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Getting lowballed?

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  • May 8, 2015 at 7:28 pm #2191491
    Cusp Cusp
    Participant

    You don’t need to associate with people who don’t value you. Some people think that you should pay them for the privilege of DJing because they are providing an audience. All I can say is learn the art of negotiating, and always be able to walk away from the table with a “no thank you.”

    May 8, 2015 at 10:48 pm #2191551
    Scott Faust
    Participant

    100% no. I wouldn’t go under $1000 and I tend to be lenient with pricing in my market.

    May 8, 2015 at 11:20 pm #2191571
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    So, let’s say 2.5k on the PA, 1k for the controller, 1k for laptop, cables, light, stands. Total about 4.5k (conservatively). Rental fee 4% = 180. Hourly rate at a minimum 50 (only if you want to give a big discount because the family connection etx), for a total of 350. Not talking about time for setup/breakdown and transport, that means about 530 at the low end of the spectrum imho.

    So, they should have hugged you and accepted the 400 bucks. Frankly, even for “friends” deal I don’t go below 600 anymore and that is for a 4 hour set. Usual prices range from 1000 up.

    May 8, 2015 at 11:47 pm #2191611
    DJ Malsidious
    Participant

    All things considering even with the great gear I’ve invested in, (love this controller). I’m not a seasoned vet either and definitely not Tiesto. I’d say I’m between a beginner and seasoned. I’ve decided to come out and play after years and years of working the corporate machine. Needed a way to fund this project back into existence. So I really wasn’t anticipating a large pay off. I’m glad to hear that I wasn’t too high.

    I figured that I should be charging around $75-100 an hour. There was some great youtube videos that a DJ answers some of these harder to hit questions and once I factored in the $5500 invested / estimated rental cost I thought I was pretty spot on for that range. Would you guys feel this is accurate?

    May 12, 2015 at 9:33 am #2192571
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    75-100 an hour I would consider a low and beginner DJ price even without PA.
    I would say the calculation of Vintage is on the lowball side.

    While I am what some may call a vet, I am by no means famous, maybe in some places well known and ask a lot more than that.

    May 12, 2015 at 1:56 pm #2192681
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    well … 50 an hour is 75 -/- 33% discount because of family gig 🙂

    May 12, 2015 at 4:24 pm #2192721
    DJ Malsidious
    Participant

    My lighting rig isn’t top notch yet and I haven’t gotten around to purchasing one of those cool screen things I’ve seen some of the more upscale wedding dj’s use yet. Figured I’m not quite at that 150 an hour range yet.

    I have decent light poles, but lot of cheap lights and no DMX controller just yet. The lights do put a on pretty “busy” show and light up the area nicely. I really need to hit ZZounds once I’m done paying off the DDJ-SX2. 😛

    May 13, 2015 at 4:02 am #2193021
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    They prolly want the cheap cheap rate cus ya know they expecting to get a family discount from you since ya know, they see you as a family

    How about you tell them, they can provide with their own sounds and lightning, and you just bring your DJ stuff

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