That makes no sense though. A DJ and a producer are two different things. In Vietnam they just had a show called the Remix. It's like dancing with the stars mix with music. Instead of pairing up a dancer and a celebrity, they pair up a pop singer, producer, and a DJ. Then every week they have a theme (house, dubstup, trance etc..), but the point is they went out of their way to separate DJ's and producer. About half of the DJ's they picked for the show are also producer in their every day life, and the other half are just pretty much club DJ's (they don't make music).
But my point is I don't think a lot of people realize that DJ's and producer are two different things. Some DJ's double as producer and DJ, and some don't.
You're right, they are different. But the thing is that in 2015, the talent (largely speaking) is in production, not DJing.
A competition isn't really comparable to how most DJs actually DJ in 2015, because in that kind of competition, they're showcasing certain skills. A-Trak came up on DJ competitions, and he's known to be a super talented DJ, there's no question about that (mind you, he's a very talented producer too
)
But look at the list of guys above. How many of those guys are crazy DJs? Are they realistically showcasing the same skills when they DJ at a festival or in a club? Probably not.
That's always been the problem with ghost producing, for me anyway. A lot of these guys DJ at a level where it's not really a talent. We see this all the time too – young producers who are just producers randomly get thrown onto a mainstage with a pair of CDJs when they've barely DJed in their lives. And they can do it, because it's fundamentally not that difficult for what the audience expects.
When you consider the little skill it really takes to DJ in many cases, and then consider that some of these guys are just buying tracks, it turns into a game of "rich dads making their kids famous". If they're not making their own music, what are they really doing?
I emphasize, this isn't me discrediting the talented DJs out there, and there are guys who know how to weave together a really good set. And of course,
some are worse than others in this subject.
