I think it's the dj's fault as a whole that has created this negative perception of what dj's do and what it costs to get a good quality dj. In NJ alone, I can name a bunch of companies who came along out of nowhere, had a really strong marketing campaign with lots of money spent, and then disappeared. Why... because they didn't live up to the hype they created or because they realized it's not so easy to be profitable. After realizing they have to charge more to be profitable, they get no clients, or they get a few but don't live up to the standard that that price point expects. So across all price points, there's disappointment... not in just the cheap or mid range, but also the top range. This makes it tough for expensive dj's to justify to a random person why they're worth what their worth, and for the rest of the dj's it becomes a race to the bottom, where corners will have to be cut to remain profitable, or send out anyone you can find to book as many parties in a day as possible to be profitable. If we put less value into what we do... so do the customers. I mean look how much resistance I get the moment i mention to someone that they need to change or invest in something better.
So all in all, the consumer experience is destroyed across all pricing spectrums, and it's why we have negative experiences like those written by the reddit users. As a result, there are few dj's that have something for the consumer to strive for and why we all appear to do the same thing in the eyes of the consumer. Now there are venues that people wish they could afford or dream to have their wedding at, or photographers that shoot for celebrities and are sought after, etc... but few dj's fall under that category. The reasoning for that is content. Venues have pictures of their venue and host bridal shows with food tastings, photographers have their photos they shoot on display on their site, videographers have their videos, invitation makers have examples of invitations, bands have demo cd's or mp3's... but what do dj's have that they can show. In 2018, there is no excuse to not be showcasing content left and right. It's why in 2011 I started doing video recaps. This is why I've always said you NEED content more than ever... as I said to Ricky the other day in a lengthy post. You have to stand out somehow. Now that's great and all that I and some others do that... but that leads us to another problem. Some of the most sought after dj's tend to not need to advertise, just simply due to their word of mouth business. I don't advertise... not one penny. That makes these top tier dj's hard to find, as they won't show in most google searches. And unlike venues or photographers which just about every wedding needs... not every wedding needs a dj... some do bands... so they're exposed even less.
All in all, good dj's are hard to find. Most dj's are not motivated to push the limits in their area. Most dj's settle for mediocre. Most dj's are not motivated to strive to be the most expensive with the highest quality in their area... but strive to undercut to earn business. Few strive to improve the quality of their product, to learn from someone better than them, to change how they do things so they don't become stale, and tend to have the same performance in 2019 as they did in 2009. Most tend to complain about today's music as opposed to finding out how to incorporate it in the best way possible to maximize the results on the dancefloor. With this lack of motivation amongst 90% in our industry, it's easy to understand why 90% (or whatever the number is) of consumers are not motivated to spend a lot on us.
