Will There Always Be Demand For Mobile Discos?

[Reverandfunk 0]

Agree with a a lot of what you say Dave.

 

I'm constantly amazed at the people I hear who charge 300 quid and upwards for a wedding.

 

I think people are that fixated with price that they would rather pay 80 quid for someone who's rubbish who will spoil their night than pay an extra 100 quid for a night to remember.

 

I'm glad I only do it as a hobby because I think it's slowly going downhill

[DJ Sacha 0]

I'm in a band as well, and business on the band front has never been as busy....

 

I agree with this too. And we too are busy. 3 years ago we made the decision to move away from pubs and clubs and concentrate on weddings and corporate type gigs. This has turned out to be the best move we ever made. We offer Band and DJ and 99% of our clients snap this up with the other 1% opting for the truly terrible £50 DJ.

 

Demand for our services is quite high and I'm guessing this is down to the type people we target. Over the past year we have found ourselves playing less at hotels are more for landowners in huge marquees in a fields they own. These people seem to be resistant to the "Credit Crunch" and gladly pay if they want you. Just about all our gigs are word of mouth from previous gigs.

 

So, will there always be demand for mobile discos? Yes, just like they'll always be a demand for live music, however; it all depends on your target client type. Get in with the rich landowners and you'll never be short of work, food...etc etc LOL!

 

Over the years we've met some scrooges who book us as band only and then at the gig DEMAND to plug in their laptop to our PA to provide "background music". As always the answer is no! It is these type of people that are a threat - luckily there is not many of them around. But we have to say "no" to these people because if they get away with it once then word soon spreads around - we use the equipment insuarance, PLI and PAT as our reason for not allowing non-band equipment to be plugged into our mixer.

 

P.S. We charge a heck of a lot more then £450 - it's usually around the £1100 area with the odd client pleading us to drop to £950...but that is very occasionally.

Edited July 23, 2008 by DJ Sacha

[buskersball 0]

I cannot wait for the influx of crappy LED lighting to end. Every DJ is starting to look the same. Same effects everywhere. I am sick of seeing VueIII's already. Now everyone seems to be going for the cluster lasers. So many DJ's shows are just getting too generic for my liking

 

Can't agree more about the new LEDs....there's some really sophisticated lighting out there, yet these LEDs make you look like a dodgem ride!

[Reverandfunk 0]

Only got 2 led's which are the prolight boogies and I must say i'm impressed with them

 

lol

[analyst 0]

Who really cares what lights you've got and what they look like? Only you, and certain other sad DJ's.

 

For certain, its not the punter, who only sees that "oh yeah, the disco had some flashing lights"

 

Why don't we do a poll: How many times have you been asked "What do you call those lights up there?"

On second thoughts, don't bother. I'm pretty sure of the result.

 

I think DJ light spotting must rank about one step below train-spotting or collecting stickers from bananas

 

Hang on, I'll go and get my anorak now.

[Andy Westcott 0]

Very good!

 

Anyhow, going back a bit:

Quote Danno13:

"What would constitute overpricing?"

 

Overpricing is when the price is too much for the potential client to afford, forcing them to go down-market, or possibly more often, cancel the intention to hire a disco altogether. Incidentally, (and I'm not intending to get personal here), the need to earn enough to support a full-time income is the DJs problem, no-one else's. Very few clients are going to think,

"The price is a bit high, but he's a full-time DJ, so that's alright then."

 

(Don't get too upset, guys! tongue out icon )

 

Pausing to think for a few seconds made me wonder whether it is the 'cowboy' element, or sixty-quid Sid if you prefer, who are partially responsible for keeping the mobile disco boat afloat. If we all charged top whack, the industry would have died years ago.

 

Waddya reckon?

Edited July 23, 2008 by Andy Westcott

[Corabar Steve 0]

As long as there are weddings there will be a demand for mobile discos.

[exbutlinred82 0]

Juggling with soot me....The end is nigh!!

 

 

Half of the pubs in my village have shut down in the last 18 months (quantifiable)....

 

 

The electric cigarette (Google) was 12 months too late for me!!

[analyst 0]

I have to agree with Andy there, what he said was spot on.

 

The DJ prices his/her gig (probably) on a cost + basis.

 

The punter does not take into account the time, expertise, equipment, licences, tax or whatever. Its is more a simple question of how much are we prepared to stump up for a party and what can we get for that? And if it is beyond our budget we'll forget the whole idea.

 

Andy's sixty quid Sid (do I hear a seventy quid Susan?) never took any work of anyone with his low prices. You were never going to get it anyway. And I agree there maybe a fair bit of truth in the suggestion that these low-enders do keep the notion of affordable discos alive and we can all spin something off that. Maybe we should be grateful.

