DJ Effecto

To The Next Level

When did you first get into music? Please explain.

During my early teenage, my younger brother introduced me to djing by experimenting with a few djing softwares and he also introduced me to music production in the same way. This thing fascinated me and I developed interest in both. I first got into the music business in the year 2007, I was 19 years old at that time. I got an opportunity to perform at a private birthday party of a senior citizen person. It was organized at their farm house and had 50 to 60 guests. Party venue was “Suramya” situated at S.G. Highway, Ahmedabad. One of the famous celebrity choreographer gave me this opportunity to perform for his client. I was totally a beginner DJ at that time and had just basic knowledge and no experience but he was quite confident in me and the event went fantastic. This was the turning point for me and I would like to thank him because he identified my talent and gave me confidence and opportunities and I would also like to thank my brother for showing me the way to the music world.

What genre of music do you perform and why?

I’m an open format DJ but I generally get to perform hindi music, commercial music and electronic music along with my original compositions. I like all the genres of music and I don’t like discriminating genres. I perform, such genre because of public demand. People mostly listen to such music here and it’s a basic performance requirement for 90% of gigs.

And why did you choose that style of music?

I choose this style of music because I feel very confident performing this and people appreciate me a lot by performing this style of music. It has definitely influenced me from the beginning. It is currently a main part of my music biz.

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music? Please explain.

The energy that travels through the listener’s mind, that happiness, that joy, that freedom, that ultimate pleasure, those smiling faces, those cheering crowds and lots of appreciation received from lovely people inspires me to pursue a career in music. I want to spread ultimate happiness in this world with the help of my music talent, This wish inspired me to pursue a career in music.

How has your music evolved since you first began performing/songwriting? Please explain.

It has evolved a lot and is evolving continuously. My performance skill and music production skill has evolved a lot. I have learned various tactics to interact with people/crowd during performance. I have gained a natural instinct to play the right track at a right time. I have learned a lot about crowd reading. I have learned that what to do and what not to do when all the age groups are attending a gig as well what to do when performing for a specific age group. I have learned a lot about pleasing the audience and giving perfect satisfaction. I have learned that how to deal with lots of song requests. I have also evolved in turntablism and finger drumming. And, as far as music production and songwriting is concerned it has evolved a lot. In the beginning I had extremely less knowledge about music theory due to which it was very hard to compose music but now with very good knowledge of music theory and lots of practice, Now, it’s a bit easy for me to make music regularly.

I’m sure you have shared the stage with a lot of talented artists/celebrities along the way. Would you share 1 or 2 of your favorite stories with us?

I have shared the stage with “Prasad & Kardam”, Singer and Music composer duo brothers 10 Years ago during Navratri festival. I have indirectly shared the stage with “Abhijeet Bhattacharya”, Bollywood playback singer and music composer along with “Kapil Sharma”, stand-up comedian, my performance was on the next day of their event at another nearby location. I have shared an event venue with sunburn reload NYE during 31st December 2016, I was performing at an indoor location and that was going on at outdoor location just next to my location, Our events were happening at venue named “Y.M.C.A International center”.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other, drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

It’s definitely pure joy. Ultimate feeling of happiness keeps me motivated to stay persistent. That unconditional ultimate feeling of happiness from the people is felt being on the stage, I feel their energy that travels through listeners mind, their emotions. It’s a fabulous miracle, it satisfies the motto of my life, I want to spread ultimate happiness in this world with the help of my music talent, I want happiness everywhere. Being on the stage and feel what people feels is the best miracle for me. I hope people will understand that what I’m trying to give them and support me.

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as an artist in an industry overflowing with new talent and ideas? Please explain.

Well it’s a blend of several things, I’m always thinking that how I could stand unique from rest and I do various attempts to achieve it. I compiled testimonial videos of my clients, I compiled aftermovies, I compiled various contents like mashups, mixtapes, music videos etc. and promote them. I apply in various opportunities which could help me to reach in wider audience. As a result of the opportunity winner, I have landed an interview with your magazine and TV placement of my music video with your AMG entertainment Network channel. So as I said I keep thinking of new ideas to be unique and try to implement it. And most importantly my original compositions, it really helps me give unique touch.

What has been your biggest challenge as a performing artist? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

I think it’s in making offline contacts. I’m unable to establish new contacts with new venues as well as unable to continue with existing ones. There are several reasons behind this challenge but I haven’t been able to overcome these. This could be solved if I can get to work with nice artist management agencies.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art.” Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art? Please explain.

Well, I have suffered a lot and am still struggling, Majority of the people suffers only a few lucky one faces less struggle. I have seen lots of ups and downs till now. I have suffered due to rejections, failure to win so many remix contests, Unsuccessful in various aspects, not getting sufficient amount of work/gigs, demotivation, extremely less value for art, lack of sufficient support, lack of sufficient income, fear of unfulfilled desires, Various sacrifices, encounter with unethical people. I have tried organizing small gigs on my own for a few times but it went unsuccessful. Let me tell you one instance, In December 2019, I came across one site which helps in organizing gigs with help of crowd funding from supporters/fans. I thought I must try, as it was a new way for me, so I tried very hard and got associated with one of venue as a venue partner/venue sponsor located a pose area and ran the campaign on that site. It was going to be an X’mas party but when I ran the campaign online not a single person bought the ticket even after rigorous promotion. And as far as revenue from streaming sites are concerned it is quite unimpressive, in India 1 USD = 700 streams approx. Lockdown has made things worse, it is totally disheartening. Lockdown put me to think of a new way to earn so I am continuously trying to get sync licensing deals but haven’t got any successful deals yet. I also did the complicated registration with BMI in a hope that it will definitely give me out some royalties but they haven’t generated any royalties yet. Streaming sites gives payment after 3 to 4 months then it goes to labels or distribution platforms, then they pay via paypal only if the amount accumulated is according to their company policy, then paypal makes bank transfer within 7 working days after deducting their currency conversion fees and other fees. It’s suffering everywhere. If we look at the private gigs, most of the time it’s very hard to convince clients to get bookings. This could go endless if I would talk more into it. But I must say that rejection and unsuccessful attempts are now part of my life and now I’m used to with it. I have learned to look at the positive things which have happened to my career and I’m quite happy and cool with it. Pleasure creates pain and Pain creates pleasure. No pain no gain, No gain no pain. Moreover, if we look at humanity then it is also suffering in some way, so many people are depressed and suffering due to it. We must learn that suffering is a story and it’s a part of life if we want to stay happy for a longer duration. Our conversation could jump into different topic if I will go more and more about this so I would like to end it here.

How do you feel the internet has impacted the music business? Please explain.

Everything has its good side and bad side. Good side is that it has become easy for an artist to reach at a global level and get a wide range of audience. It has become easy and somewhat affordable to gain new knowledge and skills because of the online contents. But the bad side is that it has made the competition much tuff. Though it’s easy to reach at global level but it’s very hard to get the desired number of listeners and fans. Moreover, music doesn’t stand in a queue for a longer time. People tends to forget music within a short span. It doesn’t stay as hyped or memorable if we compare present day music with songs such as “The Final Countdown” or “We Will Rock You”. Streaming platforms generates very very less royalties if we compare it with the CD and Vinyl era. But everything is a process, something new will come up in future and this will go off. Let’s hope for the best.

If you could change anything about the music industry. What would it be? Please explain.

I would rather say about the mentality of people. Due to the wrong mindset and lack of openness of so many people, things are not going in the right way. Most of the people don’t accept new music which has not achieved popularity. Most of the people like to keep listening to popular music stuff. Mentality of the people is such that they get partial to the music which is been continuously hammered to them via TV or Radio or Apps. There are so many amazing music to discover and to support which is not been continuously hammered or pampered due to several reasons. Many music industry leaders take advantage of this wrong mindset of people and manipulate the music industry. Due to this manipulation so many talented people stays unrecognized. Bigger artist’s gets bigger and smaller artist’s gets smaller.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today? And why?

Lifting Me Higher, Human Nature (Instrumental Mix), What You, Twirl, December Fun. Including one bootlegged of “The World Is Mine” song by David Guetta. Lifting Me Higher has given me a new spark and motivation. Its music video and animated video are getting good appreciation from viewers. It’s something new for me. Human Nature (Instrumental Mix) has helped me to win opportunity on the Songdew network. It is also a completely different piece of music compared to songs which I compose mostly.

What You got recognized by “Made In 8” and they supported it in their mixtape called “Stereo News” in Episode 086. I was very surprised and happy when they tagged me in the tracklist section of their mixtape. They have performed alongside many A-Listed celebrity DJ’s. I was totally surprised to see my song into their playlist because I have never talked to them before or haven’t sent any promo. It was like a dream come true suddenly. Twirl received support from DJ Steve Romani a.k.a. DJ Bounty hunter a.k.a Stefan Melis. He supported my track in FTSB mixtape episodes. He performs at Tomorrowland every time. December Fun was a collaboration track with my younger brother and we signed it to a label. Label promoted it and the track received many listeners on Soundcloud and Spotify and many viewers on Youtube. The World Is Mine (King’s core remix) was a collaboration bootlegged which I did with my younger brother. It reached so much momentum online. Internet was quite new here and also very slow during that time. We found it everywhere online and the download counts were more than 50K which was quite a surprising thing for us. It was a pure miracle.

Tell us about your current project. Please explain.

I’m currently working on a Future Bass / Future Pop track. Right now the track is on G Major scale and is on 100 B.P.M. If lucky enough, it’s gonna be a collaboration with one of my producer friend from Argentina, we have been trying to collaborate for the last 4 years. I started giving it a shape on my last birthday which was on 6 December. I think this will be the first track in which I started working with drop section and drop leads, I generally do breakdown chords and melody first then rest of the thing. I did so in this because the drop lead manifested in my night dream, I woke up after listening to it for a few times and recorded in phone. It’s necessary to record because when I wake up next morning then melodies gets vanished.

What is the best advice you have received?

‘One succeeds when one is persistent’. Continuous desire and effort to achieve goals gives big success.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

Digital stores like iTunes, Spotify, Amazon music, etc. Also on my Youtube channel and Facebook page in case interested to see other content along with music.

Where are you from city,state, town, country?

City: Ahmedabad

State: Gujarat

Country: INDIA

Do you have social media?

Yes, www.facebook.com/djeffectoofficial www.youtube.com/djeffecto www.instagram.com/djeffecto www.effectodj.tk