DJ Pay and Set Times

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bassbum
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DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by bassbum » Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:14 pm

Whats is a normal length set a DJ would do at a night?

I'm looking in to putting on my own night and I'm a little confused as to how long a DJ would play for and how much you would pay them. If my night is 5 hours long and each DJ dose a 1 hour set I would need 5 DJs. If I then pay them £50 each it starts to make the night really expensive and I would be unable to make a profit.

Any advise on this would be very appreciated.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by wub » Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:20 pm

bassbum wrote: I would be unable to make a profit.
If this is your reason for wanting to put on a night, then I'd suggest thinking twice about doing so. If you promote, expect to lose money for the first few parties. If you can't afford to lose money, don't promote. That would be my advice.

The only man turning a profit at nights is the one in the corner with the bag of pills.

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bassbum
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by bassbum » Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:32 pm

wub wrote:
bassbum wrote:

The only man turning a profit at nights is the one in the corner with the bag of pills.
LOL Wub

I think the same way, and I'm 100% in it to have fun. It's just there is only so much money you can lose before you brake down and cry.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by wub » Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:37 pm

bassbum wrote:
wub wrote:
bassbum wrote:

The only man turning a profit at nights is the one in the corner with the bag of pills.
LOL Wub

I think the same way, and I'm 100% in it to have fun. It's just there is only so much money you can lose before you brake down and cry.
Again, if you can't afford to lose money don't promote. Or else change your planning of the night to reduce costs, if turning a profit is important to you.

Factor in venue hire, flyers, paying DJs etc. How much you charging to get in? What is the venue capacity? Work out potential income from 10% capacity, 25% and 75% capacity. What's your break even point?

Also, ask your DJs how much they charge to play? Whilst its nice to get something (and DJs should always get something), some might only charge £25, or play for travel costs plus a few drinks tokens.

Like anything, do your research. Happy to help if you have more specific questions.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by bassbum » Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:58 pm

Thanks Wub I might take you up on that later on.

The problem seems to have sorted it's self out. Some friends of friends have just agreed to play for free. I told them I would send some money there way if I make a profit.

The only real question I have is how long should I ask each DJ to play for?

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by wub » Sat Feb 01, 2014 9:01 pm

bassbum wrote:The only real question I have is how long should I ask each DJ to play for?
How long is a piece of string? DJ sets are usually anything between 45mins and 2hrs...anything more than that and it's usually a special guest or headline act.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by titchbit » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:18 pm

An hour is pretty standard. But I've seen sets that are 30 minutes and sets that are 4 hours.

If I were you, since you said you know people who would dj for free, I would make one DJ the 'headliner' and pay him/her more than the opening djs. Maybe have 2 opening djs with 1 hour sets and then have the headliner for 2 hours or something. You could even do an extra hour with a less skilled dj after the headliner while things wind down, i've seen some clubs do that.

This way you could pay the 'headliner' £50 or more, and then pay the opening djs less. I mean in reality there are probably anywhere from dozens to thousands of young djs (depending on where you live) who are pretty solid at dj'ing and would be willing to open for you for cheap. Nobody really goes to nights for the opening djs anyway other than their friends, so they don't have to be the greatest djs in the world. Just make sure you see them mix beforehand so you know they're decent enough.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by fragments » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:19 pm

If you are really doing it for fun get people to play for free. My favorite weekly ever never paid any of the DJs unless they brought a well known regional or national DJ. The promoter got the venue owner to comp drinks to the DJs during their sets. Most DJs dont want to get hammered while they are on stage and they only played about 45 minutes to an hour so maybe had a couple drinks. Worked out for everyone as this bar did fuck all business on Wednesday night w/o the weekly. It was 50/50 old heads and young kids. The old heads bought a lot of pints by 2:30am ;p
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by legend4ry » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:35 pm

50 quid x 5 = 250.

I spent that on support acts, let alone headliners and this was in 2008.

If you're just doing a little night just get mates down for it, give them free beer and a tenner so travel is covered.

It appears you don't have the resources to throw a 'big' night so just keep costs down.
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by nowaysj » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:48 pm

wub wrote:
bassbum wrote:The only real question I have is how long should I ask each DJ to play for?
How long is a piece of string?
23 inches.

Bum - you are going about this all wrong. Nowadays it is pay to play for dj's. Let the djays pay you 50$ to do an hour. 5 dj's equals: 250$ revenue stream right there.