 

And this is nothing to do with technology, media players (I hate the glib use of iPod), or cheap hardware.

When I was in my teens and twenties we all had parties (in between the bombing raids :fear: ) and there was never a thought of hiring a disco, or a "professional" to read the crowd. So these frequent criticisms in this forum are really rather hollow.

[DJJEG 0]

Mobile Disco's i think will phase out as more & more venue's/ halls with plenty of bookings are getting installed equipment & perminant d.js

 

But i did have a intresting enquiry....they dont want a d.j but want the disco (lighting/speakers) & a mixed cd, i have agreed to supply the equipment as well as a roadie to watch over it

 

Dosent bother me as i would still work in my residency & pick up the kit when i finish

[Andy Westcott 0]

Quote:

"Mobile Disco's i think will phase out as more & more venue's/ halls with plenty of bookings are getting installed equipment & perminant d.js"

 

Never seen a hall do this, but plenty of pubs and bars started doung this years ago - it makes good economic sense to them.

 

A mobile disco has the advantage of being available when and where the client wants - be it an old barn or a marquee in the middle of nowhere. I think we're pretty safe, and I remember a similar gloom & doom story being thrown about in the late 80s, but we're still here!

 

I think the majority of clients want a simple, fuss-free purchase: A complete disco, and the client has to do nothing other than pay up. I think those who feel they would rather do their own are very much in the minority, and once again are nothing new.

[DJJEG 0]

Quote:

"Mobile Disco's i think will phase out as more & more venue's/ halls with plenty of bookings are getting installed equipment & perminant d.js"

 

Never seen a hall do this, but plenty of pubs and bars started doung this years ago - it makes good economic sense to them.

 

A mobile disco has the advantage of being available when and where the client wants - be it an old barn or a marquee in the middle of nowhere. I think we're pretty safe, and I remember a similar gloom & doom story being thrown about in the late 80s, but we're still here!

 

I think the majority of clients want a simple, fuss-free purchase: A complete disco, and the client has to do nothing other than pay up. I think those who feel they would rather do their own are very much in the minority, and once again are nothing new.

 

Good point i forgot about the old barns & marquee jobs, but i have found locally that venues are installing their own equipment usally promted by the dj

I have even done it myself suppied the kit, installed it & use it as it saves me stting up/packing down every weekend

I

[dj_dex 0]

I'm sure there will be a market for the good old mobile DJ at Weddings & parties for the foreseeable future, yes technology makes it possible to plug in your ipod, but does that ipod read the crowd or play music that someone who doesn't share the ipods owner's taste wants? Incite the crowd? Announce real time events, Do you want to do that stuff at your own wedding? or would you rather someone else does it? I'm seeing no difference in party bookings - in fact they're up on previous years, the downturn for me is in the Fri/Sat night at the local, pubs are really suffering and are treading a fine line between trying to attract people in, and making enough from them to make the dj cost effective, I see that trend continuing.

[spirito 0]

[quote name='(davemoody @ Jul 23 2008, 01:04 PM)

 

I cannot wait for the influx of crappy LED lighting to end. Every DJ is starting to look the same. Same effects everywhere. I am sick of seeing VueIII's already. Now everyone seems to be going for the cluster lasers. So many DJ's shows are just getting too generic for my liking

 

I dont think this has anything to do with LED lighting, this has been going on for ages just look at the gallery.

 

In the old days when light screens were the norm most discos were pretty much home made, no i'm not saying it was better but they all looked different. But now with most having either a 4' or 6' Deck stand with overhead bar and a few light effects it makes the all look the same.

 

Its about time to look at other options if you want to stand out.

Edited January 28, 2009 by spirito

[Andy Dunn 0]

Such as?

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

There will aways be mobile Discos without a doubt.

Take the USA mobiles for weddings and Balls are just taking off after may years of being dormant.

 

The UK will go full circle on the Disco front, take what Wheatherspoons has done to the pub, no music = to me anyway no atmosphere, just imagine a wedding with no DJ and no iteraction with the guests people would soon get bored with just an ipod blasting out a random playlist.

My bookings are up this year, but however more of these are booked only a matter of weeks before the function instead of months / years in advance.

 

Discos are still popular but at the wedding exhibitions I have noticed that more people are asking for bands, a good band will cost £800 - £1200 and a Disc £200 - £800, with the credit crunch Discs will be more popular due to the cost implications.

 

Hey thats my 2 pennies worth but what do I know, I haven't got a crystal ball (that works anyway).

[Bouncy Dancefloor 0]

as for the wetherspoons example

 

they are turning most of them into "Lloyds" bars which are the same but have DJ's haha