Beyond the DJ Booth
Brian B and Joe Bunn tackle questions about the private event DJ industry, share music, gear/gadgets, and stories from their events.
Beyond the DJ Booth
Bruno’s Back, And DJs React
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The comments were spicy, the questions were fair, and we decided to hit record and bring it all back. We kick off with a new segment called "Bring It Back" built to revisit hot takes and fix misses. We start with the update on Joe's office ease. From there, Joe is pressed on his non-use of TikTok. (spoiler: he's done with skits). Then we wade into the AI storm. A pod viewer called for a stronger stance on generative tools, plagiarism, and charts. Here’s ours: tools help, theft harms. Don’t clone living artists or misrepresent authorship. If a platform allows an AI track and a client asks for it, your job is still to read the room and deliver. Policy will keep shifting, so build a filter you can defend and a set you’re proud to play. We’re not kingmaking tech; we’re protecting craft and connection.
Then we move to our music segment and celebrate the fun part: Bruno Mars is back. We break down his latest single’s tempo and feel, share a few blends and remixes and talk through why the rollout was masterful. It may not be an Uptown Funk bomb, but it’s primed for early-night energy and remix heaven.
To close, we also share our most fun years behind the decks—from riot-level college chaos to international bookings when confidence finally clicked.
If this conversation helps you think sharper about your craft, business, and the culture we’re part of, tap follow, share with a DJ friend, and leave a review. Then tell us: would you play an AI request if it packed the floor?
RESOURCES & LINKS
Our website. Please leave a review! - https://www.beyondthedjbooth.com/
To book Joe Bunn: https://bunndjcompany.com/
To book Brian B: https://djbrianbofficial.com/
Joe’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djjoebunn
Brian’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djbrianbofficial
DJ Event Planner free demo: https://www.djeventplanner.com/signup.php
Brian B's Coaching Options: Https://www.thdjscreativeedge.com
What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I'm Joe Bunn. That's my guy, Brian B, aka Brian Bonasisi, aka Good Hair Ricky. Uh and uh welcome back to the show. Episode five. Episode five, season six, the podcast for private event DJs.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Would you say that's a good time for us?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think it's good.
SPEAKER_01:The all capital, like uh T-H-E-E. Like they do the dollhouse, like the strip club, the dollhouse.
SPEAKER_03:And for those that aren't familiar with us, we are based in Raleigh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right? We both live in Raleigh.
SPEAKER_03:The studio.
SPEAKER_01:Uh Brian B lives on the road, and I don't leave 27608 zip code basically. For gigs. But boy, you are on the road for other things.
SPEAKER_03:Holy cow. I got, yeah. I bet you uh did you break some travel records this year? Last year.
SPEAKER_01:Well, here's the problem.
SPEAKER_03:You don't track it.
SPEAKER_01:I don't track it. A B, I have no allegiance to any airline. Yeah. I just looking for I'm looking for the time, the right time, and I don't really care about the money. It's more about what time. Yeah. How can I get out of here at the time I want to get out of here? And how do I get back at the time I want to get out of here?
SPEAKER_03:But do you feel like you were traveling way more this last year than any year previous?
SPEAKER_01:I feel like you were on the road a lot. Yeah, that's a great question, man. I mean, I definitely it wasn't DJ related necessarily. Yeah. Um definitely went to a few DJ conferences. I maybe, man. I don't know. All right. I don't really know. Well, anyway. Anyway. Not as much as you.
SPEAKER_03:Let's uh thank our friends that have supported the channel, supported the podcast through our Patreon.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, indeed. Supported the Patreon, back room member shout-outs, Anthony Govazden, Bob Goosman. Yep, Cody Chamberlain. And Brent or Brent.
SPEAKER_03:Is it Brent or Brent Carlson? So is Brent. You might have left a letter off. Carlson. So thank you guys. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Appreciate it. Man, the um, if you haven't checked out the Patreon yet, there are tons of goodies there. We've got two levels. Uh it's$5.99 and I can't do a wink though.
SPEAKER_03:I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01:Is it$5.99 and$19.99? It is. Yeah. Yeah, tons of goodies there. Uh, you want the top tier. I'm just yeah. It's worth it. I'm doing the wink if you're watching this. Yeah. Winky, wink, wink. You want the top tier. Uh check it out, and you can cancel it anytime if you're not getting value out of it. But I can assure you that you will. It's patreon.com slash beyond the DJ Booth podcast.
SPEAKER_03:So we got a new segment today. What? Does it have a whole intro and everything? Oh, yeah. It's called Bring It Back. Jesus. Okay. You want to hit the trailer?
SPEAKER_04:Brother B said a thing.
SPEAKER_00:Joe Bun went wild. Y'all let up the comment spicy style. So we hit the tape, check the playback. Did we release anything back? Bring it, bring it back too.
SPEAKER_01:Rem bring it back. Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but it's good.
SPEAKER_01:You just put a prompt in and got that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Take one. Like that was one prompt and then send it, and you're like, yeah. Good. Holy shit. We're cooked.
SPEAKER_02:So we're absolutely doomed, dude.
