Would you encourage someone to start a DJ business if asked?

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Would you encourage someone to start a DJ business if asked?

  • Yes

    Votes: 17 100.0%

  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    17
I'd encourage anyone to give it a go.... and I think you did the right thing not in discouraging him, but in giving him a reality check as to the scope of things and whats involved. I wouldve ENCOURAGED but with a talk about the sober reality.

My question though is this: How could he have been any kind of real or good assistant worth his salt if he didn't have SOME notion of all that was involved beyond queuing up a song or loading a cd in a slot? Unless by "assistant" you simply mean roadie (even then....), I would seriously question why he would not have a somewhat more rounded and grounded understanding of what may be involved... especially if he is as old as you say with a mortgage, et al.... Seems he *should* have a better idea of what is involved than you mention, or maybe just give him credit for.

???:sqconfused:
 
STG kinda hit the nail right on the head... which leads me to this question:

How could it even be POSSIBLE that an assistant of yours, Tom, think they can get in for $500? Surely he has seen your equipment. He must know of the investment required for music.....

Seriously, a "new" DJ who does things legally has to spend a minimum of $3000, IMO, just to hit the entry mark with a decent system with music, and probably at least $5000 in reality, unless they just don't care to be prepared and have at least "OK" gear.
 
SoftJock Rick said:
What happened to religion? Did you quit that too...? ;) :D
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Nope, it is religion and writing. BBQ is Chuck's shtick and I'll leave that to him.

Now, will I miss this? Of course I will. A full dance floor is like a drug, but, it is a drug I have no problems going cold turkey on.

What I won't miss is coming home from the day job Monday through Friday and making DJ calls from 6:30 to 8:30 and many times with nothing to show for it; travel to interviews; presenting the hype at the interviews; humping gear; clients that treat you like a slave (fortunately I was able to weed most of them out); clients that don't get the fact that if their guests are not having fun then they leave - I'm talking about the client that wants the DJ to only play their music and not take requests; clients that blame the DJ for every little problem; spending Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays away from my wife; spending the Sabbath (Saturday or Sunday) away from prayer with God; Wedding coordinators that just don't get it; bitchy banquet managers; wait staff that treat you like dirt; and so on.

The last two years have been great as far as fun events are concerned. I want to leave while I have many positive memories.
 
Papa Deuce said:
How could it even be POSSIBLE that an assistant of yours, Tom, think they can get in for $500? Surely he has seen your equipment. He must know of the investment required for music.....

Seriously, a "new" DJ who does things legally has to spend a minimum of $3000, IMO, just to hit the entry mark with a decent system with music, and probably at least $5000 in reality, unless they just don't care to be prepared and have at least "OK" gear.
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The $500 was me stating an outlandish figure; however, I did have a conversation with him on the way home. He told me that he possibly had three weddings lined up at $500 each and he was counting on the $1,500 to be his ante. I agree that $3,000 is probably the legal low-end entry figure these days.

In that conversation we really had the reality check.
 
I have had a few people asking me if I was going to quit. The answer is no, I'm too stubborn to quit, but I have realised that I am not cut out to run my own business.

I think what I'm going to have to end up doing is trying to find someone who runs a multi-op in this area and work for them.

As to the question at hand, i think what I meant is I would try to educate someone who is a lot like me at how hard this business is, and how EXPENSIVE the up front cost is. And if they REALLY wanted to do it, to be sure that they can find someone who will make up for their shortcomings.

-James
 
DJ J Mac said:
Ah, but sometimes it's that little known track that is actually going to be the best song of the night. Now I'm not saying we just play whatever, if we play something rarer, we make sure that it is played at the right moment with the right crowd.
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I think different. Experimenting with new music is for the radios.

SoftJock Rick said:
With all due respect Tom -- if that is the case, why have you been so prolific at spreading doom and gloom all over the DJ chat boards of late...?

Get into gardening, or make BBQ sauce or something -- us retired DJs have some interesting discussions, about non-DJ related topics... :)


What happened to religion? Did you quit that too...? ;) :D
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Now that's funny!

Papa Deuce said:
That's exactly what I WON'T do.... try to break music on my client's dime.
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Agreed

Tom Ohlendorf said:
Rick:

Most other folks have said much of the music is headed in the dumper.

As the people we work for; that is, the client, I've always said that the only thing that they care about is the price. I've lost track of the number of times I've been asked the "How much" question, tried to educate, and lost the battle.


As to the people in it, except for Merry's Faries and the bottom feeders, I will give most good credit. The ones on this board all hardworking with legitimate experience to share. I do put myself in the hardworking category as well.

As to the direction the business is heading, if automation persists, then we are becoming our own worst enemy. It does look too easy. I had a guy at last Saturday's wedding standing behind me make that very same remark. If you don't want me to say that then I will stop saying it even though it is becoming more true each day.
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Technology will persist, whether some people choose to use it or not. People have shown that they will pay for technology. Making things look harder than they have to be is not the answer. Becoming a better MC/DJ that is in demand is the answer. Playing music is easy. It's always been easy. Keeping 100's of people dancing with all different Genre's is not. If all people needed was access to lots of music, you could just roll in a jukebox and pick it up after the event. It just ain't that easy.

thatmusicguy said:
I'll open up the can......

