Is a $1,200 to $1,600 for a 5 to 6 hour Wedding DJ a Low End Budget DJ?

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DO you consider a DJ who charges $1,200 to $1,500 to be a low end Wedding DJ?

  • Yes, DJs in this price range are working low end weddings, and are in the lower range of price.

    Votes: 2 7.4%
  • VERY LOW END. All DJs priced below $1,600 are low end DJs working low end events

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No. This is a middle range price for a Wedding DJ

    Votes: 15 55.6%
  • No. This is Upper Cusp of the Middle Range nearing the High End

    Votes: 7 25.9%
  • That is rediculous. $1,200 to $1,600 is a high end Wedding DJ Price

    Votes: 3 11.1%

  • Total voters
    27
So again what was the point of this thread?

No one cares what anyone else charges most of are hundreds of miles from each other it has no effect whatsoever on what you do. Taso is basically next door to you but you aren't doing what he is so you aren't going to charge what he charges

If you had a business and marketing plan you would know what to charge in your market for what you do
 
I haven't found anyone that's disagreed with anything anyone's said other than you though. And the reason no one talked about ceremony is because we all seem to charge extra for that. We've been talking about starting prices for receptions... not cocktail hours, or lights, or anything like that. No one's doing the asking except you. Do you really wanna talk about extras? I offer 20 different items to my clients for options.
I just thought of what would be asked to do for the 5-6 hour wedding. Some brides will include more then a reception in the allotted time. Just thinking what the bride would expect a DJ to provide for a wedding that's 5-6 hours long with them spending that much.

Everybody here is correct and I'm wrong. There hasn't been an argument like in the past about a DJ not charging enough for a certain type of event. So I apologize.
 
I just thought of what would be asked to do for the 5-6 hour wedding. Some brides will include more then a reception in the allotted time. Just thinking what the bride would expect a DJ to provide for a wedding that's 5-6 hours long with them spending that much.

Everybody here is correct and I'm wrong. There hasn't been an argument like in the past about a DJ not charging enough for a certain type of event. So I apologize.
Ok... and my pricing includes an overtime rate should they want to go beyond 4 or 5 hours. No big deail. I don't know why you view that as an obstacle. And they expect the same thing at 4hrs... just for 1 or 2 hrs longer. I don't get why you're making pricing such a difficult thing and why you can't make it simple for your clients like the rest of us do.
 
Ok... and my pricing includes an overtime rate should they want to go beyond 4 or 5 hours. No big deail. I don't know why you view that as an obstacle. And they expect the same thing at 4hrs... just for 1 or 2 hrs longer. I don't get why you're making pricing such a difficult thing and why you can't make it simple for your clients like the rest of us do.
Taso,

RUN WHILE YOU CAN, lest you fall victim of/to:

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The DRAMAcho Vortex!
 
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Ok... and my pricing includes an overtime rate should they want to go beyond 4 or 5 hours. No big deail. I don't know why you view that as an obstacle. And they expect the same thing at 4hrs... just for 1 or 2 hrs longer. I don't get why you're making pricing such a difficult thing and why you can't make it simple for your clients like the rest of us do.
You consider after 4 hours that runs the event into over time. I don't. Now if the event is scheduled for a certain time and they want more time, then that is overtime for me. It reminds me of my day job when I was working. My shift was for 8 hours. Anytime after the 8 hours and I was working, that was considered overtime. Now the next work day was just regular time again. There was the exception to that and that is if it snowed for example and we had to remove the snow on Saturday or Sunday, that was overtime for us. That's why I hated when it snowed on the wrong day and the wrong day was when it was during the week where we were to work automatically. Now the other thing was if it was a holiday and they had us come in that was time and a half. Sorry I meant to say in any case overtime meant you got time and a half your regular pay for each hour you did overtime.
 
You consider after 4 hours that runs the event into over time. I don't. Now if the event is scheduled for a certain time and they want more time, then that is overtime for me. It reminds me of my day job when I was working. My shift was for 8 hours. Anytime after the 8 hours and I was working, that was considered overtime. Now the next work day was just regular time again. There was the exception to that and that is if it snowed for example and we had to remove the snow on Saturday or Sunday, that was overtime for us. That's why I hated when it snowed on the wrong day and the wrong day was when it was during the week where we were to work automatically. Now the other thing was if it was a holiday and they had us come in that was time and a half. Sorry I meant to say in any case overtime meant you got time and a half your regular pay for each hour you did overtime.

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The rigidity of anyone's pricing is a reflection of the costs associated with changes to the booking.

For example, if I work alone then I can be more fluid about how much additional time I'll support and what to charge (or not) for that. I could do that because I answer only for myself.

Yet, if I am booked full time with back to back events there is no flexibility because that time which you did not book in advance has been committed to another customer. I now speak for their interests in addition to my own. If you booked me until 5pm and I have another event starting at 7pm you're not going to get any overtime with a last minute request. You have to book that time in advance prior to me booking another sale or failing that, accept that another DJ would relieve me at the appointed hour and book in advance for that option.

