Social Distancing While DJing – Are We The Crowd Police?

The COVID-19 pandemic caused all sorts of new challenges for DJs to solve. One of those challenges repeatedly discussed online, is policing our guest crowds. When it comes to maintaining social distancing, is it the DJ’s responsibility to make sure people are following guidelines? Let’s take a look at the issue from both sides:

The DJ should be involved with policing the crowd

Some people believe DJs should play a greater role in enforcing local authorities’ and venues’ restrictions. The majority of people with this mindset are event planners and venue owners. It makes sense for DJs to be responsible for policing the activity at an event. After all, DJs are running the sound systems, the microphones, and they have the authoritative voice. They already making announcements and guiding the event along, so why can’t they also make sure people are following the rules? DJs often already do so much in the way of moving the timeline along and make sure people are in the right spots at the right time, so policing the crowd is just an extension of that. DJs are often the ones closest to the guests, especially once the dancing starts, so it’s much easier for them to engage with the audience.

The DJ is there to play music and not be the party police

Others believe the DJ should merely provide entertainment. If you guessed the majority of people holding this opinion are DJs, you’d be right. DJs already wear so many hats at an event, so expecting them to be the police at an event is an overwhelming responsibility. A DJ’s job is to engage and excite people, which is tough to do if you’re routinely throttling the excitement of the guests for overlooking or even disobeying house rules. It’s difficult enough to get people to go where you need them to go without adding another barrage of announcements that come across as scolding. As long as the DJ is abiding by the guidelines (wearing a mask, social distancing, etc.) then it’s not their responsibility to make sure others are doing the same. People have the choice to follow or not follow the rules, and if the venue has a problem with it they can address it directly.

So where do you fall on the spectrum? Should DJs get involved with COVID crowd control or should they do the job they came to do and let the venue figure it out?