I'd be there, too - kicking their butts, because I'm actually good!
Back to the original question: Why would anybody hire somebody to play prerecorded familiar versions of familiar songs, more or less continuously, spiced with lighting and effects, that keeps the crowd engaged instead of a bunch of folks who look like they stopped by on their way to the grocery store, who may or may not have good musical chops, play not-quite-accurate versions of familiar songs or else songs that nobody in the room has ever heard before, who never look up from their own instruments, stand around in the dark for a couple of minutes between songs, and if they talk at all it's only among themselves - while some of them have attitudes like they're some kind of rock stars, expect to be fed and served drinks for free, and expect us to disrupt our whole event to accommodate what they want?
If somebody is going to compete with anybody, they need to be able to leverage some strengths vs. the competition. If I had a football team with a weak running game, I probably wouldn't plan my game with emphasis on the run against a team with the top rushing defense. If any musicians want to compete with DJs, they need to figure out how to do something better than the DJs do, and work hard to be able to out-do them at it. In the game whose name is "Entertainment", we need to be more entertaining than the other guy if we want to get hired. Figure that one out and all your local DJs will be complaining that they can't compete with the musicians!
