Life

70 Percent of DJs Have Had to Retrain, Thanks to COVID-19

Even if clubs reopen, will anybody be there to play them?
Sad DJ
Photo: LCLG / Alamy Stock Photo

Clubs in the UK could reopen by the 21st of June – but will anybody be around to play them?

A new survey has found that 70 percent of DJs have already retrained because of COVID-19, with 26 percent saying the pandemic has made them less likely to pursue a full-time career in music.

When clubs first started closing at the start of the first UK lockdown, DJs saw almost every gig in their schedules cancelled. Others had their rates slashed or were forced to leave the industry altogether, according to a new survey by Pirate.com, a global network of artistic and recording studios.

One anonymous respondent told the survey: “I was running club nights in Glasgow. After cancellation clauses in contracts and flight companies going bankrupt, we’ve lost everything we’d invested in the brand.”

Among those surveyed were club DJs at every stage of their careers, wedding DJs and DJ/promoters. Fifty-four percent had already recorded a financial loss due to the pandemic, with one DJ recording a projected loss of £55,000.

Despite this, just over one in five respondents had applied for government or organisational support, with only 13.5 percent successfully getting a grant to rely on financially.

There is good news, though: just over three in five DJs said they were happy to play an indoor gig during the pandemic. If all goes well, you might be dancing in a sweaty basement box again by summer.