What do you make of this, if anything?

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Papa Deuce

Mac Daddy DJ
Aug 8, 2006
19,843
594
64
Valley Forge Area
I DJ 2x a year at a particular Goddard school. One is a bubble party and 1 is an open house. This year I may do a Christmas in July party as well. So, you would think that I am "their DJ"..... at least I would. I found out that they do two other parties a year where they use a DJ.... a Valentine's Day dance, and a Halloween party.

Now, no doubt that I am happy to do 2, and possibly 3 events a year for them, but I am a little confuzzled about why I don't get all the events.

Any thoughts on this? This is my 3rd year at this particular Goddard school, and I have contracts already signed for 2 events this year.
 
jokerswild said:
Maybe different commitee's hire for each event...?
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bingo.i've seen that happen with a high school close to me.end of summer party is done by one dj and another does their christmas party.2 different commitee leaders who want thier different stuff.
 
Maybe they like to mix things up a bit...

I probably wouldn't hire the same band or DJ for consecutive events -- I'd get bored. It's sorta like Playboy doesn't put the same gals in each issue (ok, maybe that's a bad analogy for you Son)... ;) :D
 
Agreed. Different committees have "their" DJs; it's not often a closed market.

Papa, there's an advantage to this. Schools are not an easy market to get into. If you can get in and do well by the students and staff, you've got a lifetime gig. If you outlive your competitor you stand a good chance of getting even more bookings.

Back in the '90s I was able to get into a middle school dance rotation for a few years with a local competitor. The students liked both of us and pretty much split the dances between us. The competitor got the winter ball and some others. I got the end of year 7th grade dances and a few school-wide shows.

I would have liked to have had the full playbill and I'm sure the competitor would as well. As Rick mentioned, the students didn't want the same DJ every time. :)
 
What we noticed is that if a school tried to use us for all dances, when they decided to 'try something different' we would lose all of them. If we perform at only their 1 or 2 biggest/most important events, we don't wear out our welcome. No matter how good you are; no matter what you bring to the table, different folks will feel the need to try different folks. Spreading the wealth creates job security.
 
eezee said:
Val - I Pity the fool that has to put on a show in between/ after you guys. It must be a daunting task to bring what you do. For starters, most DJs dont load in with a semi.
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I've got a regular customer who offered to "pay anything" to take a date away from another customer who booked just a few days earlier. Wanna take on that show next fall?! :sqerr:
 
jokerswild said:
Maybe different commitee's hire for each event...?
Click to expand...

CMWAT said:
bingo.i've seen that happen with a high school close to me.end of summer party is done by one dj and another does their christmas party.2 different commitee leaders who want thier different stuff.
Click to expand...

I doubt they have more than one "comittee" for a daycare with a total of 30 or 40 kids. I doubt they even have a single comittee. In my experience, with Goddard schools, all decisions are unilatterally made by a director.

Thing is, I don't ever do the same thing more than once a year. Bubble Party... Open house.... and this year possibly Christmas in July, or she asked about a parachute party.... Everything is different.

I also DJ private birthday parties there, but those are paid for by the parents of the children whose birthday it is.
 
Papa Deuce said:
Thing is, I don't ever do the same thing more than once a year. Bubble Party... Open house.... and this year possibly Christmas in July, or she asked about a parachute party.... Everything is different.
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Not everything is different -- the DJ is the same ;)

People need fresh, dynamic content, to keep them coming back -- just like a website or TV show.
 
In that case, it's a possibility that they just want to pass the bookings around. If the other DJ company or companies were on site before you arrived, the director may be happy with all companies. :)
 
There's always goingto be that occassion when the DJ says: "no, I'm not available." It's not unusual for people to want more than one source for reliable service.
 
Valerie Ruste said:
I've got a regular customer who offered to "pay anything" to take a date away from another customer who booked just a few days earlier. Wanna take on that show next fall?! :sqerr:
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Funny you should mention that Val.........

I've had an idea brewing about that...PM me for details...
 
Valerie Ruste said:
What we noticed is that if a school tried to use us for all dances, when they decided to 'try something different' we would lose all of them. If we perform at only their 1 or 2 biggest/most important events, we don't wear out our welcome. No matter how good you are; no matter what you bring to the table, different folks will feel the need to try different folks. Spreading the wealth creates job security.
Click to expand...

I agree with Val. No matter how good you are or how much you change eventually people bore of you

I did the same venue for 7 years NYE. Every year except year 1 we sold out (about 500 people )including the 25 extra couple tickets they held back for the door. They decided to go another route and Two years in a row now they only had 225 or so there. They ae currently negotiating with me for this NYE

There are also 2 venues here that I have tied up really well the last couple of years. Between the two of them in December alone we did 14 bookings. One of them has booked someone else or Valentines day.... They have me booked for several after that. A change is as good as rest sometimes
 
Sometimes it comes down to money and having stay at home mothers run the committees.

I play for 2 of my elementary schools 2 dances a year each. I give them a very fair price. My 3rd elementary school would only call me for end of the year week day work not for their school dances. This 3rd school used me for a Halloween dance last year. They emailed me for a dance in March but said they had a DJ who could do for $250.00 I wished them well. I have to charge them the same price I charged the other schools. They didn't care about the many years while my kids were in school, I did these dances for free. Or that I gave them great prices on their week day work. All they could say is this other DJ does these dances to supplement his income from his other job and wants to give back to the community.

When they call me to do their week day work in June I'm going to make sure they check with their other DJ and see if he can do it for them cheaper. Oh wait, he has a real job during the week.

Sometimes it's just these stay at home moms who haven't a clue as to what happens in the real world. They're to damn busy scheduling play dates. Yea, I got a play date for them.:sqwink:
 
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