so this is my question:
i´m going to spin at a party a friday and i asked the promoter what he is wiling to pay me for that evening. he said 100€ which is about 150$. now i´m thinking to myself 100€ is not that much since i have to spin from 10pm till 6-7am. i know a lot of dj´s that are member of a booking agency that get paid 250 up to 500€ a night. okay. so i´m not doing it to get rich or anything like that since it is so much fun for me to dj, but what du u think? would it be okay if i would ask the promoter if he is willing to pay me 150€? what are ur expierences? i mean i would never ask for more than 200€ a night since i´m not signed and i don´t have to pay for a bookingagency. but i´m concerned about the fact getting into a situation like: " i know u got 100€ for the last gig so i won´t give u more than this." i don´t want to be a cheap guy that is giving the crowd a nice time and making party promoters rich…last time i spun at a big party the promoter paid me like 100€ for spinning 2 hours but i think i´m in a situation to ask for since i have to be at the club from 9:30pm to 7am what is a long time and hard work.
I agree that $150 is pretty low for a 8-9 hour gig.
However, from an overall promoter perspective (I have lots of friends who are promoters), you have to remember that the amount of money that a DJ gets paid is relative to the size of the crowd (the draw) that the DJ will bring. The reason why big time DJ’s get paid more is because the promoter can guarantee a bigger crowd. More people = more money = more payment to the DJ. My advice to you is try to get more money for this gig, but don’t get hung up on it for this gig too much. Assuming you are just starting out and don’t have an established fan fase, get as many of your friends to come support you. The more people you get to show up, the bigger leverage for payment you will have the next time around.
Talk to the promoter and explain your situation. If he’s only interested in screwing you over then you’ll know real quick.
But yeah, $150 is not a lot of money for 8 hours. Explain that it’s a lot of work to spin that long. The size of the crowd does matter, and you need to be aware of that. Maybe try and talk your way into a cut of the door or something?
If you do decide to go through with it I suggest you show up and but real mellow, minimal mixes on for the first 2 hours. That way you are not tire ass hell when 3am comes around. Plus no one usually shows up that early. I did this last time I played a 6 hour gig. BTW I only $200. lol
god i know what you mean… i did a 3 hour gig and got $100 lol i was soooo tired hahaha was intense from the get go right to the very end… oh and make sure you get a table thats high enough that you dont have to bend… god i had such a sore back hahaha
if it’s one of your starter gigs (which is what it sounds like) then you can’t blame the promoter for under-paying you. It seems a difficult situation - but its like any of the creative industries; you’re expected to built a tight reputation, and thus as it grows, so does your wage. In the fashion industry (at least in the UK) to have any sort of chance of hitting the big one, you have to be prepared to spend at least a year on an unpaid internship, followed by about 5 years (depending on how good you are) with barely expenses being paid. Until you’re practically a household name - you have to grit your teeth and take the badly paid gigs unfortunately… besides, if you play your long set as well as you can, then not only will 80% of the crowd go around telling their mates about you afterwards, but the promoter’ll know that you’re up to it, and next time - he’ll be content that his good money wont be wasted!
having said that, 100 euros isnt much - lets hope you get some tidy clunge from it
The money’s not really important to us, but its a lot more than 4-6 hours work for gigs eh. our “manager” does a lot of unpaid groundwork such as clandestine flyer drops etc, and us djs gotta brainstorm on what we r gonna come up with for the night, as we all do different styles etc.
thats quite a long shift for only 150$… atleast discuss it with the promoter. but like others said if it is one of your first shows you cant get to upset about gettin underpaid. Newcomer DJs are a dime a dozen, if you have no reputation and no draw -there’s absolutely nothing seperating you from the other thousand guys who will work for next to nothing just to get heard, other than your own ego.
i agree with the “bite the bullet” philosophy starting out, but at the same time, don’t sell yourself short. you gotta push a little to get that extra buck out of it.
Yeah, if its your first time at the place, there will be plenty of people willing to take it on for that $$$ even if you aren’t. I’d take the gig, get as many people down there as you can, play your best, see if you like the venue, the manager, the promoter. If you are good enough and they want you back, then is the time to renegotiate.
sorry had no time to get in touch with the thread. some points to get a clearer view:
this is not a starter gig.
i already djed at this club for another party
i have quiet a nice base of people comming to see me spinning
the club is not based in leipzig, it is a in another city
some facts about that party:
it is called bad taste party and they mostly spin rave, 90´s, dr. alban, la boum, scooter and stuff like that. this party happens to be in some major cities in eastgermany dresden, leipzig, erfurt, hof , weimar…and so on.
i will be spinning in chemnitz at the so called cube club…and when i remember wright the night was always coverd with more than 400 people, because this kind of party only takes place 2-3 times a year per city. so the bad taste boom is still on the run in germany. and that is why i think i can be able to ask for more money. when spinng for friends ore friends asking me to spin at a club i don´t take their money unless they force to take it.
But yeah, big party, 400 people, 8 hours? If they charge 20 euro a head or whatever then that’s 8000 euro. Assuming they make their bar guarantee, and you’re the ONLY DJ, after lighting, if necessary, and making money back on the fliers there should be a LOT more than 150 to give you. shrug
dude! 20€ i would never pay that much money to get into a club! no they charge 5€ for the entry…so even the kids can effort…and the kids make the biggest part of the night (15-19 years old rave kids can get damn drunk and party like there is no mornng after
god i had such a sore back hahaha