So what would it take for you to do an event considering 15% isn't enough for you?
2026 Event Count Prediction. How many do you anticipate you will work in 2026?
- Thread starter DJ Ricky B
- Start date
My bad I meant it the other way around. LOL. The company I DJ for keeps 15%. I need to stop posting so early.
That’s much better, when I tried running a multi op I kept 30% but I provided gear and vehicle to transport gear
Thats more like it. I always thought that was fair with me providing the equipment
, online presents , paper work / contract.
Your mentality here is probably a big part of why you haven't had commercial success in this business.
If someone offers you $200 to DJ for a 4 hour party, and you're comparing it to a $22 per hour day-job, the money doesn't sound too bad. It sounds like making $50 per hour, rather than $22 and it sounds like a win.
But $200 for a gig is not the same as making hourly money. You have to invest in equipment, transportation capable of moving that equipment, staying current on music (at least, some of us do). If you're self employed, you're also paying both the employer and employee side of the FICA taxes. You've got to think about your advertising budget to find that client that just hired you.
I suspect you've always thought DJ income was a nice windfall because you aren't actually pricing in the cost to run a business, just what you think you're getting "paid."
If I charge $1,000,000 for your DJ services, and I pay you $200 - you'd be fine with that? It's still better than $22 an hour, so why not?
While I agree for the most part I truly don't care what you charge as long as you pay me what I want. I reality it's not really any of my business what you charge. You made the deal with the client I made the deal with you
I like to think people are fair give me the details and we talk price. If I'm happy and you can double that all the power to you
THAT makes sense lol. He’s getting a few hundred here and there in the end without doing much work. He has the responsibility and overall burden of the event succeeding, but none of the physical labor and time involvement.
Let me say this. I'm retired from my day job. God blessed me with a great job! I first started DJiing in 81. I wasn't dependent on me being a DJ to maintain my lively hood. So it was what I did because I loved doing what I did as a DJ. So I didn't take it serious like I should have. That's telling on myself.
Since I came back to doing what I love to do I was just excited to be back doing what I love to do and what God gave me the talent to do. As far as me playing for the seniors in Montclair I just do that because I love the music I play for them. I don't get to play that kind of music at other events often. They don't give me a hard time and they love the music I play for them.
Now I do have some boundaries. Certain events the price isn't right and I let the potential client keep looking. My top priority is God, recovery and making sure the rent is paid.
You still don’t take it serious, you make horrible business decisions financially. Take free or extremely low priced gigs just to appear busy or feed your ego, and rarely listen to the very good advice given to you by your peers on this forum
I have no issue with loving what you do and not needing to make money from it. Quite frankly, I find the love of the game charming.
The part that is challenging is that you seem to latch on to little nuggets of information from people that are trying to operate a for-profit business. You still bring up Bob Carpenter's pricing and how much everyone charges constantly. If you're just doing it for fun, why fixate on the money so often?
It is called fantasizing, not dealing with reality & thinking that a successful business should share their wealth with people that are unwilling to get off their a## and do a little labor. Living in the past! Move on and stop waiting for a gift to fall in your lazy lap. Get a new hobby that is a little more affordable . I think everytime DJ Taso posts Adrian wets his pants. Yes, Taso does have great info to share and I envy his success but their are a lot of others on this forum that have been quite successful and share great information and knowledge if you read their posts.
Man, I love retirement ! About to head south for a few months. Love sugar sand beaches on the Gulf of America.
Here is just one example of putting off a three minute task.
Personally, I believe unless you are an actual EMPLOYEE of a company then you should be paid the lions share of whatever an event was booked at IF you are supplying your own equipment, and facilitating the event physically as a sub contractor
You supply the labor, equipment, time, transportation, customer service/preparation, fuel. If YOU as the DJ have to also spend time to sell yourself to the client in order to get it booked this should equate to a higher percentage of the booking.
They supply the lead, and agreement. IF they did the selling, and also booked the client 100% themselves without any help from you, then they should be acquiring more of a percentage of the sale.
An Outlier. Are they supplying the insurance coverage for the event, or are you as the DJ having to use your own insurance too? If they are, a little more goes to them. If you are required to have your own, or use your own...more should go to you.
If you are supplying everything, and all they do is filter a lead your way, and handle the agreement with the client along with collecting the money. I certainly wouldn't be happy with them charging Double or more what I am earning by doing literally everything else.