SPEAKER_03:Um, so the whole point of this segment, bring it back, is to give updates or clarifications on certain things that we've ever done on a previous episode. Okay. So the first one I wanted to do was my biff, which was uh What's a biff? Or just like mess up.
unknown:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:Biff? You never heard of that? Yeah, I've heard of it. I just hadn't heard it in since 1960s. Early 60s. Dude, you know what's so funny? Is I it came to me because I was watching Back to the Future during the marathons during the whole thing. That's his name. Yeah, it's his name. Yeah. Um, but I think I mentioned on like two episodes ago that we were giving away uh for January this month the Hercules, which was actually in December. We gave that away in December. So January Shout out Nick Nistram. He won that. I ship it to him. Yeah, you need to do that. You got a lot of shipping. I got it now.
SPEAKER_01:I got a lot of shipping to do.
SPEAKER_03:Um I was gonna talk about this month's uh giveaway. What is it? Which is the Google Home device. I don't know what this is.
SPEAKER_01:Tell me what I I everything in my house was Alexa, and I had this Google Home device that I bought. I don't know, probably$200,$300. It's got the screen on it and everything. It's not like one of those little chintzy, like shitty ones with no screen. Right. Um, and I mean it's just good for hey Google, set a timer. Hey Google, you know, what's the weather today? And then it's got the screen. So you can if you want to pull up a YouTube video, you can watch a little YouTube video on it. As long as you've got internet.
SPEAKER_03:So it's like an Alexa screen. Yes. Basically. Exactly. It's okay.
SPEAKER_01:But all my other devices were Alexa, and this was throwing the whole vibe of the house off. So I was like, I replaced it with the- What is her name? What is her name? Is she have a name or he has a name? Uh, I call mine still Alexa. Everybody else in the house that had their own that was like in their room, they had to change their name. Oh, I didn't know you could even do that. Well, you can only there's only four names. It's hey, hey Alexa, hey Ziggy, hey computer, and there's one more, I think. That's it. That's the only thing she responded to. But what was Google's home device's name? Oh, that I just would say hey Google. Okay. Hey Google.
SPEAKER_03:Interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. I'm surprised that that would even be. Yeah. That's that's very generic.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, very generic. Now, do can you change it? Probably, but I never did.
SPEAKER_03:So$200. We're giving this away. 100% giving it away. For a membership that costs what?$5.99? Oh no, that's this in the back room. This is the back, so it's gotta be$15.99 a month.
SPEAKER_01:So is it$15.99 or$19.99? Oh, sorry,$19.99.$19.99 a month. Patreon.com slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I promise you, worth every penny. And you get entered every month into a drawing.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Next thing. Bring it back. We're talking about an update on the lease here at the office. I get people asking me about this all the time. I don't even know what the latest is. We never told people the update. Okay. What is the latest? Or we're obviously still in the same room and it's January. Update.
SPEAKER_01:They did nothing. They did nothing. They did nothing because I started a mutiny. In addition to the mutiny, I multiple people lawyered up. Multiple people. Tenants. Tenants. Right. Like, we ain't standing for this bullshit. My girlfriend, luckily, is a lawyer. She was going through the contract, you know, with the financial.
SPEAKER_03:But she's made it sound like you didn't have a leg to stand on. So how are these other people?
SPEAKER_01:Because I think there are different versions of the contract floating based on when you signed. Got it. Yeah. And so some people did have a leg to stand on, some people didn't.
SPEAKER_03:Um they just quit communicating or yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So your rent hasn't gone up. Rent nor the assessment were ever put into the portal where you pay. Wow. So you are scheduled to be out, I believe, in September. I am. And ironically, could be today writing an offer on a new space. And you would break this lease. I would Yes. I I would probably come in about six months short, and I'm hoping that I could either sublease it or somebody will just lease it and I can get out of that. I think in the condition that this space is and the unique things that I've done, took out the ceiling, put in flooring, right? You know, put in these door, like all the money I spend on somebody else's property, I think will convey to somebody else jumping on this space.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:There is no vacancy in the building.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Some lady just moved into where my old accountant was upstairs. She's redoing that one. Like, so I think I can probably get away with not having to double pay. Got it. I don't know that for a fact. And I don't know that the guy will even take the offer on this space. It was a double unit in a town, it was almost like a townhouse, almost like a duplex. And he was trying to sell both sides. I don't need both sides. Right. We don't have that much going on.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And I just and it's been sitting for a few months. I was like, man, I'll write an offer on the 101, the left side. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03:Some money is better than no money.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly, dude. You've been sitting on it for months. Yeah. So we'll see. I'm not sure. But and what was the what was the move?
SPEAKER_03:What was the reasoning behind wanting to move anyways? I mean it's not like you you just said you don't have a whole bunch going on. Just this isn't what'sn't cutting it until September. Why are you moving on it now?
SPEAKER_01:Because it's just there there's so little inventory in Raleigh. Got it. Like if you see something and it's in your neighbor, like it's in the neighborhood, like it's two minutes from my house, just like this is. Yeah. It's, you know, uh probably double the size.
SPEAKER_03:And will you have to do a lot of work to it? No.
