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Is a DJ a musician

Is a DJ (as described in my opening post) a musician?

  • Yes a DJ is a musician

    Votes: 101 25.3%

  • Nope a DJ is not a musician but something else (post what he is)

    Votes: 250 62.5%

  • Carrots are good musicians. Carrots make good fretboard wood too!

    Votes: 49 12.3%
  • Total voters
    400
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#282
Ragoo said:
Saying a DJ isn't a musician is like saying a conductor isn't a musician. Both are (supposed to be) the musically educated "directors" of the music, one physically, one digitally. What difference does it make if someone's orchestrating Daft Punk or Debussy?
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To compare a dj to a conductor is ridiculous, and just shows you don't really know much about the set of skills needed to be one.
 
#286
Turock said:
That would depend on whether or not one considers them as musicians. Obviously this poll does not agree with you.
Being a musician isn't about "invent some new notes and chords", it's about playing a musical instrument.
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All the polls tells you is something about the demographic of Talkbass.

How can you equate putting on a radio to being a DJ? I think we need to distinguish what we all mean by DJ. Are we just talking about people spinning records, like at a wedding? Or people creating new music, using old music. It's an important distinction and I'd say one is a musician, one isn't.

At the end of the day, this is kinda lame. Musicians have a knack for over-categorisation, which is about the wankiest thing you can do.
 
#287
I think a truth about DJ's, as many peoples opinions of them are revealing, it doesn't take much skill to convince people you're a DJ. I know DJ's like this myself. That's not at all like being a skilled DJ, however. Dragging down someone like Ta-ku, for example, to the level of some half-interested nightclub DJ who only does it so he can wear headphones on one ear, is pretty stupid.
 
#288
It's been said in this thread - in so many words - that a DJ - not just someone who puts on records, but a spinmaster who scratches and mixes live - is at least as much of a musician as someone who specializes in mosaics and collages is an artist, and I heartily agree. If you don't believe it, go into a club, step up to a DJ rig and try to make something good happen. You'll get booed of the stage just as quickly as a lousy band would.
 
#289
AaronVonRock said:
I would say this guy (a manualist) has more musical talent than the majority of DJs.

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You could say the same for bands, too. Just as you've never heard the majority of DJs, you've never heard the majority of bands, either. That's because the majority of anything sucks. Your statement says nothing about TALENTED DJs. Hate them if you must, but saying they have little musical talent just doesn't fly. The timing and coordination that it takes to be a great live hip-hop DJ is amazing.
 
#290
FilterFunk said:
If you don't believe it, go into a club, step up to a DJ rig and try to make something good happen. You'll get booed of the stage just as quickly as a lousy band would.
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I think that most people in a club are totally satisfied with a DJ who can effectively fade in and out from one song to the next, and that takes little to no talent. That would not get me booed of the stage.

And mixing a beat into the existing song is a matter lining up the beat and only happens for 15 seconds or so. That's not really a musician to me.
 
#297
Infernal Affair said:
If you're talking about DJs who just spin records and mix them for parties, then I wouldn't consider them musicians. But if you're talking about guys who mix sounds and scratch to create unique songs then of course, especially when scratching, which has its own unique sound and is very rhythmically centered. And if you're still not convinced, they actually have records with just notes sampled on them so some DJs could use them to compose songs live. I'd even consider Incubus' DJ a musician (not counting that he plays guitar too), even though I think a lot of times his DJing is more a gimmick than a big contribution to the band.
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I agree with this. Particularly those "DJs", I think of them more as EDM musicians, who also record their own material to sample from.

Even a good traditional DJ, who just plays entire songs, without mixing, can display a great musical sense, but I think it's just shy of musician in this case. But anyone who is sampling small parts from different recordings and mixing them live for a spontaneous new musical production is definitely a musician.
 
#298
Revolver said:
If (non-instrument playing) djs are musicians, I guess we can call Karaoke singers musicians as well, right?
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If you can call any singer a musician, than yes, lol! :D

What about live band karaoke? If they sing with a live band instead of canned tracks, does that somehow miraculously transform them into musicians? If they sing well, why not? How would it be different than a singer sitting in with a band for song at a "normal" show?

The determination of whether a given singer is a musician is dependent on how well they sing. If they can sing well, making a musical statement with their voice, they are musicians. If they sing a cappella they are no doubt musicians, so if there are backing tracks all of a sudden they aren't?
 
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