Taking Music Requests At Parties..What To Do....

I have been known to give the odd look or not giving the warm and fuzzies when someone comes up and requests a favorite song to be played... We have all been there!

Honestly do not mind that. Face it, requests can help you if you're having an off night, giving you ideas of what next song to play, etc.. so getting these requests can be good for that.

Music Requests Without Being Interrupted- Solution

So coming up with a few solutions may or may not help you, but it sure creates a less stressful moment on the already busy time playing for the crowd..And that helps me!

1. Monitor/Screen Displaying Music Requests At A Party
It depends on the event, but for an example, I will be DJ'ng a special Valentines Bash for Mississauga and for anyone who wants to request a song, they will have to "tweet" it to me using a hastag of my choice.  Here is the fun part, you leave a monitor connected to a laptop with WIFI, on a table separate from your playing table.  And the guests can view their requests online!
I will receive the requests via alerts from twitter for easy review.  The program I use is TwitterFall.  www.twitterfall.com  You type the hastag and the program will only display what "feeds" have these hastags in a LIVE "falling effect".  It will constantly flow as guests tweet you.  They can actually see who tweeted their requested song. Provides great entertainment as well.
Have a look below at the picture of my twitter feed on a monitor that just displays (hastag) #AnythingGoesRadio . The program is FREE to boot.. I Love free things!

2. NotePad/Jar Requests
Simple, and effective, for sure.  Guest come to the jar, or bucket, whatever it may be, writes the song request and drops it in!  You can retrieve it at anytime.
If you are lucky, it might even be a phone number from a secret guest... FOCUS.. lol
You can also have these pre made cards instead of a notepad.  Depends on how creative you want to be. This is a fun, and simple method of reaching out to your guests.

3. Email Song Requests
You can have a nice little pre made sign on your DJ booth/table stating all music request please email the DJ at ...  .... ....com.  Have your alerts popup on your smart phone/tablet while eliminating any distractions.

4. Don't Take Requests
Hey if you are the type of DJ that doesn't take any requests, then get yourself a shirt/hoodie that says you do not take requests...  in a polite way..  and I know there are a lot of clothing that have different ways of saying just that!  What if you are DJ'ng or MC'ng an event that requires you to dress up, then its not a good idea to be displaying that on any part of your body.  Let your guests know ahead of time, or relay to the organizer of the event.  Either way, its a touchy subject, so handle it professionally.

I will end it here, as these are just ideas of my own, and would love for anyone to chime in and suggest other solutions for taking music requests from guests.

..:: DJDave ::..