Mobile DJ advice for getting regular booking

[bronzey]

Afternoon all,

Ok so after taking a year out from DJing to deal with some home issues, I want to get my bookings back but 1st I want to find myself a regular pub gig, so I am going to contact pubs but unsure the most efficetive way.

Visit in person? cold calling? email? snail mail?

There is no need to send a promo 'tape' as I do not mix, just play main stream music and have a good time lol

Also I have started building my website again, There is little there at the moment but if anyone fancies having a look its; .atozpartyservices.

thank you everyone

 

[gemd89]

I actually quite like the site - very snazzy and DJ like - are people using googlge to search for DJS in your area - what are they typing in?

Gemma

 

[Tommo]

Are you targeting £60 quid Sid pubs with Maplins gear or £600 weddings with Wizards and Pioneer source?

 

[bronzey]

thank you glad you like the site. I dont know if they are but I know that the package I have for my site gives me £30 on googleAD or something like that lol I normally have my website on my business cards n facebook, due to the kind of work DJing is, i find facebook is great as I tag people from parties and my company name shows up on all the pics.

As for my gear, I use good gear not cheap rubbish but that does not giv me the right to charge £600 a night and anyone that pays that kind of money is insane. My charges are around £100-£150 per night, more if you incude my other services i.e. balloon artistry or event management.

 

[RedEvo]

Sign up with an agency, that's where the band I play in get our work. I simply couldn't be bothered doing all that myself.

d

 

[Tommo]

Gear doesn't give you the right to charge £600 - your overall service and presentation 100% does.
Most of the mobile guys I know are on that kind of money, it's who you market yourself at.

If you're just getting back into it now, this is the time to aim high, much harder to go from a back room in a pub at £100 to the good stuff.

Gear does play a small part, don't turn up with LED dots everywhere and a soundlab sound system and you're half way there.

 

[bronzey]

I am happy doing the little pubs, I work in the week days and that provides my income, the DJing is abit of fun and a long term plan, plus I know that I can fill a pub for a night and really help a venue thats struggling, they are the venues/pubs I look for, my talent (if you can call it that lol) is able to help others in these hard times, hence why im coming back to DJing.

 

[Tommo]

If your happy and having a good time ruling the dancefloor - that's all that matters

Go into pubs/venues and ask if they are happy with their current provider, and ask if you can have a 1 night trial "I'm certain you wont be disappointed"

 

[bronzey]

yeah,

I was thinking that because DJing is just as much tto do with the DJ himself as the music, it would look better on me to go in pubs face to face, just got to avoid the bar and fruit machines or I will end up spending more money than i'm making lol

 

[Allan123]

Gear doesn't give you the right to charge £600 - your overall service and presentation 100% does.
Most of the mobile guys I know are on that kind of money, it's who you market yourself at.

If you're just getting back into it now, this is the time to aim high, much harder to go from a back room in a pub at £100 to the good stuff.

Gear does play a small part, don't turn up with LED dots everywhere and a soundlab sound system and you're half way there.

I would say 90% of DJs across the country the use some form of LED Lighting. It's pretty hard to disregard nowadays, it's light, no duty cycle's, the effects are improving weekly (some say much better than traditional lighting), and the price is so much better than traditional lighting. The key is to mix it with something else such traditional halogen fixtures/uplighters/lasers/starcloths etc etc. I haven't sold a halogen fixture for about 18months, and they where b-stocks just going cheap.

The problem with dots everywhere is venue's not allowing (or dj's not using) a smoke/haze machine to get the best from the lighting looking towards it, not away from it on the walls/floor. A halogen fixture just throws out dots everywhere, unless it's got gobo's in, but scan/barrel and moving head LED fixtures come with Gobo's in now. As do some lasers.

Not every dj has a grand to buy a single Martin Wizard, plus it's pretty pointless runing it on S2L. Most DJs don;t run DMX. Master Slave on S2L is about as far as most go.


Advertising yourself wise I'd go straight in, offer a gig for free to see what they think. Do you offer Karaoke? This a massive thing for most pubs nowadays, some in our area do Karaoke Thurs through Sun night.

Get a website up, you should be able to hit the top of page 1 with minimal effort for say ''mobile disco + your town''. Maybe do some Adwords on a small budget if you want to go further afield and cover your county.

Don't price yourself too cheap. As much as people want a bargain (and there is many who want a £100 disco) there are just as many who expect to pay more. Pub work £100-150 is about the norm. Weddings £250+. The rest decide how much effort your going to put in. If your going to go to meet customers, gather playlists from them, invest in extra lighting or better equipment etc etc.. make sure you charge for it.

Main way to look at things is do I want to be out every Friday night for £100, or would it better to do once a fortnight for £200.

