It's going down...

Kwikdraw, your'e a smart cookie, it aint at all significant.

This thread is about the factual downturn in marriages/weddings & a request for opinions about when these numbers may turn around. Not about the perctage of partial to full blown marriages/weddings and the specific dollars they are spending, etc...

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Translation: This is about Dude's interpretations - not about what actually happens in the marketplace.

Dude you're number is not just fact, for this purpose it's a useless fact.


The answer is NEVER. This is a secular centric society. Marriage, like religion is a casualty of erosion.

Did you forget about the 30 year meteoric rise of DJs during the height of this 37 year portrait of decline you're trying to paint?

Oooops! Must be an anomoly.

Proformance said:

Kwikdraw, your'e a smart cookie, it aint at all significant.



Translation: This is about Dude's interpretations - not about what actually happens in the marketplace.

Dude you're number is not just fact, for this purpose it's a useless fact.


The answer is NEVER. This is a secular centric society. Marriage, like religion is a casualty of erosion.

Did you forget about the 30 year meteoric rise of DJs during the height of this 37 year portrait of decline you're trying to paint?

Oooops! Must be an anomoly.

Click to expand...

Wait a minute...

With 92% of the American population reporting that they believe in god and over 70% (I forget the exact number) reporting to be some flavor of "Christian," we are HARDLY a "secular centric" society. Even non-Christian religions, such as Jews and Muslims, get married. Even Wiccans and Pagans marry! (An interesting sidenote: divorce rates are far lower among atheists who marry than any other group.)

That aside, we must look at overall population. The "baby boomers" set a pace that future generations will be hard-pressed to compete with. Our population is aging, as the boomers now enter their retirement years. Now, most of 'em all went and had kids, so the wave will continue, but in ripples, since they didn't all go and have 'em all at once.

The rise of DJs might be more due to technological advent and the high cost of bands than any population density / "erosion" of marriage issue. Once DJs became mobile and their amp / speaker power could match or better most bands, they became real competition. (Recall that DJs were once thought of as the "low cost alternative" to bands.) We're facing a similar situation today with the advent of the iPod. Some brides and grooms are renting sound systems and doing "do-it-yourself" weddings. (There's a whole thread on the topic at The Knot.)

Then there's gay marriage. Some states have legalized them, which could cause a spike in the events available for DJs to do if this ever becomes widespread.

Getting back to the point of the thread, Dude has made an observation and has asked our opinions as to when the trend will level off and / or reverse, and we've added all kinds of extra info as to why it's happening, etc. Which is fine -- more information is never a bad thing. Let's just be careful not to look for controversy and arguments where none exist.

Proformance said:

Kwikdraw, your'e a smart cookie, it aint at all significant.



Translation: This is about Dude's interpretations - not about what actually happens in the marketplace.

Dude you're number is not just fact, for this purpose it's a useless fact.


The answer is NEVER. This is a secular centric society. Marriage, like religion is a casualty of erosion.

Did you forget about the 30 year meteoric rise of DJs during the height of this 37 year portrait of decline you're trying to paint?

Oooops! Must be an anomoly.

Click to expand...

Wait a minute...

With 92% of the American population reporting that they believe in god and over 70% (I forget the exact number) reporting to be some flavor of "Christian," we are HARDLY a "secular centric" society. Even non-Christian religions, such as Jews and Muslims, get married. Even Wiccans and Pagans marry! (An interesting sidenote: divorce rates are far lower among atheists who marry than any other group.)

That aside, we must look at overall population. The "baby boomers" set a pace that future generations will be hard-pressed to compete with. Our population is aging, as the boomers now enter their retirement years. Now, most of 'em all went and had kids, so the wave will continue, but in ripples, since they didn't all go and have 'em all at once.

The rise of DJs might be more due to technological advent and the high cost of bands than any population density / "erosion" of marriage issue. Once DJs became mobile and their amp / speaker power could match or better most bands, they became real competition. (Recall that DJs were once thought of as the "low cost alternative" to bands.) We're facing a similar situation today with the advent of the iPod. Some brides and grooms are renting sound systems and doing "do-it-yourself" weddings. (There's a whole thread on the topic at The Knot.)

Then there's gay marriage. Some states have legalized them, which could cause a spike in the events available for DJs to do if this ever becomes widespread.

Getting back to the point of the thread, Dude has made an observation and has asked our opinions as to when the trend will level off and / or reverse, and we've added all kinds of extra info as to why it's happening, etc. Which is fine -- more information is never a bad thing. Let's just be careful not to look for controversy and arguments where none exist.

