Venues Picking Crappy Bands Over Talented DJs

djrenots, post: 13214, member: 263 wrote: DJ Stone Crazy, You could be missing what is going on beyond the dance floor, I’ve seen 3 clubs in the Pittsburgh,Pa area closed down due to violence. It maybe easier for the club owner to see whats going on and want to be in business for the long run instead of paying the consequences for the patrons actions. It’s just what I’m seeing here, I don’t know exactly what your situation is.

Fights rarely happen on my nights. Understand I don’t only play hip-hop. i even play rock. Old school hip-hop is just what I’m known for. If you’re insinuating what I think, let me point out I DJ in predominately, white, dive bars. Then again, you might be on to something.

Jam-Master Jake, post: 13279, member: 1317 wrote: I lived in Washington, DC for several years and played keyboards/rhythm guitar in several of the more popular cover/bar bands in the DC Metro Area and the Atlantic Beach Club Towns. We had the exact opposite problem as you, Stone Crazy: bars didn’t want to hire “talented” bands, they wanted “crappy” DJs….even when the bar bands were bringing in bigger crowds than the DJ’s were bringing in. It was a simple matter of money: why pay a band $500-$5000 ($1000-$2000 in the case of the bands I was in) for a night when they could bring a DJ in for anywhere from $300-$1000?

The only venues where the DJ’s were king were in the major dance clubs in downtown DC (and there were some DAMN talented DJ’s spinning there). Otherwise, the main bars/nightclubs were all largely driven by live bands packing the venues to capacity with lines around the block. An example is a cover band called “Mr. Greengenes” that used to play at the Clarendon Ballroom (one of THE hottest nightclubs in all of DC). “Greengenes” used to play “The Ballroom” once a month and made between $3K and $5K per night, and The Ballroom made $30K+ in drink sales and cover charges per night. Once the “Great Recession” hit the US in late 2008, however, things really began to change. Crowds were still strong, but drink sales were dropping because people didn’t have as much money to booze it up. As drink sales dropped, the clubs stopped paying the big “Tier-A” bands their premium prices when they could, or they stopped booking those bands completely when they couldn’t. Things gradually shifted more and more towards DJs who could provide music for substantially less, increasing the club’s profit margins. Again, many of these DJ’s were NOT talented, nor were they even PROFESSIONAL in many cases.

Did things improve as the economy improved in DC? Nope. DJ’s still reign supreme and the already poor DC band scene got even worse. Clarendon Ballroom still packs the house with 1000 people every Thursday-Saturday night and now makes the same amount of money in drink sales they used to make 4 years ago…but the biggest change is they only have a live band once a month. Awesome for the 4 DJs they book to spin for them, but bad for the 5 cover bands that used to play there regularly…even the ones who are willing to play for the same amount the DJ’s are making.

I think it all boils down to the dynamics of the city you live in. In Baltimore, DJ’s are currently in higher demand than live bands as well. In Anchorage (where I currently live), DJ’s reign supreme and the band scene has nearly dried up to nothing when it comes to decent-paying gigs.

Hang in there, Dude…keep honing your craft and keep experimenting. Figure out a way to stand out above the other DJ’s and you’ll have no problem being booked. Do you have a booking agent? If not, look into contracting with a booking agency that books bars/clubs. You might also see if you can work out a deal where you hook up with one of those bands…have them play 2 sets and you play 1 set, while also spinning during their breaks. You’d be amazed at how much a little creativity can pay off for you!

Best of luck!

Funny you mention money. I had to jump on that place several times about that. By the way, after I left, another venue picked me up. Thanx for the words.