SPEAKER_01:20,000. Uh dollars? Yeah. Oh, that's a lot. I feel like it's a lot. I didn't feel like it was. I mean, I mean just to move in? No, no, no, man. I mean, it's just dated. Yeah. They're old. They were probably built in the 80s. You know what I mean? Like it, it, it, it, it, the carpet is shit. So I I want that to come up. I would probably, you know, I think there's concrete under it. So then you gotta you get the glue off of that. And then like glaze the floors. Yeah, yeah. Um, it has like chair railing and weird like crown mole. It just is So your offer is for what? Uh three years? What do you typically do? Oh, you're buying it.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01:I must have missed that. No, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm trying to write an offer to buy it. I'm I refuse to lease again. Okay. This has been 25 years of renting, and I I'm not gonna do it again. Yeah. I'm not gonna do it. Congrats, man. I hope this thing comes. I'm going to buy it. Yeah. There's no way in this neighborhood where it exists that it will ever lose money. Right. If I hated it in a year, I would still be able to add it. Now the 20K makes sense.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. To me, if you were leasing, I was like, yo, man. No. It's not even something you own.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_03:So you probably put what into this building to re to retrofit it. I mean, probably about that after this many years, right? Probably. But it didn't start that way.
SPEAKER_01:No. 10 or more.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Paint, take the ceiling out, spray the ceiling. Right. This cheap, you know, laminate flooring and stuff. Okay. I mean, this, you know. Well, I just thought it was worth the AD. I that they they had to walk it back because everybody basically was starting an uprising. Got it. Now, what's going to happen is when your lease becomes due, whoever's here, they're screwed.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I promise you, whatever you're paying now ain't gonna be what you pay when your lease comes due. Right. They ain't gonna, that's never gonna that's never gonna happen.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So these people should have a better plan in mind than just staying here.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:Bringing it back. Bringing it back.
SPEAKER_03:Another one. Go on. So you had said on a previous episode at one point that you're done with TikTok. I'm done with it. Yeah. Throw it in the trash. Not on it. So I had a conversation with Trago not too long ago. Yeah. And he goes, dude, you have to ask Joe about this. He's like, this guy is like kind of king of content to an extent. Like, he's like, 90% of my leads come from TikTok. He's like, how is this dude telling everybody not to be on TikTok or that he's done with TikTok?
SPEAKER_01:I didn't tell anybody else to do it. I just said I'm done.
SPEAKER_03:But like for Bun DJ Co, like on a serious tip, like why are you not even experimenting to see like if this is where all the kids are at right now? Why aren't you on it for business at the very least?
SPEAKER_01:What would do well that I make on there? Like a real of a recap of a wedding.
SPEAKER_03:Just, I mean, it's where I guess his point was that most people that he's getting aren't finding him on Instagram. A lot of these couples are on TikTok, and if you're completely closed off to it, he just wanted some explanation on how are you able to market to these younger folks that are on TikTok.
SPEAKER_01:Because they're still on Instagram as well. Let's not, I mean, let's not act like they've abandoned Instagram.
SPEAKER_03:He is saying that his lead uh disparity is very heavily on the TikTok as opposed to the um I'm not gonna sit here and lie to people and say that I get a lot of leads from anything social media wise.
SPEAKER_01:Now, I think it's part of the puzzle, and I've always said that. If if you think I open my DMs every day and somebody's pinging me to do their wedding, absolutely not. Yeah. On any account. Now, from from my knowledge, and I don't you you can look it up when y'all listen to this, that I definitely have a Joe.bun TikTok out there. Now, our VA in the Philippines is responsible for putting stuff on that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I don't there could be a video on there with 10 million likes on it. I wouldn't know because I hadn't got I don't know that it's on my phone right now. I'm going that far.
SPEAKER_03:But you are not at any at all concerned about marketing towards that kind of generation that is on that platform. Like you would I'm just I I am kind of shocked too. When he said that, I was like, yeah, it kind of doesn't make sense that somebody on it. I am on it. I I am on it. What are you putting on there? For right now, I've kind of cleaned out all my old stuff because I had a bunch of like it was Is it Brian B? It is now, yeah. And now I'm just putting up.
SPEAKER_01:What about B Boy Productions?
SPEAKER_03:I don't have one for that.
SPEAKER_01:So I mean you're responsible for that company as well.
SPEAKER_03:I am, but the difference is is that um the the market's so different where I'm well now you're gonna make me fucking do it, dude.
SPEAKER_01:And now and Trago But also Trago is 30. Right, yeah, and he's out there doing different shit. I'm not saying you gotta do that. I'm I'm not doing skids anymore. I'm done with the skid era. I'm skidded out. Like Dominic had me dressed up like Santa, women, right, uh uh fucking elves, um, uh soldiers. I'm I'm I'm skidded out.
SPEAKER_03:I guess where he was coming from it was like if you were doing a talk on marketing, yeah, and you're not the guy, you're the guy who's everyone's looking towards that. I guess that was just more clarification, right? I'm just I'm just asking.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just asking the question. I'm just curious. I guess I don't feel like the content that I have is going to resonate on a platform like TikTok.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. That's that's a good, that's a that's a great reason.
SPEAKER_01:I just was curious. But but but again, I mean, should there be presence there? Yes. So to be fair, I'll tell you what, I'll go back. I will go back. Number one, I like I said, I don't I know we have a vault TikTok. But you don't have a bun DJ Co one. I don't think so. But now that he's saying it, maybe I should.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I I I'm kind of thinking the same thing for myself too. Uh and I'm just gonna try it with my own. I'm not gonna do the company because it's just another page to have to manage, another account. But if it does well, I mean, I am getting likes, I'm not getting any um, but I will say that this client, which we'll talk about in another episode, uh, for that birthday party, she was like, she's been checking my TikTok and she's like, Finally, you put some new stuff up there. And I'm like, and she's 65. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's crazy. So I'm just throwing it out there. It was a good question that he brought up, and I thought, mm, I'm gonna ask him on the next episode when we chat when we chat.
