How much £ to DJ?

[sample_city]

Me & a couple of other lads have been running a quite successful oldskool night in local pubs (we know the managers) we hire speakers, amps etc and use our own mixer & decks.
We usually charge a couple of quid on the door, which after we pay for the hire equipment gets split 3 ways. We've ended up with anything from £30 to £180 each
Now one of the bigger pub/clubs in the town have approached us to do a oldskool night there, but they want a price up front!
What does the board think is a fair/decent price? At the end of the day it's all about the music and not about the £! But it would be nice to earn some cash
Were talking about maybe 9pm-4am we won't need to hire anything, but we might have to take our decks as I think the club only has Booo! CD decks! Hissssss
Any ideas what to charge!

 

[siman91]

The fairest way to charge is to split the door between you and the club. My brother used to run a very successful night a couple of years ago in London with some very good names which attracted some good crowds. The club owner would not move on the bar, that was his. The door was then split 3 ways with my brother and his partner taking 2/3rds and the club taking the other 1/3rd. Fortunately they rammed the place most nights and walks away with £2-3k each, club owner very happy with door but especially the bar.

This deal allows you to get a good return if you put the hard work in to promote the night and removes the risk of an unbacked outlay by the club ie that they pay you say £1k and nobody bothers showing up.

Remember dont get greedy, your using their club, equipment and making money from their loyal punters. To get asked back you need to show that your night got more people through the door than normal and other promoters that they might use. Print up flyers and spend a night or two fly postering to get the message out there and use facebook etc.

Hurts me to say but plan the music carefully, not too underground and not too hard, its a retro night and therefore people are expecting to hear some records they know. Also see if they will allow an old feel ie lasers, strobes and parachutes etc.

Friend and I were going to do a ticket/invite only night of champagne and top class acid house but could not get the support of any venue which we liked.

Enjoy but it is realy hard work.

s

 

[sample_city]

Thanks for the reply siman, the thing is I don't think (I've only been in once) the club charges for entry (maybe £1 after 11pm or summat) so it's not going to be 'our' night we are just gonna DJ, but they want a price from us first
So how much does a 'resident' dj in a club get paid?
I suppose at the end of the day it's down to how many punters turn up!
But with it being a 1 off night, who knows!!

 

[Biskit]

resident in a pub for one night a week, can get around £80 to £150 a night. a resident that covers all the nights in a pub wed/thurs/fri/sat/sun, can get upto £250/280 a week.
Back in the 90s a friend of mine was weekly resident for 3 nights, earning upto £300 which went on for years, he was their personal resident dj.
so now i would think, seen as ur not doing it weekly (or are you), and its a new venture, maybe anything from £120 to £200.
think about it was well, are you paying for the promotion, or are they??

 

[Northern Star]

Are you running youre old skool nights in this pub on the same night as this chap in town?? If so id consider that you might be nicking his trade which puts you in a good position

If not - then id think about the capacity of the venue and how many people you expect to get through the doors - say for example 200 people - and if you usually charge a couple of quid on the door then thats £400.00.

If he doesnt charge to get in and you do then id put it simply to him that youd expect to get paid what youd normally take on the door Id say that was fair enough

 

[djay]

Judging by all three of your mixing skills and record collections you should be paying them . On a serious note I used to get 150 per hour in 1990 so really 60+ for the night if you ask me.

 

[easty]

say you want 100 nicker each and a crate of beer. That way you get some pocket money and free beer, as well as getting to dj all night.
The going rate in Manchester is round about a ton for an hours set and thats for pretty established dj's. if the guy starts making serious money then you can ask for more but it will do you more good in the long run not to be a greedy bastard

 

[Sam]

i'd do the first one for nothing and see if it goes off, then when it does you'll more than likely be invited back...

Good luck either way...

 

[sample_city]

thanks for all your comments!
promotion wise i can easily knock up some posters and banners at work, as i usually do, and as this place is on the main 'strip' thats probally all that will be needed
we already have a facebook group Log in | Facebook anybodys welcome to join
as our 'spokesman' i use the term very-lightly is currently on an Ibizan jolly, i will have to wait for him to come back, i'll keep you all informed!