Long-time DJ, ex-rave/club promoter, and finally getting into serious music production (now that it's all primarily software and very little hardware).
In my opinion, everything about the scene for the past 10 years has been pretty depressing. Can't throw raves anymore, all the good clubs have been shut down, and producers aren't getting money for tracks because everybody is hotfiling or torrenting them for free. This has lead to producers who never could have DJ'ed 10 years ago without computerized beat-matching assistance finding that now they don't need learn that skill. So they look for their bread and butter in what's become an already over-saturated (and shrinking) DJ market.
In the late 90's I used to make $500 spinning for an hour or two at a club or a rave and now I'd be lucky to pull in a quarter of that because technology has de-mystified the DJ by allowing anybody to match beats and possess a nearly bottomless record collection. Granted a lot of skill still has to go into track selection, blending, EQing, etc., but that doesn't stop everybody from being a bedroom DJ who, with a little persistence, can worm their way into a weekly local gig for $50-100.
Technology has definitely been a two-edged sword here. It has made DJing and producing with a laptop set-up much more affordable than purchasing 1200's, a mixer, speakers, needles, and vinyl EP's which averaged $10-$12 a pop. However, it was those same high costs that kept the number of DJ's and producers down to an acceptable event : DJ ratio. Now anybody can do it. The learning curve has also diminished with the number of internet resources available and the instant beat match feature found in DJ software.
So now there's no more having to practice for hours and hours at the tables to try and keep from sounding like shoes bouncing around in a dryer. No more scraping together a hundred bucks to grab 10 records down a the record shop (they're $2.50 now on Beatport). No more wondering if the guy at Guitar Center is going to give you a good interest rate on that MPC or Virus synth you need for producing because you can rip Ableton off the internet for free now along with virtually any sample library or VST you'd ever want.
All of these things are now accessible to the plebes and it has killed the DJ/producer persona that was created in 1990's. There was something magical about going to club or a rave and watching your favorite DJ take command of an entire dance floor with just some turntables, some records, and a mixer. They were half entertainer and half human computer. Their track selection had to be on point and their technical ability to beatmatch, EQ, and blend had to be seamless. They were esteemed because of these abilities but technology has mostly sterilized those things today.
Now, you go to a club and see guys staring at laptops and while admittedly that it is much easier than carrying a 50 lb flight case full of vinyl, the mysticism just isn't there for me anymore. It's just a dude pointing and clicking on different tracks. There's no look of intense concentration on their faces as they try and line those beats up for that three minute blend. There's no smirk on their face as they pull that white label out of their crate, knowing that all the heads in the place are going to swarm the booth to try and find out what the name of that track is chicken scratched on the label. It's all been sanitized. Now anybody with a little bit of knowledge can sound like a pro and that's kind of sad. It was always nice to go to a rave and hear a really shitty DJ who could barely beatmatch because you knew (as well as everybody else) that this was a profession that required a special set of skills and was reserved for only those who knew the craft. Now that skillset has been made obsolete.
So, in my opinion, the first nail to be driven into the coffin of the DJ was when Prometheus came back from Olympus with beat-matching technology. The second nail was vinyl moving to CD to mp3 and the third nail was too many good venues shutting down.
This said, I am glad that software advances have made producing more accessible because the market is much broader than the DJ one, but until pirating is curbed, it will never be a lucrative one.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but that's my two cents on it. Any of the younger guys on here (I'm 32) who are just now getting into DJing, I'm sorry you weren't old enough to see a DJ like Derrick Carter or Mark Farina do their thing in the 90's. Truly an experience.
