Mick Boogie and Vikas Sapra discuss managing their DJ careers without an agency or manager. Mick found that representing himself allows him to produce at his own level without paying commissions. He has built relationships and contacts over his career. Vikas also manages himself, treating it like a business. He books regularly and negotiates better rates than DJs with representation. Both emphasize networking, collaborating, and helping others to stay booked and find opportunities. Vikas is considering joining an agency to help expand his brand internationally.

1. New York Nightlife
Part One Wednesday, March 7, 2012 @NYNightlife
A Chat With With that said, there is a time and a place for that. Quite a few of my couple that with having some deejay talent and doing
Mick Boogie and Vikas Sapra: Self-Managed Talent friends enjoy being able to relax and focus 100% on the art of deejaying professional business, the bookings are going to come
By New York Nightlife
without the worry of the business-side, which is very admirable. I have naturally. Between Twitter, email, texting and the NYC-
plenty of friends on 4AM, S.K.A.M., Moodswing, you name it, who are random-running-into-people-everywhere networking model,
very happy and I'm happy for them. Some days I wish I could do that, it's easy to stay on people's radar and keep them on yours.
but honestly, my brain isn't even programmed to work in that manner. As far as corporate opportunities, brands want to feel
Because I know, at the end of the day, and this is true in any career in authenticity. Brands want to feel creativity. And brands want
any industry, no one is going to work harder for you than you work for you to help solve their problems. I don't always approach
yourself. And I'd be too pissed at myself if I missed an opportunity brands trying to deejay their events. I try to help solve their
because I wasn't paying attention. So I'd rather be a good deejay with a marketing problems using the resources I have, whether it is
great business strategy than a great deejay without a business plan. as simple as deejaying or it's something more on the
consulting level, or something as simple as an introduction to
Vikas, like Mick, you’re also self managed. Because of your a colleague that can help them. Help others and they will
success, I’m quite sure agencies would like a percentage of your help you.
bookings. What lead you to manage yourself?
FOR DJs, the staggering increase in competition often adds to the perceived importance VS: Honestly, it’s rather difficult to compete against the
of having representation. Having an agent and management team behind you as a DJ VS: For 5 years after I graduated NYU, I worked for one of the most networks of large booking agencies. Unless you’re a
can have its perks, but it also comes at a price. On my journey to learning more about rigorous corporate management programs in the country. So when I celebrity or a socialite who is already connected to
the management side of DJing, I spoke with DJs Mick Boogie and Vikas Sapra about started to DJ, I treated it as a business and with a similar work ethic. I influencers, decision makers, and every publicist in the city,
their self-managed DJ careers. noticed that I was able to get booked regularly and even negotiate better representation seems to be a very wise decision. If I want, I
pricing than fellow DJs who had representation. I’ve always been very can work 7 nights a week without much effort. But it’s the
social and have friends from many different worlds. Having a following branded events, the bigger budget corporate parties, high-
Mick, we’ll start with you. In a past email, you mentioned being represented by an also provides some leverage when trying to get booked. It’s not enough profile fashion shows and access to press where the
agency didn't pan out the way you thought it would. Why do you feel this way? just to be a talented DJ. You need to create a brand, market yourself, agencies win out. One word of advice to DJs is to collaborate.
promote your nights, network enough to remain relevant, and you need to I've gotten gigs for a lot of DJs in NYC and those from out of
MB: Well, I've been willing to give anyone and everyone a shot as everyone has collaborate. I’ve worked with a lot of brands over the past year and want town. It's gotten me gigs in Canada, Mexico, and Asia come
strengths and weaknesses, myself included. But I expect anyone who wants to to move away from as much nightlife. My newest collaboration is going April.
represent me to produce at least close to the level I produce on my own. If not, I to be with Conde Nast Traveler and we have a lot of interesting events
honestly don't understand the point. Being honest though, I'm a unique rare case and planned for 2012.
my logic won't work for everybody. I'm not a new 18-year-old kid trying to get put on in
the game. I'm blessed to have had a successful DJ career before I even moved to NYC
four years ago, and I was able to draw upon that for resources. When I moved here, it How are you able to stay on top of all the relationships necessary to
was to rebrand and refocus where my career was going, and it's worked out quite well. stay booked consistently while looking for corporate opportunities? Part Two: bit.ly/MickVikas2
But being that I'm an established artist, that comes with a lot of relationships, a lot of
contacts and a lot of pre-existing business, which benefit me. Because of my MB: Hard work coupled with technology make that pretty easy. I've pretty
entrepreneurial nature, I don't need to be paying someone 20% to book a flight and send much always been nice to people and treated people well and when you
an invoice for stuff that books itself automatically.

