Do Ask Your Friends For Payment?

A true moral dillemma.

If your friend were a dentist, would you expect him to see you twice a year for free consultation?

If it is your BEST friend and he asks once, I’d probably give him a freebee. In all other cases, it is what I do to make money. I invest time in practice and music selection. I invest (pretty big) sums of money in equipment and when I DJ, I don’t get to enjoy the party (as a regular invitee would). So, even if it is a friends party, it is still “work”.

I have gotten to the point where I let them pay, perhaps at a discount and, the other way around, I expect to pay them when I want something from them professionally.

“If it is free, does it really have any value?”

Greetinx,
C.

You want my services you have to pay. Will I cut you a better deal? Sure.

Buddy of mine is a car salesman, I never got a free car from him, but he made me a very good deal on my car…

I DJ for mates for free because i love to play out you get to be the star of the party and it raises my profile if there are potential future employers out there.

thats for house partys ect, if it was for a club or an event where someone was making some money then i would want to make some money from it

Yes I would. Would I give them a great deal, yes of course.

Think of it like this, if you mate was a heart surgeon would he give you free heart surgery?? I would probably give my friends one free gig only.

I follow the principle I play you pay…

I dont think I could charge friends even a nominal amount. Would be happy to do a swap with them for time.

ie My partner and I have a few friends who a tradepeople. so if it was a gig for a plumber I would ask for some plumbing work in return. I don’t know what I would ask from an office worker though- possibly to make the tea and sit about abusing my free internet?

In fact now I think about it its all a bit Don Corleone – ” Someday , and that day may never come, I will call on you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this DJing as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day”

It depends in all honestly. If it’s a party that he’s making no money off of, and I’m in the mood to party, no cost at all (but he’s helping me get my gear down there =D). If my friend was having a wedding, I’d give a discount but definitely want something. If I’m not doing anything that night, most of the time I’d be at the party anyway, so why not =D.

My view (which basically summarizes what is here)

Factors

Distance – Is is the guy next door, or does he live 40 minutes away? If so, then definitely charge for gas

Set up – Some guys, like Nietzsky, have lots of equipment to cart (which, by the way, reduces gas mileage) so consider that. When i do a house party, I prefer lightweight Also, I dislike others helping me setup, mainly because if something isnt’ set up right, I can only blame myself for it.

Drinks – If this if for a friend, there are 3 ways this pans out
1) Free everything – You definitely get free drinks
2) BYOB – You should still (if you drink) get free drinks
3) Charge at the door – You get free drinks

Basically, if there are drinks in the house, you should not pay for drinks. Ever been to a dry party? Kinda boring, but a good DJ can make it interesting. Ever been to a party without music? See how long that night lasts. Now, that doesn’t mean get trashed. Know your limits. And free drinks are for you. Maybe, MAYBE a girlfriend, but not the 8 people you brought with you

Cover – If he / she charges for the event, YOU charge for the event, either set rate or percentage. Go with whichever is going to benefit you more (usually a set price for small parties, but if its a “200 person plus line outside” kind of thing, percentage BEFORE expenses is best (Because they will tell you they didn’t make a profit after buying alcohol, etc). Probably true, but not your problem.

And as Nietzsky and Domicile said, for something like a wedding, you charge, but with a discount of some kind. Personally, I know a guy I met when we were still in diapers, we grew up like brothers, I even lived with his family through high school. If he were getting married, I would do it for free. But unless you know someone like that, definitely charge

Robby Luca, post: 39500, member: 9512 wrote: I don’t think you can compare lmao He doesn’t own the cars, and they’re worth A LOT more than your DJing services.

I tend to disagree.
Yes he does not own the cars, but sitting there they do have no value for him. The only value he gets back is sales margin.
He has many different models to chose from and he can make a broad range of people happy in a very large market.

One the other hand as for DJing the only thing I own is MY SKILLS. Unless you are REALLY successful you will never get to a level where the time invested in training, learning and honing your skills will get to a point where you make real money and are compensated for all the time you put into it. The market, especially if you take only parties and clubs into account, is limited and hence price dumping will destroy a very small market for the people who already have a hard time to get compensated for everything they put into it.
Even worse when you consider that what Chuck very nicely wrote in another thread, that something given for free has no value.
So I hold it very true that, yes depending on how good a friend he is, I would cut a very good deal, but I would never do it for free and never would go below a certain level. As I strongly belief my skills are worth it.

Maybe a better comparison is another friend of mine: He is a very good chef and owns a restaurant. I do not think that if I tell him I throw a party for 20 people that he would come and cook for free for them. He would cut me a hell of a deal for catering I am sure of that and it would be a very low profit margin for him, but he is a pro and pros get payed.

The only thing I play for free (and he actually cooked for free) was charity events for our children hospital for children with cancer and I would consider freebies for similar events. But even for that event I “charged” my full price in theory, but the money went to the children.