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Jack Kristian is a Texas-based wedding DJ who, after establishing Platinum Events Company in 2017, has made a name for himself helping loving couples celebrate their special day! The English import has built up an impressive following on social media, currently closing in on 250k followers on TikTok. While his content is what draws people in, it’s Jack’s upbeat personality and fun spirit that keeps the people coming back! I DJ NOW had a chance to speak with Jack about everything from wedding gigs and gear, to TikTok tips and tricks.
I DJ NOW: What got you into DJing?
Jack Kristian: My brother and I got into DJing when I was 13 years old. His Dad had some old equipment from the 80’s in his garage and my brother wanted to earn some extra money, so he started playing music in pubs and performing at birthday parties and he’d bring me along with him! That’s where I got my first introduction to DJing.
IDJ: What aspects of DJing really pulled you in?
JK: I love how happy music makes people! It’s such an incredible feeling to make the decision to play a track and to see how a crowd instantly responds and how happy it makes them… not many jobs give you that feeling…it’s the best!
IDJ: Is there any noticeable difference in American audiences vs English audiences?
JK: YES! In my opinion, American audiences and English audiences are totally different. For example, the English LOVE to chant, shout and sing… meaning they love rock, alternative… songs they can really shout out etc. They also LOVE upbeat dance/house music… at least they did in 2015 when I DJ’d house music! Whereas American audiences tend to enjoy more Hip Hop and like to “throw it back”… in my experience! I’m also located in Texas where country music in HUGE… country music is almost nonexistent in the UK so that was a brand new genre that I had to learn coming here!
IDJ: You started Platinum Events Company in 2017. When did you recognize the business potential of DJing?
JK: I started Platinum Events Company when I realized that there wasn’t any places for me to DJ house music in my area… which is what I primarily DJ’d in nightclubs in the UK…and honestly, it was the best move that I could have made! I went from DJing nothing but House Music to having the freedom of DJing open format… and that was magical to me as it opened up a world of different genres and era’s that I could blend and mash together, not to mention it allowed me to perform to different crowds every weekend, rather than just the same demographic going to the same club every weekend.
IDJ: You started Platinum Events Company in 2017. When did you recognize the business potential of DJing?
JK: I started Platinum Events Company when I realized that there wasn’t any places for me to DJ house music in my area… which is what I primarily DJ’d in nightclubs in the UK…and honestly, it was the best move that I could have made! I went from DJing nothing but House Music to having the freedom of DJing open format… and that was magical to me as it opened up a world of different genres and era’s that I could blend and mash together, not to mention it allowed me to perform to different crowds every weekend, rather than just the same demographic going to the same club every weekend.
IDJ: You solely do weddings, what was it about weddings that made you want to only focus on them as opposed to other events?
JK: Weddings are truly special. I know it sounds cheesy… but hey, I’m a wedding DJ, I’m allowed! Being able to make a living and support my family by playing music and entertaining people on one of the most special days of a couples life… is simply the BEST! I love that with weddings you have to entertain a wide range of ages, backgrounds and music tastes… and I have a blast mashing them all together!
IDJ: How do you prep for an upcoming gig?
JK: I’m VERY detailed in the way that I prep for every wedding… I double and triple check EVERYTHING the day before a wedding weekend! From my planning sheet, to my playlists, to my equipment, trailer, clothing, venue address, distance to venue from my house, traffic, weather, I really make sure that everything is prepared. In my opinion, the “prep” for an event is the majority of the work, the performing is just the icing on the cake!
IDJ: Do you have any rituals/things you do before an event?
JK: I do some normal things, like I enjoy working out the morning of a wedding, it gets my head in the right space for a wedding! But then, I can be a little strange in the respect that I ALWAYS do a sound check with the same tracks… again, they just put me in the right head space! I also strangely have a specific cologne that I only wear when I DJ (Tom Ford - Black Orchard)… when I wear it, it puts me in the right head space to focus on my performance. I guess I’m similar to a crazy sports fan who wears the same clothes every game day… I have my things that make me feel “ready” and I stick to it every time!
IDJ: Coolest event you have ever worked?
JK: For NDA purpose I’m unable to answer this question in detail… but trust me, it was pretty cool!
IDJ: Most unique request someone has ever asked for?
JK: I did a wedding last year where the bride’s family request Polka music… that was a BLAST! If you’re unfamiliar with Polka music, check it out!
IDJ: Walk us through your DJ gear journey, from what you started on to your current setup and why you chose what you chose.
JK: This is an interesting one! When I first started DJing (2007), I started with 2 netbooks with the same iTunes playlist on each one, and a mixer from the 80’s…It’s safe to say that there wasn’t much mixing going on during that time! I then upgraded to a Numark Mixtrack in the 2010’s which is when I started to learn to beat match… and then I had a Mixtrack 2 which I had all the way until I landed Stateside… and that’s when I made the big move… I went from the Numark Mixtrack 2 (usb powered) to the Pioneer DDJ-RZX in 2017, which is a MONSTER of a controller. And that’s what I have used as my main set up for the previous 6 and a half years until now, which I have just upgraded to the Pioneer Rev 7. Which has been a really fun transition going from a CDJ style controller to moving platters!
