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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Salaries - Page: 1

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How much do you make in your respected country? As a dj or a VJ
I make $500tt an hour as a dj that is $85 us
 
Posted Fri 12 Mar 10 @ 3:41 pm
to be honest i don't think any professional dj would disclose how much he earns to anyone let alone on a public forum, just thought I'd mention it if there is a lack of response to the thread
 
+
 
I don't charge by the hour. I charge per show, and the price changes depending on what they want..

Video+lights+mileage+more then 300 people+ etc etc etc can go as high as $1600.00, but on average I would guestimate $800 to $900?..
 
NO CHARGE "FREE" = When I have a party at my house !! Depending on the event it can go up to $2000.00cdn and above if need be.


Back about 16 years ago a DJ that was an associate of the Canadian Disc Jockey Association came to my DJ shop and told me that I must readjust my pricing as I was hurting other DJs in the town. I simply told him to go f#&k himself and threw him out of my store. I explained to him that if he was as busy as me he would be able to charge the same price as me. Back then I had 11 fulltime/partime employees. I was doing on average 28 gigs a week. One year after I threw him out of my shop he ended up in jail for theft of a very hefty amount of cash he stoled from a very well known not for profit organization he worked for as treasurer. I, like most charge what the job is worth... Here in Canada where I live every type of culture/ ethnecity reflects how much you can charge. The lowest paying clients in my part of Canada are the French community as French DJs here are a dime a dozen
 
$300.00 US. minimal for the first 4 hours. $25.00 US. for every additional hour.

I guess since I posted this now I'm not a professional.

Years of guess work down the drain!
 
Stop posting these things.. This will hurt everyone in the future. Anyone can see this and next thing you know, the government will step in a make everyone pay taxes.
 
Being a tax paying company aint so bad ;-)

@tayla: hang out at start.mobilebeat.com for bit..
pricing etc by mobile DJ's is discusses all the time LOL
though I can see a bar DJ not want to discuss his wage..

P.S.
I should have mentioned in my post..

MOBILE DJ, PART TIME.
 
Video Display at private events: A Lot
Non video DJ service - Not as Much

Bars/lounges/clubs - Video feed to video matrix plus sound and lights - 300.00/night
Bars/lounges/clubs - Sound and lights only - 200.00/night

*** Bars must sign at least a 3 months service agreement****

I don't do many bars or Clubs anymore; too many iPOD/limewire jocks or 50.00/night guys

TBA karaoke/video

I do some sub-contracting as well but those rates are private.

The professional Association I belong to has been having this very discussion in both our formal meetings and our "beer meetings"
Some are quite put off by some of the Marketing strategies being adopted lately. (actually only 2 but they are quite vocal)

P.S.

I report every dime I make as a DJ and Mechanic.
As a tradesman I get special deductions related to tools and equipment purchases, And as a Small Business owner I get more deductions related to the business. It's better for me to report the money and claim the deduction than to pocket the cash and hope no-one notices. A good accountant can make my income lower than I ever imagined. Get to know the Bean Counters

Only thing that pisses me off Is that I can not claim any labour related to repairing my Van or gear. You can Only claim and Deduct real actual money in Canada.
 
@hippy, other then bar and club work I actually do the occassional mobile as well, with full light and sound and a couple of video projectors, but the only people that get to know my pricing policy are my clients, anyone else has to put the effort in to know them, besides anyone on here can think of a number and double it and say thats what they earn not that they would, but if someone wants to divulge those figures who am I to argue.

Take a look at names that are missing from this list they are all of the like mind as me. doesn't matter how much you earn, in the end only three people will know that as far as I'm concerned, God, me and the one you can't ever get a way from.... no not the wife, lol.
 
I'm a self-employed freelance pub/club VJ. 2 years ago I managed to raise my prices at 2 nightclub residencies by 15% for doing Video. I was already the highest paid DJ in my rural area, however, it backfired last summer when I lost one of my nightclub residencies to a much cheaper DJ, who happened to be an employee and pals with the owner (and had just lost his day job). I had to laugh when in the first 3 weeks there was a mass exodus of customers to a competitor nightclub after having one drink. :-) There were lots of complaints about the music, the owner told the DJ to play the same as I had done, but, he is inexperienced and just isn't good enough and I'm the only one doing Video in my area, the club has never fully recovered since. I used to get over 600 through the door on a Saturday night, they now get less than 300, does it make economic sense???

