lol all g
@laurens
id almost tell the person youll do it for free out of good faith, gotta get your name out there before make any money. imo
Honestly, I’d get the bar to cover your expenses (travel, gas, food, and beverages) for the first month or two, and see where it goes from there. Tell them that you want to renegotiate the contract after two months. Over the course of 4 hours, if there are 40 people there regularly while you are spinning it is possible for a bar to sell around $700 (3 drinks per person per hour at $6 a drink, though that is dependent on location). If that’s all they are going to make then I wouldn’t be able to ask for more than $50.
But if this gives you really good exposure to those 40 people every night, you can then approach a larger bar to make more money. Or, it could allow this bar to make more money (steadier stream of people from beginning to end of the night means more people drinking means more money, etc. etc. etc.) and hence pay you more.
But yeah, you can’t feasibly ask for 1/5 of their take home if they are only making $500. It’d be easier, and cheaper, to just put up an ipod.
Devil brings up a good point. If they’ve got a kitchen, ask for a free meal! That’s worth an extra 10 bucks on your bill, and you get to show up a little early, get some food in your stomach before you start rocking.
I like to try to negotiate a little food into my gigs. Some days I use it, some days I don’t. But most places that have a kitchen are usually happy to oblige!
+1 :d
+1 w/food
Doing it for free is really rough because you risk never getting any money from this place. So, if you do decide to do it for free, do it under the understanding you’ll eventually get paid.
By understanding I mean contract.
I should have been more clear about the $100. That’s the minimum when the bar was dead. The average is around $200 with a maximum of $400. In this area there is never a cover unless some big name international DJ is playing, which unfortunately is not me. At this point I play for fun not for profit.
hm… ive never heard of contracts here so i dont know how they work 
(its the south island, they live about 20 years in the past 
)
but i put emphasis on the first being free and make it very clear that its only the first gig and its only happening because youre a really good chap.
Microwave DJ guide.
Step 1: Download 600 mp3s from blogs
Step 2: Download torrent of Traktor (no no no!)
Step 3: Profit!
This is what not to do!
Someone call a burn ward, it’s a 3rd degree. haha.
Seriously though, contracts are ALWAYS a good idea. anyone not willing to sign one isn’t worth your time, unless you plan on working for free, forever.
i love southpark!
also my aunt, lives in Portland, OR
I haven’t been in a while, I remember, a taco bell, and… a nike retail outlet.
oh yeah and timberline lodge!
im not sure you guys are on the same playing field as lil old new zealand… you aint gonna get paid gigs here straight out of the bedroom. every man and his dog is a dj now days so if ya get a gig youre a lucky person. for example, we only pay djs who have come from different cities and whose names we recognise, none of us make money out of it… yet 
Sounds like a poor aditude. You do a service just like a bartender or a band. You should get paid. Even if you’re not getting a HUGE amount of cash, you should still get something.
Sounds like the DJs need to help set a tone that EVERYONE should get paid. even if it’s just a 20 spot.
hm yea i may be over exaggerating a lil, but nz isnt exactly the money powerhouse that the us is. if a place has money to spend on djs they go for someone whos gonna bring punters not someone theyve never heard of. but i think thats besides the point, i think im confsing the issue 
, ill sush
Kaon we dont get payed coz its our gig…
If we made a worthwhile profit then we would pay ourselves
ya i know i didnt mean us. more us as the hirer
im confusing…
ask for money, if you dont get it, do it anyway its fun
if you want to have longevity, you cant have this outlook. this is a business, you provide a service. taking some hits when starting out is the name of the game. sometimes you travel WELL out of the way (ive driven 5 hours to a gig, used my fee to pay for a hotel) to play. but you need to think of it as a business.
I usually just charge a flat rate of any where from 300 - 600 depending on where the party or event is located at and depending on what the event is