Note to self...

Aging population.
Need to diversify.

Dust off them "golden oldies" and start marketing to nursing homes, and assisted living centers.

Ps. Buy noseplugs.

Flyingdjdan said:

Note to self...

Aging population.
Need to diversify.

Dust off them "golden oldies" and start marketing to nursing homes, and assisted living centers.

Ps. Buy noseplugs.

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Don't forget the Bubble Machine.....hehehe

Dude Walker said:

I’m happy that you really don’t know when to quit...when your behind.

Thank You!

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Now, I don't care who you are, that's funny

DJMC said:

Don't forget the Bubble Machine.....hehehe

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You just don't know when to quit, do you, Matt?

Sheesh, enough already. Go mock the people who are making a lot of money already this summer using a Bubble Machine.

Jerk.

I'm going to toss the statistical red herring that derailed this thread aside...if we're in the people business we have to look underneath the bare statistics. If you have a service people want, you'll get a bigger percentage of the available weddings no matter how many/few there are overall.

Fred Stewart said:

We can no longer just play music. Remember, we are not in the disc jockey business. We're in the entertainment business.

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Ding ding DING! Did this little nugget just slip by or has Dude chosen to ignore it.

Just about every bride I've spoken to has a friend who is a disc jockey. And as has been said, to most people the only difference between one DJ and another is price.

That's why more than ever we have to position ourselves as entertainers and not DJ's. Very little of what I tell prospects about my service has anything to do with the number of songs I have or gear I use. It's not hard - or expensive - to find someone who's scored a digital library and a couple of big speakers for a couple hundred bucks.

Developing our personality as emcees and entertainers is the golden ticket to keeping the professional mobile DJ industry "relevant" in years to come.

Personality... shouldn't that be a basic requirement, along WITH the speakers and music???

If we didn't have personalities, what's the difference between us and a jukebox... the fact that we can make announcements? Hell, I remember back in the day, before it became the norm for DJs to handle all the announcing, most banquet halls would have one of THEIR staff make the introductions and speeches. When I showed up at one place and said that I'd handle them, the poor waitress who had been tagged to handle the chore almost fell down with relief. "I HATE doing The Speech!" she said.

Just making announcements isn't "personality." Wanna see personality? It might sound dorky, but check out Tom Bergeron on "America's Funniest Home Videos" or "Dancing With the Stars." He not only has great quips from off the top of his head, but responds to what is going on -- with excellent wit and timing. He's in the moment, paying attention. THAT is what sets him apart from an "announcer." John Melendez of "The Tonight Show" announces... and not all that well. Who would you rather watch for an hour?

I think what Fred was getting at is that we are known for one thing: providing the music to make people dance. Maybe we do some routines to get 'em mingling. But what if you're a guest who's not into dancing? From their perspective, a DJ is a DJ is a DJ, no matter if they're a sparkling personality or complete dullard. It's time to think outside the DJ box.

Some already offer video, which is fine -- at least the non-dancers have something to LOOK at. Some offer karaoke -- another way to get people to participate without demanding that they dance. Still, dozens of DJs do that. So the questions become: what will YOU do?

Dude,
Why would you think that a population- adjusted figure would be more accurate than the actual number of weddings for forecasting? Let's say for illustrative purposes, there were 300 weddings in my area two years ago. This year, with a population increase of 25%, there are 297 weddings in the same area. The number of weddings decreased by 1%, which imo, is fairly insignificant and probably will not have an effect on my bottom line. A population - adjusted figure would show a approx. 9.17% decrease in weddings as a % of total population, however, the # of actual weddings has only changed by said 1%. So long as the actual number of weddings in the area stays consistent within 1% my bottom line would do the same - given that I maintain my market share.

(note: For anyone reading along - this is not meant to be argumentative, just comparing notes and discussing an interesting thought. I don't have time to waste with arguing.)

Dude,
You have compiled some interesting figures, I just don't know that I agree with your application of same.

Jon Tuck said:

Stu I might clarify my personality comment. It was meant to say I hope my personality will sell my services as equipment, CDs and a title we all have. The popular personality will most likely be the one chosen asides those things.

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I thought that might be the case, Jon. Just thought I'd put a finer point on it.

You condemn & attack without one shred of supporting basis for your contentions.

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My contention is that your "theories" are garbage. The support you build for them is garbage.

It's what you try to do with a number that is grabage, not the number itself.

Thank God you're a DJ.

What was the purpose of this thread again? :sqconfused: