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Topic: Club DJ's fees

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I have a question to all of the club dj's out there. What are dj's gettting paid in your area, in the local clubs. I've got two clubs in the Los Angeles area that want me now that I do vjing. One has about a 600 capacity and the other can get about 200-300 people in it. Thanks!
 
Posted Tue 22 Sep 09 @ 5:17 pm
Djs get paid according how good they play & also by having a following. It can be from 300 & above. You only bring your laptop.. All equipment is at the club.
 
Thanks for your input Caliente. Is anybody spinning video in the clubs? I've been trying to figure out how much more I should charge for video as opposed to straight djing.
 
For many years during the 80's and 90's I used to spin at clubs throughout the L.A. area. Back then I could make over $1000 a night plus a percentage of the door. That fee started waning into the 90's.

Obviously I don't spin in clubs these days because the average pay for a DJ is anywhere between $100 and $300 with the occasional $500 payday being an extreme rarity. The reason for this I surmise is because the popularity of DJing took off in the late 80's and into the 90's due to Hip Hop popularizing it in their music and the advent of electronic music on the other end of it.

This produced many high profile DJs that would either have residencies in some of the best clubs and/or touring. Because they are high profile they draw in large followings allowing them to command high prices for their services. This in turn lowered the pay of the average club DJ. Also keep in mind that because being a DJ was such a cool thing to do so many learned the trade and inundated the industry with so many wannabees that club and bar owners could get away with paying much lower fees because of the fierce competition between so many of these new DJs.

The iPod, jukeboxes and computers haven't helped much either.

I am happy doing mobile gigs because unless I'm Chris Lawrence, Richard Vission or Paul Oakenfold and the like I won't see the great paydays of the past doing clubs unless you're just... well, lucky?!


DJ RuDe


Keep Spinnin'!!
 
Technology has also water downed the Dj trade. It seems now a days anyone can down load music and buy Dj equipment and call themselves a Dj. I have been offer any where from $20 to $60 to spin for one hour( i turned them down unless they are favors to my friends) I have too much respect for myself. I did a few residencies for $200 to $250 a night in Chicago. That was being there from 9pm til about 3am.

Club owners believe now a days that the Djs should bring in the crowds. They don't want to pay for advertising, promoting or have really good drink specials because that would take money out of their pockets. There is no loyalty between club owners and Djs. In 2 cases I struck a deal with club owners where I would spin for a reduced rate in the begining but if the club would start getting packed consistently they would pay me more. Guess what happen once business was good? They never paid me more and I was told that if I didn't like it they could always find another Dj.

That is why I stick to mobile gigs. I can make far more money in less time. It is not consistent but it is worth it. I honestly don't know what a VDJ should charge. I would be curious to know especially since I have dabbled in VDJing. It is true though, unless you are a big Dj on the radio or the likes of Paul Orkenfold you are not going to get paid a ton of money. What sucks the most is they will pay those guys a ton of money to spin for one hour and you are stuck there for the whole night making a small fraction of what they get paid.

I have a lot of Dj friends that have residencies and last week they hired a heavy hitter to come in hopes to draw a crowd. My Dj buddy gets paid $200 for the whole night. They hired Julian Jumpin Perez from the Hot Mix 5. One of the pioneers in Radio Djing. They hired him for $600 for one hour. His mix was ok but hardly anyone danced. Once my buddy got back on to spin the dance floor was packed.

We as Djs are actually hurting ourselves in order to beat the other guy and make our money. There is no respect for what we do anymore and we have contributed to that by constantly undercutting each other. If you ask me the one sure thing that will pack clubs is a great drink special. I have seen so many dumps be packed only because they sell dollar beers and the Dj wasn't great but at least had the right kind of music. It didn't matter he couldn't even mix because everyone was too drunk to tell.

Sorry for venting but I had to say it.
 
I'm a self-employed freelance resident DJ in a couple of nightclubs, however, I'm in the North East of England, so, it probably bears no relation to the USA. Also I'm "out in the sticks" so I probably get less than the big city DJs. All I can say is that when I started with video, I managed to negotiate 15% more for doing video with both my residencies, although, I also manage their facebook and myspace pages as part of the extra. I also create a mini movie trailer with all their flyers on which kicks in when I play a non-video tune, or, I can manually switch it on (club owners like to see some advertising on the screens). There's one under Gigs on my website, putting sound to it tomorrow.

I was already the highest paid DJ in my area which, unfortunately, because of the "credit crunch" is now backfiring on me. I recently lost one of my main residencies after 3 very successful years because of this. They put their other cheaper DJs in, but, they also had a mass exodus of customers the first few weeks and still haven't recovered (happened only 4 weeks ago). So, it can be false economy, but, try telling that to the club owners trying to save money. Luckily I had 3 competitor nightclubs chasing after me and I secured a residency one week later with one of them.

