Just curious if you would quote on this event request or pass on it entirely?

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Would you pass on this event request, quote a 4 hour price, or quote a custom price?

  • I would pass on this event entirely because I don't do karaoke

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • I would pass on this event because it is not an event type that I work

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • I would pass simply because it is only 2 hours long, and 50 miles away. Not worth bothering with

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • I would quote it at my 4 hour minimum price that I have already set.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I would custom quote this event since it's such a small event and only 2 hours long.

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • I won't bother with it because I am not comfortable deejaying private house parties!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    5
DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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I quoted on this event request that came in. It is roughly a 50 mile drive one way for me. If one like this came your way on an open off date coming up, would you give them a quote, or pass? If you do give them a quote, would it be your "4 hour minimum price", or would you custom quote based on the 2 hour small party they are having?

Event type​

Birthday Party (Adult)​

Service type​

Karaoke DJ, Karaoke Musician​

Service time​

Friday, 11/29/2024​

8:30 PM - 10:30 PM​

2 hours​

City & state​

Rockville, MD​

Venue​

House​

Number of guests​

25 or so​

The event is a birthday party for my 28 year old son. The event will be at my house and it will be indoors. Sit down dinner will be served 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm. Everyone will be dressed in their favorite music star outfit. Prizes will be given to the best costume and best performance.
 
I don't do Karaoke so I would probably pass but if I was quoting it it would be the full 4 hour rate plus travel
 
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djtaso said:
It’s karaoke so this may be a novelty service that is normal
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I have seen 2 hour performance times before for karaoke, but typically it's 3-4 hours, and sometimes 5 hours. It seems like she wants to have dinner, and have family/friends each do a quick karaoke performance while in costume, and then they judge who had the best performance is my guess. Only 2 hours because they want the party to be quick, and on a low budget.

I already got this response to my quote:

"Hi, thank you for your quote but I will pass on that for now. Thanks"
 
Yes, karaoke events are 2 hrs after that it is additional. Besides who the hell wants to hear karaoke for 4 hrs. I’ve done plenty of private parties like this. My first booking from my website on AOL back in the 90s was a karaoke party like this. I stopped doing the combo DJ/karaoke events as those are just a PIA & not worth the aggravation dealing with dancers & singers. Although I had one karaoke party where everyone was drunk & they could not read the song lists. So they had me select songs, the guy’s wife was a former Playboy Playmate so let’s just say this was a very interesting party in the Hamptons.

Really you don’t a have choice for me to select as 2 hrs is the normal price & it doesn’t manner if it’s 25 or 500 people. Events like this come in from a booking agent or referral so they have an idea of the price beforehand.
 
I'm like Jeff. I don't do karaoke either. So I would pass and give them my friends number so they can contact him to see if he would do the event.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
I have seen 2 hour performance times before for karaoke, but typically it's 3-4 hours, and sometimes 5 hours. It seems like she wants to have dinner, and have family/friends each do a quick karaoke performance while in costume, and then they judge who had the best performance is my guess. Only 2 hours because they want the party to be quick, and on a low budget.

I already got this response to my quote:

"Hi, thank you for your quote but I will pass on that for now. Thanks"
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the "I wanted to pay $100" prospect. Classic.
 
rickryan.com said:
Ah yes, the "I wanted to pay $100" prospect. Classic.
Click to expand...

Yeah they won't find anybody. It's only 2 hours, and a Friday night, BUT it's Black Friday. That is a SLOW date for events, HOWEVER, there are fewer DJs available to work that night because it's a holiday weekend in general. AND, this is Montgomery County. Nobody is doing this gig today in 2024 for less than maybe $500 and that would be a low rate to quote today in that area.

There is something about private house parties some DJs I believe choose not to do them. Your inside someone's house. It's not exactly as professional as working in an event center, hotel, community center etc. Not that I have ever had an issue, but the possibility of being all set up with your equipment inside someone's house and something were to happen like dealing with drunk family members or something is a situation a DJ wouldn't want to deal with in a private situation. You have other people around like venue staff, catering staff, other vendors in a commercial event setting. So, doing a job like this on the cheap just doesn't sit well with me logically.