SPEAKER_01:I guess I need to, I need to, I just need to revisit all the accounts, man. Yeah. To be completely honest.
SPEAKER_03:Do an audit?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, do an audit. Like you said, maybe just restart.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Um, I I mean, I cleared out all my stuff, so now it's just music. No, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I I would definitely have to do a full-blown audit and restart. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:But I also feel like it, you know, I can't do it all. And I think that no no offense to Ruby, our VA, you know, that you use as well, but like she really needs to keep on top of this. Oh, yeah. Because any piece of vertical content should just automatically go there, and then it should automatically go to YouTube Shorts. Right. Because they're all the same size. Yes. And or either I need to just, when I post something, just sit there for another 10 minutes and go to all three.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, eagle Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:All right, one last. Thanks, Trago. More fucking work. Appreciate it, buddy.
SPEAKER_03:Jesus. All right, one more bring it back. Okay. So this last episode we just did, which would be Can I bring it back on you next thing? Oh, yeah, you can totally do it. So two weeks ago we talked about AI. And uh there were some heavy comments in the in the thread. I saw that on YouTube, right? On YouTube, yeah. So for those that don't watch the YouTube, I thought it would be worth talking about. Sure. And people don't always read the comments. That's true, yeah. So I didn't afterwards. Hey, we read your comments. Yeah, we do. And I do try to reply. I do, I do, I do so many time. So I saw this one comment that came in over the weekend.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And I thought it was a pretty good thing, and I had to go re-watch the episode to see what I said because sometimes these we batched these so far out.
SPEAKER_01:I don't always remember, yeah. You know what I mean? People will message me and be like, I need that cart.
SPEAKER_03:And I'm like, What cart are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. We made that six weeks ago.
SPEAKER_03:So I posted the comment here. I will throw the picture, and uh, I might need my glasses for this, actually.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, I will. You want me to read it? Yeah, go ahead. All right. Uh, the real DJ Jake. You guys are the voices in the industry, whether you like it or not. You can't step back and say, Oh, it is what it is. I have no control. You have a larger voice than a lot of people. You need to help fight for these artists that are being stolen from. You need to fight for these communities that are being destroyed by the AI pollution being generated. Art is used to put a mirror to the system. When the system has control over the art, where will that put us? Say, Kwan, you said you're an artist. You're contradicting yourself by saying that it's plagiarism, but it's okay, still use it as long as it's not charitable, charitable. Joe, you're contradicting yourself when you said you deleted the songs that were AI generated, but you're on a podcast that actively uses AI generated stingers. Okay, that Brian made those two pairs. Brian, you just seem to accept whatever is happening like you have no say. People are listening to you to gain info and hear opinions. This doesn't have to be here to stay. Someone dropped this AI song in a DJ set and it killed. That DJ didn't have to play the song. He's helping to make it mainstream and continuing this downhill spiral that we're here going. This technology is being implemented wrong. It needs to do our taxes, not make our art. Too long didn't read. Fight AI. It doesn't have to be this way. You guys have a platform, use it.
SPEAKER_03:God damn. So then he goes on. Next, next he went in. Yeah, go with the next video. What?
SPEAKER_01:There's more.
SPEAKER_03:Other comments you are posting say, I guess we have to embrace it. I think you did that on one of yours. No, you don't. He is literally asking for advice. Give advice on how to direct clients away from it. We can collectively stop these companies from stealing our ideas and voices. No hate. Sorry if it comes off strong. It came off a little strong. It's strong. And then the third one.
SPEAKER_01:Jesus. This is all where is this? I didn't see this 16 hours ago.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so this just came out. I'm not going to read those. Oh, you you respond. What did you say? Just TLDR. Let me say it first of all. TLDR. Yeah. All right. Quick pause from the episode because we want to say this clearly. If you've been listening to Beyond the DJ booth for a while, you already know this isn't surface level DJ talk.
SPEAKER_01:Listen, this is real conversation about music, business, gear, mistakes we've made, wins, the stuff you're actually thinking about after the gig.
SPEAKER_03:So if you're one of the people who listens every week and thinks, man, I wish I had all this stuff in one place, well, that's exactly why we built the Patreon.
SPEAKER_01:Listen, at the booth crew level, you get full access to everything we've already done. Unreleased video and audio episodes you can binge all at once. Our weekly top 10 music banger lists, and a simple way to keep track of the music we're talking about on the show without having to go back and hunt through old episodes.
SPEAKER_03:It's a clean, no friction way to stay plugged in in between episode drops.
SPEAKER_01:Now, if you're already in the crew, the booth back room is where we go a Layer deeper. Yep. That's where we drop an extra episode every single month.
SPEAKER_03:Not only that, we have monthly prize drawings, which include sometimes gear or merch or coaching calls, even DJ show tickets.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, and discounts on our exclusive merch.
SPEAKER_03:And bonus content that we don't put out on the public feed. The kind of listening that DJs usually wish they had after hearing an episode. So it's not just about more content.
SPEAKER_01:Know that. It's about being closer to the conversation. So if this podcast has helped you in any way think differently about your craft, your business, or how seriously you take what you do, come hang with us on Patreon. Yep, that's patreon.com slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast.
