What to charge per hour?

Hello young Padawan (well, assuming on the young part, but there you go!).

My “youthful enthusiasm radar” has just sounded the alarm.

You say you recently started DJ-ing, claim you have all the needed gear (after 38 years I still dare say I don’t have all I need, but that is personal) and you are ready to charge people for your performance.

Frankly, I’d be more impressed if you had told me a bit more about the countless hours you have spent practicing your craft, prepping your collection and playing a ton of house parties to get your feel for live DJ-ing (which is the only place you can learn that – the most important – aspect of DJ-ing) and how you are now feeling ready to set those first awkward steps out on today the real stage.

DJ-ing is not about lasers, lights, not even about speakers and a mixing deck (a controller with laptop?). It’s about music (specifically the love of it) and the ability to move a crowd of people unknown to you by taking them on a moderated musical tour with you being the tour guide. As said, “knowing what must come next” is not a skill to be learned from vids, books or even excellent DJ courses like the ones here at Digital DJ Tips. Those can help teach you the technical skills needed and steer you on the right path towards a good practice regime. But to become a DJ at a level that people are willing to pay you for your services as an entertainer (they can rent gear from any old rental company), you gotta walk the walk.

While we don’t advocate playing for free, that is true for places that would normally pay for a DJ to play. Getting some actual live practice under your belt by playing friends b’day parties and family bbq’s is very important and can be done without financial compensation (although I would at least get your gas money out of it). Or making a deal with a bar owner to play on an off-night and get a percentage of the increase in drink turnover (which is a kind of payment in itself, based on what you actually do for the venue, i.e. bring in more people and/or making the people there stay longer and drink more). At the end of the day, being a DJ is a service profession. And unless you are Tiesto, Armin, Hardwell or any of them, people don’t come to see you. You are just there to help the venue turn over more drinks.

Today, thanks to the wonders of digital DJing, a zillion starting DJs are stumbling over each other trying to land paid gigs. It takes work, lots of it and of the hard kind in networking, marketing, social media and such. A steady beating down of doors. Creating a following. To be able to play in any venue, more and more you are expected to bring in heads (preferably the kind that drinks a bit). If you are looking more at the mobile DJ side of things, what you can charge depends hugely on experience, track record, professionalism (of yourself and your setup), the kind of gig.

You asked “how much should I charge someone for me, per hour”. That’s an impossible question to answer. It depends on type of crowd, type of gig, your skills, your gear, your geographical location, your type of DJ-ing, the level of competition, and so on. But if, as your OP reads, you have limited experience DJ-ing at all and next to none doing it live, then frankly you are nowhere near the point of getting paid for a gig.

If I sound a bit harsh, I apologize in advance, I mean no harm.

I may have completely gotten your statement wrong, but this just sounded like a “gotta bit of kit, did some fiddling with the controls and I think I am ready to earn some money now” kinda attitude towards DJ-ing. And that is not gonna land you the gigs you want, let alone the ones that pay halfway decent.

If you want to know what experienced DJs earn, make sure you give us more info, like location, kind of DJ/gig, etx. Then maybe some of the readers in/near your location can give you a ball park figure as something to aspire to. Also there have been some previous forum postings on the subject, so the search function might be helpful in that respect.

You’ll find help here with most any subject regarding DJ-ing. Any well founded question will usually get you the answers you want. It’s a friendly and helpful lot here. So ask what you feel you need to know to get where you are going. But, I for one, won’t be answering “what can I charge” questions.

Again Harrison, it’s so hard to tell, too many variables. If in doubt, these are a few of the lines that you can use to dig for further information:

“I know you can’t afford my regular rate and I really want to help you stay within your means. What kind of budget do you have?”

“I won’t apply my regular rate here for obvious reasons, so make me an offer without insulting me”.

They’ll name a number, you can pretend to consider, maybe ask “plus gas money”? and then agree. Chances are that you come away with an amount that is acceptable to them. Especially the bit about “without insulting me” is a bit of a push to make sure they don’t try to squeeze you, but come up with a fair offer based on their financial reach.