Playing Music Internationally Will Involve Some Travel
To become an international DJ, you’ll need to do some traveling. To that end, it’s helpful to know something about some of the world’s top party destinations. I’m not necessarily talking about those places where people only go to party, like Ibiza or the full Moon party in Thailand, but about the gigantic cities that host some of the most famous clubs on earth. Let’s look at some of those cities:
Tokyo
I listed this one first because it’s my favorite. The world’s largest city, if you take the whole metropolitan area into account, Tokyo has over 35 million people. It can appear that it has almost as many bars. Many of those are karaoke bars, but if you like singing, that can be a good thing. It also has some amazing clubs that draw the world’s top DJs. And I doubt it one of Tokyo’s main clubs and experienced no one will forget. If you are interested in seeing the city, wikitravel has a great Tokyo travel guide for people on a budget.
The biggest drawback is the cost of accommodation, but you can save a lot if you travel with a hammock. Every place I stayed at was more than happy to let me hang my hammock on their property in exchange for a small fee.
New York
Not much needs to be said about New York. It is world-famous for clubs and for club music and the only thing that can make a night out in New York less fun than should be, is the price. Tokyo gets all the fame for being expensive, but New York is actually much worse. Here’s a guide to New York: http://www.nycgo.com/
Las Vegas
Known as sin city, this place is naturally a great place to sin. Yes it’s got casinos and yes you can lose a lot of money. But the best thing about Vegas is the clubs. These days most are located within the casinos, but the best are probably still standalone places. For more on Las Vegas go to this page: http://www.lasvegas.com/planning-tools/free-visitors-guide/
London
I haven’t been to London myself, but I hear the nightlife is pretty incredible. That said, it’s also expensive. Nevertheless any time you can party outside of the US, where the laws are not generally conducive to having fun, it’s a good thing. London is large and the something for everyone and all the famous DJs play here. You’ll want to do the same. Here’s a guide to London: http://www.visitlondon.com/
Shanghai
Beijing might be the capital and Hong Kong seems to be more famous for its nightlife, but Shanghai is by far the most fun city. The nightlife here is much better than Hong Kong and much much better than Beijing. That said, it still China. Most of the clubs is the city kind of suck and you have to figure out the few that don’t. If you do, you’re guaranteed a great time. To help you figure it out, try wikitravel’s travel guide for Shanghai.
Berlin
Last, but certainly not least on my little list is Germany’s capital. With very liberal laws and ridiculous amount of clubs, this city boasts what is probably currently the best nightlife on earth. Berlin has a few clubs where a night out is not just a night out, it can be a life-changing experience. Even though the love Parade no longer takes place in the city, it’s spirit certainly still remains. Known as one of the coolest cities on earth, Berlin is a place you don’t want to miss. For more the city try this Berlin travel guide: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany/berlin
I know there are many more cities I could’ve and probably should’ve included on this list, but I just wanted to give you a little taste of to get you started. Get familiar with the cities and ideally visit them and spent some time there, and you’ve made a good start. Then you can move on to the next ones, like maybe Singapore, Miami, Los Angeles, etc. basically, if you want to be an international DJ enough to be international you have to travel. So get out there and see the world.
But you should also be aware that there are sacrifices. When you move around so much, you miss out on many of the things you take for granted when living in one place. You don’t really have “real” friends anymore. You don’t have things like your own bed, your own sofa, a nice stereo system. I also really miss my drum kit. It is my favorite from of stress relief and not being able to play my drums after a hard day sucks.
There are many more examples, but those are some of the things I miss the most. But what I miss most of all is actually the ability to have pets and houseplants. The plants are especially hard to live without. I used to have a full indoor garden and even had plant lights to really make them flourish. Now, that is all a thing of the past.