Behind the Scenes: Pro-DJ Speaks to James French of Yacht Week
Ever wondered how those incredible festival lineups come together? Join us as we delve into the world of festival artist booking. In this exclusive interview, we sit down with James French , a seasoned professional who is head of entertainment for the incredible Yacht Week
Drumcode week was by far the most memorable week of the season, seeing world class DJs showcase their talents to our audience on rafts in the middle of the sea, in world famous clubs like Carpe Diem, it was truly special, we also set up meet and
greets for our guests. There are not many events in the world that give you the opportunity to hang out with your favourite artists, that is at our core what we try and do, give exclusivity.
When dealing with agents or people contacting you, what are your deciding factors and what genres of music are you currently interested in booking for the festival?
James – We had 15 weeks in Croatia, 12 weeks in Greece and 3 weeks in Sardinia this summer. Each week we bring 200-700 guests onto the water and introduce them to a wide range of genres – some they love, some they discover. We do this by programming every event with a different genre and a different style. When looking for DJs to bring out, we lean towards more open format artists, those that read the crowd and play for them. For us it is all about the customer experience. People are there to have a great time and it is our job to give them that.
Yacht/Ski Week is such a great idea. Do you mind asking how it came about?
Yacht Week started as a group of friends hiring a yacht and partying on the water, which grew to friends of friends joining, and then in 2006 their first official season began. Ski week came about to fill the winter with activities and expand the brand, this comes under the umbrella of Day 8 Experiences which is ever expanding to more unique ideas.
In regards to picking your DJs and artists , are you seeking established headliners or emerging talents?
We run both ‘Original Festivals’ that host a diverse range of genres and ‘Special Festivals’ that cater to a specific crowd and soundtrack. Within these, we look for talent to suit.
Recent Special Festivals include an RnB/Hip Hop themed week in collaboration with Applebum and a Techno themed week with Drumcode, which included international artists such as Adam Beyer, Miss Monique and Eli Brown. We also work in partnership with Ultra festival Europe, which showcases some of the biggest artists in the world. But to us, the most important part of a Yacht Week experience is the vibe, rather than the headliners. We support emerging talent through a competition each year and programme our events to include that top new talent and established names we know bring the heat.
That's great, so as you do use emerging talent, how much performance experience do you expect from the newer DJs you book?
For our original routes, open format is key. A lot of our in-house residents play all over Europe and therefore have experience covering a wide audience range. Our customers come from all over the world, so we always make sure we find DJs who have the experience and confidence to play for any crowd. With our special weeks, we tailor them by genre. House and Disco through ‘Discophoria’, House and Country through ‘Electric Rodeo’, Hip Hop through ‘Rhythm and Waves’, EDM through Ultra and Latin Vibes through ‘Vibras’. Here we look for specialists in those spaces to bring the very best to headline those weeks for our guests.
How do you evaluate the reputation and reliability of potential DJ's and what's the process of booking?
We have a strong roster of in-house resident DJs that we have used regularly, in sourcing new talent that comes from networking within the industry and generally all over. We also host a yearly DJ competition where we invite 3 new DJs to join us on route. This has been very successful for us in finding new talent and giving an opportunity to up and coming DJs. Actually, a lot of our Residents have been sourced through this competition over the years.
With the process, our in house DJs are always contacted first, and that I usually do around December, January time. Once they are booked in, around March, we fill in the gaps with new talent and competition winners. We have a lot of people reach out so often it is a matter of going through applications and interviewing new DJs to see if they fit the vibe we are trying to bring.
Can you share any past successes or memorable performances from DJs at your festival?
This year we showcased our Vibras Festival week for the first time, a latin music themed week. Here we brought in three specialist DJs to perform for our guests for the week. For a first time event, it was one of our highest selling weeks of the year in Greece and went down spectacularly with guests. Sometimes it is a struggle with our original routes to cater for everyone’s music tastes, but with specialist weeks like this, guests with similar tastes can come together and it was fantastic to see.
Another highlight was our Drumcode week was by far the most memorable week of the season, seeing world class DJs showcase their talents to our audience on rafts in the middle of the sea, in world famous clubs like Carpe Diem, it was truly special, we also set up meet and
greets for our guests. There are not many events in the world that give you the opportunity to hang out with your favourite artists, that is at our core what we try and do, give exclusivity.
Well James thanks for chatting to us , before we go Does Day8 have any other events lined up?
We have now finished our Summer seasons in Greece, Croatia and Italy, our next Yacht Week event is in the British Virgin Islands for New Years. This winter we are taking a break on Ski Week and it will be returning for 2026. Our focus is on summer 2025, our bookings go live on October 10th and we are anticipating one of our biggest years yet so a lot of preparation is going into this. We’ve got a lot more to come and are very excited about the future for Day 8, Yacht Week and Ski Week.
Another part of our brand expansion is the Yacht Week Collective. Our guests sail with us for 1 week of the year and we are providing them a community for the other 51. We are planning pop up events, club events, social meetings all over the world. From the US, Australia and all over Europe we’re inviting people to come together off the water. We have lots of exciting plans in the works – keep an eye out on our socials!
Huge thanks to James and the team over at Day8 for talking to us. You can keep up to date on future events on the website https://www.theyachtweek.com and socials. We will also be in Croatia in 2025 so stay tuned .
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