This presents still another inflexible condition - that of employees. If I have a staff of people working for me - they expect to get paid for every hour they work, and they DO want to wok. They too, may also be booked on consecutive gigs and unavailable for overtime. They may also simply choose to decline on the basis of their own personal lives. If they do stay, I will need to make payroll taxes and insurance payments based on the hours they work. The total cost of an employee who earns $30/hr may be as high as $90/hr to the company. This is true no matter what the specific employee does for work. If a crew of techs was told the event strikes a 11pm and it continues for two more hours - they all still expect to be paid their full rate for the 2 additional hours of their time wasted while sitting at the loading dock.

Finally, is the issue of consecutive gigs. My employees want to earn as much money as possible. They make substantially more money doing back-to-back gigs on a Saturday than they could by doing overtime on just pone gig, or by doing a mid-day (crossover time) event like 3pm-8pm. For that reason, I would typically price overtime HIGHER than the normal rate, and either outright decline or charge a huge premium to do a crossover time.
 
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I thought of something earlier today. Please don't make a joke out of this. My friend typically has a 5 hour slot for doing events. After that he would rather start packing up. If they want more he will do more but he really just like sticking to a maximum of 5 hours. For example he does these dances that may run from 8PM-1AM. Normally around 12:30 people start getting ready to leave. It's mostly an older crowd and by that time they have been there long enough. Especially the ones who organized the dance. He can do overtime but really doesn't like to. He's 70 years old and just looking at him you would never know this unless he told you.

That got me to thinking about a cut off time. I remember many years ago playing in a bar I could easily play from 9PM to 2:45AM. That was the standard cut off time for the bars in Newark because on a regular weekend they were allowed to stay open till 3AM. I could easily do that with no problem. I doubt I could do that today. Just asking the question here. Typically what is the most time you like to perform at an event? Keep in mind I'm not including the time you get there to setup to do the event. For me I'm probably in the same mind frame as my friend of 5 hours. Now that's unless I'm having a great time at the event. Some events I get lucky and get to do an event that's exciting to be the DJ doing the event. I cherish those events! Mainly because they make me feel like I'm not at work just doing my job.
 
You consider after 4 hours that runs the event into over time. I don't. Now if the event is scheduled for a certain time and they want more time, then that is overtime for me. It reminds me of my day job when I was working. My shift was for 8 hours. Anytime after the 8 hours and I was working, that was considered overtime. Now the next work day was just regular time again. There was the exception to that and that is if it snowed for example and we had to remove the snow on Saturday or Sunday, that was overtime for us. That's why I hated when it snowed on the wrong day and the wrong day was when it was during the week where we were to work automatically. Now the other thing was if it was a holiday and they had us come in that was time and a half. Sorry I meant to say in any case overtime meant you got time and a half your regular pay for each hour you did overtime.


Man, I'm sure that everyone here really appreciates you explaining to them all about overtime and how it's calculated. Your just a wealth of information bro. We would be lost without you.
 
Man, I'm sure that everyone here really appreciates you explaining to them all about overtime and how it's calculated. Your just a wealth of information bro. We would be lost without you.
No you wouldn't. It's all in what is overtime to you when working a gig. I was caught up into Taso and him talking about doing 4 hours for an event and the way he kind of put it anytime after that is what he considers overtime. Sorry if I got it wrong Taso. I just figure you like doing events that last 4 hours and are satisfied with that. If it longer you can do it but you would rather do a 4 hour event.

In my case with my health issues I can't do events as long as I used to. Well I'll say I can only stand but so long while doing an event. I have to have a way for me to sit down.
 
No you wouldn't. It's all in what is overtime to you when working a gig. I was caught up into Taso and him talking about doing 4 hours for an event and the way he kind of put it anytime after that is what he considers overtime. Sorry if I got it wrong Taso. I just figure you like doing events that last 4 hours and are satisfied with that. If it longer you can do it but you would rather do a 4 hour event.

In my case with my health issues I can't do events as long as I used to. Well I'll say I can only stand but so long while doing an event. I have to have a way for me to sit down.
I don’t care how long the event is for... but if you know anything about venues in NJ, all venues offer 4hr wedding receptions with a 1hr cocktail hour in a separate location. Venues charge for the 5th reception hour, and therefore so do I. When I used to say it covers up to 5hrs, I’d get ppl left and right saying my event is only 4hrs, can I save 20%. The reason it’s hard to be on the same page with you is because you don’t work at banquet halls, you work at family/friends homes or public locations, or rent a halls. I’m not putting it down, but we’re not talking apples to apples.
 
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Typically what is the most time you like to perform at an event?

Don't care.
The actual performance is often like down time for me. The work is easier and a lot more fun than the hours of setup and tear down that often go into an event.

I'll be on an event site tomorrow from 10am - 10pm or later. The actual event itself is only 90 minutes long.
 
Don't care.
The actual performance is often like down time for me. The work is easier and a lot more fun than the hours of setup and tear down that often go into an event.

I'll be on an event site tomorrow from 10am - 10pm or later. The actual event itself is only 90 minutes long.

This.

I spend considerably more time on an event than the performance alone. Whether I'm performing for 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours... doesn't make any difference to me. That's the FUN part of this work!
 
Details, such as performance times and duration are always established in the written contract as are contingencies such as overtime requests made at or near the end of an event.

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aka
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