Over To You: What To Do When Your Gig Is Cancelled

Digital DJ Tips reader Warwick Holby writes: “How do other DJs deal with cancelled sets? On Saturday my DJing partner and the DJs before us had our sets cancelled and the room closed, even though we were busier than the other room. We were livid but we just went away quietly angry. I put in a lot of effort to attend gigs, and it’s frustrating when this keeps happening. I love the music but am getting fed up of all the drama.”

Digital DJ Tips says:

Well the obvious tip is to stop playing for promoters who keep doing this to you, or who treat you badly in any other way come to that. Easy to say, I know.

At the same time though, as someone who has promoted as well as DJed, I can tell you that from the other side, promoters will always “cut the cloth to fit” if they can, only opening all rooms of a venue if they are sure they will all look good that particular night (better to have one busy room that two half full, for instance).

Getting a contract and payment upfront is a good way to ensure you’ll get to play your sets, but obviously this isn’t a tactic many part-time and warm-up DJs have the privilege of insisting on.

I’m going to throw this one over to our audience now, many of who I am sure had had similar experiences and can share stories and advice.

So, over to you: Have you ever had a DJ set cancelled on you at the last minute? What was the reason (real, or given)? How did it make you feel, and what did you do? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.