...So that lowers the pool of available DJs willing to take on this job too.
 
tunes4046 said:
It would be minimum private event charge of $795
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That is exactly what I quoted!

$250 deposit, and $545 due the week before the event. Honestly, any lower than that, and I don't want to make the trip down there for it. I also don't know how many stairs this house has, but usually I gotta hand carry everything into a house when I dj in one. 25 guests so I would only use my old pair of Alto 10" speakers, or a single MLS1000. No need to bring anything bigger.
 
The audio needs for home karaoke are generally minimal. The bigger issue is the screen. Most homes have a big screen TV. If you can use that, life is much easier. You may want a 2nd monitor for the singer depending on the room layout. We do karaoke a lot in our living room but unless the house is really packed, most people will just use the main screen. When the house is packed, the singers usually stand in a corner where it is hard to see the big screen. My smaller (24") stand-mounted screen fills in there. BTW, I will no longer used wired mics indoors. I have seen too many wine glasses get knocked over by the cables.

The problem I would have with this gig is that the driving time. It takes at least 90 minutes to drive 50 miles here, sometimes way more depending on the direction and time of day. I rarely take gigs more than 25 miles away. Also, you probably wouldn't want to set up during dinner so that means arriving early and probably playing background music during dinner. In other words it is at least a four hour gig plus 3 hours travel. I would suggest they find someone much more local.
 
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This event sounds like what a lot of DJs on here talk about. A gig like this sounds like a gig where the client isn't looking to spend much. There may not be enough money that the client wants to pay to make it worth doing the event.

Then there are those who have a minimum amount of money they will do an event for and their minimum is good amount of money. Some might negotiate a little if they choose to. It won't be much. A gig like this I would expect the client no more than $300 and that's a stretch.
 
Personally, I wouldn't want to pack up all my gear, unload all my gear, setup all my gear, break down all my gear, load all my gear and then put it back in the garage...for 2 hours.
If they would be willing to pay my full price, I'd probably do it. But I don't do karaoke.
 
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I wanted to wait for another post. Let me break it down. It says one way is 50 milk. So the total trip is 100 miles. Now that means if you're using your own vehicle to get there and back the cost for the gas needs to be figured out. I don't know how much that would cost but I can guarantee you it's going to be more than $20. Now you got to come setup for the gig which means you got to get there in time enough to start the gig on time. Not to mention loading up the vehicle with the gear. Take it out of the vehicle and then setup the gear to do the event and when it's over load the vehicle back, drive to the place where you're going to unload the gear and if it's at home, go in the house to relax after the event is officially done. How much would it be worth it for you to do that event and do you think the client would pay the price you quote them? Also it's about how badly do you need to do the gig?
 
Let me add this. How many of you have the proper equipment to do Karaoke? Let's start with that before even considering doing that event. Then the way I see it is it's not about just this event. What about having other Karaoke events to do besides this one? If you have the proper tools to do Karaoke and enough gigs where you're doing Karaoke, it might be worth the investment to get the equipment to do Karaoke.

My friend JJ the master DJ does it on Wednesday and Thursday nights each week now. So he has work to justify him doing Karaoke. Wednesday night is the bar in Orange, NJ and Thursday is in a diner/bar/club in Newark, NJ.

He was talking to me about doing Karaoke. I told him I didn't have all the equipment to do it with and I don't have the money to spend to buy the equipment needed to do it. I have my controller, speakers, wireless mics and music to play like I was doing a regular DJ gig. What I don't have are either at least one TV screen for the singers to see the words to the song they are going to be singing. In some cases you need 2 screens. One for the singers and one for the crowd to see. Also you need the proper wires to set things up. Also you need a Karaoke program to use as well. My friend said it cost $50 a month to use Karafun. So those are things that need to be discussed about doing Karaoke.

If you already have the things to do Karaoke it might be worth it to do it.
 
