And some people wonder why the rest of us can't make a living doing this.
The piracy issue is mute on that. If music is a significant expense for a single op - then that person needs to take a serious look at what they are doing and learn to buy music properly. Many DJs grossly overspend on music and are better described as "collectors" rather than DJs. It amazes me how many people run with outrageously heavy inventory and very light schedules.
When I was all vinyl and doing clubs which required constantly fresh music - I had a single collection that cost about $3,000/yr to maintain. That era peaked maybe ~1987. Now fast forward to the CD era and I'm buying for 5 mobile CD systems - the cost is now about half - just $1,600 ~ 1993.
Mobiles were so much more predictable and consistent, so I became more discriminating and the collections didn't need to be identical. They were all solidly rounded for weddings, but some were heavy on the younger stuff and others were heavy on adult & oldies. You match the right collection with the right job and DJ on any given day. Thus, I didn't waste space or money sending Patti Page CDs to a prom, nor did I have Jay-Z at 50th Anniversaries.
Now I'm a single-op again buying for one collection and my annual music expenditure is under $300. Promo only takes care of most new music and the rest I can purchase as needed and frankly, those days of buying $18 CDs for some obscure first dance song are long over. If the client doens't provide their own copy (and many do) it's just $0.99 to download it. It's so common now for people making requests to offer you their iPod as a source - and using their device is another great way play without pay.
As I see it - the people who think they need to own every song they play need to get a clue and realize they get paid to PLAY songs not COLLECT them. For the next group of people who feverishly obsess over DJs cranking out duped libraries - just get a life and get off the gerbil wheel. The only thing holding you back is your desire to run in place while looking for what everyone else is doing wrong.
Piracy is
no excuse for not being competitive. I don't care how many systems the other guys is running... music expense has nothing to do with how I'm going to out book him. I've seen some serious piracy in multi-ops over the years and I can assure you it doesn't work out well. The inability to come up with legitimate models extends to just about every other facet of their business and that is their true weakness. More than anything piracy just bogs these guys down in endless duplication and inventory issues which draws time and money away from productive use.
There is no validity to the equation GEAR = JOBS - it's a lie. As someone else mentioned, the best answer is to require your DJs to build and maintain their own collections. Give them a list of what they should have and concentrate on your TRUE business of booking events. SALES = JOBS and it's the guy with the customers and contract that makes money - not the guy holding the music.
