Charge

[JPPLAY 0]

How much do you guys charge on average and why. Please give me some numbers and reasons. How much should you discout if you are just a starting out dj.

[Tom 0]

Normally about £100 for a weeknight and anything up to £150 for Friday to Saturday night (it’s a cheapish area).

This is the price, well as everyone else has around the same price http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif

 

As a beginner don’t under sell yourself for your sake and for the other DJ's in your area.

Your price will depend on your area and the venue you play at. You will find not everyone goes for the cheapest as this is normally the 'lesser' quality discos.

 

My advice would be to ask people what they pay for there discos to give you an idea of the price in your area it also gives you an idea of the competition there is out there.

 

Hope this helps

[The Spindoctor 0]

This is also a very much chicken and egg situation aswell, I agree with what you say Tom, but I think Mikee will also back me up in that if you pick up a real plum gig at a nice venue where the punter expects to pay loads. You quote a high price cos of where it is, they snap your arm off cos they don't know any better but the bonus is that any further work from people at that gig will EXPECT to pay your 'higher' price. Once you move in those circles regularly and the gigs keep coming then your overall basic price will be higher. (assuming of course that you impressed at the original one) As soon as those gigs tail off though you are back to quoting the 'going' rate for your area. Moral of course is impressions count........ the punter deserves the best you can do wether its for 30 old biddys or a 500 head corporate bash.

Just my 4d worth

 

See mikee & chris I 'remember 4d not 4p !!! LOL

[paula 0]

QUOTE

Normally about £100 for a weeknight and anything up to £150 for Friday to Saturday night

Blimey Tom, thats cheap.

I wouldnt get off my sofa for that..........

 

I dont do mid week disco's, but I have done some large stores staff partys midweek early evening, disco & karaoke for £200, and yes they pay it and feed me to!!! yummy!!!

But weekend disco with Karaoke (sometimes) £250 +.

 

For Karaoke alone I charge, midweek £65 an hour miminum of 2 hours & weekends £75 an hour miminum of 2 hours.

 

Am i to expensive guys? http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/sad.gif

[BigE 0]

Well Paula if u sound expensive do i sound to cheap.

At the moment i charge £80 for a normal 8 till 12 disco and then £25 per hour after that.

The going rate around here (liverpool) is around £85 > £95 but with not long starting out i just want to be a little bit more competitive with my price.

Hopefully when a few more gigs start rolling in i can increase the price a little bit more.

It would be great to charge £150 a night but i wouldn't get any bookings.

[ChrisPointon 0]

The going price in the Cheshire area at the moment is around £100 - £120, luckily I'm on the Manchester / Derbyshire Border, so I can get away with charging £180 for Manchester and Derby area's. Local "Competition" includes one guy who goes out for £65 a night, and I've been saying that he won't last for the last 5 years http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif so he must be doing something right.

 

The going rate for a local pub disco here is £70, which is why I do very few disco's actually in my home town, I tend to travel for the better(ish) prices - go figure http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif . Even so, it must be nice for you Southerners to virtually write your own cheque with regard to what you charge.

 

There is more competition here also - Congleton has a population of around 30,000 people, and given that there are around 35 Disco's operating in the town itself then you can figure out why prices are so low. It's good for the Sound & Lighting business of course, having so much local demand, but the result is that for Disco work, we travel further to get better prices.

 

QUOTE

I wouldnt get off my sofa for that..........

 

Unfortunately thats the North / South divide again Paula http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif - go North of Birmingham / Staffordshire and the cost of entertainment does drop dramatically. If you charged £150 - £200 a night you would never be out! - An average Pub Karaoke goes for £70 / night - and this isn't just one person - its everybody charging that.

 

QUOTE

For Karaoke alone I charge, midweek £65 an hour miminum of 2 hours & weekends £75 an hour miminum of 2 hours

 

Maybe I should be putting my equipment prices up - you lot can obviously afford it http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/tongue.gif

 

QUOTE

Am i to expensive guys?

 

Not for your local area I don't think you are - I mean London, or any city for that matter is going to provide plenty of work and bear the cost of a greater fee for going out. However if you moved to this area then you would go out of business pretty quickly if you didn't reduce your prices.

 

Out of interest - how is this £5 charge into Central London affecting you and your business? or are the majority of your bookings outside the time that this is charged?.

