DJ Blakey

Yesterday, one of the biggest DJ educators on YouTube uploaded a video promoting an AI music generation platform.

I watched it. And it really bothered me.

Not because I'm anti-AI. I'm not.

But we're supposed to be DJ educators. Our entire profession exists because human beings make music. Producers spend years learning their craft. Musicians learn instruments. Engineers learn how to make records sound incredible.

And then DJs take that music and use it to create something of their own.

So seeing a DJ educator promote a platform that allows people to generate entire tracks from a few sentences doesn't sit right with me at all.

Here's the thing though.

I got the same offer. Back in July, an AI music generation company emailed me and offered to pay me to promote their platform.

I said no without having to think about it.

There are some things I simply won't promote. And AI-generated music is one of them.

I didn't spend 25 years learning a creative craft just to encourage people to press a button and skip the creative part.

And I certainly won't take money to tell you that they should.

The creative part is the whole point.

One of the things I'm most grateful for about the business I've built is that I don't need sponsorship money. My courses exist because I make free tutorials and some people decide they want to go deeper. That's it.

It means I can say no.

And sometimes saying no is worth considerably more than whatever number is written in the email.

Does it matter to you whether a creator is being paid to recommend something? Let me know in the comments.

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 31

DJ Blakey

You will never ever see me promote AI music generators designed to replace artists.

1 week ago | [YT] | 10

DJ Blakey

I’m filming a special 100K subscriber Q&A next week.

No tutorial. No specific DJ topic.

Just answering your questions.

So...

What would you like to ask me?

Maybe there’s something you’re struggling with in your DJing.

Maybe you want advice on practising, transitions, building better sets, finding music, getting gigs, choosing equipment, or figuring out what you should be learning next.

Or maybe there’s something you’ve always wanted to ask me about my own DJ career, YouTube, DMC, the music industry, or running this business.

Honestly, pretty much anything.

Drop your question in the comments below.

I’ll go through them before I film and choose a bunch to answer in the video.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 27

DJ Blakey

Today, this channel hit 100,000 subscribers.

The comment in the attached image was left on one of my videos just over a year ago, when there were only 474 subscribers here.

Today, there are 100,000 of you.

For years, I had this dream of building a business around teaching everything I've learned over more than 20 years as a professional DJ and DMC Champion. No holding back the good stuff. Just trying to create the best DJ education I possibly could.

For a long time, I genuinely didn't think I'd ever be able to pull it off.

Eventually, I put that fear to one side and just committed to it.

And reaching 100,000 subscribers while doing exactly that genuinely feels like a dream coming true.

So, thank you.

If you've watched a tutorial, subscribed, left a comment, shared a video or bought one of my courses, you've played a part in getting me here.

I genuinely couldn't have done this without you.

Blakey

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 139

DJ Blakey

One thing I've noticed recently is how many people are either returning to DJing after years away, or finally starting after wanting to do it for a long time.

I received this message from someone who recently joined my Ultimate Beginner DJ Course:

"As someone who used to meddle with software like Virtual DJ around 25 years ago, and practically neglected it since then, it felt so good bringing the DJ hobby back into my life. I got a Pioneer DDJ-FLX4 as a birthday present recently, and found your course by accident through some of your YouTube content, and I'm really happy I did."

Messages like that remind me exactly why I started teaching in the first place.
If you've been thinking about learning to DJ properly, or returning to it after a long break... it's absolutely possible.

You're not behind. You're not too old. And if the new technology feels intimidating, the software, the features, the endless options, that's completely understandable. DJing has changed a lot.

The Ultimate Beginner DJ Course was built specifically to cut through all of that and show you the clearest, most straightforward way to learn DJing properly today.

Link below 👇🏻

school.djblakey.com/beginner?community=YT%20commun…

4 months ago | [YT] | 52

DJ Blakey

Am I missing something here with the new onboard stems stuff for the Rane System One?

Because from what I’ve seen, yes, technically you can now create stems on the controller itself without a laptop… but it takes like 2+ minutes to analyse a single track.

That’s completely different to pressing the stems button in Serato and having it work instantly.

So while the technology is genuinely cool, I do think saying “you don’t need a laptop for stems anymore” is a bit misleading in terms of real-world DJing.

If I’m in the middle of a set, there is absolutely no chance I’m waiting 2 minutes for a vocal to separate 😅

4 months ago | [YT] | 71

DJ Blakey

On Saturday I performed the Spider-Man Live in Concert show again.

