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I'm going for my first job interview with a DJ company in the NY/NJ area, i was wondering what a typcial pay rate would be?
1: MC Payrate
2: DJ Payrate.

Thanks
 
Mensajes Wed 20 Aug 08 @ 1:30 pm
DJ Rashad feat Gant-Man - What The F____?


great song.
 
ghettotech, now what does that have to do with anything here, show no respect and you will get none.

 
sbhoopsfan wrote :
I'm going for my first job interview with a DJ company in the NY/NJ area, i was wondering what a typcial pay rate would be?
1: MC Payrate
2: DJ Payrate.

Thanks

This gets asked all the time. The short answer is, what ever you feel your worth. We can all throw out prices all day but do you think your worth them is the main issue.
 
It is hard to say, as a lot of things come into play. Experience, market rate, hours. I live in this area, and if I was offering a position, I would offer between $25.00 to $35.00 an hour for an MC. I would pay a DJ between $50.00 and $100.00 an hour without equipment.
 
anyone can dj and the price varies.. why get employed by someone else when u can do it by yourself. djing is the easiest and fastest way to make money. if u work for someone else they'r gonna bind u to a contract and u cant "compete" with them. ie they use you for all your hard work and when u smarten up u can't go to the club(s) yourself and get the job.
best thing is to put in a few hundred, buy some little equipment start as a bedroom dj... make mixes for yourself, make them for others... do parties (and or weddings)... get another job to finance yourself then hustle on the side and make a name for yourself.. that way you dont have to deal or answer to anyone...
i wouldnt even recommend making friends with other djs coz the moment u are better than anyone u ARE a threat to them and there's a lot of wack djs. many and plenty of them.. and they are real wack and insecure and looking for a cue to start sh1t with you (being a hiphop dj ppl die over stupid sh1t)... so its best just to do it yourself by yourself.
you can start even for free to work at a small local bar. and use that bar to get another bar for a little pay and on and on... and that increases your value.. you are gonna mess up or something will happen that will fukk up with your gig but learn from that bad experience..
its just hustlin if u ask me.
this music sh1t is the one thing which u definately dont want to come in working for someone. there'll just jack you coz sooner or later you'll smarten up and ppl will wanna use u before u get up.. now u can work with these 'established dudes' who people call for weddings and they book you. they get the gigs and send u to do the gigs and sh1t. they take a small % off your gig for booking you.
but as far as working for a club that has all the equipment and sh1t.. they wont pay much. they'll say they have all the equipment and u work for $10 an hr. $50/night. fame no fortune. and fukk that. i'd better go to a small bar and talk to the bar owner develop it from scratch and get half the door or something. dudes and djs here make hundreds even thousands off that.

but thats the hood way of doing things here. $50/hr if you ask me an insult if i'm makin a mf thousands and the dj tells ppl to tip bar tenders. djs carry all this equipment and ish with them and u want to pay theme under $100? the fukkin bartenders and waitresses make way more than that on a bad day and they dont have to bring nothing with them to sell. F that.
get in your car and drive by bars and make deals with the bar owners... thats where the money's at. you can start working for nothing but as u grow the crowd u can have the bar jumpin where u now ask for your own night like monday, tuesday and take the whole door and half the till. this one dude i know made almost $1,000 on sundays.. from one of the smallest local bars in the neighborhood.
type up a little azz contract to protect yourself and your equipment.
 
I'm in that area, too. What company is it? What do they do? Are they weddings/mitzvah's, private party's or clubs. For everything but clubs, I'm pretty sure the MC makes more money. Most the companies I know of use the DJ position as MC's in training. This all is assuming you're not talking about club stuff. Anyway, there are so many variables, that it's really hard to answer. I pay DJ's about $100 an hour with their equipment, if they're good (in my eye) for private events. MC's are a whole different animal. For me, I pay the MC's more because I'm trusting them to run the event. Their pay depends on experience, talent, and mic skills. Just to show how difficult this is to answer, AMAHM and I are in the same area, and we have totally different pay scales. Nothing wrong with his, or mine. It just depends on who's doing what. Good luck, and sorry I couldn't help more.
 
