Yeah this is pretty accurate. Neither option though is better than the other... shoot for the stars requires heavy investments and being skilled in what you do. Without either, it's pretty much a certainty you won't appeal to that quality driven clientele willing to spend a lot. Going for price and value throws you in the pack with 90% of the other dj's and there's no guarantee you'll always get the quantity of bookings you need to make it especially since your prices are lower on top of it.
I agree, and I have further proof that the Middle Tier Clientele is eroding away!
The Talent Agency I am affiliated with has always catered generally to the Middle Class clientelle, and somewhat to higher end clients. They book DJs, and charge enough that they can earn a healthy commission which is usually around 30% of the gross total. Well, I have seen in recent years the number of inquiries from the agency drop significantly year after year. They use to be responsible for nearly 80% of my bookings. Now it is reverse. I book myself nearly 80% of my own bookings, and about 20% of the work I do still comes from them.
On top of that, They have gone from having 5 Agents 10 years ago down to just 2 agents today. They also recently "let go" of a Agent who had been with them for like 14 years. They also use to have a full time accountant, and like 3-4 office support staff. Today, accountant is very part time, and 2 part time office support people
They are shrinking due to falling sales to put it bluntly.
They lose a lot of clients right at the quote because clients want lower pricing, and can easily get it by booking direct with DJs they find elsewhere. I have also heard that their high priced DJs have been working less and less as time marches on. ...Hey, one of them contacted my sister asking if she had any over flow work to consider booking him!!!! ...A $2,000+ DJ is contacting my sister who rarely books above maybe $1,200 looking for work because the agency isn't booking him enough any more!
I also use to do A LOT of 40th and 50th and 60th birthday parties booked through the agency for well to do Middle class clients back between 2001 and 2010 that were booked in the $550 to $950 range. The agency doesn't get any of those type of parties any more. People are not throwing them as often as they use to, and when they do, they automatically go to the internet or find a friend of a friend to supply a DJ for $200 - $400.
This trend will continue until it pretty much erodes away. We will have a large group of Value/Bargain priced DJs out there, and a small handful of "high end" much higher priced DJs. ...The $600 to $1,500 price range will be a bad price range to be in the coming years. There will be very little to differentiate yourself as a DJ in that range compared to the low price market, and the high price market...and I'm in that range right now so I gotta figure out which way to move in the coming years if I want to stay relevant in this business and keep the income stream flowing!