 

[bronzey]

I so know what your saying about smoke, I have two spinners and a large floor covering light (LED powered) and a 4 colour light bar (traffic lights) just to add a full colour cover, when I do get to use my smoke machine it looks amazing, I was due to get myself a lazer with a gobo in the casing (Gobocluster I think it was called) as its on sale at a number of my suppliers but funding was lost due to my frigde freezer decided to die lol

As for DMX, its something I do really want to get into, I've seen alot of good shows using it and I'm slowly transfering my lighting to those that run DMX.

Currently working on my website as I type this and getting it to a standard that i'm happy with. I normally charge £100-£125 per night for pubs but have taken less in exchange for a amount behind the bar, that I then use to bring in some personal trusted friends, in turn making the night look a lot busier, that in turn helps build a reputation for myself, a touch cheeky but if it works....... lol

I think I will go with the straight up front idea, maybe have some flyers or something to give them that have some kind of discount (50-75% off 1st booking) on them for the pub. Always wondered if I 'loyalty card' idea would work, hire me for 5 nights get the 6th night free, something like that.

oh and no i'm not doing karaoke, yet. two reasons, the cost of geting a collection together and that I currently run off my laptop, I know there is now plently software to do this now but when I 1st started and had the cash to set up, this wasn't a option. Its on my to do list, that gets longer every day lol

 

[TotallySport]

IMO your sending out mixed messages your web site shows a DJ in a club not a pub (although some what empty) with a full light system, world map, Photo gallery (although of landscapes), yet your post says your not aiming at that market, and what cheap pub gigs for a bit of side money.

Now IMO there are two types of DJ's average ones who are happy doing quiz nights, thursday disco's and karaoke, who are averagly charging £50-£200 per night, or there are career DJ's who want to ramp it up, and although happy doing thursday discos for £200 now, really put the effort in to make the disco the disco.

After you really decide which you want to be, simple markey yourself at that market you want, an and all the methods you ahve mentioned depending on how much work you want, simply put the hours in marketing and you will get the rewards. As long as your targeting the right places, if your not a club DJ then marketing towards Student Unions is a no no, get out the yellow pages and give them a call.

Good Luck

PS if someone hasn't got flash installed your website is rubbish

 

[bronzey]

Good point on the main pic on the website, the others are the samples that was already uploaded, i'm uploading my pics now and will be changing them, this site hasnt been released to the public yet and this is why i've asked you guys to have a look, maybe I should of waited till I had completed all my ground work on there.

 

[Naughty Vend]

At the peak I operated a dozen units concentrated on weekends (of course) and about half that on shoulder nights including karaoke - so long ago I'm talking Sunfly and Pioneer - with quiz nights off peak. Personally I worked in nightclubs on the West and East coast of Scotland...

Speaking as an experienced operator / agency I agree with the higher rate and frankly detest the pocket money cowboys, this only got worse when bedroom DJ 'Tong-a-Like' jocks appeared on the scene whom had no professionalisim, ability to speak or control a microphone never mind a crowd and offered their services for either beer, pennies or more damaging a tenner less than the other guy. The ammount of times we lost work to idiots undercutting us to get the contract quoting prices lower than I was paying the DJ's we employed, when they could have just came and worked for me and make more as well as me making a profit... it destroyed the industry in my opinion. A DJ can only effectively work two days or maybe three a week, when you buy music and not download it for free in order to keep up with the trends, not to mention the investment in equipment plus your own time to practice and of course perform you could find yourself working for less than the minimum wage all considered even though you get handed £60 from a landlord. Work for the agency and let them charge £150, you get £75 perhaps and everyone is happy... the pricing is controlled by the agency.

As to equipment quality, well with laptops being the main-stay so long as you have acceptable gear and not Richer Sounds 'KaK' and your customer is happy, fair enough but yet again this is the bedroom DJ scourge that brought us to this. Saying that I attended a function three weeks ago and the guy had a light box with the old bulgin plugs and a Zero88 controller, old school... Guess what? He could speak, entertain and knew a broad range of music which he played per the crowd not his own ego... unfortunately refreshing these days.

To get business; tread the boards and offer a package with promotional support, offer a lead-in period and concentrate on boosting the off-peak nights which generates new business for you and the weekends will take care of themselves. Explain that as you are in control of all the DJ's there will be no rivalry so other nights will be promoted by your staff and you personally, team effort. Never be critical of the existing guy, do attend the premises and have a beer whilst he's working though and stand near him preferably behind him if you can... works a treat as the nerves kick in... when he looks over look at the manager and make a concerned facial expression. That got me a shed load of contracts over the years as most DJ's will have a tantrum and 'f it up' at the end of the night when speaking to the manager(s) whom also have egos...

 

[bronzey]

Thank you Naughty Vend,

I get what your saying about bedroom DJ's, I have met alot of so called DJ's now and they are just in it for the 'glory', I have spent endless nights learning how to be a GOOD DJ and its paid off. My laptop is good, the software I use is pro not the £5 disc you find on ebay (£130 if I remember when I got it) and it does the job really well.

