Instagram DJs, Party Videos, and Anxiety
We investigate how Instagram links to anxiety for professionals of the underground music scene
Being a DJ nowadays comes with a lot of struggles. Covid times were tough, but it seems like a lot of the difficulties of the underground music scene are sticking around. In this highly competitive and resource-limited environment, it’s not just about wanting to perform and tour more; not playing enough for a professional DJ can quickly lead to economic difficulties.
Instagram can easily amplify this anxiety. If you are a follower of the underground DJing scene, it seems like everyone is playing at all of the best parties, all the time. Hyped party videos and full touring calendars are not exceptions but promotional norms. For a DJ, just a month with no gigs can feel like you are completely falling behind everyone else’s success. This creates a harmful feedback loop of biases; as soon as DJs have a few gigs ahead or a nice party video, they have to quickly post about it, filling each other’s feeds with flashy success badges, and leaving each other the impression that all their peers are constantly touring successfully.
And this tendency also concerns the other players of the underground clubs’ environment; there are promoters who need to post videos from the previous party to secure more attendants for the next event, while on the other hand, you have music workers such as club bookers and booking agents that need to spend a lot of time on the app, to stay updated with new talent, new parties and with what’s going on in the scene in general.
This is part of a larger phenomenon where a lot of our behaviors changed - people can get so caught up documenting an experience that its visual appeal and imaginary become more valuable than the experience itself. This is happening to a lot of domains of our life but when it starts creeping into what used to be moments of socialization and bodily delight, something's gone terribly wrong - and professionals of this scene are often the ones suffering this commodification the most.
Therefore, to explore this subject, we thought the best is to speak directly to players of the underground music scene - this article explores the topic through a number of anonymous submissions, from touring DJs of the underground music scene, to bookers, promoters, and other professionals.
“I’ve had moments where I didn't want to post anything at all, but you feel like if you don't have an online presence, you don't exist.”
As a start, we should mention that all the DJs and music professionals we spoke with reported feeling overwhelmed, at least at times, by the content appearing on their Instagram feeds. “It became particularly noticeable post-COVID with the opening of clubs,” one of the interviewees told us, “most of my feed was music or party-related, quickly becoming overwhelming and frankly quite exhausting.” These party videos can feel highly detached from weekly life — as another interviewee reported, “it is quite dissonant to be confronted by this amount of party-related material when you are going back to your daily life.”
These overwhelming and dissonant feelings can quickly grow into anxiety when you consider that Instagram use has become the preferred means of promotion in the underground music scene — if you are a DJ, it is highly suggested to post videos of the parties you play at, to establish a presence and promote success. A touring DJ mentioned: “I feel the pressure of having to post gig-related content often while sometimes I would just rather post other things. Balancing between having a digital space to creatively share inspirations and creating a portfolio can be difficult.” Another one told us: “I’ve had moments where I didn't want to post anything at all, but you feel like if you don't have an online presence, you don't exist. Artists are now freelance marketers working for free: they cover all fronts of the social media universe, promote venues, labels, and agencies, have to post that they will play somewhere, post when they are playing, and post after they play. It acts like certification of their presence. It's pretty surreal when you think about it.”
The pressure described here is probably very familiar if you are a DJ. In fact, all the DJs we spoke with feel some kind of pressure to promote themselves. “After the gigs,I’m always trying to find good videos to post, and if there are no good ones I have to say I get disappointed,” an interviewee added. “I really shouldn't be caring too much about this but there is some pressure when seeing that everyone is posting all these great videos — it feels like something you have to do.”
“We are competing to see who has the most successful career and in the meantime, we are losing the real connection with the music and the people.”
Considering the algorithmic dynamics of Instagram (if you are not consistently posting fitting content, your content will slowly stop appearing on the feeds of your followers, possibly resulting in fewer bookings) setting clear boundaries on how often you should post becomes arduous, to say the least. One of the interviewees stated: “I felt anxiety from whether the effort I am putting into Instagram is worth it or not, and having to adjust the way I express myself to fit with Instagram's 'rules'. It also encourages comparisons with others, which are never helpful.” The fact that the dynamics of the platform push artists to compare themselves to others is another very toxic element that’s important to note. “It [Instagram] created more comparison and envy, because you always see what everyone else is up to.”
In many ways, Instagram drives a representation of the life of touring DJs as an untruthful portrayal. A DJ reported that “the perception of the party scene that comes from social media is, quite often, fake, exacerbated or detached from reality,” In this regard, another interviewee noted: “it's a bit stupid how DJs are always saying that it was the best night of their lives for every gig… You can tell that they just want to make it look like they are the most successful and happy artists. I feel like we are in a competition to see who is having the most successful career and in the meantime, we are losing the real connection with the music and the people.”
Adding to how alarming the topic is, some of the DJ and music workers we spoke with explained how they even have to take complete breaks from Instagram for the sake of their mental health. One interviewee mentioned, “I have stopped using Instagram on the weekends as much as possible.” Another one explained to us how deactivating their profile for a few weeks once in a while is great for their mental health, even though that might not be the most professional approach.
Throughout these interviews, we have also explored the impact that Instagram might have on the overall quality of club nights and festivals. “DJs that become insta-famous rapidly climb and skip steps that would usually happen for other DJs who are organically getting recognition for their artistic output” one interviewee noted, while another noted “social media has become a metric of someone's success, which is not necessarily accurate or correlated with musical merit. It has also definitely encouraged DJs to play more 'Instagrammable' music - instant gratification and instant (and visible) reaction”.
One interviewee also added on how these shifts in the way people use Instagram affects the crowd attending specific events: “Some events that used to be more "underground" now lose a bit of their essence as more people attend who might not be the right crowd. You can see people who are just going there to post about the event and do not even care about the music, recording videos, and overall killing the vibe just for content.”
“Instagram has definitely encouraged DJs to play more 'Instagrammable' music — instant gratification and instant (and visible) reaction”
Like it or not, Instagram is likely to stay around as the main promotional tool for our favorite music and parties for a while. But this does not mean as music professionals (or music enjoyers and party-goers) we should not use it carefully and be aware of its dangers and harmful dynamics.
Speaking publicly about these topics can be in itself a turning point and provide solutions to some of these problems. Anxiety can spiral when we think we are the only ones experiencing it while the whole world is healthy, shiny and thriving. Into a more and more social media-alienated reality of the post-pandemic world, these types of issues are not an exception but a systemic norm that everyone experiences, and that everyone should be aware of. There are things we can do to navigate Instagram use in a healthier way as music professionals, and it starts with awareness and public discourse. As one of our interviewees noted, keep your mental health as a priority and remind yourself that your work is not tied to what’s happening on the platform: “Artists and labels must keep doing what they believe in while minimizing the outside noise as much as possible. Shut down IG occasionally, and don't let it affect your mental well-being. Keep up to date with what's happening outside your bubble; you don't need much more.”
Written by Giovanni Bodrato