I really dont have the time to start my own business and do it by myself, I'm an IT manger during that day and i work anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day, I also have two young children (8 months and 3 years) so Im really just doing this for fun, i've been a "bedroom" DJ for a long time and i just figured it would be fun to get out and do it even if only 1 or 2 days a month. I'm really not in it for the money, i just wanted to get a ball park so i can go in there with some knowledge.

Ghetto, I hear what your saying and if I was 15 years younger thats exactly what I would do, and actually I did DJ in a strip club when i was in my early 20's.

Also now i can join mp3 pools because im a working DJ :D

HiTower you are correct, they will pay me more as an MC then a DJ. They do weddings/mitzvah's,, corporate events, party's (they have those blow up sildes and ball cages.) they do a few bars and some karaoke a few nights a week.
Thanks for your reply!


Thank you all for your responses, I do appreciate it.
 
I started with a company in the NYC/NJ area as well and gained as much mobile experience as possible in 2 years then cut out on my own.
I am glad i worked with them for 2 years because no matter how good i was at mixing, blending, scratching and everything else a club dj prides himself on i walked into a world that i would have probably had a really hard time learning on my own. Furthermore i took the money i made with them and invested as much as i could into my own system. By the time i went on my own i had a bigger system than what i started with and had began putting together a decent light show.
Overall the experience is what i am thankful the most for. I ripped many a bar and night club and felt unstoppable when i started working for them, after my first gig i was quickly humbled and realized it was time to once again shut up and learn.

However if you already have experience in the mobile market as a DJ/MC then you should know what u r currently charging or have charged in the past and i guess bring that up a bit.
When i left they payed $350.00 a party as a DJ with own equipment and $175.00 to DJ with their equipment or to MC. This was after a year and a half.
Not alot of money but at the time i had no mobile experience and no clients so it was either that or the 6 hour marathon at the local club for $300.00

Hope this helps.

PS. Send me a PM or e-mail with more info on you as well as what they offer. I currently run my own small single op shop along with my wife.
I employee 2 roadies and am currently looking for another DJ to take on the work i am currently turning down.
 
Ghettotech's answer is valid if you want to be a club banger.

If you want to do Corporate Parties, or Wedding receptions that can be very lucrative, I suggest you make some investments in yourself.

1) Good quality sound system.
2) Legal Music.
3) Business License


There are a few ways of making money as a Mobile DJ

1) Sub-contractor
When Sub-Contracting you negotiate with a larger Mobile Company a rate for your services for the evening. It can be a flat rate or a Percentage of the invoice.

The benefit is that you start making money - now. The downside is that you are Ethically obligated not to contact those clients for referrals. They aren't your clients. Plus if you do contact the client you may be dropped as a subcontractor. No more gigs.

2) Generate your own sales.
Place Yellowpages ads, Advertise on facebook, Make referral contracts with wedding planners, Get advertising in Hotels/banquet facilities. Create a website

This takes more monetary investment but you will get more business than subcontracting alone. Plus you will be able to make referal offers to your clients.

Notice there are no numbers in this entry.

Make some phone calls, get quotes from established DJ companies and set your rates accordingly, either competitive, or higher or lower.

Good luck.
 
i guess it doesnt matter playing at an establishment for almost nothing if u have your business cards with you and get gigs using the name of the place.
mcs are ok with me but im not for an mc making more money than a dj. the dj carried all his equipment and sh1t and all that mc mf does is talkin sh1t on the mic and gets paid more than the dj? nah im not for that. besides, the dj comes with all his music, he should have the night set up in his head where he wants to take the party.

ish even in hiphop the producer makes more money than the artist. the freakin engineers get paid before the artist. unless the artist is well established artists dont usually make much. so i wouldnt be for an mc to make more than the dj...
for the hood parties there's some loud mouth knuckle heads who want some sh1t and can be swang a little $50... sh1t.. have 2 or 3 wireless mics and u have someone who can talk ish on the mic to hype it up a little and theyll do it for free..

and when sh1t goes wrong u know damn well its the dj that the ppl will be lookin at not the mc. a loud mf tries to take over my sh1t like he knows some sh1t i just turn his sh1t off and tell him to pass the mic.
haha.
 
sbhoopsfan wrote :
I really dont have the time to start my own business and do it by myself, I'm an IT manger during that day and i work anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day, I also have two young children (8 months and 3 years) so Im really just doing this for fun,.........


