19/02/2026
Guys,
I just found myself reflecting on a number of posts I've seen recently talking down DJing as a reputable career.
Actually I also had someone tell me in person just a month or two ago that DJing is not a real job.
I guess it has been something I'e found myself thinking about. Because yes I get the whole notion that we are using other peoples music (unless you are a DJ producing your own).
But honestly, and I'm not just saying this to float my boat. I have a really high regard for the entertainment industry as a whole and for the career of DJing within the industry.
I can say this truly and fully and I feel more this way than I ever have.
Someone mentioned yesterday how when you grow in life hard experiences can sometimes be reframed into becoming your fuel.
See most wouldn't know this unless I share. (Which is what I'm trying to do more of here on social media- with the intention of finding my community that can come on this ride with me.)
Anyways what most wouldn't know is that I am someone who has experienced acutely the effects of lack of social connectedness.
I became a 100% solo mum when my son was just 6 months old. He's neurodiverse and picking up the phone let alone getting out of the house became A LOT more difficult.
It's the whole reason I got back into DJing after a couple of years off and started this buisness- Peninsula Entertainment. I needed a space that was my time, a space to connect with others and to enjoy music again.
So I know first hand the powerful effect of people coming together, spending time together, enjoying music! And maybe even dancing. It's been a powerful force in my life and I see dance floors and people being able to enjoy and dance and connect as so healing.
For anyone who has never experienced it, I hope one day you find a dancefloor that really gets you into your element.. aybe its at a venue where you know no one else, maybe its a small dance floor with just your closest pals, maybe its a rave on a beach, maybe its you you and your best friend at home.. or maybe it's just with yourself just enjoying the music.
I personally see SOOOOO much value in music.
And the thing is yes we DJs often didn't make the song... But we have huge opportunity in fostering these spaces which I believe are so important to our communities and the people in them.
Even if you are just a DJ selecting the tracks and not mixing at all.... That right there is our biggest tool. Reading the crowd and finding the music that they will connect to.
But also having a skilled DJ who can use those songs to build energy- IMO the beat matching a blending and transitions and layering between tracks that DJs are known for is the icing. And honestly done right it's a huge facilitator to the experience.
90% of DJing is done outside of the gigs, a vibing set that really works and has people truly on the journey on the dance floor is built upon the foundations of song repetoir, ategorisations and knowledge of your music so that you can respond to the crowd and be versatile in your set and be able to find the next best track.
Passionate DJs spend many pore hours just finding the songs, considering transitioning points, adding cue points, categorising the music... Asking the right questions prior to events so that you can be as prepared as possible.
Theres such a gap between what a non DJ sees when comparing options and the reality of all the things that go into a set that gets people dancing. I'm at least 12 years into it and honestly I know how far I've come but it's something I do have to keep going back to. This last weekend I actually made a slip. See majority of the first 10 years of my DJing I was DJing events and primarily weddings.
I've had a few residencies but my bread and butter was those events. But I've been in WA now for 2 years and Ive done a few events but I've been focusing on integrating into the local scene playing in public venues.
I'm a mum who gets great joy out of music and DJing and being integrated into my local community.
I've been enjoying the opportunity to really develop my DJ style within local venue and have had some really great feedback on the journey of my sets.
But this past weekend I actually found myself in a position where my playlists were not broad enough. And that is on me. It was a smaller crowd and it was valentines. And they just wanted to sing their hearts out. The music on my USBs that I used for weddings would have been perfect!
But it makes me feel even more determined to continue on the path of really building out what I offer. I've been downloading and categorising and the rest of it for years and would do whether I was a DJ or not. It's literally ingrained into me, I enjoy it.
what I've been working on is really collaborating it all into one... I've been developing a system that will give me more flexibility and diversity than I've ever had before, I've gone hard at the late night venue vibe tracks and I think this weekend has really reminded me that I need to integrate this into all of the subgeners sot hat I have more easily accessible at my finger tips to really accommodate the diversity of the crowd,..
Ahh so much I could say!!
Ps not an excuse but by geez I've learnt the hard way about storing my music properly (I had a laptop die in dec 2025 and lost 1000s. of tracks including the ballads this crowd so desperately wanted over the weekend)
But I've rebuilt that many times already and each time the system gets better.
Ok so ust my two cents. DJing is so much more than a job. We do't just push buttons. We facilitate experiences. Ad I'll tell you what its the systems categories and musical understanding behind the sets that really make a set work.
Most wouldn't know.. but now you do!