SPEAKER_03:Join the crew or step into the back room. See you there. Basically, let me say this. First of all, when we put I don't ever look to myself as being the voice of the industry. If someone thinks that, great, but that's never my aim. I don't care about that stuff. I never have. But I always bring up these topics like AI and things like this for people to have their own thoughts. Like I don't want to come in there with the the my way is the is the way it has to be because that's what I'm saying about the TikTok thing.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, don't don't you don't have to do as I do. Right. Just because I'm not a TikToker at 54 years old. Don't think you don't have to be a TikToker. Right. I mean, like my whole presentation tomorrow at the Pittsburgh DJ Summit is like, look, these guys right here are super viral, but you don't have to be viral to be successful. Right. Totally. Anyway, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03:So as it relates to the AI thing, I didn't give a stance because I didn't really feel like I needed to. Like I it wasn't my I'm asking it out there to the general public who are watching this podcast to come to their own conclusions. But I will take a stance, and that's what I kind of put on this thing, was my which was my comment, and he's responding to that, which was this. In my opinion, if you the AI is here to stay. It's not Pandora's box has been opened, it's never gonna go back into the box. It's out there. True. So people are gonna use it for music, for whatever else, art, business, anything, graphics. It doesn't matter. My issue would be to his point, is if someone takes it as their own and says, This is me doing it, and it really wasn't them, it was AI. I don't care if it's charts or whatever personally. Why? Because if you want to be an artist and you want to yourself to chart, make better art. Make art that resonates with the people. If you are if you can't compete and you're you're pissed off because you can't compete with AI, you're not doing good enough work. Now, that being said, art is very subjective. Yeah, what's better? I don't know. Right. It could be different for different people. So it's hard to say that to make better art could also be you can make the argument that there is no better, it's what resonates, but that's my point. Make something that resonates with the audience. If you're not making something that resonates, then you deserve not to be charted. You can't uh skew the the charts just because uh a computer made it. You still have to give it a prompt, you still have to say what you want it to say. It doesn't do the stuff for you. There is an art to that, in my opinion, to putting in the prompt and getting it right. So his this is his reply to me on that. He says, to be clear, we're talking about generative AI. I'm not talking about algorithms that are trained to carry out a mundane task, incorrectly named AI. I'm curious what Saquon has to say about your statement, make better art. Art's not supposed to be perfect, and I just answered this. All all it needs is intent. Why did we choose this type of paintbrush? Why did we choose that sense sound? Generative AI is not a tool, and I would disagree with that. Generative AI is a tool, sync is a tool, all of it is tools. It helps me line up the music. You still have to give it a prompt. It is a tool to help you get better. What does um what does generative AI help me do? Type a prompt, then gets a finished product. You still have to type in the right prompt for it to be good AI stuff. You're not gonna just say, hey, paint me a picture of this, it's gonna paint you something crappy. You have to know how to talk to it. There is an art to that. Just like there's an art to writing a caption. It's not just about the photo, it's about what you say about it. All of this plays into this. Do you not want to admit that they are plagiarizing artists? Uh do you not want to admit that they are plagiarizing artists to make art generated content? Yes, it is out there. There are always gonna be people doing negative things, and that is what I can I don't condone. You should not be plagiarizing somebody else's art. Do you not care about what artists are doing anymore? Absolutely I do. Do you want artists to get paid? Yes. Again, make good art and you will get paid. Both have upsides and downsides, yes. But maybe the downsides of destroying local communities, stealing from artists, and fooling the media uh with uh what does it say? With slop is not worth it. Again, to me, if you are fooling people and saying it's your own and it's not, that is the that's the problem. You can't be doing that. But to say that you're fooling the media, hey, I don't it is what it is. I prioritize people over these billionaires stealing from us and making money off of us. We don't need it. Uh too long didn't read sync won't replace artists. I believe it can. It can. Oh, well, look, buddy.
SPEAKER_09:The billionaires are gonna steal. They're gonna steal regardless, okay? It's it's not I I when I was saying like it's okay like for people to use it, people are gonna use it regardless. People can if if you put it in front of a 10-year-old and he wants to make some AI stuff, fine, whatever. Maybe it might make him get into the art and then he'll eventually start doing that. You can't just like like you said, it's here to stay. Yeah, it's not going anywhere. I don't believe that people should use it and say that it's their stuff, like like Brian said. I also don't I still don't believe, you know, you should be able to use it to to get paid. Get paid, I guess. Cause you have to like it it does take away from people who are actually, you know, working hard. But to Brian's point again, you can't just type in anything and have it come out good. You still gotta have you still gotta know how to use the tool. Like, I can give you a hammer, but the hammer's not gonna put the nail in it. You know what I mean? Like what are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_01:Well, let me ask you this. Are are is Spotify and Billboard and whatnot allowing these songs now on the platform and to chart? That I don't know.
SPEAKER_09:I mean, they're allowed on the platform, but I don't know if they're allowed to chart.
SPEAKER_03:I don't they did take off that that one that we were talking about before. They took that off, but they also took off that other one. Yeah, and then the guy got a real artist to record the vocal and then it came back on. Oh. So, yes, I think they are taking those off as they come in. They're not allowing those to be on the platform, it seems like, unless they've changed their their position in the last couple of weeks. Right. Now, as far as charting, I don't know who controls that. Is it billboard? I mean, it's like there's tons of different charts out there.
