system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are DJ's treated like artists, with a stage name and everything, and their own 'shows' people get tickets to, when they just play other people's copyrighted music?
gpt
"Art" is a form of expression.

Imagine that 100 people are going to be showing up to your house in an hour. How will you entertain them? Playing music is a good option. Do you have the right music to play? Would you just turn on the radio? Go to Pandora? 

Radios have commercials. Songs don't always compliment one another. 

But let's say you don't want to risk having your party fail due to poor music selection... so you spend some time listening to songs, figuring out which ones compliment one another, which flow together, which ones get the crowd pumped and excited, and which ones give them a short breather so they can get ready for the next song.

But crap... that takes a lot of effort. Sure, pressing "play" on a machine may end up with a similar result... but you don't want to use a machine for this. You want to learn the fine-motor skills and muscle memory required to fluidly operate your music gear covered in buttons and switches. Like an audible chef, you craft a meal of sounds and rhythms for the crowds' ears... you manage to completely hide and obscure the pattern of song selection from the crowd to the point that the entire experience feels like one long ride of enjoyment. All those songs made by all those other artists might as well be different brands of paint being combined onto the DJ's percussive canvas.

So, to answer your question, the reason that people pay to see these shows is because these DJs provide a service that **not everyone** can do. And, sure, while the entry barriers to becoming a "Dj" are not very high, some Djs are simply better than others and can provide better experiences than their competitors.... so much so that fan bases develop and seek out opportunities to exchange their money (which plays no music) for temporary exposure to auditory stimuli that is otherwise unavailable.

At the end of the day, an experienced, talented DJ (just like any musician) can combine layers of sound in a way that taps them directly into the minds of their audience. That's pretty neat.

Imagine yourself on stage with some tables, wires, and buttons. Before you is a crowd of thousands. They are there because you have created something that meant something to them. You are there because you are an artist.