Learning by Doing: How Bosky Went From Buying Decks to Opening for Disrupta in 5 Weeks
Many DJs dream of breaking into the music industry but few start by running their own events from a university library. For Bosky thats exactly how it happened, it wasn't timing that changed everything it was showing up. From small Nottingham venues to managing events for UKF and Drum & Bass Arena, he's proof that confidence, community and consistency can take you further than you think.
Getting Started
"For me I began as a DJ.
When I was 21/22 I was involved in running events in the music industry and I always used to think, 'wow those DJs are sick what a mad skill to have' and then one day I just realised there is nothing stopping me doing this myself.
For Christmas my parents bought me a Numark Party Mix 2 (or some other tiny Numark deck) and I was so excited but I couldn’t figure out how to use it and sent it back.
I went back to uni and forgot about it all, but one drunken uni night at The Bierkeller in Nottingham I bought a pair of Pioneer DDJ 200s. Forgot about it and a few weeks later they arrived. I literally forgot I bought them.
Even then I still couldn’t understand it, gave up and finally came back to them in my 3rd year of uni and began practicing every day. I tried going to Pirate studios many times to use the ‘big decks’ aka CDJ-3000s and in three 2 hour sessions I couldn’t even figure out how to play one song! Finally I realised how to. I actually booked myself a set just before the main support set for a show I was running with Disrupta headlining. I gave myself 5 weeks and essentially said to myself 'you have 5 weeks to get good because you’re going up either way'. The rest was history.
Production is something that I knew was the next step. I was working ridiculously hard in the music industry with little-to-no spare time so learning was incredibly hard. November/December last year I quit work to learn production."
Launching the First Events
"I started my first events brand when I was 21. It was called City Noise and I ran my first event with two other lads, we split everything 3 ways and it cost about £300 each.
I spent near enough everyday for a few hours in the uni library emailing venues waffling my way into trying to bag their venue. Somehow I managed to bag The Cell in Nottingham which weirdly was the one I wanted.
We barely used social media and I would spend most days going around pubs either alone or with mates embracing embarrassment and just going up to random tables and quite literally selling them tickets face to face or giving them a leaflet (I got kicked out the pubs, had leaflets ripped up in my face the whole lot)
First race was called the Rebel Culture Sound Clash. 350 was the maximum capacity. I thought to myself if I sell half I won’t be embarrassed. About 3 days left and I sold 100 ish. I had accepted fate but little did I know it was about to get mad. On the day of the event I woke up at 8 and had sold 20 tickets already I thought it was weird. Brushed my teeth and sold another ten. Went to the shop and sold 25. I literally couldn’t believe my eyes.
From there the events spiralled and I was lucky enough to work at Detonate which gave me some large scale event experience hosting shows with names like Sammy Virji, SOTA, Mozey, Shy FX. After this I joined Lab54, at the time we had 12k followers on insta and 30k on TikTok and were 4 lads working from a shed in a back garden. We managed to grow it to 129k (insta) and 120k (TikTok) in under 11 months completely organically. Now I work at AEI Music (UKF and Drum and Bass Arena) as the event manager as my own artist project slowly evolves."
Building Momentum in the Scene
"I learnt very quickly that persistence and consistency are incredibly important. Every time you learn something new you almost double in skill. Never give up. This is the same for both DJing and production - it can be painful!"
Lessons From the Industry
"As an events manager/promoter. Being a team player is an amazing trait but (and it’s a big but) always listen to your gut and do this your way. There's been too many times where I’ve let someone change something and regretted it massively.
Also urgency is everything … If people feel like they have to buy a ticket as soon as they see it you’ve sold out already. If people feel like they can sit around you’ll have a tough time.
As a DJ/Music Producer, the crowd is the most important thing. Past the opening set people are far too drunk to care about how well you are mixing. Your energy is infectious so always jump and move a lot and play songs that are going to surprise the crowd. Thats how you get them in the palm of your hand."
Sharing the Process
"Sharing the process makes me relive the early days, which often I don’t think about too much … it’s refreshing. It’s also easy to have a bad week where you feel things aren’t going your way and forget about how far you’ve actually come. All of this for me has happened in more or less three and a bit years which is just insane and writing this makes you realise that."
Advice for DJs/Producers Starting Out Online
"Now this is something that I am incredibly passionate about. My one main piece of advice is ‘The noise will die down so so so quickly.’ When you first start posting online and sharing, I’m not going to lie to you, you’re going to get comments. I did and lots of them. These are the people who don’t have the confidence to have an online presence themselves. But I promise you (and trust me I’ve been there) the noise will die so quickly. The next thing you know you’ll be able to post anything you want and you won’t even get one comment teasing you because they know you don’t care and those people will all end up being the ones who support you most."
Handling Pressure and Comparison
"I feel this one heavily sometimes. It’s tough to see some artists touring the world at 19 years old living your dream and not feel like maybe you missed the boat. I’m 24 and as crazy as it sounds sometimes I feel old in this industry, especially as a DJ. I’ve grown to learn that everyone has their own path. If I hadn’t spent my early twenties at uni, if I hadn’t run my first event, if I hadn’t been part of that startup, if I hadn’t given it all up twice, I wouldn’t have got to where I am right now. So I guess the lesson is don’t compare, and follow your own path."
Defining Progression
"I would say that progression today is working on your craft and building a fanbase (even if it’s 5 people)."