SPEAKER_01:I can't imagine it charting if it's not gonna be on the platforms. Right. You know what I mean? Like how you know it's not gonna chart if it's on the platform. So they are calling it out currently right, but I think this is gonna become a bigger, bigger and bigger problem as the daddy are gonna have to show like the recording process or something to prove that it's not an AI record. Right. Totally. I I I would have sworn if you had put a gun to my head and and because I don't know anything about K-pop that that golden song was fake. Right. I mean, if if like listening to it and the way she hits that note, and like, yeah, I get that they've been on uh every TV show in the world and sung the song, I get that. But I will it if if I had not seen that, I would have been like, this is this song is AI.
SPEAKER_09:And I don't think AI is gonna replace us, man. We're too we're at the end of the day, we're human. You can look at something and be like, you know, hey, this is this is not something's something's off about this, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Like But it's gotten better and better and it continues to do that.
SPEAKER_09:And but still, there's something about a human, you know what I mean? Being like looking into a human's eyes, like is it just it I don't see it taking over.
SPEAKER_01:But here's the real question though, you know, if they do start to allow these songs and they do start to trend and people start to ask for them. I mean, as a DJ, that's my job.
SPEAKER_03:Right. That's another another group.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's where I'm kind of coming back to. I'm like, okay, well, I don't like it, right? And I don't really like that it's it's just prompt and it's not a singer in a studio, and it's not a guy with a you know, I mean to me it's it's no different than any of the other stuff that we play, like something on social media, right?
SPEAKER_03:Like that whole bees in the trap with uh what's up. Yeah, it's it's massive right now, or still it's still charting pretty well as far as me playing it out in at parties. Do I like it? Not necessarily, but it's working, and it's like you're gonna be able to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean it it's it's I don't know, man. I mean, yeah, but if some if something started to chart or pop off and it was and I found out it was AI, I mean it's still my job as a DJ. If people are requesting it or it's on a client's must-playlist, then I gotta play it. Right. And and again, man, I don't I don't know that you and I have the the power to stop AI.
SPEAKER_09:And and and isn't art like it doesn't have to always be so serious. Like true. I feel like he's taking it a little too serious, you know.
SPEAKER_01:I can feel like he's gotta be in the in the industry more than just a DJ.
SPEAKER_09:He's gotta, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, like Or it's also the people, and I'm not saying this is him, but there are people that complain about this stuff because they can't do it themselves. You know what I mean? So it's like they're just trying to put somebody else down because they've they've someone had a hack code to try to get themselves up. You know what I mean? And it's like, no, you just gotta figure out your own hack code.
SPEAKER_01:This is tough, man. I I don't know. I I don't want to really take a stance either way, but I mean I just know as a DJ, if I had to if I had to play it, I gotta play it. I mean, if it starts to come up and people want it, I can't. That's my job. I've always said that. I'm like, yeah, I don't I don't ride around in a car and listen to Brick House. God damn it, if I have to play it, I'm gonna play it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it's just that's my job. It's always been my job. Right. Anyway, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that's all I got on this this uh this segment. Anything you want to add to close it out? No.
SPEAKER_01:It's very heavy. You got heated. I I never really see Brian get fired up about it.
SPEAKER_09:It's like any other new thing that comes out. I mean, think about it, like back before FL Studio and Ableton and all the Pro Tools, you had to go to a studio. Yeah, absolutely. You don't think those people were upset? Oh man, these people are making these things where you just go and play, blah blah blah, blah, blah. Eventually, people go back to the studio or you can stay in your house. Right. Like just make the art.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_09:And make it good. Yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_03:What's it a music segment? Yeah, yeah, change this up a bit. Okay, yeah, geez, it's heavy.
SPEAKER_05:I wanna know. What's on your play, Stanley? I wanna know. I wanna know.
SPEAKER_03:So Woohoo! I texted you on Thursday. Yes, sir. And showed you this. Did you even know this was happening?
SPEAKER_01:I didn't. No. Nope. And then the next day the single dropped and it was heaven.
SPEAKER_03:So have you Bruno's back. So what are your thoughts? I mean, he's doing a tour.
SPEAKER_01:I'm going.
SPEAKER_03:Are you going? Fuck yeah, I'm going. Did they already release the locations and dates?
SPEAKER_01:Stadiums. Okay. Taylor Swift shit.
SPEAKER_03:Where is he doing it around here?
SPEAKER_01:Charlotte, Bank of America, where the Panthers play. Wow. All right. Shout out to the Panthers for giving a hell of a hell of a run yesterday.
SPEAKER_03:Um, what are your thoughts on the song?
SPEAKER_01:It's fucking magic.
SPEAKER_03:Hmm. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01:It is fucking interesting.
SPEAKER_03:Well, first of all, I texted you and I said, hey, listen, I don't like the name of this title. The romantic. You were scared it was gonna be ballads. I thought it was gonna be very much ballads.
SPEAKER_01:And I said, don't say that. And then the next day the single drops, and I'm like, thank you, Jesus.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, I've never seen it.
SPEAKER_09:But that doesn't mean it's not gonna be ballads.
SPEAKER_01:There'll be a ballad or two. Okay. Well, I mean, I love Die with a Smile. That's a great track.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I mean? And that's about it.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, dude, a decade this man has not put out a solo record.
SPEAKER_03:And so you think it's gonna be full of like dance four fillers, or is it just gonna be good listening?