2. New York Nightlife
Part Two Wednesday, March 7, 2012 @NYNightlife
A Chat With How do would-be clients react when they see you are reaching out Ackroyd from Florence & The Machine. I see working
Mick Boogie and Vikas Sapra: Self-Managed Talent directly, as opposed to having a manager reach out? in this capacity as one of the next progressions in my
By New York Nightlife career.
MB: LIke I said, I try to make these relationships personal and not just
business. So you're not, as you say, "reaching out directly to would-be VS: I’m at a point in my career that joining (the right)
clients..." but rather continuing a conversation with a new friend. Cold- agency could be very helpful. I’ve proven myself as a
calling is for insurance salesmen and people like that. If you need to know successful DJ and have built a loyal following and
someone, it's much more beneficial to reach out via an intermediary in your great industry connections. Now I need to leverage
network. And if you stay doing things to help others out, they will be much my NYC portfolio to expand my brand into other
more likely to help you out when you need it. They say there is six markets and also book higher-profile and bigger-
degrees of separation, but in our industry it's more like two. It also helps budget events. It’s been difficult to find the right
to have a great relationship with your publicist, like I do with mine agency, as I don’t want to be pigeonholed in one
(Brandsway Creative). Anyone is attainable to reach if you plan out the particular world. I set myself apart as being a club-
correct route. level DJ who can play a wide arrange of eclectic
music. I’m equally comfortable playing at a
Some people believe it is always better to have somebody else talk about you VS: If I reach out to a client directly, I generally research who we know in commercial bottle-club, as I am playing deep house
than it is for you to talk about yourself. How do you go about pitching yourself? common (via Facebook/LinkedIn/etc) and prefer to have a mutual contact and disco at a warehouse party in Brooklyn, as I am
make the introduction. I don’t think I’ve ever simply “cold-called” a curating the newest sounds for a runway show. I’m
MB: It is, to an extent. But the goal is to not talk about yourself too much. Rather, let perspective client. There is always context and a way to keep the actively seeking out some management now, but it
your work speak for itself. Before I was trying to deejay for a living, I came from a interaction personal. may be more effective to have a publicist. I'll keep you
posted on my search.
marketing background. I'm ridiculously picky about how my brand is projected. My wife
will tell you. I'll wake up at 4:30 in the morning to fix a typo on my website because Is there a particular agency or level of agency you're looking to be
someone in Europe might be reading it and it's morning over there. I'm very very signed with in the future?
protective of my brand. But it pays off. My website tells the whole story right in front of
your eyes. Where I've spun recently. Who I've spun for. What brands like me. What MB: At this point, honestly, no. I'm kind of over that whole thing. Like I
magazines consistently cover me. I don't need to over-sell it because it's all right there. said earlier, for some people, it's awesome and makes a lot of sense. And
And if they aren't interested, that's fine too. It happens. Not every opportunity makes I commend them. For me it's just much more efficient to treat my DJ
sense for every deejay. And so it's on to the next one. But the thing is, before you do career is a business with me as the CEO, if you will. If anything, I want to On Twitter @MickBoogie | @VikasSapra
that, it helps to develop a personal relationship with people. continue to help other deejays get their branding correct. Oddly enough,
when people find out I've been self-managed my whole life, they often
come to me for advice or recommendations. And I won't say names cause
VS: I’ve been very fortunate to have great people around me who regularly promote me these guys are my friends, but many of them are these "happily-managed"
as a DJ and a brand. I play at reputable places 5 nights a week and I’ve been in the guys in other agencies. I recently invested in a friend of mine's company,
industry for 4 years now, so I've earned the right to pitch myself. But for a long time I an agency called OneTwentyTwo that does some booking work but more
Part One: bit.ly/MickVikas1
had to ask for introductions, get mixes in the hands of the right people, and show up at importantly, is also doing some great brand consultation for deejays and
venues I wanted to play at and build a rapport with the management. If there is no pre- entertainers like Young Guru (Jay-Z's deejay and engineer) and Rob
existing relationship, I agree that it's better somebody else talk about you.