:6:
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Capture pt
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by Capture pt » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:50 pm

when we were putting on nights the only time we made money was the dimensions launch party. and I think we were like £100 up max - which was then split between two promoters. every other night was a loss - you do it for the laughs/memories/music.

£50 aint gonna buy you much. i think our cheapest DJ was Kowton - I cant remember how much exactly but was around 400-500 i think. 1.5 hour set. Jackmaster was the most expensive at not a lot of change from £800 odd, for a 2 hour set if I remember. but then we have a small crew who take turns doing warmup sets. I got a dimensions ticket out of the launch party night which was dope but other than that I was more than happy to DJ for a few beers behind the decks and the chance to play tunes loud on a system.


the best way to start a night is just do house parties under a brand - seriously - get someone with a bigish house and just throw a system in there. give your party a name and do this a few times over. DJ yourself and get your mates to DJ and maybe throw a crate of beers behind the decks. you'll still be spending money to put them on, but after doing a number and getting a good following for your parties you can move up to a club venue and you already have a following who will buy tickets. you can still get your mates to DJ for free/a few beers.

the other road is just hire some big names and whack a logo on a flyer and rent a club. do-able but you need really fashionable DJs to pull a crowd (which dubstep just wont do these days whether you like that fact or not) just so you dont piss £1.5k down the drain. You'll still be spending a lot of money tho - and you need more capital to start with.

in terms of a standard set length - if you got a bunch of mates who all want to play 1 hour is the shortest you'd ever go. 1.5/2 hours is the norm in the UK. In other areas of the world 3 to 5 hour sets are the norm. But we had shit licencing laws which prevent that.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by Capture pt » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:53 pm

nowaysj wrote:
wub wrote:
bassbum wrote:The only real question I have is how long should I ask each DJ to play for?
How long is a piece of string?
23 inches.

Bum - you are going about this all wrong. Nowadays it is pay to play for dj's. Let the djays pay you 50$ to do an hour. 5 dj's equals: 250$ revenue stream right there.

:6:

fukken i know thats tongue in cheek - one of my mates is in a fairly successful (in southampton) metalcore band. they have to pay all the clubs to play there - even if they're headlining. i couldn't believe it when he first told me. fuck that.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by nowaysj » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:56 pm

Yeah, rock bands have been paying to play for years. But now it's dj's who are paying to play. Just proof to me that djing has reached that point when in the 70's/80's, every single white boy had a guitar.
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by Capture pt » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:00 am

yeah for sure. I don't see that as really a bad thing tho - so many people DJ but still not many are making decent tracks. DJing is actually really fucking simple to pick up a moderate level of skill - enough to do a passable set in a club. however making a decent tune takes a lot more time investment IMO so is pushing up the worth of producers who have dubs your average Beatport Top 20 CDJ doesn't.

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by nowaysj » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:01 am

But I thought the DJ's made the music?

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by bassbum » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:25 am

^ that joke never gets old :D

Well I managed to get a small club on a Saturday for just the cost of security. I'm going to have to rent 2 bass bins to add to their PA but that's only another £100. So hopefully now I have costs down to a point where I can keep the night going as a monthly thing even if I make a loss. Then if I start to get a following I can open up the second room in the club and bring in a few big names. That's the plan for now anyway.

Guys that have done nights before, any advice for flyers? I was planning to hit places like the university halls, cool little shops and other events like mine.

I'm going to have Dubstep, DnB, and a bit of Deep House. Is it better to stick to one genera or mix and match?

800TH POST!! :5:

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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by nowaysj » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:39 am

bassbum wrote:^ that joke never gets old :D
:a: no it does. But every time I encounter that idea in the wild, allows me one indulgence of beating that dead horse just one more time.

Awesome what you are doing, btw. I don't think this kind of thing needs to be a big production, I like the way you're approaching it. Just keep that overhead down.
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by fragments » Sun Feb 02, 2014 2:10 am

I like multi genre nights. As it helps stop the "everyone playing the same twenty tracks" syndrom that has cropped up as of late..
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Re: DJ Pay and Set Times

Post by bennyfroobs » Sun Feb 02, 2014 2:54 am

mix n match genres but keep stuff cohesive on similar vibe imo

booking djs: walk b4 u run, like someone said just get some mates who dj to do it for free, escpecially if ur just starting out. why piss 500+ down the drain when no one knows what ur night is? u gotta build up some word of mouth street talk hype first so ppl actually know about you, word of mouth is better than any social net work spam and flier spam is ever gna be.
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