SPEAKER_01:I think it's gonna be 12 songs, and nine are gonna be really, really good. Now, are they gonna be stuff that we're playing? I don't know. Yeah, I would listen to the record regardless.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, I would too.
SPEAKER_01:And then I think there's gonna be two or three RB ballad type joins.
SPEAKER_03:So when I listened to it, the first thing I thought of is this sounds very much like skate.
SPEAKER_01:People are saying that. People are saying it sounds like walking on sunshine. I know. And people are saying it sounds like fucking junior senior movies.
SPEAKER_03:But no, I'm just saying, like, it sounded like which I thought was skate was a better song than it got reaction for.
SPEAKER_01:It did not go over. It did not go over.
SPEAKER_03:I feel like this is gonna be the same type, it's got the same feel to it to me that Skate does. I think the tempo is better. It's like 105. I don't know. I haven't played it yet. Yeah, it's 105, 106. So it's not like banging, banging. Um, but I thought I would show you a couple of people are already putting blends and stuff to it already. Not even a we design in the weekend.
SPEAKER_01:It ain't even a fucking, it ain't even day four. Leave it alone for a minute, people.
SPEAKER_03:So here's one with it with skate.
SPEAKER_01:It better be good, or I'm gonna throw that. This is one with it.
SPEAKER_03:This is one with with skate, and it actually works.
SPEAKER_06:Uh, here we come with it.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it fits right in the pocket.
SPEAKER_08:Oh, a judge bite. I'll just say that's your face.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it could be the same freaking song to me. It's got the same feel with it already. It's the problem. Alright, at least it's his song. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. It is his song. So then I went down that rabbit hole. I think you saw the same clip I did, because here's where the melodies kind of are interesting. You wanna hit it? The guy that doesn't talk. Oh. Oh no. This is with the melody.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. Just my Leo Sayer. I used to love that song. Sounds just like it kind of. Does it? Oh, just my. Oh yeah. I mean slower. Yeah, yeah, it's slower. My parents used to love this record. Interesting, right?
SPEAKER_01:That was like the vibe back then. Oh, it was it, bro. I thought this shit was playing on the turntables.
SPEAKER_03:Like, I still play it every now and then.
SPEAKER_01:I was five.
SPEAKER_02:Then here's the melodies. Yo, I love this guy. He didn't talk at all. Just the woo who hear that one.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that. But every song in the world's got some version of wo-wo in it.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it's just interesting. So then there was a couple other blends that are out there that I thought were really good. So this is one same guy, but different blends. But this is the way you can mix it in. Yeah. And key. I like this kid. JK. Yeah. You know him?
SPEAKER_01:No, but yeah, that worked.
SPEAKER_03:Then there's this version by another guy. He did it with unwritten.
SPEAKER_07:You better show me that show.
SPEAKER_03:Which you wouldn't think would work, but it looks good.
SPEAKER_01:Again, this is the transition with you when this is comedy and state.
SPEAKER_03:And I like how he goes right in the corner. It's more of a transition. It's just great ideas to think about how to mix this song in with other things that are gonna be played. He keeps the vocal low.
SPEAKER_01:It's a little dirty at this point. It's kind of messy. I get it. Skip it. It just kinda got messy, but. And one last one. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:This was uh with you love this guy. I like this stuff. So he hit three of them this weekend.
SPEAKER_08:He sped it up.
SPEAKER_03:I do love that song.
SPEAKER_02:Michael and JT.
SPEAKER_03:Sped it up to about 178.
SPEAKER_07:Look at it. I bet show me that.
SPEAKER_03:And then our boy, DJ, I think his name is um I'm terrible at names. 411. He follows us on our account. He he made one on SoundCloud, okay. Which with a West Coast flavor. Okay. I kind of like it. Is it up here?
SPEAKER_08:Oh stepped aside a vibe I ain't never sing. Yes, you did. Oh I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I'm fine with all of these, man. I don't know. I mean, yeah, they're good. I mean, I just let the song breathe for a minute, man. God damn, man. Give the man like his flowers. Like, I I'm gonna be honest with you, man. And and I don't know why. Like, I love Bruno. I went and saw Bruno last year or the year before in um Vegas for the residency where he's trying to dig himself out of the hundred thousand or a hundred ten million dollar hole he's in or whatever it was for the gambling debt. Um I I was so I and it was Friday. I it it I have not felt that way about a song in so long. I almost cried. I know that sounds weird, but I then I also started thinking about my dad, and he'd fucking love Bruno. Right. And I could hear he'd be like, God damn Bruno's doing it. Yeah, like he's back. Like he would have been so hyped for this record. Yeah. I sent the video to my mom and she was beside him. She goes, she goes, Oh, I I think she goes, Bruno must have got off the drugs to be doing records like this again. And I go, I think he found the good cocaine, actually, mom. You know, like the video is a massive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do have seen it. With the clone of himself. I'm like, it is just so well done, man. The rollout was perfect. He teases it. My record's done, says that on Thursday. Single Friday, release the tour on Friday, like stadiums, like it's gonna be great. Now, listen, I guess really to bring this conversation to a close on this particular thing. Is this, and I I'm assuming you were gonna ask me this, going to be Uptown Funk.
SPEAKER_03:No, I I don't think it will be. I mean, to me personally, again, I feel like it sounds like skate. I think it's gonna be a great record to play early in the night for you on your DJ sets, unless they do some crazy remix or something that really makes it stand out. I don't see how the original is gonna last long. Do I love the record? I love the lyrics. The lyrics are great.
