DJ Selection Process

Looked at catgirl and catboy selections in my last post, going to look at DJ selections for Neko this time. This one is going to be a bit harsh and possibly controversial but what I’m writing here is the reality and I wouldn’t be surprised if many other event promoters feel this way.

So I’ll start of with the biggest positive, while yesterday I was a bit vague, especially since catgirls and catboy selections are a role I generally stay out of, the plan is for me to mostly do all the DJ selections if possible. Plus in general DJ selections are a bit more subjective than catboy and catgirl selections.

Positives out of the way, lets get to the harsh reality of coming on board to DJ at Neko or heck anywhere atm. So many people want to become a DJ nowadays, that it’s easily a promoters game, with DJs having to work super hard to get a gig. When I first started raving, mixing on turntables was a skill that took a while to master, getting equipment to practise on was expensive, collecting music on vinyl was expensive, there were serious barriers to entry. This has now changed in the laptop/controller, mp3, auto-syncing era. This is by no means me putting down current DJs, it’s more me making a point that technology has changed which has significantly reduced the financial barriers, learning curves and ease to get your name out there, there's a lot more DJs fighting for far fewer spots.

So applying to Neko, I’ll be blunt, if you’re reading this, you’re probably too late, since I’ve already sorted out a number of my DJ lineups for 2018, that said I’ll let you know my advice on getting gigs and things I look for which I believe a number of promoters do as well, so here’s my biggest tips.

It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen (maybe)

Do not think that if you spend an hour watching Youtube tutorials and practising for a week that you should start applying for gigs. Practise as much as possible, learn from other DJs and also try to gain respect. There have been people trying for many years to get a DJ gig with no luck, if you are hoping for short term results, then get out now, you need to commit to the long term to get somewhere.

Stand Out
I can not stress this enough, you can have all the amazing technical skills in the world but it won’t matter, trust me I mixed on 4 CDJs live at Neko a few years back and nobody cared. You need to realise that yes you might be good at your genre, but what makes you better than the hundreds of other DJs in your genre, especially over somebody with more experience and as mentioned earlier the skill and technical gap between DJs is very minimal now due to technology.

You need to get your name out there, keep recording and/or streaming mixes, produce music, go on radio shows, help work with events, model, cosplay, make cool things, create jokes/memes, make people interested and get excited about you as a person. This sounds really counterproductive in terms of a role of a DJ but realise that with so much competition you need to do that little bit extra to stand out.  Do everything you can to gain a following and gain fans and followers, it helps a lot, that said, I am always headhunting and I'm willing to bring on board those with small followings if you've got a unique and strong talent.

Oh and don’t send me your nightcore mixes of all the S3RL songs you’ve downloaded off the internet. Not interested, I know a guy who is really good at playing S3RL tracks, ;)

Be Relevant

They say for job hunting that it’s a good idea to tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for and honestly I don’t see how that’s different with applying for DJ gigs. You would think it’s common sense but I often get sent mixes of genres that I don’t think would work and have no relevance in an event dominated by anime, gaming and Japanese music.

A lot of the DJs that have had success on my end isn’t necessarily about understanding what music works, they know what animes are popular, what video games are popular, even things such as popular cosplays, trends, shows, heck even memes. Being relevant, understanding what’s hot and what works, regardless of what your personal tastes are is absolutely crucial with getting DJ gigs.

Trust me, I didn’t get goth and metal gigs by submitting loli catgirl hardcore mixes. XD

Expand your horizons

One weird thing that seems to get to me is how badly people want a DJ gig but they will only apply for one or two genres. If you want to make a start with a DJ gig, be willing to try new places, I’ve played at radio studios, warehouse parties, street events, house parties, alt events, conventions, raves and maybe the odd Neko Nation or two. Learn to play multiple genres, there are some genres where you’ll literally be competing with maybe a couple of people rather than a couple of hundred or event thousands.

I get the whole I want to play my favourite genre but think of it like getting your dream job, it’s very unrealistic to think you can get the gig you want and the genre you want straight up, get some experience, start looking around and later down the line you’ll be able to focus only on the gigs and genres you want to do but I see too many with a very narrow minded focus early on.

Start small

Finally most of the people who have gigs for Neko applied ages ago, when we were desperate for DJs, we were small we had little competition for most DJs. I’m at the point now that I don’t need applications, if I don’t need callouts, I usually can get whoever I want within reason, I mean heck we had TeddyLoid and S3RL last year. Gigs smaller than mine don’t have that luxury yet and ones that are just starting need help with the numbers, you should know what these gigs are. If not you need to get more involved in the scenes you want to DJ and play at.

Catgirl Selection Process

This is the first of a two part series where I go behind the scenes to explain how the staffing process for Neko works. Tomorrow I’ll be focusing on DJs but for now, today will be looking at the catgirl and catboy selections and it’s a good time to review them since there’s been a few changes with how things are done behind the scenes!

The process I mention will be the same for all cities, I know a few cities and managers have wanted to do things a bit differently and have had certain preferences for various types of applicants. However that’s all stopping, going forward this is how catgirl and catboy applications go down.

