Learn DJing From the Pros: Martin Garrix's Rules For Success

Martijn Gerard Garritsen also known as Martin Garrix is a Dutch DJ & Record Producer. He is EDM's youngest superstar, continues to top global charts, sell multi-platinum records, and headline festival main stages worldwide. Martin has made it to be number one on DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ list.

Despite his young age and multiple comments that he's too young to do it, Garrix has achieved everything that you might want from the DJ/Producer life. He first became famous through his song ''Animals'' which became really popular in the EDM culture.

Now Martin Garrix keeps doing his thing and has a great life ahead. But the question is, how did he do it? How did he managed to be one of the world's greatest music artist in such a young age? Was it talent or hard work?

Well, without further delay lets see his best rules for success.

1. Believe

Martin clearly explains in an interview that hard work is what you should trust on. Back when he was just a kid, all of his football team friends used to tell him "loool, what are you doing, it's not going to work". And right now, they’re like, “Oh fuck, dude. “You were right.”

The most important thing is to believe in yourself, there's absolutely nothing you can't achieve if you put your mind and work into it and apparently that is what drove Garrix into what he has become now.

2. Be Positive

Being a DJ is never easy. You will get a lot of good comments on your performance but the bad ones won't miss either. You just have to focus on the good ones and that's what Martin did.

Martin Garrix : My life lesson would be… Just always focus on the positive stuff. Every time there’s something negative, and I used to focus on all the negative stuff. Like, for example, there would be… If I release a new track, there will be 99 good comments and one bad one.And I would be like, “Why would someone say that?” And just only focus on the one bad comment. But for me, what really helped was just to forget, don’t even pay attention to the negative stuff. Just always focus on the positive side.

3. Be Yourself

People will often get controversial with you. Everybody has his own mind and preferences but that doesn't mean that you should get effected from that. "You do you" and that's how you become recognized truly for who you are.

Martin Garrix : What do you want to say to your fans that are asking, “Yo, are you still going to make that high BPM festival music?” Are you leaving that for more…mainstream, or can you explain that transition and what you’re doing there?

I’m not leaving anything.

For me, it’s all about trying to find new sounds, reinventing your own sound. I can release 128 BPM club song every week but I don’t know, I want to challenge myself in the studio, I want to try out new things, I want to experiment and me trying out something new and doing something like Scared to be Lonely or

Name of Love doesn’t mean I’m completely switching my sound.

In October, I just released seven very aggressive 128 BPM house songs. I’ve got Ultra coming up, I’ve got Coachella coming up. I’m going to also play a lot of old-sounding Martin Garrix stuff. But it’s a weird situation because then I release a house song one year ago and they’re like, “Oh, same repetitive boring stuff. “Try to do something new, be refreshing.”

And I do something new and they’re like, “We miss the old Martin Garrix.” You know? Wait, what you guys want me to do? But for me, what I think is most important is just me being myself in the studio, doing what I want, and don’t let other people’s opinions affect my music. I want to represent what I want to make and I’m not switching my sound, I’m just having fun.

4. Always Love What You Do

Great things are achieved through passion. If you dislike what you're doing or maybe doing it for a meaningless purpose, then you won't win anything. You need to love what you do, you need to enjoy every moment of your work so much that it doesn't even feel like you're working at all. That's the only way you will climb to the top.

Martin Garrix : I start focusing more in the studio, just trying to find my own sound. If I had one hour or two hour break at school, I would run to my house and then work or something. This is some stuff I did in 2008. Sounds like but… Pretty funny to hear back. For me, producing music was just my Martin time.

I could spend 12 hours just behind my computer in my room, never really with the mindset of like, “Oh, I want to make money!” Or, “I want to become famous!” If I look back at that time, I see a little kid just enjoying everything and doing what he loves. Sounds super unprofessional, super bad mix, super bad sounds but it’s funny. It’s a timeline from my life as a producer. It’s pretty cool.

5. Focus On The Right Thing

You need to have a strong reason behind you that drives you crazy to achieve your goals. If you are DJing for the wrong reasons that you should probably get out. DJing is an art and as every other type of art you need to be passionate about it, you need to put your soul and your own touch into it. If you are into DJing to get money or get laid then you better leave or just stay and face the consequences.

Martin Garrix : What’s my biggest advice is if you’re in it for the wrong reasons, don’t even try to get famous because very small chance it will happen. In the end, when you’re producing music, what I had a lot was I would send my songs to a bunch of labels and get no reply and would feel like for a couple of weeks and in the studio I would be insecure, like is it that bad? If I put all the time I put sending the songs in to the label, if I put all the energy that I put into that into producing, I would have known what I know right now, maybe two years ago.

5. Keep Trying To Get Better

Having a hard time is usual for a DJ. But you MUST try to get better. Many Clubs or labels might reject or even ignore you, don't bother. You just need some revision and improvement that's all. Feeling down is not going to figure out anything for you so instead consider it as a challenge and keep improving!

Martin Garrix : What I had trouble with was that no label wanted to sign my stuff the first four years, five years. And every time I had a track, I was like, “Oh, this track is amazing!” And then I sent it to all the labels and I would get no reply. As a producer, it’s the most frustrating thing ever especially when you think like, oh, this track can be a hit. I just need a good label.

But right now, if I listen back to the tracks, I’m like, of course the labels didn’t reply. But I was always too stuck up on oh, a label didn’t reply and I wouldn’t produce for two weeks because I felt bad and then I was like, “Oh , I’ll try it again. “I’ll open the program.” So, my advice is definitely try to get better, get better, get better. Try to spend as much time as you can in the studio and the labels will find you instead of you finding the label.