How to get your first club gig

At the end of the day, different people experience different situations.. I don’t think playing for cheaper is best but for someone with no name it can benefit you from the experience of playing to people not just playing to your bedroom wall!

I’m only 20 and have now played numerous gigs in different venues but haven’t yet played in front of more than say 150 people, my next aim is to take it up a notch and play to a larger audience but without playing cheaper at this club and getting full nights at full nights money and even more so getting in with the local DJ community I would still be a nobody working on getting gigs and struggling without a name!

For anyone starting out, yes promote yourselves but for the hungry dj’s out there who want to step outside the bedroom and feel a crowd (They need to play, warmup your local resident at the busiest bar/club in town – but play for a small fee, i’m not condoning and regret mentioning free, don’t be messed around!) unfortunately with the amount of people claiming to be a dj in the community and those who are already in residencies things are getting tougher and tougher for young djs to get into the scene..

..Just get chummy with the most amount of djs and promoters in your area and work your way in by doing these “cheaper sets” because what’s more beneficial, playing to a crowd and building a crowd sourcing knowledge from the off OR continuing to struggle to even get that first gig?

Peace out,

DJ Shaun Pearcey

I completely and utterly agree with both you Vintage and Terry, both very respected DJ’s with a vast pool of knowledge within this Forum and the Venues you guys get the chance to play at!

I can only mention it was a step for me to get in, not necessarily for free but hasn’t been “Good” Paid money tbh and some gigs I’ve done in other venues I have been paid a more decent fee and something I felt good for afterwards! So I am looking at taking myself around the local cities and towns in search of my first real proper gig in front of more than say 100 people.

Yeah I am going to find out ways of promoting nights I do better and also find alternative ways of getting into these “next level” gigs which I am now at the level where I want to play at a bigger stage.

Thanks for your comments guys! 🙂

In addition I would like to add (from a 25+ year commercial career) is that you have to make it a discount and not make it look like your discounted fee is the norm. You should have a good reason for a discount (like giving a chance to judge your skills). Ideally you want to trade something for the discount too (for example: ok … I’ll pay for 100 bucks instead of 200, but you book me now for two nights at that fee. You have now traded your discount in for a guaranteed second night). The idea here is that your “normal” fee is the first thing the customer hears.

Example:
* you go to a place and they want to book you. You tell them you’ll play for 100 bucks (while you really want to be making 200 a night). After you have done a few nights, you figure that you have proven yourself and it’s time they start paying full fee. Now you have to go and tell your customer that while you started for 100 bucks, you now want double that to do the same thing you have been doing for 100 bucks. That’s not gonna sit well.
* you go to a place and they want to book you. You tell them that you’d gladly play there for your normal fee of 200 bucks and that you are sure you are worth every penny of it. They claim they can’t/won’t pay that kind of money for a starting/new/unknown DJ. Then you can say that you are willing to pay for 100 bucks once (or twice, whatever works for you) so they can judge if you are indeed as good as you say you are. After they book you once or twice for 100 bucks and now call you for the next night, all you have to do is to remind them of the first conversation where you told them your normal fee and that you gave them a discount to get to know you, but since they are asking you back, they accept that you are indeed good enough AND worth your normal fee.

I know from experience that this isn’t always easy to do and might feel uncomfortable, especially if you really want to get behind the decks, but trust me, this stuff pays off in the (not so) long term! And … as a bonus … you will look very professional. As you have gathered from some of the comments, there are lots of colleagues out there trying to wiggle their way in the door for free. You’ll already stand out just by the single fact that you ask money!

Greetinx.