IDJ: What's something you do to try and set yourself apart from other wedding DJs?
JK: I’m really trying to change the “view” of the “typical wedding DJ.” DJ’s can sometimes get a bad reputation for being cocky, egotistic and difficult to work with and it’s my aim to change people's opinion when they think “wedding dj”. It’s important to me to make every person that I make a connection with, whether it’s another vendor at a wedding, a potential client at a bridal show, a mother of the groom, whoever it is, I want to make sure they leave feeling in a better mood than they did when before we spoke. I try to be fun, exciting, yet professional at all times keeping the focus on my clients… never on me.
IDJ: Has your success on social media, specifically TikTok, helped with your business?
JK: YES YES and YES! It has been a wild couple of years for business since posting on social media. Being able to showcase what I do at weddings in the form of small clips on social media has ROCKETED my leads and allowed me to continue to raise my pricing to turn what used to be a side hustle, into a successful business and a really fun career! I went from getting a few inquiries a week (maybe) to 20-30 a DAY! I wish I had used social media sooner!
IDJ: What TikTok tips and tricks can you suggest for someone looking to take advantage of the platform as you have?
JK: I feel like the TikTok algorithm is a complete mystery BUT I can tell you what I feel like has worked really well for me. It’s honestly 1 thing, consistency! Once I made the decision to try to promote my work on TikTok I decided that I would be 100% all in, and that meant initially posting 2-3 times a day on a bunch of different DJ topics and formats… and then as my audience grew and I payed attention to what content my followers were enjoying, I focused on creating more of that. And now, I try to post every single day, or at least 6 days a week! I feel like the app likes the reliability of having content creators that are committed to posting regular content. I would like to say this - not every single video has to be perfect, it just has to be a good quality and a positive representation of you and what you do. I’m not saying just post “crap” for the sake of posting content, BUT, I feel like we can sometimes get too caught up on content being “perfect” that we can be hesitant to even post at all… which delays our progress. The social media side of my life is easily a full time job in itself, from shooting the content, to editing, to posting and cross posting to other platforms, gaining a following on social media is not something that just “happens”… it can sometimes take posting hundreds of videos to gain traction but it’s 100% worth the return if you’re willing to put in the hours of creating content!
IDJ: What’s something you like to do in your down time?
JK: I LOVE TO TRAVEL! Being a self employed business owner, there isn’t a whole lot of “down” time BUT I’m a husband to my wife (Ashlee) and a father to twin girls (Amelia and Liliana) and I spend every chance I get with them. With the demands and hours of our industry (weekends) it can be hard to get quality family time sometimes but we have a family rule where if we all have more than 2 consecutive days off together in a row, we travel. I love to visit new places and experience different cultures so traveling is something that we love to do as a family. Whether it’s just a weekend cabin rental in the woods or visiting Europe or South America, any chance we get, we GO! And… if I’m going to be totally honest, one thing that I love to do in my downtime is… watch other content creators within our industry… I love our DJ community, so I love to see what other people are up to and I love to soak up tips and tricks from other industry leaders! I’m also a sucker for watching Gig Logs… My wife laughs that I can literally spend my time “not working” watching other people do the same job as me. What other industry can be this fun?!
IDJ: Have you gone to any cool concerts/events lately?
JK: I recently attended a concert with Sum 41, Simple Plan and The Offspring and it was EPIC! It was an outdoor concert, in Texas, in August, it was HOT but all 3 bands were EPIC!
IDJ: What’s something you are looking forward to in the new year?
JK: Downtime… just kidding… well not really! For anybody reading this, it’s October and I’m in the full flow of wedding season! I’m having a BLAST playing 3-4 weddings a week BUT I do really love the time in January that we all get to recharge, reset, and adjust our day-to-day’s to be more efficient. I’m excited to spend this time working on my DJ skills to become better in what I do too!
IDJ: Current favorite song/artist you are loving?
JK: Fun fact - I’m a HUGE Eric Church fan! My wife and I have seem him live EVERY YEAR (except for 2020 of course) since we met in 2015! I have a collection of signed vinyl and other merch of his… he puts on one hell of a show!
IDJ: Current favorite song/artist you are loving?
JK: Fun fact - I’m a HUGE Eric Church fan! My wife and I have seem him live EVERY YEAR (except for 2020 of course) since we met in 2015! I have a collection of signed vinyl and other merch of his… he puts on one hell of a show!
IDJ: What is one piece of advice you would give to a DJ just starting out?
JK: Practice, practice and PRACTICE! Practice mixing, practice studying music structure, practice on different equipment, practice “performing”, practice mixing different music genres, practice different mixing techniques! I’d say that 80% of what we do, is done behind closed door, to ensure that the remaining 20% (performing) is kick ass!
IDJ: Are there any upcoming projects you are most looking forward to?
JK: I’m SUPER pumped to be playing at the Wedding MBA in Las Vegas next week! It will be my first conference to perform at and I’m super excited perform in front of my peers and other industry professionals!
For more information on DJ Jack Kristian check out the links below:
https://platinumeventscompany.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/@jackkristiandj/
https://www.instagram.com/jackkristiandj/