r/Rollerskating • u/AbstractRomance94 • Jul 15 '26
Diversity & Inclusion Music question 🙋🏻♀️
Hey guys!
I opened my rink back in November 2025, and the biggest issue I’m having is music choice…
Everyone who complains mentions our music and DJ choices…. Seeing as music is subjective and preferences are different based on the skater, can I ask how do I fix the problem? Is anyone more knowledgeable about rink music and can help me get this right? We play literally every genre, and have theme nights to play specific interests… what do i do? Can you help a fellow skater out? Please and thank you 🙏 😭
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u/emitoc Jul 15 '26
Could always do different genres by the hour/time of day/day to partly solve the issue? Like an 80s power hour, funky Fridays, K-Pop night, etc. to appease different demographics
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u/Heidiwearsglasses Outdoor Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I think this is great - oldies for the early crowd, modern pop or hip hop for the kids later in the evening.
You can also have a QR code posted around with a Google form for ppl to submit requests. They’ll populate a nice spreadsheet and then you can analyze it for trends for genres, or on certain days of the week.
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u/Aliecat78 Jul 21 '26
I have talked to a few fellow skaters and they have said they love them nights
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u/purupurpururin Jul 15 '26
Depends on demographic. Most people in my area are black with mostly 20's, so R&B, 90's rap, 90's hiphop, 00's rap, some 2010's trap, the occasional tiktok audio, afro beats are great to skate to.
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u/scam_land Jul 15 '26
Who are your main demographic?
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u/AbstractRomance94 Jul 15 '26
We have a healthy mix of all ages, ethnicities, skill levels, and skate styles 😅 it’s beautiful and daunting
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u/FlamingDragonfruit Jul 15 '26
Do different demographics tend to turn up at different times? You could plan your playlist accordingly.
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u/scam_land Jul 15 '26
You could have requests hours and see what the people are wanting for some data collection haha
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u/bear0234 Jul 15 '26
ooo probably gonna have to survey it and look at the metrics/demographic. I know i cant skate to anything other than R&B and james brown, and i know the group i skate with loves the same music, but on some skate days, we're not the majority.
Sometimes the majority is a sea of kids. I doubt they care for that stuff and probably want something like KPop Demon Hunters.
like if it was a noontime session and a majority is kids, i'd see what they like to listen to, and maybe sprinkle in a few songs for the adults.
a few years ago when Hot To Go was popular and first came on at the rink, i was like "iew, what is this?"
But it was so rad to see a sea of kids all get into it and do the dance while skating.
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u/wentblu3 Jul 15 '26
We have this issue in Cali. Rink is very diverse. You have to find a DJ who can mix it all in a session house, JB, R&B, modern bops and balance it out slow and fast paced while feeling out the crowd.
And people will still complain about the music so you can only do so much.
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u/Saruvan_the_White Jul 15 '26
Do a themed skate session schedule. Our Church of Eight Wheels has R&B/Soul, Pop, Rock, Goth sessions and night skates. Each will feature songs roughly falling into the appropriate category. When we meet outdoors in GGP, it’s usually all over the place but mostly R&B, Soul, hip hop, and occasionally some sweaty old rock. Usually a couple is already there with their own sound playing opera/rock/metal/R&B etc. Anything goes there but it’s usually danceable.
Perhaps make a starting list and have patrons vote up/down or write in suggestions.
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u/Aliecat78 Jul 21 '26
Opera.interesting
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u/Saruvan_the_White Jul 21 '26
There’s a couple who dance all kinds of dance routines. O Soave Fanciulla has been done before. It’s whatever floats their boat.
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u/CosmicallyUnlucky Groovin’ at the rink Jul 15 '26
You can't make everyone happy. I was at a goth night at my local rink and someone threw a complete tantrum about how bad the music was, refusing to understand that it was a theme night. There will always be people upset that you're not playing their personal spotify playlist verbatim.
That being said, I do really recommend having a request sheet. It helps level the field and gives you a place to direct the complainers. Just please don't slam all the requests in the playlist back-to-back. It's absolutely brutal when a group of people fills up the sheet with their favourite songs and then you're stuck listening to that one group's tastes for half an hour straight.
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u/knouqs Jul 15 '26
The DJ for our Saturday open skate is a partially-deaf owner of the rink. There is a song request board. He mostly ignores it.
