Unhappy, music chosen for me at my 2nd gig

For birthday parties I always ask what the people want. I was once playing beatles / santana / bon jovi / guns and roses for a birthday party, which is not “mixable” music. But it’s their private party, and they choose what they want to hear…

On the other side, you shouldn’t be cheap for a private event. Between the equipment and your fee per hour you should have a pretty money falling in your pocket. It’s not like you’re mixing in a club to get your name out there and just plug your mixer on the sound system.

Maybe make them an offer including :

– hiring of the equipment
– installating the equipment / uninstalling the equipment.
– fee per hour.

And if they think it’s too expensive ask them how much an electrician takes per hour to come and repair electricity in their home…

It’s a give / give situation. Either they hire equipment, and play their own music through itunes or they take a DJ. It’s up to them to make a choice, you can’t have the best of both worlds 🙂

“He who pays the piper, dictates the tune” but the piper knows which tunes will/should work.
In other words, most people always think they know what music will rock their party or what their friends want to hear. In my experience, what i do is i tend to mix it up. I would usually start with what they want, try some of my ‘safe’ stuff, if it works, i will stay, if it doesn’t , i will go back to their list.
Also, if they come knocking, i’ll just flip back to their list and bear the consequences. A big part of djaying is human relations.

Good job. You handled the situation really well.

I didnt see if this was in the OP but are you playing at the same club, just for someones birthday…so technically, you are the promoter for the evening/DJ and they are just having the birthday party there? Is the venue involved in anyway between yourself and the birthday party? If thats the case then this is a little different but, If you are being hired outside of a venue, you are a mobile DJ and the rules for a Mobile DJ change dramatically than a club DJ. Playing requests and playing what the people who are paying you want is key. You need to be able to play any assortment of music. As well it is good practice at this point to start getting basic contracts setup between yourself and the client.

It is always a hassle and some people go about the whole “you dont trust me? I dont want to sign a contract”

You can just use the whole, hey man it just keeps both of us on the same page, and brush it off on someone else like, im sorry man it keeps us on the same page, and i hate to do it but the owner of my promo company requires that any gigs we take have to be in contract for like tax purposes and stuff so we have actual records ( even if u are owner, and sole proprieter)

Payment, make sure that if you have a set payment, that you recieve 50% of the payment up front…people tend to do stupid things when they get too drunk, dont need to be a dick about it, but this is a job for you, and your job is to make sure they are having fun.

I did this car show once outside in a empty parking lot, our fee for 6 hours including equipment was 500, as it was a favor for another friend of mine. Playing nothing but oldies and classic rock…yay for pushing play…no talent required at all…im pretty sure if i had a monkey for a couple of weeks i could have taught it to DJ this mobile gig :D.

They wanted us to play till 3pm, but they asked us to play for another hour. We charged an extra 150 for the 1 hour, and since we had done a great job with good music they didnt even balk at the extra 150.

Be fair, but be firm, dont get used and abused.