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Advice for Getting Paid Gigs

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  • September 27, 2012 at 10:38 am #1012744
    P.Chiddy
    Member

    The decent money for me started coming in when I accepted that DJing for younger audiences in the most exciting venues did not come with any money attached. My first big pay cheque was a club night I organised, promoted and charged for myself, so every penny on the door went in my pocket. Since then, it’s never been clubs or college / uni parties that have paid out, but the mobile disco stuff for the oldies / weddings / private parties thrown by rich parents. Building my own personal set-up of a decent speaker system, mixer, laptop and controller has opened up more doors than I can count.

    It’s the old cliche of “spend money to make money”. I got a part time job which I hated, knowing that at the end of it I’d have enough money to buy the basic equipment to get started, then I quit that job and now I make a decent living off DJing.

    October 3, 2012 at 3:18 pm #1013002
    Zoosh
    Member

    You know what I do? Instead of giving them a sales pitch of I can do this and that etc show them your confident in your abilities to get the place jumping by telling them you will do the first gig for free. Shows some balls and means they have nothing to lose if your crap then no big deal they dont pay you. Make sure you do your research about the venue and customers etc and try to get feedback about how your playing during the gig if they like it etc nothing like playing the wrong vibe and getting fired cos they dont like your music even though you may be doing nothing wrong.

    October 5, 2012 at 6:27 am #1013080
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    They might be cheap, but hell can’t they give you even 5 bucks per person?
    5 bucks per Person for a night a real cool entertainment? That should not be too much to ask. Many students will waste 10 times that amount on beer and drinks that evening or are they for free too? It is far less than they would have to pay to get into any respectable club with a club DJ. I am sure they can do that, or do they have no respect for the job you perform?

    I am never playing for free. In 2 weeks I got a gig at a friends house party, where I expect only 20-30 people. He is a friend, so I will play and I will cut him a deal, but I am never playing for free.

    October 5, 2012 at 12:12 pm #1013106
    Zoosh
    Member

    Well my point was that offering to do it for free shows confidence in your abilities. I do 6 gigs a week in the summertime 4 of which pay a lot less than i should take. The way I look at it its all good practice doing a 4 hour set is a good training every season I consider myself a better DJ.

    October 5, 2012 at 12:18 pm #1013107
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    Either you practice or you play a gig.
    When a cook serves you a meal, he will charge for it wont he?
    If you find any restaurant that will deliver free food to my new years party for 20 people, to test if its good, I am game, please tell me their address. They can practice that at my house parties also 2-4 times a year. I am sure they will get better at catering also.
    Ah I could also use some waiters for free and maybe someone who started to make new drinks that gives me free drinks.
    Maybe you could also get a live band to practice for free and bring their PA for free that we can use to DJ afterwards….

    You are not only hurting yourself by playing free and by looking unprofessional…. you are hurting the DJ industry as a whole.

    October 11, 2012 at 7:50 am #1013378
    DJ Skittles
    Member

    Zoosh, post: 29446, member: 838 wrote: You know what I do? Instead of giving them a sales pitch of I can do this and that etc show them your confident in your abilities to get the place jumping by telling them you will do the first gig for free.

    Terry_42, post: 29525, member: 1843 wrote: They might be cheap, but hell can’t they give you even 5 bucks per person?
    5 bucks per Person for a night a real cool entertainment? That should not be too much to ask. Many students will waste 10 times that amount on beer and drinks that evening or are they for free too? It is far less than they would have to pay to get into any respectable club with a club DJ. I am sure they can do that, or do they have no respect for the job you perform?

    I am never playing for free. In 2 weeks I got a gig at a friends house party, where I expect only 20-30 people. He is a friend, so I will play and I will cut him a deal, but I am never playing for free.

    I like both your points. I have done a lot of the “I’ll play the first one for free” business, the problem is that is what they expect from then on. I was doing a “free” party once and the person I was doing it for loved me. But once the next party rolled around, and i asked for a little compensation, he quickly dropped me for another DJ who will do it for free.
    With Terry’s point, getting students to even agree to a price is troublesome. And, yes students will spends tons on alcohol, but what I’ve found out it they spend everything on alcohol. Then, when they are getting money from people who are drinking that night, they conveniently “forget” in their drunken stupor or then “didn’t get enough” .

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