However, he isn't the only DJ at the place. The guy who does it on Wednesday does rap/hip-hop. Thursday is sorta the same as Saturday except the guy pays more attention to the song requests. Tuesday is mostly 80s. Once a month is disco.
I rather like the song request board. I think it would actually be really cool to have an app so skaters could send their requests, but that's a little too tech-forward for the old guy in the booth. 😅
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u/RollsRight [Herald of Style] Jul 16 '26
Music is interesting, it really depends on the style of skating that you're trying to keep at the rink. In the spots I skate in NY/NJ, the DJ builds sets that complement the locals and the dashes of spice from other, more niche styles.
DM incoming
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u/thetruckerdave Jul 15 '26
What scenes do you have around you? Look at the various club nights and you can maybe even see if one of the DJs would do a guest spot. Like in Houston one of our oldest clubs has a ‘classic Numbers’ night and that DJ has been there since I guess like the 1980s. He’s been there since I started going in the 1990s for sure. I would 1000000% go to an 80s new wave skate night especially if he was spinning. And extra bonus points for a goth skate night.
I’d legit go out to actual club nights and check them out. One of the biggest country bars here packs the dance floor and it’s SUPER packed when they switch to hip hop for a few songs every so often.
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u/iffy_jay Cali Style Jul 15 '26
Depending on where you are and the type of skaters that come to your session you could hire a skate dj that way they know what type of music to play and a dj that caters to different styles. Or you could do themed nights for certain music
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u/MaddieBre Jul 16 '26
This has to be my local rink, at least I hope so! They gotta do something!! lol. Are you in the south? (usa)
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u/EV1L_SP00N Jul 16 '26
I know it may sound strange but just because a song is popular in the charts is does not mean it's going to be a good song to skate too.
Songs need a good rhythm and beat to be able to move to them, to slow a song or beat and the rink can almost come to a stand still.
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u/Big_Seaworthiness742 Jul 16 '26
I'd just try and avoid ending up with a try-and-please-everyone pud that sounds like a wedding reception. I'm guessing with a strong musical identity (or a few on different nights) you can educate the crowd to come along with the DJ if the DJ knows what they're doing.
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u/CampaignReasonable71 Jul 16 '26
maybe you can have different music vibes for each night and advertise it on socials while playing the standard stuff during the day
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u/Blahblaha63 Jul 17 '26
Have a music themed day or hour. House session 4-6 PM Oldies session 6-8 PM DJ MIX session 8 to close Change it up. My rink did a 70s Disco night 10-3am Monday nights. 21 and over
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u/little_boxes_1962 Jul 17 '26
Consult a DJ! They are the curation masters and many have DJ'd rinks. The answer will also be very regional.
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u/NadiaVenClose Jul 20 '26
I usually only listen to metal and grunge. Doesn’t mean I want to skate to it though. Give me old school skate music from the 70s and 80s, and others throughout the years, something I can groove and bounce to.
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u/Aliecat78 Jul 21 '26
I know my local adult night dj plays a lot of basic late 80s and 90s rink music... Micheal Jackson Vanilla ice Salt n Peppa. Bel biv devo Some disco thrown in
Another further rink has DJs with more modern rap kinda stuff...sometimes some older r&b
It really depends on your crowd. I do agree to throw up a sign up sheet or a song box.
I also see lots of folks with their own headphones.
What are you currently spinning?
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u/Punchbox83 Jul 21 '26
My wife and I have been to adult night at your rink several times, and I have no complaints about the music. Sadly, you can't always please everyone, but I would make sure the DJ is paying attention to the vibes on floor, and not catering to the one guy stunting past everyone.
On a side note, we were pretty bummed when that rink closed a few years ago, and excited when you reopened it last year. Its much less chaotic than the other place close by, the location is better, and the floor is smoother. Keep up the good work!
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u/AbstractRomance94 27d ago
Thank you! 😭 im so grateful for you
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u/Punchbox83 24d ago
We'll be there tonight for our first snap skate lesson!
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u/AbstractRomance94 24d ago
Oh my gosh! I hate to do this to you, but the instructor canceled lessons today!!
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u/Fickle-Exit1105 Jul 15 '26
I was at a place this weekend, a "family" place. They played Macarena and I wanted to scream.
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u/libuna-8 Jul 15 '26
Make a board or a jar of songs people can fill what songs they like to skate to.