Mobile Clubs and Houseparties - How much do you charge?

Smyth

Topic.
per hour..per night..per pint?!
What are your rates?

Run_to_da_hills

Smyth wrote: »

Topic.
per hour..per night..per pint?!
What are your rates?

300 +

L1011

If you're just starting off (as you are I believe), don't expect to get paid for at least 6 months... you might do, but don't expect to.

Your location is important here, costs more in Dublin the down the sticks, what I might get under 200 for back home might be 300+ here (nightly rates, don't know anyone that charges by the hour, but your "nightly rate" gets bigger the longer you're asked for).

If you're playing serious dance music (rather than disco/party style playing) its an entirely different world and you realistically won't get paid for about a year :P Even then the money can be completely terrible, don't get in to the game if you're not in it for the music.

Smyth

I've got a business plan for the summer which involves mobile dj'ing at weddings, 21st's etc. I'm using an umbrella company who outsource to dj's. I've got friends in the recording industry who hire amps/lighting etc and i'll just have to take it out of the earnings. From other people I know, this is where the money is to be made..and there's plenty of business in the town.

Other things such as clubs etc will be done for the love.

Run_to_da_hills

Be very careful about subbing out DJ work and out sourcing gear. Last thing you want is someone to book a wedding and then your subbed out dj doesn’t turn up or find on the night you cannot get the gear together or you are handed some piece of trash that doesn’t work. I do my own show carry my own gear and have 100% control over everything. If you go down that road make sure you have insurance.

L1011

You'll burn yourself out if you try and do both commercial 'rent a DJ DJing' and club DJing.

Generally the money is terrible with agencies, the equipment you rent from audio hire is usually old, prone to failure and costs a lot; then you've transport to take in to account (adding 250kg of gear to a car makes its fuel efficiency go bye bye).

And then you have insurance, possibly public liability insurance and music licencing costs depending on where you're playing... as well as the cost of the CDs to begin with!

And believe me, theres not 'plenty of business'. And theres very little money if you're a pure commercial whore, I've tried it... Theres also the vicious cycle - you'll not get work until people know you're decent, people won't know you're decent unless they've heard / heard of you playing, and you won't get paid to play until they know you're decent... so a business plan for Summer 08 may as well be thrown away now, you're not going to make money off it.

Run_to_da_hills

MYOB wrote: »

You'll burn yourself out if you try and do both commercial 'rent a DJ DJing' and club DJing.

Generally the money is terrible with agencies, the equipment you rent from audio hire is usually old, prone to failure and costs a lot; then you've transport to take in to account (adding 250kg of gear to a car makes its fuel efficiency go bye bye).

And then you have insurance, possibly public liability insurance and music licencing costs depending on where you're playing... as well as the cost of the CDs to begin with!

And believe me, theres not 'plenty of business'. And theres very little money if you're a pure commercial whore, I've tried it... Theres also the vicious cycle - you'll not get work until people know you're decent, people won't know you're decent unless they've heard / heard of you playing, and you won't get paid to play until they know you're decent... so a business plan for Summer 08 may as well be thrown away now, you're not going to make money off it.

I forgot to mention transportation costs. Moving any decent rig will involve the use of a van.

Smyth

MYOB wrote: »

You'll burn yourself out if you try and do both commercial 'rent a DJ DJing' and club DJing.

One club gig, maybe once a month..I don't think so. I'm 21 and full of energy

Generally the money is terrible with agencies

First you tell people that when you start off you're not going to be paid all that well..fair enough. Get your foot in the door and all that..now, you're using it as a deterant? That doesn't make sense. Obviously the money isn't going to be great starting off. It never is.

the equipment you rent from audio hire is usually old, prone to failure and costs a lot; then you've transport to take in to account (adding 250kg of gear to a car makes its fuel efficiency go bye bye).

The gear my contact has is not old..he supplies it for the town blues festival every year..which is ****ing massive. As for the fuel, it's called incorporating it into the cost...and as I live in the center of a small town..I'm literally 5minutes from every hotel in the area.

And then you have insurance, possibly public liability insurance and music licencing costs depending on where you're playing... as well as the cost of the CDs to begin with!

again, incorporating it into the costs. You have to loose money to make money sometimes. You can't tippytoe around that issue. I have another business I started up and it ran in the same way..I didn't break even for 2months...so I know how business works.

And believe me, theres not 'plenty of business'. And theres very little money if you're a pure commercial whore, I've tried it... Theres also the vicious cycle - you'll not get work until people know you're decent, people won't know you're decent unless they've heard / heard of you playing, and you won't get paid to play until they know you're decent... so a business plan for Summer 08 may as well be thrown away now, you're not going to make money off it.

Go take a happy pill or something. If everyone thought as negatively as you, we'd all be sitting at home afraid to take on anything. Jesus, if I you don't take risks in life, where's the fun.

L1011

Theres pessimism, realism and optimism. You're being wildly optomisitic expecting to be able to make money to the level of having a "business plan", yet you've not played out anywhere yet. I'm being a realist, having worked at this before. Run to da hills still does work at it. You need to have your "business plan" set out to not make a red cent over the summer and probably start making it next year, to be realistic.

You live in a small town yet claim theres a large market? I'm confused here. I live in a large town yet still had to do most of my gigs 20+ miles away due to their being extremely limited work spread across the place. Assuming that because you have hotels means that people holding events there are going to use local DJs is laughable - most people get someone local *to them* to play their wedding/conference after party/whatever, and they're usually not in a hotel local to them.

And agency money is poor no matter how experienced you are - thats why I mentioned it.

Smyth

Have you ever run a business? No matter what the scale, if you don't have a plan..you're stupid.

I'm not nieve either..I know how long it takes to become established if you're out there on your own. I've got friends who are DJ's also..some of them are residents at local clubs..others at bars and some are bedroom dj's. It depends on the area, the people you know and the demand. The area is small(ish- so maybe small wasn't the right word :P), there is one DJ company running a monopoly on the town..they run the all the clubs (bar one) and ALL the bars in the town.

Anyway, I'm not here to agrue or to become a thread basher. I have a good idea of where I want to go with this, and I'm pretty sure I'll get there.....eventually MYOB

On a side note MYOB, if your gigs are 20 miles away and you're lugging 250kg's around with you and charging around the 200 mark.....how did YOU ever start? Overnight success ? Big lump of capital investment? I'd be interested to hear how you avoided all the hoops and hurdles that I'm about to jump through.

L1011

Note that I said "back home" for the 200 mark, and I started and indeed mostly worked in places with house systems - so I'd be carrying 10kg of CDs and possible the same of laptop /compy kit with me.

Bought my own kit with a personal loan, although further down the line a luckily unexpected lotto win actually paid for my CDJs (I started in the vinyl era, 1210s were the name of the game).

And who's Nieve?