Scratch DJ Academy Closes Miami Location After 18 Years

After 18 years of teaching South Florida how to DJ, Scratch DJ Academy will close its Hollywood location at the end of September. The first Miami location opened in South Beach in 2005, moving to Wynwood and then the Design District before settling into Hollywood in 2017. Instructors will continue to offer online lessons, but as far as a brick-and-mortar school in South Florida, those days seem to be over.

"It's been tough trying to bounce back from COVID," says Jamie Keogh (AKA DJ Immortal), the academy's director. "Luckily, we started teaching online classes because it seemed the business model has changed. You see it happening to a lot of businesses. During COVID, we got used to Facetime and Zoom and doing everything online. I have students who lived in Hollywood who preferred online since it was convenient. On a positive note, we went from only teaching people who could make it to our physical location to teaching people around the world."

The first Scratch DJ Academy opened in New York in 2003 by Jam Master Jay, the DJ for the iconic hip-hop group Run-DMC. After opening a second location in Los Angeles, the school's founders reached out to Immortal to see if he was interested in running a Miami branch. "I just had my first kid, and it was a perfect time to get into teaching," he adds. "It was at a time when people still thought a DJ school sounded crazy. The school became my obsession. We helped students with the technical side of DJing and the business and branding elements."

A couple of months ago, the leadership of the South Florida location realized it had to shut down its physical location and planned for all its lessons and certification programs to wrap up by the end of September. The New York and Los Angeles locations will continue to hold in-person classes.
Currently, Scratch DJ Academy Miami has eight different instructors and has taught thousands of aspiring turntablists over the years. Just weeks earlier, alum and current instructor Knockers won the DMC U.S. Championship, beating out DJs from across America for the honor.

Despite the closure, Keogh is optimistic about the pivot to online only since it had to keep moving locations over the academy's nearly two decades in business. "We had four locations in 18 years. It's hard to stay in one spot with how rent is in South Florida," he explains. "We were lucky to keep finding cool spots, but three or four years go by, and someone buys your building and doubles the rent."

And while he's grateful there's a continued demand for students of all ages wanting to learn how to DJ, Keogh admits it's a loss for the community in that they will no longer have a physical hub where they can all gather. "No matter where it was, the academy was our space, dojo, sanctuary," he says. "So many careers started there. It's a really special place for South Florida's DJ community. I had students I taught 15 years ago who are now successful DJs who knew they could always pass by and say what's up."

Scratch is planning one last hurrah at Blackbird Ordinary on Thursday, September 28, where its alumni and friends can help celebrate its legacy.

Scratch DJ Academy Closing Party. 9 p.m. Thursday, September 28, at Blackbird Ordinary, 729 SW First Ave., Miami; 305-671-3307; instagram.com/blackbirdordinary. Admission is free.