Perhaps you're thinking about joining an established crew, or perhaps you're thinking about forming your own. This articles is devoted to exploring the reasons how and why people choose to take this step, and, hopefully, helping to prevent the pitfalls that can occur when teaming up with relative strangers in the music business.

Why are we doing this?
The first thing to discuss when joining a crew, or forming one, is the crew's mission. What is the crew's reason for being? It's purpose? It's goals and aims? The more clearly this can be defined, the better are the chances that the people in the crew will be able to work together towards a common goal.

Some reasons people team up include the following:

• To promote an underdeveloped musical genre or style of event e.g. throwing a breaks party in a city that has none, or that has events that you feel are not well done.
• To spread the workload when throwing a single party or a series of events.
• To promote a cause, such as Sister's goal of furthering the development of female DJs in a certain city.
• To provide support for each other in following your individual dreams.
  

Who are these people anyway?
Everyone brings different skills to the table when joining a crew. Most people have a little of all the attributes listed below in their personalities, but will "specialize" in one area. In order to be successful, a crew will need to strike a good balance of the following types of people:

• Organizers - people who are very detail oriented, efficient and who follow through on tasks.
• Dreamers - people who come up with lots of great ideas and encourage others to follow their dreams.
• Promoters - socialites who love to meet new people and enjoy handing out fliers and other aspects of promotion.
• Superstars - well-known DJs with solid skills that bring "star quality" and recognition to the group.
• Cheerleaders - positive people who encourage and motivate everyone on the team.
• Connections - people with useful skills and strong industry relationships that can help your crew: graphic designers, web producers, printers, and media connections.
• Team players - all the people in the group need to be team players - the type of person who works well with others, communicates clearly, and neither tries to steamroller other ideas and opinions, or sits back, allowing everyone else to do the work.
  

How will you find out what skills people will bring to the table when they join your crew? Ask them! The simplest way to find out what you're dealing with is to poll potential crewmembers in an interview with questions like this:

"Why do you want to join?"
"What skills do you feel you can bring to the crew?"
"How can you help us further our goals?"

When joining an already-established group you'll want to ask such questions as;

"What are this crew's goals and purpose?"
"Why are you looking for new people?"
"Where will I fit into the crew?"

You'll also want to get informal references from your friends and people who've worked with the potential new crewmember, or the crew you wish to join so you can be sure you're forming a worthwhile alliance.

Who does what?
In dividing up responsibilities, encourage people to do what they do best, and ask them to "own" their tasks by letting them take full responsibility to their choices and actions. They'll be more enthusiastic and you crew will take more pride in their accomplishments. While a strictly democratic arrangement is ideal, it's best to have one or two level headed people in the crew who can steer the ship if the sea gets rough.

How you communicate with each other on a daily, weekly and monthly basis is important to discuss. Sister SF has a crew-only email list. Hosted by http://www. topica.com it can be delivered message-by-message, in digests or read online, and has an easily accessible archive. We also post our internal schedule on an online event planning calendar hosted by http://www.calsnet.com

We have decided that Sister SF crew members should commit to reading and replying to the crew email list at least two or three times per week if they want to be part of the decision making process of the crew. Sister SF also has monthly meetings where we spend a productive hour going over important topics and catching up with each other face to face. These meetings are best held in a central location, where parking is easy, such as a quiet café or one of the crewmembers' houses. If you plan to break out the booze at your meetings just make sure it's done after the important items you came to talk about have been discussed!

What works best for us may not be ideal for your crew. Perhaps weekly meetings are better? An online bulletin board or phone conversations? Whatever works! Being consistent is generally very helpful though: setting the rule of communication ahead of time helps everyone know where they stand.

The root of all evil
Money troubles can arise with no notice and cause huge rifts in a crew. The best way to avoid them is to be very clear about how you will handle money from the beginning, and very sensitive to other's concerns should those policies change, or become outdated. Ask yourself the following questions;

Who looks after the cash?
Who keeps track of the incoming and outgoing monies?
Who approves expenditures?
At events, is it your policy to pay all DJs a certain amount, as well as door staff, or just "what you can, if you make money"?
If you were saving up for something the whole crew would benefit from, what would it be? A better web site? Promotional materials like tee shirts? A trip for WMC for everyone? Goals help.

One way to sidestep money issues is to be a strictly non-profit crew, whose entire event profits go towards charities you've selected. In any case, you'll want to make your make money decisions before you have cash to burn, not later when everyone wants it.

And always remember that any money you make as a group, or an individual, is taxable.

Promoting the crew
In order to separate your crew out from the masses you'll need a name and maybe a logo.
Your website will go a long way to promoting your events and you're crew's mission. Other promotional tools include stickers, buttons, earplugs and so on. Spread the word, encourage newspaper and magazine editors to feature your crew whenever possible and make your crew stand out for all the right reasons.

Saying goodbye
Conflict in the crew is inevitable, as in any relationship. It could be due to unresolved resentment about who does the work, and how much of it. It could be the result of tension over money. It could also brew over professional rivalry or ordinary old personality clashes.

Our recommendation is to open up the lines of communication as quickly as possible. Conflict resolution is never easy, but avoid taking sides or asking others to do so. Try to talk out any personal issues privately, and those that affect the crew in a private meeting or email list where people feel comfortable and supported, and are strongly encouraged not to let their tempers flare. Remind people not to get personal - the reason you are all there is for the advancement of the goals of the crew, not the opportunity to lash out when things don't go well.

What happens if you have to leave a crew? Our advice is to avoid burning bridges. The music scene is relatively small, and unprofessional behavior is news that travels fast. If conflict arises and you feel it's time to dissolve your alliance, be a grown-up and bow out gracefully. If you need further advice, we recommend asking your mother.

The bottom line:
You can do it! Communication is key, but if you can work together you'll realise your goals faster.

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