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A DJ friend and I were talking, and he said he would pay to play at his favorite clubs in the city. I thought it was kind of absurd that anyone should have to PAY to essentially to a job (even if it is a labor of love). Think of some of your favorite clubs...would you pay to play there? I say no, just out of principle, but I look forward to hearing some of your answers.

i would pay to play at Berghain

no.
if I don't get booked there, I don't belong there. it's that simple.

I can imagine now that someone has had the idea, the big clubs will try and charge the lesser known DJs for the privilege. Fuck that though, it'll just mean the rich kids with laptops will be a permanent feature of the first two hours

^ surely that exists somewhere. would not surprise me one bit.

Yeah I'd pay and do one of two things:

1/ Ruin night by playing awful crap and then making a scene if they try to stop me.

2/ Bring loads of friends along for proper good times and then all vacating when my set finishes.

Direflow wrote:i would pay to play at Berghain

funnily enough, this is what lady gaga is doing.

Shum wrote:^ surely that exists somewhere. would not surprise me one bit..

Already does for a lot of mid sized house nights in London. DJs are booked on the number of tickets they can sell. So you get a cycle effect taking place;

Fred is a Dj who has recently started getting 'good'. He approached a promoter who tells Fred he'd like to book him and would he like to sell some tickets to his friends. Fred is very excited about getting to play in a club, and his friends are also pleased for him, so buy some tickets. Fred gets a couple of quid off each ticket sale, so walks away with money in his pocket and gets to play his set.

As time goes on, Fred gets more sets offered to him with the same requirements of selling tickets, however his friends gradually start to buy less and less off him...after all, they've seen him DJ in a club a few times and the novelty is wearing off, plus it's £15 a time and that's a fair bit to do it on the regular.

So the promoters start booking Fred less becuase he can't sell tickets and Fred gradually drifts down the flyers and off the scene altogether. But not to worry, because there is this other DJ called Dave who has recently started getting 'good'...

id pay just to get drunk and play moomba and donk to a crowd that hates it

Shum wrote:^ surely that exists somewhere. would not surprise me one bit.

heard of Fatcat promotions?

Jurkhands wrote:no.
if I don't get booked there, I don't belong there. it's that simple.

Nevalo wrote:

Direflow wrote:i would pay to play at Berghain

funnily enough, this is what lady gaga is doing.

wub wrote:

Shum wrote:^ surely that exists somewhere. would not surprise me one bit..

Already does for a lot of mid sized house nights in London. DJs are booked on the number of tickets they can sell. So you get a cycle effect taking place;

Fred is a Dj who has recently started getting 'good'. He approached a promoter who tells Fred he'd like to book him and would he like to sell some tickets to his friends. Fred is very excited about getting to play in a club, and his friends are also pleased for him, so buy some tickets. Fred gets a couple of quid off each ticket sale, so walks away with money in his pocket and gets to play his set.

As time goes on, Fred gets more sets offered to him with the same requirements of selling tickets, however his friends gradually start to buy less and less off him...after all, they've seen him DJ in a club a few times and the novelty is wearing off, plus it's £15 a time and that's a fair bit to do it on the regular.

So the promoters start booking Fred less becuase he can't sell tickets and Fred gradually drifts down the flyers and off the scene altogether. But not to worry, because there is this other DJ called Dave who has recently started getting 'good'...

oh god lol, just watched this exact thing happen to a guy i know who recently moved to SD. he didn't have to hustle tickets personally, but his return visits to a club were directly related to how many people would show up to watch him play. this is what really puts me off DJ'ing, and makes me glad i'm content just producing.

no

Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if clubs started charging DJs to play. In Chicago, talent rarely equals success or fame in the DJing world. I saw 2562, Pearson Sound, and countless house legends of the 80s and 90s basically playing to floor boards. From a club perspective, why would I pay out hundreds or thousands of dollars to a world renowned DJ when some no name who plays pop music brings the crowd? It's a rock and a hard place because it's highly competitive, but some clubs are uncompromising in playing certain types of music. As a result, the clubs that stay true to the sound seem to be suffering. At the same time, you see acts like Flux Pavillion selling out the biggest theatres in the city. Despicable. I wish there was more support for underground/up and coming DJs around here...

i remember club nights in tokyo where newbie djs were paying to play.

as far as i can remember, in return the entrance revenue or part of it was split among the djs playing that night.

the club would make money off the bar.

that was the hip hop scene though.

Nevalo wrote:

Direflow wrote:i would pay to play at Berghain

funnily enough, this is what lady gaga is doing.

is she really? how so?

It's sadly not unheard of for DJ's to get paid nothing and have to cover their own travel / expenses. I know that's not quite what you're saying but it's in similar territory. Promoters concentrate on the headliners and don't seem to factor in all the other peeps who make the line up. Those DJ's getting nothing still do it because of the love, but it's a bit of a piss take imo.

I'd play for free (or just for travel) but paying money to dj is ridiculous.

would u pay to work in another job?

I wouldn't mind paying long as the system is good and I finally get the chance to hear some certain tunes out.

dididub wrote:would u pay to work in another job?

not really the same though is it? it's a hobby before it's a job init so more like if you like bowling you pay to go bowling don't you. Personally i wouldn't pay to play but i don't see whats wrong with it if you enjoy djing so much and wanna hear tunes on a proper system,.

yh i guess it's not the same as a regular job but it's still backward cos the dj isn't there like "thank u so much for letting me play on this system let me pay you" even if u love to dj it should be like "u booked me and paid me cos ppl will want to come and hear me shell down" it's almost like a service imo.