 

 

[paula 0]

QUOTE

Out of interest - how is this £5 charge into Central London affecting you and your business? or are the majority of your bookings outside the time that this is charged?.

 

http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/071.gif Forgot all about this, Dare I put my prices up!!!!!!!

Nah! it doesnt really the zone is not really that big, Im free of it as far up to Knightsbridge & with my bookings being in the opposite direction, Not A problem.............

[mikeee 0]

Talking of London........

Most of the agencies charge the client around the £1,200, + VAT for an evenings disco (8 to 12 / 8 to 1), sounds good, but remember you may have to be on site from 2.00 in the afternoon and may not get away until 4.00 in the morning - LONG DAY.

 

I normally clear between £500 and £950, depending on the function, venue and performance times.

 

Out in the real world, a wedding style DJ, is averaging £250 / £300, (surrey, hants, berks area)

 

[ChrisPointon 0]

QUOTE

Out in the real world, a wedding style DJ, is averaging £250 / £300, (surrey, hants, berks area)

 

Oh No! - your not another one who thinks that the world ends at the start of the M6 are you? http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/tongue.gif

 

http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/071.gif

[The Spindoctor 0]

I agree with Mikeee here, sometimes its nice to live down here, I'm out the other side of London bout 10 mins from Lakeside but because of the proximity of the M25 I tend to get gigs from Essex Kent Surrey and Herts not forgetting up into London purely because i can get to them within 1hrs travelling.

 

My normal rate for a Sat night would be £200 - £250 depending on distance and I work most weekends. The weekdays Sun - Thurs are all pubs which I work week in week out and consequently charge £80 - £100. this is for 8 - 11pm

 

 

[DJTREV 0]

I normally clear between £500 and £950, depending on the function, venue and performance times.

 

No wonder youve got a smile on your face from ear to ear,I think we would all take up dj'ing full time for that sort of money!Even for those hours

[mikeee 0]

Have you tried asking for it? Those figures are the fees I recieve not what the agency charges the client.

In the real world, anywhere outside London.

It's interesting talking to DJs around the country and how the prices vary or don't as the case may be. In Birmingham I know guy's (a lot of them) that tell me they can't get more than £150, Then I talk to other guys around the home counties, Birmingham, great £500 / £600. What the hell is going on. All i can think of is SERVICE, the better the service you offer the more money.

When I talk to DJ's I normally suggest they think before putting there mouth into gear.

 

In the states a disco of average ability charges around the $600 (about £450) and in a lot of cases lighting is extra, now equat the cost of living (petrol - States about 60p a gallon), we should actually be charging £1,500 / £2,000 a night.

 

I was always told to calculate a price, use the following: What is the Average weekly income in your area and thats what you charge on a Saturday night. It has only been the last 10 years or so that this has gone out of the window, and the cause of this, lots of people starting discos because they think it's a quick money spinner. Unfortunatly NOT, as with any other profession, you have to work at it, and work bl:cense:dy hard.

 

Time to put the http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/1106.gif Box away

[The Spindoctor 0]

I used to let the part timers get to me with their £60 a night fees, but of late with more and more places asking for PLI, and local council's asking about PAT testing of equipment slowly but surely they are getting pushed out.

 

At the end of the day the old adage 'you get what you pay for' is so true. It all comes down to SERVICE as Mikeee so aptly put it, but I still have to remind the roadie of that when its a freezing December night and we are carrying 15 Grands worth of gear down three flights of an exterior fire escape at 3am......... glamourous? Of Course! http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/wink.gif

 

 

 

[cmj 0]

Just reading with interest this bit of the forum. The going rate up here in Scotland(Central Belt, Edinburgh - Glasgow) is around £120 Fri/Sat. Sun - Thurs, around £80?!?

http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/sad.gif http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/sad.gif http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/sad.gif http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/sad.gif

[The Spindoctor 0]

Sorry CMJ but needs must if I don't work at least 5 days I don't mpay my mortgage or eat http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/014.gif

[ChrisPointon 0]

QUOTE

Have you tried asking for it? Those figures are the fees I recieve not what the agency charges the client

 

With respect Mike, you wouldn't get that sort of figure up here, although it would be fun watching you try http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/221.gif

 

I 've worked this area for years and I deal with the local D.J's up here day in day out, i've been on first name terms with them for many years, so its no secret that everybody knows what each other is charging. I know of a local D.J who puts out ten roadshow's and hes' been in business for almost as long as you - yet he charges far less than me http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif and thats a fact.

