Spencer Brown Opens Up About DJ Career Difficulties and Dealing with ‘Ego’ in Honest Message

Spencer Brown talks about everything from struggling, to making music, and wrapping up his first independent tour.

A couple of days ago, San Francisco DJ, Spencer Brown, took to Instagram to get some things off of his chest and share some real-life thoughts. If you work in the industry or are an avid fan of the dance music scene, you are aware of the stories and struggles it takes to break through in such a competitive industry.

In a multi-image post captioned “Plane Ramblings”, he wrote “When I was trying to make music happen full-time in 2016 when I was 22, I had just finished a degree in engineering. I already had over 10 years of experience producing and DJing, but I couldn’t live off it. I made the conscious decision to “go for it”.”

He continued “I showed up every single day, 7 days a week, to my laptop, working on music from about 5am until dinnertime. I was living in my family’s guestroom, and I didn’t miss aday of work. I made hundreds of tracks in this period trying to perfect my craft.” “9 months later, I could barely afford to live off it, but I had an arsenal of so much music under my belt. I differentiated my DJ sets because I focused on my unreleased music. I was never interested in playing the charts of what was hot.” “This same force still drives me. I feel like I learned more in 2023 than I have in my entire life. Being mentored by those I look up to is a blessing. But now I am a privileged position of doing the same to those who look up to me. Supporting other artists’ music I believe in as well as playing my own. Passing it on.”

The post continued with “The beautiful part about DJing and producing is there is always more to learn. It’s an art. When you think you are reaching some sort of mastery, you realize how much better you can get. When you get comfortable with your current sound, the muse inspires you to push forward, while giving a nod to the past. Getting comfortable is a good way to get bored and go insane. It’s this never-ending quest that keeps me chugging.”

Brown then went on to talk about seeking validation as an artist, and how it can work against you. “A key as an artist is not seeking validation, which cna be brutally difficult. When your hero plays your track, the feeling is amazing, but you can’t mix that with the ego. When that last show was insane, keep it as a great memory, but don’t let it fuel your self worth. When a hater writes an essay about how much they hate your evolution, find humor and let it roll off you. Or better yet, don’t read stuff online. Focus on making good art. When a gig didn’t go as planned, take it on the chin, and learn how to get better.”

He ended his long and inspirational post with this. “I do this for the love of music. Nothing else. This 7 month tour is coming to a close soon. It’s bitter sweet. My firs fully independent tour. No label other than my own. The next tour is already penned in the calendar. People on the other side of the world in countries I’ve never visited are excited about my sound and want to hear me DJ. That’s insane. Details soon. I’m still the naive kid on his laptop hammering out ideas every day. All I feel is gratitude and had to get this out in words.”

It’s messages like this that keep fans wanting more. When artists are real with their craft and can relay their messages and feeling on a personal level, makes the entire world see them in a different way. Spencer Brown will continue to do amazing things, and we’ll all be along for the ride.