As for your advice, I love the idea of putting indirect pressure on the current DJ of the venue, its nice to see someone else with some balls. I am in fact training in event management so offering a package not just a DJ is a must.

Agencies make me nervous as I work for a number of agencies as my day job doing fork lift driving and I know the problems that come with them, as well as the good things but in truth I dont mind putting in the extra work and making my own name, even if it does take longer.

 

[gibby]

There is so much you can do but popping into pubs & dropping off a leaflet whilst trying to catch the manager is a good way to start.

I did very well with mobile discos in the 90's and found pubs were the worst places to work. The money was lousy & the manager was usually looking for the cheapest price.

One of the best things I did was joining the local DJ association as we got passed so much work from others it was fantastic. If there isn't one locally start one up as its saves a fortune on advertising.

Also I loved the larger hotels as if they like you they will sell your service to people getting married etc. The money is usually far better but you have to be professional.

How much you charge is upto you but most DJ's seemed to compete on price rather than service & then kept calling passing on our number when booked.

In the 90's we used to charge £90 to £150 but then started getting work for posh events & charging much more money for the same work.
the biggest problem I had was finding DJ's who would play what customers wanted & stay sober & look smart.

At the time most DJ's were wanting to mix & play rave where the customers wanted party music to suit everyone.

G

 

[paulears]

You do need to be aware that the split between Dodgy Dave Double Decks and professional DJs is much, much wider than it was just a few years ago now that bedroom DJs have access to pretty good equipment. On many technical entertainment style forums, DJs get a very hard time because there are so many kids and genuinely awful cringeworthy operators. Have a look at http://www.mobiledjonline.org.uk/index.php which is a forum that my own backstage and events forum point DJ members to. There's a lot of really bad activity out there, and frankly, I too have to agree that beer money operators have produced a strand of business that is where cheap is in demand. People who work in this area never seem to move out of it, and are, frankly, a bit of a joke. You don not want to work in this area. Venues paying less than £80 a night are also only looking for the rubbish end of the business - they want no more. At home, far more people have quality audio since Cinema Home Systems have become popular. If your sound system is one of those that goes DUH at the bottom and slices your ears off with cymbals at the top, then you're in the bottom sector. Quality loud sound systems are what sets the quality operators apart - and these cost money, and these operators charge for the quality.

If you choose to go in at the bottom, you'll find the kids undercutting you anyway - after all, they don't pay for the music they play, it's all illegal downloads played on cracked software. Another area to stay away from.

Very few quality systems go out without a van. If it fits in a car, then you're again tagged as an amateur operator.

Your choice, of course - but if you aim higher, you'll get a better response.

There's also a view that part-timers, charging peanuts are also putting genuine people who do it for a living out of business. You might not be too bothered, but it again sets you apart from the pros.

 

[gibby]

I have to agree with you. Every now & then I go to something with a really dodgy DJ & it really spoils the party.
Its the same with kids parties as you really need someone who knows what they are doing to keep the monsters entertained for 2 hours. Most of the ones Ive seeen lately are really poor.

Im also amazed how some good DJ's don't believe they a re worth good money. I know back in the 70's they were charging £60 a night & today they still charge the same money.

We used to get over 4000 calls per year from brides, hotels & pubs at the last min as the cheap disco had not turned up.
The pubs would argue with the price if we had something available but the others would pay a nice premium for a last min disco.

If I was going to do it again today I would focus on the wedding market, go & see the couple in advance, offer a personal service, get paid in advance as most wedding services do & charge £200 - £400 a night.

Many discos do under price themselves for weddings as there is alot of money spent for these big occasions. Really good DJ's are quite rare & should be charging real money.

G

 

[Naughty Vend]

...and you end up like me selling vibrators from vending machines in pubs.

Well, it was to be expected... LOL. If you fancy a diversification in your business considering you'll already be speaking to managers of and in pubs check out my homepage link...

 

[Tommo]

I forgot actually, take a look on mobile dj forums dot com.

The majority of the members are fat old blokes with superiority complexes but some are gems, you'll get some good (harsh) advice.

 

[Williams-Sonoma Coupons]

thanks for u r kind information am really appreciate these ideas
i want to share some more ideas after launching my business

thanks,

 

[Baz Watkins]

The best way to gain interest in your mobile service is to put on a weekly night at a pub or club. Make sure its a quiet night, you take the door money, the bar takes the drink money. You get free exposure, the bar gets a quiet night filled.

I don't know what type of music you do, but budding DJ's usually start of as self promoters, who then get bookings as they gain an audience. If your doing the old fashioned straight party-disco-weddings type of booking then doing a night of your own will bring in those bookings, just hand flyers or business card to the audience, with a discounted rate or something. A bit of self PR never did any harm.

Or do what I did and set up your own website with mixes on, and pimp yourself all over...