Some touring DJs will play a very different sets every time you see them. Others will stick to a successful formula that works well for them. And sadly, some DJs play the exact same set of songs every single time they play a show for an entire tour. Keep reading to find out which DJs are the most and least original.
This article is based off of original data that the team behind the Kado track recommendation software was able to provide to DJ Techtools. After beta testing the software for a few months, I got a chance to ask them last week a few questions that they might be able to answer with their data. This set of data is one of the results – see even more in their “Year On The Decks 2016” report.
The Most “Original” DJs in 2016
I wanted to know, of “famous” (fairly well-known, touring) DJs – who actually played the most original sets? What artists would you be impressed with every time you saw them mix because they were playing new, unique tracks?
The Kado team took my question and made up a cute name for the result – the O-Factor (O is short for originality). This is an “originality score based on […] a
Here’s the DJs with the highest “O-Factors”, along with some of their mixes:
- Hernan Cattaneo – with an O-Factor of 820, plays a track an average of 1.0 times
- Dave Clarke – with an O-Factor of 807, plays a track an average of 1.1 times
- Noisia – with an O-Factor of 798, plays a track an average of 1.1 times
- Umek – with an O-Factor of 795, plays a track an average of 1.1 times
- Stefano Noferini – with an O-Factor of 795, plays a track an average of 1.2 times
A special note here – many of these DJs have their own podcasts and radio shows, some of which are included in the results. If you have a weekly radio show, it’s unlikely you’d play the same song every week!
The Most “Boring” DJs in 2016
The same question applies to famous DJs on the other end of the spectrum. DJs with a low O-Factor play the same tracks a lot each set, and other DJs also play those tracks as well.
There’s a number of reasons why a DJ might play the same songs over and over again from one gig to the next. Maybe they have hit tracks that their audiences are expecting them to play. Perhaps they’re on a tour for a specific album, or have simply found a formula that works for them.
- DJ Snake comes in at O-Factor 0.076. He also plays a track an average of 6.5 times.
- Yellow Claw has an O-Factor of 0.779. They play a typical track about 4.0 times.
- Galantis has an O-Factor of 1.275, they play a track an average of 3.3 times
- Mico C comes in at 18.392, playing a track an average of 3.7 times.
- Skrillex scores a 27.592, playing any one track an average of 2.6 times.
Note – just because a DJ is on this list doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be a fun show. They also might play more sets that are inherently repetitive – think of these as the opposite of radio shows / podcasts which every fan might be listening to.
