DJs play a large selection of tracks each gig. For artists, there is no guarantee that their latest banger will be played by the club’s DJ. Sure, the artist can try to finesse their way to the booth to hand the DJ a flash-drive, but that can be intrusive and annoying to the DJ. That’s where Spinfire comes in to play. Spinfire is an app for iOS and Android that allows DJs to sell “plays” during their sets. Artists can then pay DJs a fee ($20-$500) for them to play their tracks.
Spinfire: Club Marketing for Artists and DJs
- Price: Free
- Offering: DJs Earn Money for Plays, Artists Pay for Plays
- Website: http://spinfireapp.com
Spinfire’s model is simple. Offer a platform for a DJ to earn money by playing tracks. Artists pay to have tracks played. DJ plays the tracks at some point in their set and send video proof to the artist. DJs can charge anywhere from $20 USD to $500 USD for plays. DJs set a fair price depending on the DJ’s popularity, venue size, day of the week, etc. All a DJ needs to start accepting requests is a bank account. After signing up, DJs can start posting events and artists can start browsing the listings. There is a small percentage taken out by Spinfire for a “platform usage fee” and it is not clear on their website what percentage is taken out.
Artists from all over the world can request DJs to play their songs. If an artist is dropping a new single in a foreign market, the artist can browse events in that area. Once a DJ receives a request, DJs must play that track within the time of their event. DJs have 12 hours after the event to submit video-proof through the app in order to receive payment. Artists can also give reviews for DJs who always play tracks out or for DJs who don’t honor play requests. DJs can accept 10 requests per hour of their event.
By connecting DJs directly with artists, Spinfire has the potential to build a great direct DJ-Artist community. This app allows DJs to connect with new, rising artists and network with people making it easier to be more involved in their local music scenes. On the flipside, some DJs may be worried that this turns their sets into a giant advertisement. Spinfire is available now for Android on Google Play and iOS in the App Store.
What are your thoughts on selling plays during your gigs? Let us know in the comments!
The ultimate Payola APP. 🙁
Not really sure where all the angst is coming from the final decision to play the song is up to the DJ (nothing has changed) it just gives DJs the ability to have a secondary revenue stream….so I play a club with up to 500 ppl every Friday/Saturday in SF, they pay me $500/night but I play 10 (good)songs from spinfire out of 70 and make an extra $200-$5000 dollars….umm this is a no brainer people! It might be payola but it’s up front and gives the power to the original artist /producer and DJs not the record label!
I’m picturing a wedding where I check every requested song against the spitfire list…..
Artists eat Ramen – Performers eat Sashimi!;)
In the 80’s a swiss Dj from my hometown was living in L.A. and had a residency in a Club.
This Blonde Girls came up several times and even offered him some favors for him to Play her Demos.
He refused but one of the other Residents accepted and so became the first Producer of Madonna and made a shitload of Money (and pretty sure he got some “favors” too).
No Need to say the Swiss guy is still regretting that “no”.
If you’re going to compromise the artistic integrity of the dj,why not just market an IOT jukebox that sells the songs being played in a venue to the highest bidder and cut out the middleman.
(sadly that idea would probably work).
So I signed up to check it out. Every single DJ/Club on there is for Hip Hop and Top 40 only. Either their marketing strategy is weak, or the focus is not the electronic music community. There is no choice for sub genre or breaking down of electronic genres at all. Overall, I don’t see this lasting more than a year if they don’t expand. Not to mention, the only DJ’s and Clubs available are in Atlanta.
i already play tracks for money 1 20$ minimum and im not playing the whole track
i read the article, i’ll go puke now
Payola for the new millenium
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if youre REALLY cool, you pay people to not play your tracks….
im taking my work back underground…i cant afford for it to fall into the wrong hands again.
wat
That’s some wack shit.
I actually like this, because some artists actually make good tracks that you will never hear unless they approach you.. and you actually listen (i.e they pay to play). It’s up to the DJ to set rules of how they will play it. Charge the artist money to even listen to it. Then if you like it and agree to play it, create another pay structure for the artist to pay to have the track actually played. I don’t play songs unless I have listened to it first. Unless its a slow night and someones pays me to play. Then it doesn’t matter cause the people there are just there to hear atmosphere music anyway.
Hahaaaa!! The United States at it’s best …
This is totally ridiculous.
Typically I’d get all patriotic and defensive…
But, you’re right.
We are hell bent on making sure any and every thing / concept can be bought or sold, and we don’t care what kind of integrity / ethics / morals we have to compromise to meet that end.
It’s trifling tbh.
Still cheaper than marketing. I can dig it.
YO! Great idea! How come I didn’t think of this myself? GOOOOAAAALLLLLL! Final score Hawkish Capitalism – 05, Woke Entrepreneurship – 00… Spinfire if your reading this. You should add a special tip feature to the app that allows artist to give BJs (yes that kind) to the DJs if their song does really really well.
YO! Great idea! How come I didn’t think of this myself? GOOOOAAAALLLLLL! Final score Hawkish Capitalism – 05, Woke Entrepreneurship – 00… Spinfire if your reading this. You should add a tip feature to the app that allows artist to give BJs (yes that kind) if their song does really really well.
AMAZING !!! SIMPLY AMAZING
money goes this way :
1990s : promoter -> DJ -> producer (intentionally skipped the label)
2020s : producer -> DJ -> promoter (intentionally skipped the app)
the promoter also gets money from the tickets, drinks, etc
but who pays the producer in the 2020s ?
f*ck you, future
This goes along with the concept of DJ’s paying a venue to play. Dumb and goes against everything DJing should be (picking actually good tracks). I hope it goes no where.
Now we are there! So people having the most money can force their taste onto others. It is ridiculous. It is like going to the super market and then Coca Cola paying you to drink it. Another sad step towards the distruction of music and culture all together. Shouldn”t we better look for some kind of way to let producers have the little money they can earn.