SPEAKER_01:I love everything like everything he rhymed with it.
SPEAKER_03:I loved it.
SPEAKER_01:I love everything about it, man. I promise you, I was I was I really in my car with the windows down on Friday 10 fucking times. I would get in the car and it Be halfway started, I'd be like, nah, take it to the top. Oh, and I have not done that since since I don't remember when. Like, and I wish I'd recorded my reaction. Yeah. And then when I and then when I got back to the office and checked my email, I must be on this email list and the video link was up. Oh. And I clicked on that. I was literally in here screaming. Like, the video is so good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:With the DJ, and it's all like 70s out, and just the way he dances, man, dude. Bruno is a generational talent, man. I don't I don't care what you say. He's today's Michael Jackson. I've seen his show. I'll say it. Today's Michael Jackson. He ain't better than Mike. Absolutely. Who? Who is even comparable? Nobody.
unknown:Nobody.
SPEAKER_01:Bruno Mars. Nobody. Yeah.
SPEAKER_09:The weekend, the weekend. The weekend. Nah, absolutely. He can't dance.
SPEAKER_01:He can't fucking dance. I love the weekend as much as anybody. He can't dance. He can't be Mike. I'm sorry. I didn't say he was. I said he is today's Mike. Nobody is Mike. I agree. I live through that era. Nobody is him.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway.
SPEAKER_03:Well, let's close out our music segment. Let's get this the question. I feel like this is the longest episode ever. How long get through an episode? Pass through all that. Let's question the day.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, your boy. Is he the king of this episode? Yeah, I think he is. Trago the DJ. Shout out. What year did you start DJing events? Um 1984.
SPEAKER_03:1997.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. 84? Yeah, I was 13. Wow. Between whatever year you started and 2026, what year was the most fun to DJ and why? It probably would have been 93, some why I think that's when Carolina won the national championship when I was in school. I don't know, man. Look, we looked that up. What year Carolina basketball won uh in the 90s? In the 90s.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they did 96. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Uh it was just a zoo, man. That you know, that whole year. That was the year that Chris Weber caught a timeout and they didn't have time.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And they got a technical and I was like, But why was it the most fun? Because the type of events you were doing. It was frats. It was frat parties, man. It was f frats and bars. And I was, you know, 20, 19, 20, and and I had, you know, friends that would set up for a case of beer, and I had girls, and I had was in school, and my parents were paying for it. And, you know, I was making probably I bet I was making two or three thousand dollars a week. Wow. As a as a 20-year-old in college with all my shit paid for. Like I was rich.
SPEAKER_04:I was rich, bitch.
SPEAKER_01:I was rich, bitch. Uh, and it just it was it was just it was just magic, man. I remember them saying, like, we'll have you DJ only if we win the national championship. And as soon as Chris Weber called that time out, I'm like, I got my car and started driving over to that frat house to set up. Wow. And as I'm setting up, they had they had two French doors on like the living room where I was setting them, and people just ripped them off the hinges. Yeah. I was still setting up and people just piling into the room, burning sofas out in the fucking street. Yeah. I mean, it was havoc. Like the closest thing I've ever been in in a riot situation. And playing music.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:What about yours? You have a year?
SPEAKER_03:Like a I mean, I was trying to think of this, and I I I the only one I can think of is 2018. Okay. Which is somewhat recently. I do. Yeah. Broke the freaking frame. I got I'm waiting for the frame to come in.
SPEAKER_06:Jesus Christ, goodness.
SPEAKER_03:Anyways. Uh no, 2018. Uh because that was when I really started doing international gigs. Okay. And I mean, I got flown that same year to Australia. That's crazy. And then it got sent to St. Bart's. Yeah. And I wasn't doing, they were all random events. Like these weren't weddings. These were like birthday parties and corporates. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I just remember you play something at a resort. Yeah, multiple places. St.
SPEAKER_03:Bart's. Yeah. I was there for two weeks. I missed Christmas. Yeah. I was there during Christmas.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Before you had a kid. Yeah, before I had a kid. But that also was a bad call. Not have not spending Christmas with your wife. Not a good call. Nah, not your smartest move.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but I just realized she's still around.
SPEAKER_03:I was getting paid really well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And the fact that I'm like, I never would have imagined this in my wildest dreams. Like, how cool is this? It's real. If someone sees that like you're one of one or whatever, and they're willing to take you on the road to do this stuff, like I never would have thought that that was ever possible.
SPEAKER_01:It's really cool, man.
SPEAKER_03:So that was like still is. Yeah. And I I still feel that way about everything. But like still, it was like that was the year I was like, man, I think I finally like hit my stride. And I felt like it was also like, you know how Kobe uh always would say, like, there was a point where he could felt like he could take on anybody, you know?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I felt like that way. Like I could go into any event and really do well. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome. Good question. Great question, Trego. Thank you. Well, let's thank our sponsor. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Get out of here. Shout out. Shout out. Shout out once again, DJ Event Planner, for taking on sponsoring our podcast for another year. Thank you guys. We appreciate it. If you are looking for a CRM to help run your DJ business, look no further than DJEventplanner.com. Thank you guys for listening. New episodes every single Wednesday morning. We appreciate y'all. Later. Later.