The owner offered me a Saturday night in his pub at less than half the money I lost, I politely turned it down and told him how much I would do it for (I always keep the door open, never say never).

My other residency is still paying the same money as it has for the last 2 years.
 
The post above by Soulman is commendable however some of the other reply's that mention figures are simply wrong on a public forum!

Anyone can read this, including our customers. I would like to see VDJ go all private except for a dedicated forum for NLU's, simply called NLU's

Other than that, I'm going to start using the exp user forum more until they make all forums private. I always get the feeling when on here and any other DJ forum that it's full of people that shouldn't be there.

Also funkmasterfrank, stacking em high and selling em cheap has simply f*cked the industry as a whole. No Excuses! I did the same too for a bit years ago when i first started however I saw what it was doing and now employ fewer and concentrate more on quality earning the same as before but with a better rep and better clients.
 
Put it this way i can earn double now im using cdj's instead of virtual dj.

Shows what clubs and bars think of virtual dj.
 
I get a 12 pack and a bag of Doritos. But, I think I'm gonna start asking for two bags.
 

I know DJ's that charge the earth and get 1 maybe 2 gig's a month. I don't charge a lot, I don't need too and I'm working every Friday and Saturday night. Work that one out!!!! ;)

To me DJ'ing is not about making money like some users on here and other forums. There is more to life than money, and some people forget that

DJ'ing is about entertaining the crowd and giving them what they want, isn't it!!!


rob.mccombe wrote :

Put it this way i can earn double now im using cdj's instead of virtual dj.

Shows what clubs and bars think of virtual dj.


That's because some club and Bar owners still feel that ANY DJ software is inferior to CDJ's and that CDJ's or TT's are more reliable.
 
Jimmy,

I understand the concept of enjoying being a DJ and doing it for a bit of fun down at the Dog n Duck or whatever! but for myself and so many other people, it is our proper job and we've invested a lot of money into our business and that needs to be recouped. It's not about being greedy! As a business I have weekly overheads to meet.

I know the industry is in a state now and that some people don't even recognise it as an industry even though they are DJ's themselves, this is because of the way they were introduced into the industry or because of the way they first interpreted it.

A lot of people saw me and decided to start up thinking it's was easy money, but when they started getting booked and the customer required quality equipment and an excellent service it all fell to pieces. Literally

Jimmy imagine when you buy your next car, you'll no doubt will be thinking "jesus, that's a lot" well imagine adding 17.5 percent VAT on top too! because that's what we have to do when we buy our van's, I could go on and on about it.. but again, it's a public forum and in any case this should really go without saying.
 
jimmy b wrote :
That's because some club and Bar owners still feel that ANY DJ software is inferior to CDJ's and that CDJ's or TT's are more reliable.


Warning: getting a bit off-topic

I'd be inclined to think it's more about peoples' preconceptions than reliability issues. Some people have this strange notion that if something is done on a computer, it's so easy that any sod able to fire up Excel is able to do it.

I do quite a lot of graphic art using Photoshop and 3D-modelling, both professionally and as a hobby. I went to fancy art school back in the day, pretty much had a straigh A+ track record on hand-drawing all my life. When some non-techsavvy person likes my work and ask how I did it and I briefly explain, I still get the occasional "so you did it on a computer, it's not like you really draw it".

At this point I'll just roll my eyes and wonder if it would actually make some difference artistically if I have broke out a box of pencils and what not, spent ten time as long doing the illustration and still end up with something that doesn't look as good as the digital.
 
DJing on a computer is easy. DJing WELL on a computer is a different story.
 
Charlie Wilson wrote :
however some of the other reply's that mention figures are simply wrong on a public forum!

Anyone can read this, including our customers.


and what exactly are you afraid your customers will do with those numbers?

many mobile DJ's post their prices directly on their website, and many don't..
Why they do or don't usually depends more on how they "sell" to a customer rather then their price range.
 
There are people that come on here and websites/forums like it fishing for information - thay then go on to use it to play us off against one another, i will not divulge any personal info on here from now on what-so-ever.

 
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