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Sujet: DJ stop working for peanuts

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Too many of us are working below what is minimum for a dj. I cant believe a dj would chare $25 per hour when the average party is 4 hours. Last time I checked a decent controller is at least 250 and powered speakers $299. Then gas is on average $4 per gallon. So stop giving away your services for free mr dj. There should be an industry mimimum of $250 so that the general public can respect other djs ttying to make a living. The average consumer does not care about skills, its all about price in these tough economic times but that does not mean we have to prostitute ourselves to make a dollar.
 
Posté Fri 05 Aug 11 @ 5:23 pm
in this market?... i have kneepads and a bad back from bending over.

mobile guys might charge that but then they wont get gigs and the ipod and cracked dj's will get them. and try to tell the local club owners you want "industry standard pay" will probably be last time anyone sees you in town.
 
Im a little different being a Christian DJ. I do any and all Church events for free, though I usually get a love offering. To offset the cost I do weddings etc but still do them cheap. I do my DJ for the Ministry not the money. Though during prom season I have 5 private schools pay $300/hr.

Sorry I didn't read all the posts. DJ'ing is like any other business. You will get undercut a lot. To compromise that make sure your product isn't worth a cheaper DJ. That is another reason I get $300/hr at some things.
 
right now is as tough as it's been in awhile .....

i raised my minimum last summer

i have made concessions on extra's

but i haven't caved on my higher minimum ........


it's true the clients don't understand the skills

or the equipment and software ......

they just like what they like ...

so i suggest trying to really understand they're expectations

be confident you can deliver , VDJ is very powerful
 
There will always be Djs that want to charge less but it still doesnt effect me. Alot of the people that hire me like the way i play. They like my style. I give out tons of free demos cds & i take tons of pictures of the parties i do and people just keep calling me because they either heard me or someone told them about me. If someone is calling you because they liked they way you played at a gig, they will pay you what you are asking. You have to know how to talk to clients. Some djs dont know how to talk to clients and they end up settling for less. You cant take less money from customers who heard you play because the customer already knows what they are dealing with.
 
wildcountryclub wrote :
in this market?... i have kneepads and a bad back from bending over.



That's disgusting, I would never do both. They have to pick one or the other. I have standards.
 
Dude you wasting your breath on that one, because there will always be those DJ's trying to get on that they'll sell their souls to the devil for a party. I seen it so much over the years, I decided to start throwing my own parties to see real dough!

Yeah it sucks, but it's the very reason a DJ must network, network, network, because that old saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know is going to get you over" is 100% true!
 
coach k wrote :
I decided to start throwing my own parties to see real dough!


And that right there is TRUTH!! Thats all we do anymore..........

Huey
 
wildcountryclub wrote :
in this market?... i have kneepads and a bad back from bending over.

mobile guys might charge that but then they wont get gigs and the ipod and cracked dj's will get them. and try to tell the local club owners you want "industry standard pay" will probably be last time anyone sees you in town.
+1
 
DJBIGMARK wrote :
Then gas is on average $4 per gallon. .


WTF $4 a gallon for fuel?? you should feel privalaged, we pay alsmost £7 per gallon, which is more like $10-12

$4 is only £2.44. lucky B******S! lol
 
beatbreaker1 wrote :
coach k wrote :
I decided to start throwing my own parties to see real dough!


And that right there is TRUTH!! Thats all we do anymore..........

Huey


If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
 
It is aggravating, I agree but, any DJ can charge any price they wish. It is not up to us to decide what is fair. It is up to us to decide what OUR time is worth. Just like it is not one DJs place to tell another what gear they should use.....free will baby, it's a beautiful thing....
 
I agree with all of this so far...In my area the average DJ only charges like $150 to do like a 5 hour party.....Which is CRAZY!!!!!!! So when I started really DJ'ing back in Feb. that's what I was charging....But after being frustrated & reading the forums here a lot of things went through my head. Their is a lot of things involved in Dj'ing (Time & Money) Constantly getting new music....Constantly upgrading gear.....& Dealing with clients that makes your head hurt...Oh & Not counting taking the equipment from my house to my car, then from my car to the venue, then setting up everything, then need I remind you breaking it down, taking it to the car then taking it back in my house....I said about 2 months ago that my prices have gone up....I have a minimum number that you have to hit before I will even think about doing it, & then the time of day effects price, as well as the amount of hours....Now a few of my friends that have been dj'ing for years I guess I opened their eyes & they see what I'm talking about they are talking about putting together like a DJ pool in my area & everyone charging the same prices so that No one get's lowballed...

Oh & 2 the guy that said you can get a powered system for $299.....LINK PLEASE...LOL (but seriously link please)
 
 
I do this for a living and I loose work each week to someone under cutting however I still manage to get booked each week for good money however you need to be on it! everything you do needs to be better.

It helps if you have a rig, all these taking a DJM 800 and two CDJ's to a wedding with a Serato box dangling down behind the table somewhere is just ridiculous. This is more of a US thing I noticed, in the UK you tend to be flight cased up n have the tools needed to be versatile.
 
Charlie Wilson wrote :
It helps if you have a rig, all these taking a DJM 800 and two CDJ's to a wedding with a Serato box dangling down behind the table somewhere is just ridiculous. This is more of a US thing I noticed, in the UK you tend to be flight cased up n have the tools needed to be versatile.


I completely agree with you there Charlie! My partner & I did a gig for the city at a car show, he was like bring your Mixdeck and was like nope I'm only bringing my laptop and my mixer with a soundcard. He told me it didnt look very professional!! I was like 'yeah and 2 turntables & mixer with wires everywhere looks a whole lot better.' Plus the fact that we WERENT even gonna be mixing!! So I brought my Mixer (in a flight case) with a laptop stand and a playlist of classic rock which is what we were playing. After about an hour into it he was like 'I'm glad this is all we needed, no carrying heavy tables and that automix feature is the shit!!' I just started laughing at him. Hes a Serato fanboy so I was giving him crap all day about how it couldnt do this and it couldnt do that, lmao!! But after everything was said and done he was like this was the easiest money we ever made THANKS to VDJ and its features. Theres only certain times I drag my tables out anymore and thats not very often.............
As far as getting booked, yeah I do a few gigs for people but most of the time we book our own shows and throw are own parties. Sure I miss out on alot cause I dont do weddings or karaoke but in the end Im making money and I'm happier.

Huey
 
Yep - decided a few weeks ago that I wasnt getting any extra gigs thru using my 12s anymore and for the extra weight, skipping, people bumping them, etc, it just wasnt worth it. Sold them and bought a VMS4 in a nice case and cant believe I didnt do this years ago.

Its really tight out there though. Have moved into Karaoke and gone back to doing more bar work as the mobile gigs are tough to get since everyone has a mate with a laptop. Bars and clubs are more difficult to get into though for the same reason. Been visiting bars and handing out cards, etc but that doesnt seem to achieve much yet.

Been doing more demos, vids from gigs, etc which helps a little I think, but yeah, it aint an easy way to earn a decent living at the moment.
 
If a customer isn't prepaired to pay your minimum, don't stress over it, as they probably didn't spend much on the rest of the event either...

Pay peanuts, get monkeys as the saying goes.

I know it's hard if you rely on your DJ income as your primary wage, but set standards and stick to them. As soon as word gets around you drop your prices for others, you'll never get your full rate again...

Roy
 
Technology has a lot to do with these problems. It has been a double edged sword. Yes, it has made it much easier on our backs to load in/out of venues since pounds of media can now fit into ounces on a hard drive. But, now the media itself can be downloaded for free (illegally) with minimal effort and time instead of spending hours scouring record stores. Those same illegal sources, in many cases, also have software as well. So, what once cost sometimes 5 figures to get, was hard, if not impossible to steal, can now be had for free. Even now, I have a 12,000 track library. Even at Amazon prices of 99 cents per track, you do the math. Add in VDJ Pro, and $15,000 is a lot of money.

So The guy who is operating a proper business has not only a $15,000 investment in media and software, he also has advertising, a laptop, midi controller/cdj/turntables, PA, lighting, insurance, etc that all costs money. In some cases, The media and software can represent 50% of the overhead for a dj business. The person doing it the right way needs to charge a certain amount in order to make a profit.

Take the hack that stole his media and software and strictly on the numbers, he/she is $15,000 up on the legal dj. The thief can charge less, because in their mind, the media and software was not an investment. If they don't see the value in legal media and software, how could anyone expect them to see the value in anything else?

Now bar owners don't really care where the music and software came from. I have been a DJ for 22 years and not one bar owner, nor any of the over 500 private event clients have EVER asked me if my media was legal. Not one. Their only concern is having a great event or great night. The hack can come in and promise the client the world and then some. Problem is, most will never realize the truth until it's too late. Or even worse, the guy/gal does a decent enough job that the bar owner is satisfied with mediocre for less money than having the best at a premium rate.

So what are we to do?

Education. Education. Education. I use EVERY single opportunity to educate the client/bar owner about what it takes to run a dj business legally. I explain in lay-mans terms the legal issues with media, contracts, and insurance. I tell them that sure there is a chance they could find a really great dj talent wise, but one who has stolen all his music and software. He/she may be quite a bit cheaper than my rate, but you will never know how good they are until they start playing, and at that point, it's too late to find a replacement. Sure, there are legal DJ's who have zero talent, so things can go both ways. By presenting the client with ALL the facts, I am empowering them to make an educated decision on their entertainment. If they choose me, then great! If they choose the hack, then they have no one to blame but themselves.

I actually had a situation several years ago with a bar owner who tried to replace me. I played dumb with the new guy and he told me he gets his music for free from Limewire and he had a hacked version of BPM Studio. His disregard for doing things the right way carried over to just about everything from programming to his mic presence, etc. The bar owner calls me in after that weekend and admits his mistake and I get the gig back and at a higher rate than when I left. He learned his lesson the hard way.
 


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