65% of DJs say they don’t play their favourite music at gigs

65% of DJs don't play their favourite music at gigs, according to a new survey from Pirate.

Working with data from Spotify’s end-of-year summary, Spotify Wrapped, Pirate asked 260 DJs from across the UK for their 2022 results — along with the genre of music they typically play at gigs.

Results show that 65% of DJs aren’t playing their favourite tracks behind the decks. Keeping the findings anonymous, the survey found a techno DJ with The Who was among their top artists for 2022, whilst a jungle DJ had been rinsing Lana Del Rey.

Likewise the data showed that one house DJ discovered their most-listened genre of the year was afro-pop.

Pirate’s survey also found that 63% of DJs state that their taste in music changes with their surroundings.

A UK bass DJ said: "I wake up to shoegaze/dream pop every morning. During the day I'll listen to soft acoustic or jazz records and tune in to my local station.

"At night, I'll listen to lyrically powerful music (Nick Cave, Kae Tempest etc.) or fully emotive electronic music (Burial, Ross From Friends etc.). In the clubs it's mostly UKG and bassline stuff with the odd hyperpop banger."

Most DJs don’t just use the streaming service Spotify but 75% said they find new music in DJ sets with many praising SoundCloud.

Another DJ said in the report: “I mainly just use SoundCloud to find new music, the related tracks section is great. They also have a Stations section which generates a list of tunes based on what you’ve listened to.”

Beyond streaming, 60% of DJs said that they find new music through friends.

Check out Pirate's full report here.