The application process will be posted up in one of the Neko Nation groups, usually by the head catgirl of that city. Applications are for both catgirls and catboys who will be treated the same, so any city or manager that had separate applications or didn’t get catboys in the past, that’s gone.  The catgirl and catboy selection team will look over the main criteria (photos, questions answered properly, etc.) and if possible I’m probably not involved in the selection process (probably only things like sorting out the application and selection dates).

So with that all said, a bit about how the selection process works, how people get picked and also to clarify a few myths.

I think one of the main things people want to know is what we’re looking for and if there is some secret cheat code answer to instantly get selected and there definitely isn’t. I have virtually little or no say in the process but this is how the selection process has been described when meeting teams. Think μ's from Love Live, you’ve got 9 incredibly different girls or heck even any anime to be honest, you’ve got different character, personalities, looks, styles, etc. The selection process is not simply about trying to be the very best that no one ever was, it’s done based on picking great synergies and the overall team.

With the application questions, technically there are no right or wrong answers, unless you do something dumb like Game of Thrones is my favourite anime. The main point of the questions isn’t to judge your tastes, it is about personality, there are no secret “right” answers. Basically be honest and we want to see a bit of your personality in these questions, the reason we picked these questions is that it’s a much more casual way to learn more about you then straight up doing psychological questioning.

In regards to selection bias, I’ve had a few people point out things such as "you’re more likely to be picked if you’re a cosplay model" and "not many catboys get picked". The reality is, this is actually more of a reflection of applicants, as an example we do get on average 5 times as many catgirl applications than catboy applications and I honestly don’t see this changing, considering when you get to DJ applications it’s the inverse. The team have basically agreed we’re not going to do any sort of category quotas, in terms of them selecting x number of catboys, the team will just pick who they feel is best.

I’d say there are probably three things we look for with catboys and catgirls, as mentioned above there isn’t a particular way to ace but these are things to keep in mind.

Personality: Probably the big one, those involved are looking for a variety of different personalities and types of people. We want to know how exactly you’ll interact with people.

Looks: It’s no secret this is an area we look in. Getting in isn’t about necessarily looking like Jessica Nigri. It doesn’t matter if you’re cute, sexy, dark, colourful, big, small, goth, lolita, cosplay, cyber, we want an amazing varied looking team.

Professionalism: Effectively communicating to our catgirl team, getting people hyped for the event, doing what’s required on the night, being a decent person online and in general be proud that you’re representing us and making us really excited to have you on board!

Finally, last but not least, rejection in terms of not getting in. Neko is a big event, we get a lot of applications and we have to knockback a lot of people. The reality is, there aren’t reasons we’re saying no, we honestly just can’t have so many people on. It’s worth noting it’ll be tougher to get in this year, since we’re only doing one show a year (per city) and because of that we’re scrapping the rule about past catgirls and catboys being able to reapply.

With that said, we encourage everyone who is interested in being able to represent Neko Nation as a catgirl and catboy to definitely do so, those who have done it have had lots of fun and have enjoyed the experience. While the odds of getting in are tough, it definitely doesn’t hurt and who knows you could get in. Best of luck!

Neko Nation Relaunch

As I announced on my personal page recently, I'm ending the personal break I took from Neko Nation as announced in March.

I originally aimed for 12 months off after March 2017, however this was going to be a variable period of time depending on how my health recovered.  During my first 2 months off, I wanted nothing to do with Neko and honestly thought about shutting down Neko down due to my personal health.

Things eventually looked up when me and my fiancee agreed to make a move to Sydney, it's a long story which I'll put up in a future blog post but to briefly sum it up, Perth is a terrible place to be post-mining boom, while Sydney has the most potential economically at the time of writing.

Once the Sydney move was decided, it was probably the most excited I've ever felt about working on Neko since TeddyLoid.  It's good to be back!

First of all, I should mention that I'm not going full Reinhardt back into Neko, don't expect any sort of major event announcements coming up in the next few months.  I wouldn't expect any events to be happening before the end of the year.  Right now, most of the focus is just on planning and brainstorming without the stress of the looming deadline of an event coming up which is the biggest source of burnout.

In regards to the burnout, first of all, I'm sticking to the original plan of shifting Neko to a once a year extravaganza, since I'd put the number shows as the main reason for the burnout. Switching base to Sydney will help dramatically with shorter travel times, more sleep, recover better post show, this is going to be massive since a lot of the burnout was from traveling and trying to get back into our day jobs.

Next month there's going to be some pretty big meetings which decide the future of Neko.  The goal of which is re-analyse everything, everyone, every place and every little detail about Neko.  I'll be honest, right at this stage, a lot of big things are happening and planned, we've got talks happening with people on 5 continents right now, I've got many talented new DJs, catgirls, performers, tech people, artists, agents, sponsors, managers, venues and more that I'm looking at, nothing is safe or sacred.  Neko didn't get to where it is today by following formulas or being complacent, so I'm looking at so much to make Neko these next shows absolutely mega.

As for other changes, binging 11 seasons of Ru Paul's Drag Race gave me quite a fair few ideas.  XD