What percentage of your subscription music do you actually use?

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Papa Deuce

Mac Daddy DJ
Aug 8, 2006
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Valley Forge Area
Not naming names, but I bought about 75 discs from a service that came from 2005 - 2007. I am importing some now. Seriously, as I read the titles, there are MANY WHOLE DISCS that I can't even see one song that I would use or even be asked for.

Right now, I think the "best" one had about 5 songs on it that would ever have a chance at being played at an event I am doing.

And along those lines, I am shaking my head at my own stupidity. I can't believe how many CDs that I have bought through the years that were played maybe only once or twice. I'm estimating that I have "wasted" about $1500 on music that I not only have never played at an event, but really just don't enjoy.
 
TONS!!!!

I am CD based and I carry 4 cases with me. I also use the Promo Only Radio Essential series. I use the RES more than anything and I mostly stay in the 2 cases with the newer music. Probably 2005-present. Sometimes I don't even open a case for a 6 + hour wedding reception.

Doing other event (non wedding) I try to bring out some older music (2000 on up) but weddings it is either the traditional wedding songs and the newer hits.

I do enough weddings that I want to keep the Prime cuts for the new music but I also think I have wasted so much money on music it isn't funny.
 
Karl Langford said:
TONS!!!!

I am CD based and I carry 4 cases with me. I also use the Promo Only Radio Essential series. I use the RES more than anything and I mostly stay in the 2 cases with the newer music. Probably 2005-present. Sometimes I don't even open a case for a 6 + hour wedding reception.

Doing other event (non wedding) I try to bring out some older music (2000 on up) but weddings it is either the traditional wedding songs and the newer hits.

I do enough weddings that I want to keep the Prime cuts for the new music but I also think I have wasted so much money on music it isn't funny.
Click to expand...

I need to find out more....
 
Buying music is just the cost of doing business. I spend less on music than I did 20 years ago when I used wax. These days you can get much more music for less $$$. Thank You Promo Only.
 
I've always been highly discriminating when purchasing but, there is no escape from the deep album requests you get from brides, etc. I built up a substantial archive of that kind of stuff and then got smarter and embarked on an effort to use the couples own discs whenever they were available.

So many brides will walk into a planning meeting with their own obscure disc in hand - it's just foolish not to say "well, why don't I simply play it from your disc?" They are all too happy to oblige.

A bride walked in yesterday with a few classical selections that she was fond of. I have them, just not the exact renditions she's been listening too. Solution: Copy her disc, play it at the event and leave the copies with her wedding gifts after the reception. Legal? -Yes, it's her music, her copy, her private event and all is good. (see: AHRA 1992 US Copyriht Law Chapter 10)

Sometimes they just bring the discs with them but, if it's a critical song like a processional for the ceremony or a special dance I pefer to make the copy in case they forget. It also provdies a backup should something happen to the original.

I also managed to get rid of a lot of that original archive collection by selling them on Half.com On average, a used CD sale will recover about $3 or $4 - since I typically paid about $8 to $10 for CDs it was a 30% - 50% recovery.
 
So Bob if you go on vacation to Canada are you legally supposed to play them in your car once across the border? Humor me here.
 
I've finished my library conversion to digital, and because I am going to be carrying my discs with me as back-up , and just in general anyway as well, I want to maintain a current working library on disc, but I did convert from one big-assed heavy case down to two smaller ones and I purged a bunch of discs from my cases that I have never once touched in my 5 years of dj'ing so far.

Nice to know I have access to them digitally now in case of the "Big IF," but I'm just going to err on the side of experience-to-date in deciding that I can safely remove them from my gigging disc library.

I remember someone on here a long time ago saying they condensed their subscriptions down to the most played/popular out of each year and paired down the number of discs that way, and I may do that somewhere down the road as well. It'd be nice to be able to reduce the two cd cases I'll *still* be carrying down to one Case-Logic CD book!
 
Proformance said:
Radio essentials is only available in Canada, (licensed only for Canadian residents) and it's only a solution for relatively new DJs.

Those of us old enough to "live through" all of those radio hits had to buy them as they occurred!
Click to expand...

Oh well. Better call the mounties.
 
Very small percentage, and I would have no idea on an actual number.

I guess it would be about the same on the "bought" CDs that I have in the library. Lots of tunes and only a very small amount gets used on a regular basis.
 
Proformance said:
Radio essentials is only available in Canada, (licensed only for Canadian residents) and it's only a solution for relatively new DJs.

Those of us old enough to "live through" all of those radio hits had to buy them as they occurred!
Click to expand...

Wrong - was available in Canada....no longer....you can buy used sets though if you can find them.

In 2006 I purchased a 40 cd set; Music that matters from MacMillan Music; a great compilation.

I see they have a 162 cd set available...

DJ Music Supply Canada (Prime Cuts distributor in Canada sells a 125 cd set...Great for anyone starting out


http://www.discjockeymusicsupply.com/ashop/catalogue.php?exp=2|&cat=5&shop=1
 
You can never have too much music. We are in the music playing business. You never know what a client is going to request. My rule of thumb is if it is played on the air, you should have it in your library. The subscription services generally supply you with what you need.

Of course, there are always gonna be tunes that die a quick death and rarely get played again. It's a cost of doing business.
 
I agree with Steve. I spend 69.95 per month on a subscription service, 25.00 on itunes for salsa, meringue and bachata and about 25.00 on remixes per month. I look at it as a cost of doing business. A 120.00 music investment is worth it for me and I do an average of 4-6 gigs per month. The money is made back in less than 1 hour of one gig.

I know I will never play every song in my library, but it feels good when somebody ask for a request and you have it. I also play some songs before they even become hits on the radio. This is also rewarding and makes your service stand out from the others. Music is key in this business...
 
You can never have enough music no matter what you should always be prepared for anything music wise it is always better to be safe than sorry.
 
My rule of Thumb 25years ago

was I look at each CD if the music on a CD (especial an Artists CD)
contained more than 6x of that CD them maybe I would buy it

A Greatest hits CD certainly

a Various Artist CD was that it must have more than 10x playable tracks I can use
or it would normally stay at home

you get to know what will play and what wont (if you know your music)
 
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