that logic would work out great if all dj's did was put a reconrd on a deck, but they do a lot more than that. They match beats of many different songs to create something that sounds completely different. And anyway, that definition did not state that a musician HAS to play and insrument. It said it is someone who composes, conducts, or performs music. isn't that pretty much what a dj does?

For a start a dj does not compose original music, they use EXISTING music therefore the sound they produce is not original, they do not conduct, that would mean having to arrange all the different instruments to creat the music, and they dont perform music as they would need to "To give a public presentation of" or "To enact (a feat or role) before an audience", to do this requires instrument that creates music.

i think you misinterpreted the last part of the definition "especially INSTRUMENTAL music" this comment suggests you need to use INSTRUMENTS

I think if peeps copy ova songs as long as its gd & it wasnt a legend they copd its alrite wot do u tink dude?

My thought process here (and for the sake of argument), was a comparison in that if a DJ was considered to NOT be a musician BECAUSE he was only using music created by others, does that therefore mean that a singer or band that performs a song made famous by another artist equate to making that artist doing the cover version less of a musician? He did not create that song.

I still believe that a DJ CAN be considered a musician...that's my stand and I'm sticking to it. Music, like art, is in the eye (ear) of the beholder, and indeed, a very controversial subject! I pass the microphone over to the next person on the soapbox....

DJing is definatley a form of musicianship.

DJ's do, to an extent, compose their own music. During a mix set, which is completely unrehearsed, a DJ has to spontaneosly invent a sound, a rhythm, a flow. It takes EONS of practice.

A guitarist certainly didnot "invent" the G chord, yet they use it in the composition of their musical pieces to invoke a reaction or response from the audience. A DJ, takes a pre-existing song, or musical piece (it is NOT uncommon for a DJ to arrange their own ORIGINAL songs and then ReMix them during a live set) and makes on the spot tweaks to it, such as rearranging the pitch, tempo, BPM, bass and treble counts and can even edit out entire sections of the rhythm to invoke a reaction or response from the audience. Songs are to a live set of a DJ as a chord or riff is to a composition of a guitarist.

In my eyes both are bona fide musicians. Happy to say I do both.