Many of you will have been touched by Propaganda, be it attending an event or marveling at the ‘66 splitty cruising down Park Street. We’ve managed to catch a few words to understand the business behind Propaganda and Oasis’ favorite DJ...

How did Propaganda Start?

I launched Propaganda when I was only 20, I was a student at Bristol University and started the night with £250 from my student loan in a small 200 capacity club on Park Street. I did all the promotion for it and DJed the whole night alone. When I started it I never once envisaged that it would become the full time job for myself, let alone the full time job for ten other people who all work for Propaganda across the country.

Propaganda is now the UK’s biggest indie night with over 10,000 people attending our club nights every week, we have seven weekly club nights across the country and are about to take Propaganda international with the launch of a new weekly Saturday night in Dublin. I’m still based in Bristol and love the city, Bristol Propaganda is really special to me as it’s the first night that I launched and it is the only night that I DJ at every week. We have moved venues three times and are now every Wednesday night at Syndicate, one of the cities largest venues. It’s amazing to think that we started in one of the smallest venues in the city and have grown to one of the largest. As well as Propaganda I also promote Ramshackle which is every Friday at o2 Academy.

So, was Propaganda your first event brand?

Propaganda was the first club night I launched, I’d previously been the drummer in a band which I also managed which I think gave me a bit of experience in promotion and managing.

How many people are working on the events with you now?

When I began the night it was just me doing everything with the occasional help of my friends, we now have a team of over ten full time staff and around two hundred people that work occasionally for Propaganda across the country as well as a large DJ team. I’d always previously employed people I’d known for our full time positions. However last year for the first time we advertised our full time job vacancies, it was really strange as I found myself in the position of having to interview people having never been to a job interview myself! We have a really good team of full time staff and DJs and they really help to run and support the night.

Do you see yourself as a business person more than a DJ these days?

"I work over 100 hours a week split between DJing and the organisation of the nights"

I never started Propaganda as a business, I was always passionate about music and loved indie and started the night as a hobby. It was a strange transition when the night grew and inevitably became a business, it had always been fun but as it became a business I found myself bored by payroll schemes and paperwork! However once I got over the hurdles of running a new business I began to really enjoy the business side and the challenges I faced. I think people just think I can turn up to a club and DJ and that’s all I do all week. However it’s the weekly paperwork and organisation of the club nights that takes up most of my time. I work over 100 hours a week split between DJing and the organisation of the nights, people rarely believe I work that many hours until they spend some time with me and witness it for themselves.

Propaganda is constantly growing and it’s the excitement of its continual growth that keeps me going, I don’t mind working so much as it gives me a lot of fulfillment seeing something that I started grow this much. I still love Propaganda and DJing at the nights and still see myself very much as a DJ. On most weeks I will DJ four nights a week and I’ve been lucky enough to DJ around the world and have played sets in New York, Ibiza and Barcelona.

I went on tour last year with Oasis DJing their aftershow parties on their final stadium tour, I found myself DJing in amazing venues like Wembley Stadium and Cardiff Millennium Stadium which was an amazing experience, Oasis have been my favorite band since I was 15 and it was incredible to become their chosen DJ.

That’s pretty amazing. Can you tell us about the VW AdVan we all see around Bristol?

Our VW advan is a 1966 Split Screen Van, it was originally a pick up truck and we had the advertising board custom built for the back. We’ve tried to keep the advert board in line with the original vehicle with a curved roof rather then sticking an ugly A-Board on the back. I’ve always loved VW Split Screen Vans, it costs us a lot to keep it on the road with the millage that it does and we’ve had to replace virtually every part on the van but I think it’s such a great advert for Propaganda that it’s worth it.

What outsiders have been most important to your business success?

I have a really good team of full time staff running Propaganda, they all have a real passion and love for the night. Everyone involved with it believes strongly in what we’re doing and we all want to provide the best club night possible for our punters. We also have a lot of love for Propaganda from our punters, I’ve always believed that it’s a club night’s punters that make the club night, it’s only thanks to them that Propaganda has been able to grow as much as it has done and it’s often due to them that we’ve launched in a city as we’ve been contacted by one of our regulars who have moved to another city without a Propaganda and felt that city really needed us there.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

I think you have to believe in what you are doing, I have always loved the club nights that I’ve put on and still do, I think it’s very important to have a passion and love for your business as you’re going to spend so much time on it. It’s also important to treat things as a business, people always told me you have to treat a club night as a business as so many promoters don’t however I think it’s really important that you do. Finally not every business idea works, it’s very easy to pour money into projects which don’t work and will never work, sometimes it’s hard to acknowledge that something won’t work, especially when you’ve invested a lot of money in it but leaving an idea before you waste more money on it is important, I’ve made that mistake too many times!

If you were to start another business, what might it be?

I’d definitely still like to do something in the music industry, music has always been my passion and always will be. Having said that I have no intention to stop Propaganda and launch another business any time soon!

What plans do you have now to expand your business further?

We intend to launch Propaganda in several other cities later this year including a new weekly night in London. It’s a very exciting time for us at the moment.

Any plans for more of the “mini festival” events in the future?

We did our first Mini Festival in Bristol last year with around 4000 people split between four venues, it was an amazing event and I’d certainly like to do something similar again.

Finally, your current top 5 tracks to play?

That’s a hard question! I’ll go with...
1. You’ve Got The Love - Florence & The Machine
2. Sweet Disposition - Temper Trap
3. Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon
4. In For The Kill - La Roux
5. Always Stay Too Long - Plan B

Thank you very much Dan!

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BRISTOL & BATH // 18 MAY 2012

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DJ Dan the Business Man

12 May 2010

EYE have always kept tabs on Propaganda, we’ve always been inspired by the hype and over the last three years we’ve witnessed the massive success of DJ Dan and his awesome team.