BUSINESS BITS

Jockeying for education

They have schools for disc jockeys in Europe and some parts of Asia, but this is the first one in the Philippines, says Jessie Suaco of Spin City DJ Education, his first business venture and one he set up as a freshman student of Centre for International Education.

It’s a school that opened at the Yuchengco Tower of RCBC Plaza last October and which required its students to start their own business within three months from the start of classes-not as a final thesis. Suaco,21, taught himself how to spin four years ago and hasn’t stopped since. In 2002, he topped 3,600 disc jockeys in Nescafe’s Ministry of Sound Asian DJ Finals Competition and was sent to Acapulco, Mexico, to represent the Philippines. Today, he’s resident DJ of the Peligro bar in Makati and guests regularly at parties around the country.

Starting his DJ school had been easy for Suaco because he already had two DJ setups at home. And being a resident DJ at Peligro gave him a more than ample supply of DJ instructors. “DJs usually work at night making P2.000 to P3,000 per gig, so a lot of them are willing to work in the mornings,” he says.

He invested in a Final Scratch program that allows a DJ to control digital files, and a computer that lets him do0wnload music and see beats on screen. Ten he started his first class on February 19 with two instructors including Mon Maramba, his close friend and part owner of Peligro.

They held classes in Peligro, and eventually also in a space at RCBC that the Centre for International Education had provided them with. “These places are great since they’re near each other and have a DJ setup already,” says Suaco. The first batch of six students paid P5,000 each in tuition to attend four-four classes each Saturday for a month.

“The curriculum included the basics handling equipment and listening to the beats. the students learn how to dance music,” says Suaco, adding it takes six to eight months of practice before a student can hope to do gigs.

Spin City’s market is mainly high school and college students -- a mixture of boys and girls,” says Suaco. “We don’t cater to any particular social class, but we notice that the applicants are mostly from the A and B segment.

Maybe because they are the ones who are more exposed to this type of music.” He’s also received an email from an unlikely applicant. “This guy was disabled and he was wondering if he could apply for our classes,“ he says. “I don’t see why not, and I’ll probably let him sit in or give him a free class.”

Suaco keeps his classes small. He picked just six out of the first 26 applicants, for instance- three for each instructor –so the teachers could give them their full attention. “I’m going to see how this first batch goes,” he says. “The class will end just in time for the Holy week break, so after vacation I’ll probably stars new classes – hip hop, drum and bass.”

His ultimate goal is to have cost him P1.5 million to set up. “We’ll offer more advance classes and maybe some guest DJs from other countries,” he says. Before that, he plans a two-week DJ seminar for club owners to help them get in touch with the music being played in their bars or bistros. “This is going to be a good year for DJs, says Suaco.