 

Only last night I got turned down for an 18th Birthday in October because my quote of £110 was "Too Expensive", I wonder what she would have said had I quoted £500? - yes there are several D.J's around here who charge far less than £100 and - Yes thats your "real world". One of the reasons why my own hire business does so well is because in this area, 18 year olds now take their birthdays to clubs, and the small family get together is held at home.

 

one of the reasons my equipment prices are so competitive is because they are the prices which sell gear in this area, if it wasn't required for the locals etc, I wouldn't need to do it and I'd be selling stuff for around 30% more http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif .

 

Here is an interesting Entry taken from the Guestbook on the website of my disco, written by a visitor from South Wales:-

 

QUOTE

Found it more interesting picking up how other dj's set up their disco and how they run it to be honest  You covered every thing about this industry for any budding dj. I wish I'd found out about this web site 4 years ago when I started seting up my disco. Oh by the way, no one in my area would ever dream of paying over £100 for a disco. I'm charging £75 a night and I'm out on an average of 3 nights a week!

 

Maybe we should run a poll, where visitors can select the section which applies to what they charge (anonomously http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif ) since i know that some people may not publically want to declare their exact fee.

 

Remember most D.J's operate a disco as a second income, there are very few around here who do it full time. A tribute perhaps to the low fees which this area will stand.

 

QUOTE

All i can think of is SERVICE, the better the service you offer the more money.

 

This assumption, and it is just that - Is pretty much going to get you some flak and i'm the first in the queue http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/188.gif

 

I had the car serviced today, the main dealer quoted me £230, the local garage did it for £145. When I collected It had plastic bags over seats and a nice little gift pack of Summer additive, Car Shampoo and a sponge (Maybe they were hinting I should clean it) and the work was carried out by the owner. Last year I paid the £230, it was handed over to somebody who looked about 12 and when I collected it, all I got was a scratch down the side of it and got my old oil filiter back (I marked it before it went in). Sometimes the most expensive isn't the best.

[OK KARAOKE 1]

I`ve just had a Wedding binned because my fee was too high.

They wanted Karaoke/Disco from 2pm to 5pm. Then they wanted Disco from 7pm to 1am. I told them £130 for the evening and £70 for the afternoon. Total 200 quid.

I was replaced by a local guy who does disco to supplement his Dole money. He`s doing the whole gig for a hundred quid!!

They won`t know whether I am better than him or not, whether I have more music than him etc etc.. all they`ll know is - they saved a hundred quid so I must be a rip-off merchant.

And although I shouldn`t say it............. I hope the disco is crap and they have a lousy day/night http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/279.gif

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My normal fees tend to be around £70 - £90 midweek and £80 - £125 weekend. Depends on the function, the venue and the punter.

---

A friend of mine recently lost a Sunday pub karaoke residency. He was getting £80 a night, but lost the job to a guy who HALVED his price.

The guy who lost the job has about 250 karaoke CDs.

The guy who took over has about 40, mainly copies.

The licensee doesn`t give a to$$ about any of this, just that he`s saving 40 quid a night.

--

I am very pleased to say that his Sunday nights have dropped off considerably. So much so that he is talking of finishing up the karaoke night. He says "no-one wants karaoke any more".

Of course they do - and that`s why they`ve gone elsewhere.

--

Do I sound bitter? I wonder why? OK time to fall off the http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/1106.gif box http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif

[ChrisPointon 0]

QUOTE

all they`ll know is - they saved a hundred quid so I must be a rip-off merchant.

 

Thats exactly the point. People do ring around trying to save money. I could give you 20 numbers of people within 2 miles of me who go out for £80 - £125 a night. Upon contacting me they get a quote of £500 or even £200. For some reason they don't think "Oh he charges the most he must be the best" - they think "Cor what a rip off - ever likely he's free that night". Out of 21 possible local quotes all under £120 and my quote of £250 who are they going to book?? -Me??? - Get real!, people can't resist a bargain, its human nature - irrespective of whether they get burned due to making the wrong decision or not, i've lost £120, the D.J turns out to be crap - the client feels let down = the industry gets more bad press.