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
Let me add this. How many of you have the proper equipment to do Karaoke? Let's start with that before even considering doing that event. Then the way I see it is it's not about just this event. What about having other Karaoke events to do besides this one? If you have the proper tools to do Karaoke and enough gigs where you're doing Karaoke, it might be worth the investment to get the equipment to do Karaoke.

My friend JJ the master DJ does it on Wednesday and Thursday nights each week now. So he has work to justify him doing Karaoke. Wednesday night is the bar in Orange, NJ and Thursday is in a diner/bar/club in Newark, NJ.

He was talking to me about doing Karaoke. I told him I didn't have all the equipment to do it with and I don't have the money to spend to buy the equipment needed to do it. I have my controller, speakers, wireless mics and music to play like I was doing a regular DJ gig. What I don't have are either at least one TV screen for the singers to see the words to the song they are going to be singing. In some cases you need 2 screens. One for the singers and one for the crowd to see. Also you need the proper wires to set things up. Also you need a Karaoke program to use as well. My friend said it cost $50 a month to use Karafun. So those are things that need to be discussed about doing Karaoke.

If you already have the things to do Karaoke it might be worth it to do it.
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I don't like doing karaoke much, but when I do book karaoke events (Almost always corporate) I put a smile on my face, and make sure I show enthusiasm, and encourage people to participate and sing. I did a corporate karaoke event down at a real high end resort in Virginia last month on a weekday. I have done that event 2 years in a row now.

It is cheap to offer karaoke these days. The one major requirement is having a good internet wifi connection. Without that, the cheap option doesn't work. I make sure I am in a great cell phone service area for the event before I quote on it, or the venue has wifi available.

Karafun is so easy to use and I will continue to use it for the 1-2 karaoke bookings I have every year.

The only additional equipment needed these days for karaoke is flat screen TV, Long HDMI cable, and kara fun app, All the other equipment I regularly use. Should have at least 3 or more microphones to use (preferable to use wireless)
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
I don't like doing karaoke much, but when I do book karaoke events (Almost always corporate) I put a smile on my face, and make sure I show enthusiasm, and encourage people to participate and sing. I did a corporate karaoke event down at a real high end resort in Virginia last month on a weekday. I have done that event 2 years in a row now.

It is cheap to offer karaoke these days. The one major requirement is having a good internet wifi connection. Without that, the cheap option doesn't work. I make sure I am in a great cell phone service area for the event before I quote on it, or the venue has wifi available.

Karafun is so easy to use and I will continue to use it for the 1-2 karaoke bookings I have every year.

The only additional equipment needed these days for karaoke is flat screen TV, Long HDMI cable, and kara fun app, All the other equipment I regularly use. Should have at least 3 or more microphones to use (preferable to use wireless)
Click to expand...
Thanks for your post you just made. It's spot on. My big thing is you have the equipment to do it and you know how to do the setup to get it to work. I agree that normally a DJ doing karaoke at an event doesn't pay a lot today. Now that's subject to what an individual considers to be a little amount of money.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
Long HDMI cable,
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I use a wireless HDMI transmitter in my home system. These are about $130 on Amazon and work great. The one I use has a headphone output jack on the receiver. I plug this output into my wireless mixer. This insures that there is no latency or lip sync issues related to the wireless link. That said, I don't really know what the latency of the link is. There may not be any issues worth worrying about. Note: these links require external power.

The other piece of gear I carry with me is a 2:1 HDMI splitter. This lets me use a second screen if available and needed. These cost less than $30 on Amazon and use standard USB cables for power.
 
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Ausumm said:
Personally, I wouldn't want to pack up all my gear, unload all my gear, setup all my gear, break down all my gear, load all my gear and then put it back in the garage...for 2 hours.
If they would be willing to pay my full price, I'd probably do it. But I don't do karaoke.
Click to expand...

In a interesting coincidence, I just booked a 2-hour gig this December.
I took it because....
it's December (Christmas presents)
it's $350 for a Friday night
it's one hour of background music
it's 3 miles from my house
it's a sound-only gig
 
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