The only way this would happen is if your marketing skills or repeat referral game were extremely poor, anyone who is doing gigs on a consistent basis for a few years should have all the business they can handle if they do anywhere near a good job
There are DJs out there who have worked for multi ops for decades who always relied on work from the multi op. Could it be that they are bad at obtaining their own events, and handling the business side of things? Or are they good DJs, but just have much more of a Employee mentality, and are just better suited being managed? Or maybe they just don't want to sink the money/time into booking themselves solo? Maybe they feel taken care of working for the multi op and the money paid to them for every booking is worth sticking around. Could be a multitude of reasons. I can pull up a multi op in my service area and I have seen some of the same DJs faces working for said multi op since the 2000s and 90s even.
There are certainly DJs out there who never go and do their own business. Some multi op DJs might get a few gigs a year by WOM from referral, but the vast majority of the jobs they do is through the multi op whether they are employee or sub contract.
I can’t understand why someone would invest I all of the gear without having the drive to find every opportunity to profit from it
Perhaps they have the drive, but are never able to find enough paying events to be on their own? Or maybe they just don't have the time to put into running their own business?
I had a DJ working for me who is turning 58 this year. He doesn't really DJ any more, but will do the occasional event by WOM. He worked for a multi op for like 16 years before he left them. His own WOM events averaged about 3 gigs per year and all in the $200 to $500 pay range. He never put up his own website or took the time to go and find more of his own work. He also works a full time job, and maybe just sees The DJ gigs as a small side income.
My sister never got a website together for her wedding planning business. She talked about going into wedding planning for years and did work a bunch of weddings as a planner, some as a DOC working alongside a planner, but she never got around to actually putting the business together. Why? Maybe life just gets in the way? Or She just doesn't have the actual drive to do that? However, she will work DJ gigs as much as she can. She books some of her own, but largely relies on sub contract work to stay busy and always has.
Also, maybe they think that the bigger companies and agencies grab so much of the area's event business that they can't get enough of the pie on their own to go solo?
I started from scratch at 17 only advertising I ever did was a flyer sent to every high school with in a 100 mile radius, I solicited local bars and taverns, and played 3-4 nights a week while maintaining a 40-50 hour per week job for 7-8 years. Eventually through WOM the DJ income exceeded the day job income. When I went full time I expanded my availability started working outside the box weekday gigs, nursing home 2 hour afternoon gigs were very popular and I would do 3-4 a week, DJed bars 4-6 nights a week, created a singles mingle Sunday afternoon event where there was a $2 cover at the local bowling alley for 50 plus singles I got the door plus a percentage of drink and food sales. Plus playing 40 plus weddings a year. Was it easy? No was it worth it? Yes it put me in a place at the age of 55 where my business’s are now mostly passive income I have tons of free time to spend with family and friends. I get not everyone has the drive to create their own good fortune. But resent people who complain that they didn’t get a fair shake at life
I could put you in the direction of thousands, if not millions of people in our nation who will argue that you were lucky because you are a white man who grew up in the most prosperous time, and white men had it the easiest in the past. The same people will defend the quality learing center, and claim the Somalis in Minnesota didn't have a fair shake at life so they deserve the millions of frauduently paid tax payer dollars to prop them up in life and give them upper middle class lives in USA and not have to work for it. The same people live in Minnesota and will yell at the ICE agents for doing their jobs calling them "proud boys". They will say that Donald Trump or Elon Musk didn't get the fair shake at life that the masses got. If you use the "fair shake at life" line don't use it around any of them. You will hear a earful. You probably don't see a lot of them or interact with them in your local town, but I see them every day I go anywhere here in Maryland.
I have zero time for people that are fully capable but choose to live off the government dime. I also have to problem with immigrants unless they don’t attempt to become citizens and contribute to society as a whole in a timely manner
Here's the real truth. Those who do this full time and don't have another source of income need to make a certain amount of money to maintain the way they are living. So they have to command a certain amount of money to agree to do an event. If a potential client doesn't want to pay the price they are given and want to renegotiate the price they are welcome to do so. It's up to the DJ if they are willing to do it for the price the potential client wants to pay or just say no. Keep in mind I'm solely talking about what the DJ needs to make to maintain their livelihood. Nothing about what others are bringing in in terms of money to keep things a float. Also it depends on how badly they need the money. Sometimes beggers can't be choosey.