DJs nationwide come together virtually to raise over $25K for struggling DJs

BY SELINA McCALLUM

All across Canada, night clubs have closed which means city night life is silent and the dance floors are empty. Without the DJs spinning the latest and most popular songs, you can now hear a pin drop.

However, one DJ decided to make some noise, online. DJ Charlie B began DJing at the age of 18. His love and passion for it grew each year as his work ethic did in the city of Toronto too, and others took notice.

Charlie B knew that if this happened when he was younger, when he relied on his sole income that came from DJing, he wouldn’t know what to do. Now he is an entrepreneur and business partner for Calyx Wellness, a CBD boutique.

“I basically wanted to put together an initiative to help DJs because a lot of DJs they don’t have any other income, that was the only thing they were doing,” said Charlie B. “You get two thousands dollars a month from the government, but the cost of living, rent alone can be two thousand dollars or more. What about the rest of the money you need, how are you going to live?”

He reminisces on the time when he was a DJ who had just started out.

“For me when I came up, I started off DJing and throwing my own parties, because I didn’t want to rely on promoters to book me,” said DJ Charlie B. “I went the hard way, but it paid off.”

He has worked with the biggest names in Toronto like Drake, Tory Lanez, and the Weeknd, and continues to work with emerging stars coming out of the city like Roy Woods and Baka Not Nice. Charlie B has also travelled across the country and the states DJing in some of the hottest night clubs.

One of his friends known as DJ Envy, started a fundraiser with people within his network.

“DJ Envy did an initiative in New York and he was executing something that was bigger than what I thought of, where he was getting 12 or 13 of his friends who are DJs and have other outlets of making money, and they all donated an hour of their time,” said DJ Charlie B.

The DJ then used his Instagram platform, which has over 27 thousand followers, to post a video informing his followers and network of the fundraiser he was going to be setting up.

“We can all make a difference, but in my industry, I wanted to start there with all the DJs. We’re all out of work, we don’t know when we’re going back because I think that we’re probably going to be last on the list,” said DJ Charlie B.

He called the campaign Saturday Love, set the goal on the GoFundMe page to $20 thousand dollars, and opened up the link to start receiving donations at the beginning of the week, before the big online event on Saturday, May 2.

“It was very nerve wreaking, because you don’t want to put together the initiative and then you don’t get the support,” said Charlie B. “I was doing it from my heart at the end of the day so it doesn’t matter what the outcome would be, but I like winning, and I want everyone to win.”

Saturday Love consisted of several DJs from the nation playing music LIVE every hour from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. streaming on a gaming website called Twitch, as well as Instagram LIVE. The donation link went LIVE before the event.

“I decided to open up the link on Monday, I wanted to do something that led up to Saturday Love,” said Charlie B.

He held two live stream events via Uninterrupted, an athlete empowerment brand founded by Lebron James and Maverick Carter. One livestream included top Canadian athletes and the other included talented and well known music industry professionals, asking them what music means to them.

By Friday morning, he had reached his goal of $20 thousand dollars. He shared his excitement with DJ Envy, who persuaded him to raise the goal to $25 thousand dollars.

By the end of the musical and fun-filled Saturday, DJ Charlie B and the several DJs surpassed the goal again. Now was the time to distribute the funds.

“I talked to all the DJs to figure out how we’re going to pay these DJs and I basically put together an initiative where everybody would nominate two DJs that they feel deserves the money. So 2 DJs from Edmonton, from Montreal, Halifax, basically whoever played, they’re nominating 2 DJs,” said DJ Charlie B.

Currently the DJs have not been nominated yet.

Javarstar, 24, has been a DJ since 2016, starting out at school dances and birthday parties, then moving to clubs just last year. He had two residencies at clubs in downtown Toronto as the warm up DJ, one at Blind Tiger on Friday nights and the other at Nest on Saturday nights. He says the pandemic has taken a toll on him financially because DJing was his sole source of income.

“I was able to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit because I made the minimum amount of income last year to qualify, but I know DJs who didn’t, so I don’t know how they’re surviving right now,” said Javarstar.

He says that Charlie B’s initiative can help DJs in every way, and also offers a wake up call.

“I think Charlie B’s initiative is very important and will help out a lot of DJs, especially the ones that don’t have any savings or are new to the game, kind of like me. What I don’t hear a lot of people talking about is the financial security as a DJ,” said Javarstar.  “I think that once things start to open up, it’s important for people to start getting their finances in order, and have savings.”

When Javarstar returns to the club again, he looks forward to playing Time Flies by Drake.

“I think we’re going to see a lot of unity in the future,” said Charlie B. “I’m praying for that. No opportunity is fun if it’s only for you.”

Dozens of DJs will get an estimate of $400, a small amount, that hopefully can go a long way, says DJ Charlie B.

“I’m not saying I’m going to change your life, but I’m helping you for the month at least, hopefully with groceries or whatever you may need” said DJ Charlie B.