If this person wants do do it part time or as a hobby......why not?

I would caution him that to do it right, it isn't cheap...and that if that person is intent on doing it...do it right...

If that person wants and thinks it'll put food ion the table and is considering giving up a job that does that, tell him he's crazy.....
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Papa Deuce said:
STG kinda hit the nail right on the head... which leads me to this question:

How could it even be POSSIBLE that an assistant of yours, Tom, think they can get in for $500? Surely he has seen your equipment. He must know of the investment required for music.....

Seriously, a "new" DJ who does things legally has to spend a minimum of $3000, IMO, just to hit the entry mark with a decent system with music, and probably at least $5000 in reality, unless they just don't care to be prepared and have at least "OK" gear.
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Tom,
You announced how long ago that you were getting out of the business and this is the first time you guys have talked about this? He didn't approach you about buying the business...but decided to start something completely brand new for a small price?

I think now is an excellent time to get into business. Lots of business are going under, equipment is available for cheap. I've helped 2 of my guys get into business for themselves in the last year. They still do some gigs for me, but also book their own gigs. They are very good DJs, but now they'll find if they are good business people as well. I want them to succeed. I also like them to see the costs involved in running a business. That is usually the biggest eye opener for people.

Now, would I reccomend to someone that's never DJ'd to open their own business? No way. Go to work for someone for a while first.
 
Scott, the other DJ on Saturday played safe songs all night. We didn't and that's part of the reason why the party came to us. :sqcool:

Among other unsafe sets, I played "Right Round" by Flo Rida and followed that up with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive; it worked because this was a crowd that dug the 80s. However, that's not safe. I played "It's Tricky" by Run-DMC; once again, that's not a safe song but it worked with this crowd.

Last year, I broke "Realize" by Colbie Caillat before it even hit the radio. I also played the tunes "Oxygen" and "Magic" from her album, Coco. Not safe, but it works.

I tossed in the "Hand Jive" song from Grease on Saturday, they went for that, too. I was also able to throw in some Hannah Montana songs for the young ones, later in the night and guess what...I had parents on the floor with the kids, along with the bride. People didn't leave; they refilled their drinks, took a breather, and came back on the dancefloor after the Hannah Montana stuff.

I've played tunes from groups like The Clash, The Ramones, The Doors, Disturbed, and Metallica at weddings. If that's what works, that's what I play. This is one of the many things that separates me from other DJs. I can work in the unsafe songs and still keep people partying. I suppose this sort of thing doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. :)
 
Oh my goodness, back to the original question. I don't think I even answered that.

Would I encourage someone? Hell yeah! At least, as long as they're smart about it. If they're gonna use Limewire and cheap equipment, I'll stay out of it. There's plenty of business to go around in this town for pros. A lot of DJs here don't play nicely, so it's nice to have more than just a couple of good, reliable DJs to pass gigs off to when I'm already booked on a date.
 
DJ Ducky said:
Scott, the other DJ on Saturday played safe songs all night. We didn't and that's part of the reason why the party came to us. :sqcool:

Among other unsafe sets, I played "Right Round" by Flo Rida and followed that up with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive; it worked because this was a crowd that dug the 80s. However, that's not safe. I played "It's Tricky" by Run-DMC; once again, that's not a safe song but it worked with this crowd.

Last year, I broke "Realize" by Colbie Caillat before it even hit the radio. I also played the tunes "Oxygen" and "Magic" from her album, Coco. Not safe, but it works.

I tossed in the "Hand Jive" song from Grease on Saturday, they went for that, too. I was also able to throw in some Hannah Montana songs for the young ones, later in the night and guess what...I had parents on the floor with the kids, along with the bride. People didn't leave; they refilled their drinks, took a breather, and came back on the dancefloor after the Hannah Montana stuff.

I've played tunes from groups like The Clash, The Ramones, The Doors, Disturbed, and Metallica at weddings. If that's what works, that's what I play. This is one of the many things that separates me from other DJs. I can work in the unsafe songs and still keep people partying. I suppose this sort of thing doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. :)
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I don't think most of the songs you mentioned above are what I would call obscure or unsafe. Songs that no one has heard of are the songs I consider "unsafe.

Playing Dead or alive to an 80's crowd or Hannah Montana to kids is something I would do everyday. It's tricky works great for people that like old school rap.

Right Round by flo rider is a hit. works just about everytime right now....not what I would call unsafe or obscure.

I believe what separates me from other DJs is I know what works for each genres and can read a crowd and know what should work.

Playing an unknown song during dinner or cocktail hour is no big deal.... But I only have 60-90 songs to play...I believe it should be songs that people know.
 
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Tom Ohlendorf said:
...So, today I sent him an e-mail detailing what he should expect to spend just to get out the door and then annually on webpage, advertising, insurance, music subscriptions, and so on.....
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So WOULD you share the email? I'd like to see these details from your experience. I'm totally uncalibrated as I did my DJing before in Japan with 'funny money' and beers that cost $12.
 
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