Although the ones that you now consider mediocre, might have been an unreachable dream at some point in the past. As we grow, we change and our experiences dictate our expectations. Once someone feels the state of flow that a “perfect gig” gives, they will probably seek it again. And that may get harder and harder to find. However, most will still be willing to power through it, especially if they believe it may improve chances of fitting into the affiliation group in question, a.k.a. “the scene”.
We said earlier that dopamine is the key neurotrans- mitter that motivates us to forage. Humans used to forage for nuts, berries and wild boars back in our hunter-gatherer days. Now, some of us forage for music, among other things. However, there are also other keys to survival we’ve always been foraging for and still very much do: belonging and status. Belonging to a social group increased our chances of survival and obtaining status within said group further ensured them. By this extremely primitive yet relevant logic, who do you think has a better chance of survival than the person at the center of a huge group in charge of beating the drums? The one responsible for causing such vast amounts of enjoyment and to which all the attention is directed even when off-stage? Standing out from a crowd in an admirable way by assuming positive leadership roles, even if highly contextual, is as valued as always in society and is sure to pay dividends both in mainstream and underground culture. Also, musicians have always been considered sexy too, right? Even Darwin argued that music could have been an early form of courtship. Musicianship, like the extravagant colors of the birds of paradise, is a sign of sexual fitness. The logic, simply put, goes as follows: in order to sing, dance or perform music well, one must be physically and mentally fit. We may also have evolved to believe that if an individual has enough leisure time to practice musical skills, they are probably able to secure more than enough food and resources for their survival.
Enter: social media. Few things scream status nowadays like a K or an M after the number of followers or streams on someone’s profile. In fact, a few too many moments get manufactured for the sake of reaching that goal. It becomes especially challenging when one’s ability to work depends directly on their hype. Plus, it feels good to be in it, but it could be taken away at any moment. That’s why often artists who produce a hit song feel creatively stuck afterwards. The pressure to produce more hits might be too strong. Or if a video reaches 1M views, every next one that doesn’t achieve the same visibility might feel like a failure. We often fail to realize how closely dopamine is tied to this. But it’s quite clear once we look into it a little deeper. Once the biggest reward is achieved (i.e. the best gig, the best track, the most plays / likes, etc.), how can anything compare?
So, what do we do with all this information? We can start by practicing to let go of this logic and carry on for the love of the process. Deejaying is an inherently social art-form and becoming a platform for people to discover new music is a privilege and a responsibility that can bring immense joy to so many. A great DJ is precisely that: a medium through which people can discover the new favorite music they had never heard before. It would also be wise to check in with yourself as often as possible and understand what motivates you. There are no wrong answers as long as you
look deeply and consistently enough. Based on those answers, which evolve over time, you can decide where to focus your time and energy at various stages of your journey. Another piece of advice would be not to rush and to detach from the idea of instant gratification. Patience is a virtue that can be cultivated and has done a great deal of service to those who developed it. This can probably come in handy when applied to other aspects of life beyond deejaying.
In short, keep doing what you love, keep your dopamine levels in check and remember to do it all for the right reasons, which to me are: love of the craft, love of sharing and love for others. And since you made it this far, I’d like to leave a bit of Zen wisdom with you. It’s ok to want to be seen, it’s ok to consider status as important but we must learn to accept the impermanence of existence and to realize that once we’re gone, people may or may not remember us or our music, and that’s 100% ok.
PS: I deliberately decided to leave the topic of drugs out of this as it’s a knotty subject. However when it comes to dopamine, we must briefly consider them, since drugs (especially cocaine and amphetamines) have deeply detrimental effects on the brain’s reward system. How this affects our motivation is extremely subjective and everyone is responsible for their own decisions. For more information about how drugs affect our dopamine circuits please consult the following articles:
Text by: Christopher Gorrie
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-scien- ce-addiction/drugs-brain
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31905114/ SOURCES INCLUDE:
Hoebel, Bartley G., et al. “Natural Addiction.” Journal of Addic- tion Medicine, vol. 3,
no. 1, Mar. 2009, pp. 33–41,
https://doi.org/10.1097/adm. 0b013e31819aa621.
Huberman, Andrew. “Controlling Your Dopamine for Motivation, Focus &
Satisfaction | Huberman Lab Podcast #39.” YouTube, 27 Sept. 2021,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmOF0crdyRU.
Levitin, Daniel J. This Is Your Brain on Music : The Science of a Human Obsession. New York, N.Y., Dutton, 2006.
Reynolds, Simon. Retromania : Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past. New York, Farrar, Straus And Giroux, 2011.
Rose, Frank. The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking
Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories. W. W. Norton & Company, 28 Feb. 2011.
Ross, Alex. The Rest Is Noise. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 16 Oct. 2007.
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