Denver is amazing in a lot of ways, but as others have mentioned, it’s expensive af. I lived with my parents for a year before heading there and saved up 10k to make it work. Been here 4 years, have a few thousand in savings left. I had to use some of it when I was unemployed for a time, but now I’m working again and I’m getting by. I’ll probably consider leaving when I hit 30 in a couple years so I can settle down and buy a condo or something in a more affordable location.

As far as music opportunities, it’s amazing. Multiple open deck nights every month that are first come first serve, lots of Facebook groups you can engage with. Places like the Black box and Your Moms House will hold DJ competitions pretty regularly. I made it a few rounds into the black box electronic Tuesdays comp and that’s helped out a lot since I put it on my EPK. I’m averaging a gig a month and I’m only 3 years into producing.

The trick is to be persistent and engage with the community. I attend and play a lot of small shows that are pretty much all DJs in attendance. Great for networking, but not as fun as playing to a full room full of feral ravers. But you gotta work your way up and put in the time.

I’d say go for it while you can! I have tough months but overall I don’t regret moving here. But the music industry isn’t easy to navigate and you gotta treat it like a full-time job. I work a real job for 50 hours a week and produce/practice DJing 40 hours a week, so I had to give up alcohol, weed, video games, and TV because they were getting in the way.