“They care more about social media instead of performing”: David Guetta feels a lot of DJs are focusing too much on being “cool”David Guetta has spotted a poor trend among modern DJs that is fuelled by a desire to be perceived as cool and unique online.
The French DJ and producer, who has sold over 10 million records across his career, thinks that when live sets are being filmed, it detracts focus from the music and the atmosphere, both on and off stage, noting that some DJs no longer even look at the crowd to read their mood.

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Guetta made the comments in a new video for WIRED, in which he answers fan questions about DJing. One person asks about the biggest mistakes he made when first starting to perform, and he responds by sharing the things he hates to see from up-and-coming artists today.
“​​First, there’s always a fine line in how to create your own identity. In order to be successful, you need to have your own style, your own music. Sometimes it’s the music you create yourself, or sometimes you just play a lot of the same style, and when it’s unique, it makes you famous for that,” he begins.
“This is cool, but what I see is sometimes people so [badly] want to create the identity and so want to be cool, they don’t even care if people are liking [the music] or not. Especially today, because it’s filmed. They care more about social media and how people are going to perceive this behind their computers or their phones instead of playing for the people that are in front of them.”
Guetta goes on to reinstate that, of course, every artist wants to be seen as unique and cool, but “you don’t want to forget why people are paying you”. He explains, “You’re getting paid to give a good time and entertain the people that are in front of you.
“That’s what I see a lot. DJs that are playing like this [he looks down] and they never look at the crowd. That’s madness to me, because our job is, before anything, to entertain people, give them a good time. So you need to be able to read them. If you don’t look at them, how can you read them?”
You can watch the full video with Guetta below:

David Guetta is playing a multitude of shows across Europe this summer. He also performs at Creamfields in the UK on 24 August. You can view the full list of his scheduled live dates via his official website.
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