The “and still obsessively digs crates” was important I think. DJ’ are not even close to fungible (hell, I’ve even met a couple who don’t like music much)

All music recommendation engines at this time still aspire to be mediocre, they aren’t even playing the S.A.,e game as a human who is good at it.

Unfortunately, such humans are unevenly distributed.

My point is more about DJ specialization I guess. The vast majority of DJs I know personally still dig crates all the time - but they are techno/house/D&B/etc DJs, they know close to nothing about music outside of these genres. This goes so deep that some German techno DJs haven't even heard of Krautrock, the German scene that in many ways was a precursor of electronic music.

Huh. Ok - that really doesn’t match my experience , but that’s path dependence for you.

Why is it weird that a DJ friend hasn't heard of a artist that you are a fan of?

German beat-oriented DJs haven't heard of one of the most influential German bands that had a critical impact on beat-oriented music? Just an odd thing for people who dedicated their life to music.