 

since I actually do enjoy the work, it does make money - well the tax man seems to do well out of it http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/mad.gif , and given the opportunity of making £120 from working the local club, Spending £40 on a night out, or sitting in and watching Casualty then I'm sorry but come Saturday then i'll take the £120 http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/smile.gif

[Rushton50 0]

Here in South Yorkshire I charge £80 for a Saturday night as do the rest of the mobiles here. I must admit a few years ago i would undercut to get the work cos i enjoyed the scene and still do , but thing about this before you make up your mind.

 

If you stick to your guns on price eventually people will book you as you are consistant and may be the only disco not working and the person on the other end of the phone has been let down by " Bodge-it and scarper disco" now this may not make sense, but word of mouth works as i stopped advertising for a year and wanted a break , but calls still came in well after the ad ended.

 

The moral to the story has to be: Out price another disco and you could outbid yourself of work.

 

Never get into the war on disco a charges 10 quid less than you. Sell yourself as i do. When you give them a price tell them at the end of the call...example

 

Caller: how much do you charge?

 

You: Ok, before i give you a quote can i ask Whereabouts you are having the function ? (9times out of 10 will be local)

 

The caller will tell you venue and type of function.

 

You: ok well we are fully insured up to ???? to undertake your booking as well as being electrical tested which is a pre requisit of most council / goverment buildings ( quote the price) because if you give the price from the start , they are just thinking pound signs and not understanding why you charge as much as you do, but only tell them the above if its true!!!

 

I would say something along the lines of: I have checked with a few mobile jocks and find that they are not insured or elec tested and say that they have had no problems as yet , but ask yourself. Why. Simple...this disco only does the more pulic venue and avoids the matter of pli

 

[DJ Spinko 0]

Living in rural Norfolk and a traditionally low wage earning part of the world, the price to charge for a disco is on a par with what it seems the rest of you are getting apart from the London/Home Counties high flyers - anything from £80 to £180.

 

Like Chris, I suppose part of the problem here is that we have a lot of DJ's willing to work on a weekend and they will accept a lower price for the job. In and around Norwich we have 4 major hotels that are the 'in' places for weddings and all of these are exclusively through agents. The agents will charge them from £140 to £200 for a wedding and I'm afraid that market forces say that you can't charge more as people can always get it cheaper.

We all know that cheaper may not be better, but you try telling that to the public who have to part with their hard earned cash.

I'm fortunate in that in my village there are 4 of us D-Jing and we not only work with one another in offloading work when we are booked but also try to work around the same price depending on the function.

[Tom 0]

Yeah,

I find it good to get frienly with an other DJ as you can pass your work onto them if your over booked and he can do the same.

Iam lukly enough to have an older mate who does not like doing childrens parties well iam in there he gets the wedings. Its like one big business http://www.chrispointon.f2s.com/Forum/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[The Spindoctor 0]

I agree in principle with what you say, but you have to be so careful, because I normally work five out of six nights per week I find it very difficult to recommend anybody if I'm booked purely on the basis I have'nt seen them work myself and don't have time to go see them. Last thing I want to do is pass bookings on only for somebody to turn up with a home stereo and one light or worse! At the end of the day it will be your reputation that is tarnished aswell!!

 

I normally now pass them on to my local retailer of DJ equipment who will only pass out phone numbers of reputable DJ's with decent kit.

[Tom 0]

As i said I have a good mate

I trust him and have seen his work.

Iam not saying you should pick a DJ at ramdom and say use them as that is pointless you could be saying to use anyone.

 

I dont know about you, but I feel if you let a customer down they are not likely to use you again, pass them onto a friend who you know is good and they might come back.

[SoundStormDJ 0]

I'm charging £120 for a normal Saturday night, up to £180 for weddings.

 

If you go by the average weekly wage then that's about £470 for my area its probably less than that. Sounds like a good price for a quality show.

 

What do you charge for other things? I also do Fashion Shows, I have done 3 now but very cheep (allot of hard work compared to a normal disco) and also I do PA and Lighting for bands, I have no idea what I should be charging.

 

One more thing do you pay any people to help you? What do they get?

[ChrisPointon 0]

With regard to Fashion Shows, I charge around £55 for P.A only hire, or £85 with engineer. If they need lighting effects (Usually DMX Scanners & Colour Changers) its £150 all in for upto 4 hours duration.

 

With regard to other area's of P.A Hire, it can range from £30 / day for basic 500W p.a hire (no engineer) to £100 per hour for a 10k rig with 2 engineers.

 

I have to agree about the work involved tho.

 

Regarding your question about how much people pay thier staff - you may find this thread interesting HERE