Advice About Venue

[doh 0]

Hi all ...

 

I currently DJ every thursday night at a local bar. I play a 3 Hour set, but currently it is "voluntary"...

The manager and i discussed this when i joined, he said he would pay me after a while...

Its been 4 weeks... and i just wondered what i should be charging if anything...?

3 Hours is alot if you take into consideration travel times/cost, Plus new music to play each week...

Thoughts please...

Thanks

[RobbieD 0]

How long is a piece of string?

 

How much do you want the gig? How much do you think you are worth?

 

If you take your own gear, then I would price as any other mobile, but it sounds like this manager may not want to pay much. So it depends how much it's worth to you for all the effort. There are guys out there that do mobile discos in pubs for under £100!

 

If it's a bar with it's own sound system, then there is also the competition of wannabe bedroom DJ's who don't have any gear. And some may offer to do it for free, just to get their foot in the door!

 

I would try and find out how much they take at the bar on your night. 10% of that figure may be a reasonable starting point.

 

Alternatively, how much have takings increased due to you DJing? If wouldn't be unfair to expect half of the increase. But no manager would want to pay you more than the amount you increase takings.

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

If your over 18 and have a driving licence and a car then contact one of the Agents who control the major pub/bar/club chains and work for them..

 

you can get paid for what your doing now...

 

however you will have to play cheesy music...

 

BUT I notice your only 16... and I think the manager is taking advantage

[shakermaker 0]

Hi,

 

I think you need to re-think mate as this guy sounds like he is having a laugh with you, all be it not funny.

 

In my experience and with most of my work having been in clubs and bars over the past ***** years, there are / have been, a handful of bar managers / owners that take the preverbial. They work on targets and if they meet their targets they get bonuses etc. They want to pay out as least as possible so that they meet their targets.

I won't mention anyone in particular but a lot of it is down to greed to (in my opinion). Every now and then you may just get someone in charge who is half decent but the majority of them, especially the chains, are like this.

 

For example : I can say the name now as the venue is in new hands, new management etc but about 12 years ago I approached a venue called Ziggys in Basingstoke with my idea of an Indie/Alternative night. I had done a couple of other venues in the town and they had gone well but they were weeknights (Mondays and Wednesdays). To my surprise and after putting a pretty good proposal forward, they went for it and even better, they gave me a prime slot, this being a saturday night!

 

The venue was a few miles out of the centre of Basingstoke yet even after the first couple of weeks I was getting 400 plus through the doors and making Mr ***** lots of money both on the door and over the bar. The atmosphere was fantastic and it put Basingstoke on the map for Indie/Alternative music with people coming from Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, Reading etc..some even travelled from London. I did this for about 18 months and the owners were well happy but then I think the greed set in. In their eyes, if I could do it on a Saturday then I could do it on a Thursday so they moved the night and almost instantly, the numbers halved. Apparently (again according to them) the drop in numbers was MY fault (yeh right!!!??) so one night after a really really good night, I was called into the office and told "Sorry Gary, we are going to have to let you go!" When I asked the reasons for this I was told "We need a change".

 

A guy came up from Bournemouth to DJ the night and the numbers halved again. The next thing the club did was move the night (MY Night) to a monday and it killed it totally. I had phonecalls from the club begging me to come back and I refused. I already had a new venue to start at and the numbers followed me there and I established myself again.

 

What I am trying to say is that you can't really win mate. In my opinion, if you ask for money he may just get someone else in as unfortunately these days (as Cornershop said) "Everybody wants to be a DJ, everybody wants to be an MC" and it's true. There are lots of bedroom boys out there who would step in and fill your boots at the click of a finger. If you are 16 then he is taking advantage on one side and on the other, in reality you shouldn't be in the place but that's down to his discression I guess.

 

Do what Mark said and contact some agents etc...Unfortunately, your age may go against you because 99.999% of the places where you will be needed will be licensed premises.

 

Apologies for the long post but if there is one thing that gets to me, it's club/bar owners taking advantage of us. I know what I am worth money wise and I also price up depending on if I need to take gear etc...A lot of these places will try to save as much money as possible so if I go and say I want X amount and I have a reputation and then Mr Bedroom Boy comes around the corner and says he can do it for £10 cheaper then Mr Bedroom Boy will usually get the job.

 

By the way, I am not mocking Bedroom DJ's - Everyone has to start somewhere and everyone should be given a chance so maybe I am contradicting myself (again) but if you were a club/bar owner and you had the choice of giving someone with a reputation of being a crowd puller the job or an unknown guy/girl who is a bit cheaper....well, I know what I would do....don't you?

 

Good luck anyway!!

Edited September 22, 2006 by shakermaker

[stoke53 0]

My moto is if your good enough to do the job then your good enough to be paid seen all the will you do us a free trial one night theyre having a laugh as they get different ones each week to do a free trial. I never work for free as you end up becoming the dj who works for nothing. dj'ing is a business and a bonus if you enjoy what your doing.