Its a minefield to negotiate and can depend on your experience, skills and reputation (not on the size of your record collection).

http://www.vdjles.com
 
I'm also from los angeles and I do video and the promoter don't wanna pay you more for video.they don't care if you do video.but most club djs in hollywood,long beach,lakewood etc,don't make more then $150 a night.at the lakewood hop this dj name needles is the wackest dj I ever heard and he make $100 to $120 all night the promoter b&m ent.is some cheap bastards.club us to hit 500 with no problem.now I hear its only getting 150.last week the lied and said mike jones and bobby Valentino was go be there.they even had the place setup like he was go be their.the dj plays the same song about 3 time a night 2 times with in 30 and he don't drink.my homie does video.he told them $400 and they said we pay our dj's $150.and that price got cut in half for the dj that's their now.cuz the crowed got light.this club has 8 lcd's 46" around the club and 8 on the dance floor.the place is set for video but the promoter is cheap.
 
I dj tru out NYC......mainly caribbean music with a mixture or hip hop, house and latin..........I do alot of guess appearance gigs...so i usually stop in at 2/3 clubs a night on friday and saturday! My guess appearance fee is $350 a night..mind you thats for 1 to 1 1/2 hour of spinning and I'm out to the next club! I had one gig this past saturday night...got there 12:30am..spin at 1am till 2:15am next dj spin...i did a extra set at 3:30am and got paid for that..till an asshole drop beer all over my laptop......bought a next one sunday afternoon for this weekend, for a gig i have this coming saturday in south plainfeild nj at $800 mobile from 9pm-1am..then to the club...its hard now dude!!!!!
 
I dj tru out NYC......mainly caribbean music with a mixture or hip hop, house and latin..........I do alot of guess appearance gigs...so i usually stop in at 2/3 clubs a night on friday and saturday! My guess appearance fee is $350 a night..mind you thats for 1 to 1 1/2 hour of spinning and I'm out to the next club! I had one gig this past saturday night...got there 12:30am..spin at 1am till 2:15am next dj spin...i did a extra set at 3:30am and got paid for that..till an asshole drop beer all over my laptop......bought a next one sunday afternoon for this weekend, for a gig i have this coming saturday in south plainfeild nj at $800 mobile from 9pm-1am..then to the club...its hard now dude!!!!!




you don't see those prices in los angeles at clubs you won't get $350 for 1hr of djing.not no more.to many cheap undercutting dj's out here.just look at our craiglist post.dj need for 5hr and must bring equipment $100 or in orange county.dj for 1hr for $40 plus food and drinks.but some new dj will take it.watch


Fixed ur post so others can read ur response: Discobrian24
 
What ever you do don't work for 150 a night, when it comes to that you really have to ask yourself weather or not you should get another job/hobby.
Most DJ's that do it cheap are very somber people with no enthusiasm, they just use the clubs gear and playing mp3's that are spelt wrong or are full of underscores or worse they use home made CD's! Yes that's home made CD's! With hand written CD sleeves. Just took over from a DJ that worked like this!!! In this day and age it was just un-real and he was only 26 years old.

As music become more widely available we have more people starting up, just look at all the no license users on this site! Guy’s that won't even buy a license because there so cheap and un-professional. That's how they can go out for free and why they don't have there own gear and if they do it's just bedroom DJ gear.

I remember stating that myself and fellow pro's had to get physical with some bed roomers under cutting everybody and doing everyone out of work and everyone went nut's (I don't know why) they deserved it

After having all these bed roomers take over one of my local city's everyone stopped going out (Seriously) and it wasn’t until all the pro’s had come back and a lot of money was spent on advertising that things went back to normal.

I charge an extra 30 percent for videos and it’s a simple as that and if they don’t want to pay then I just do audio and they miss out. The most important thing is to have prices for all you services audio, karaoke, video, the time you play eg: 8-12, 8-1, 8-2 whatever and they respect that.

The worst experience I've ever had in clubs or as a DJ was working in the Middle East through a bad agency for an Indian managed venue.
 
I can Concur with DJ Voodo!! Whats up bro!! it has been extreamly difficult to be a DJ here in the Midwest because of the ease of getting started and the fact there are many people doing it? Like I tell people if you want quanity I am not that guy where I was offered 125 for a gig from 930pm to 3am!!! I can not wvwn get a gig in the city (CHICAGO) because of some unwritten law that goes back to who the hell know's when?? that NO INDIANA DJ will work in the city? Don't ask me as long as I have been Dj'ing since 86 its been that way? But I do know out here in INDIANA the club / Bar Sean is very bad as far as pay goes.
 
Yeah...I hate to say it but club dj'ing is not the best pay if your not a radio personality. I make less in the clubs than at a private show or a wedding or a caberet.

The upside of dj'ing in the club is that even though it's less money, it's steady income. If you play in a club every Thursday for example, that could be a steady $200 every Thursday for like 4 hours work where you don't have to bring your own sound. If you work at the club 2 nights, thats $400 a week for 8 hours of work.

I was on the radio but gave it up years ago because I was on the air on saturday nights making an hourly pay when I could have been at a caberet making $700 and up in the same time frame.

Being a club dj is good. Just make sure you have people you can put in the club when you have a show that pays you more on that night.
 


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