If you’ve seen Into the Spider-Verse or Across the Spider-Verse, you’ll know the music plays a huge role in those films.

What you might not know is that all of the scratching in those scores was done by me.

The live show is a pretty wild experience.

They play the full movie on a huge screen, while a live orchestra performs the entire score… and I’m standing right at the front of the stage performing the scratching parts live.

An orchestra behind me.
Thousands of people in the audience.
And turntables right in the middle of it all.

It’s not something I ever imagined I’d be doing when I started DJing.

The way it happened was actually quite random.

When I was working at Serato, the composer Daniel Pemberton emailed in with a pretty geeky technical question about the software.

The email got forwarded to me, as I was the European rep at the time.

I answered his questions, we got chatting… and at some point he mentioned he needed scratching for a film he was working on.

I said, “Well… I’m a DMC champion, I can probably help with that.”

And that was the start of it.

Working on those films has been one of the most interesting creative experiences I’ve had in my whole career.

Because there isn’t really a blueprint for scratching in Hollywood film scores.

It’s not like club DJing.
It’s not like battle DJing.
It’s something different.

Daniel is an incredibly talented composer, and what’s been fascinating is the back-and-forth creative process.

He has a very clear vision for how the scratching should interact with the music he’s written.

So I’m bringing my own style and technique to the turntables, but with direction about the feeling, texture, and emotion he wants the scratching to add to the score.

Over time, he’s even started writing parts that lean into my natural style, which is a very cool creative relationship to have.

It’s kind of wild when you think about it.

Two huge Hollywood films with turntablism right at the core of the music.

And now performing those parts live, on stage, with a full orchestra behind me… is surreal every single time.

Most people in the audience have probably never seen a scratch DJ perform live before.

So getting to introduce turntablism to that kind of audience is something I don’t take for granted.

It’s very different from a club.
Very different from a battle.
Very different from a DJ set.

But at the heart of it, it’s still the same thing:

Controlling sound creatively using turntables.

That’s always been the part of DJing I’ve loved the most.

Pretty surreal journey when I think about it.

6 months ago | [YT] | 233

DJ Blakey

Just got this message from someone on my email list 👇🏻

This is exactly why I wanted to give my subscribers early access to the Black Friday offer. The reactions so far have been unreal.

If you want the same early access, here’s the link:

👉 school.djblakey.com/black-friday?community=youtube…

Lifetime access to every course I’ve made, plus every future course I release.
45 percent off for Black Friday.
No upgrades. No extras. Just everything, forever.

If you’ve been thinking about joining, now’s the time.

10 months ago | [YT] | 22

DJ Blakey

🚨 My Black Friday offer drops soon (and it's the biggest discount I do all year)

If you've been thinking about going deeper than YouTube tutorials and actually mastering your DJ skills, this is your moment.

I don't do generic "press this button" tutorials or long talking head videos. I show you what's actually possible behind the decks because I've spent 20+ years doing this at the highest level.

You've seen the videos. You know my approach is different.

If you want early access to the Black Friday deal (I'm announcing it to my email list first), drop your email here:

👉 school.djblakey.com/email-signup?community=Email+S…

I only send emails worth reading. Just real DJ education from someone who's actually done it.

See you in your inbox.

10 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 22

DJ Blakey

I’m Judging the DMC World Final in Japan 🇯🇵

Today I’m flying out to Tokyo to judge the 40th anniversary of the DMC World DJ Championships, the most iconic DJ battle on earth.

It’s wild to think about, because 21 years ago, I was on that stage.

In 2004, I won the UK DMC Final and went on to represent my country at the World Finals.
That moment changed everything for me. It led to touring the world, helping create the DJ Hero video game series, and even scratching in two Hollywood Spider-Man movies.
My name’s literally in the credits under "Record Scratching". 🤯

Now I’m heading back, not as a competitor this time, but as a judge, alongside some of the same legends who inspired me to start.

Full circle.

To celebrate, I’m giving 20% off my Ultimate Scratching Course this week only.
If you’ve ever watched DMC sets and thought “I wish I could do that,” this is where it begins.

Click here to get 20% off the Ultimate Scratching Course 👇🏻

school.djblakey.com/scratching?community=DMC%20wal…
Use code DMC20.

The code also applies if you choose to upgrade to the All Access Pass at checkout.

1 year ago | [YT] | 209