If you want to do it for "fun" stick to bedroom dj, house parties, friends birthdays, etc. DON'T undercut the market so you can have fun and take a job away from someone who does this for a living.....how would you like it if a qualified DJ who also knew IT stuff and liked working with computers for fun and told your boss "...you don't need him, I'll do his job for free" just cause he wanted to play with computers.....I am sure your family would not like to see empty plates when they sat down to dinner! Djing is a JOB, yes a fun job, but none the less it is how many of us try to make a living.

I have been in the nightclub and bar business since 1980 and have seen in the last 5-8 years mainly go from a really well paying career filled with professional djs coperating, sharing gigs, helping each other out and trying to RAISE the pay structure to a bunch of self centered, untalented, untrained, free music downloading guys who think Djing is fun so I will do it for FREE a couple nights a week until I get tired of it and then some other "free" Dj takes my place because now that's what the owner thinks the pay scale is.

Here in the Phoenix area I can count on one hand the number of resident club Djs (NOT promoters who take the door, and mobile Djs doing weddings and corporate parties, but resident club Djs hired by the club to DJ for that clubs crowd) that make over $400 per night per night on the weekends and don't know any that make that during the week.

I am so glad (if all goes as planned) I will be retiring from club in a few years because I don't want to see the whole industry totally destroyed!!!!
 
im sorry, that is the dumbest thing i have ever heard, first off im not doing it for free, that was the point of this post was to get an idea of the going rate. I am doing it for fun, and Im not taking someone elses job, if i can not do a job on a certain night they will get someone else to do it.
And for whats its worth Im not self centered, untrained free music downloading "guy" I pay for all the music that I download, i have also dj'd in the past, and i never said i was doing it for free, i said im doing it for fun.
You comments are way out of line, and completely uncalled for and insulting so as far as im concerned go retire and then go screw!
 
@ghettotech... I agree with you about a DJ getting paid more than a hype man/MC at a club. Personally, I think the hype man is a pain in the a$$. But for mobile events like weddings and mitzvahs, it's a totally different deal. The MC is the coordinator of these events. They make sure everything is running smoothly. They came from the DJ position, so if the DJ is F'ing up, he can correct it and make sure the programming is on point. The club and private events are like comparing football to soccer. Some of the elements are similar, but it just isn't the same.
 
ok here is a simple price guide:
1: mc's usually make a lot less money but some make almost as much if they are really good...maybe pushing it at 150-200....unless you get signed...lol
2: DJ: if you have no experience charge at least $250-$300...if you do a few shows and the past shows we're great charge between $400-800
but try to be fair charge for your experience as it gets better over time charge more...but be careful not to try to charge too much as the customers may go somewhere else for a better price....and just my opinion as i have been a dj for around 21 years....i personally charge 800 for a four hour show...hope this helps...besides experience you should charge for the equipment light travel ect..and incoorporate this into your prices....
different areas of the country also matters in pricing so call around and price your local dj's this should give you a good idea on how much to charge.....
 
sbhoopsfan wrote :
im sorry, that is the dumbest thing i have ever heard, first off im not doing it for free, that was the point of this post was to get an idea of the going rate. I am doing it for fun, and Im not taking someone elses job, if i can not do a job on a certain night they will get someone else to do it.
And for whats its worth Im not self centered, untrained free music downloading "guy" I pay for all the music that I download, i have also dj'd in the past, and i never said i was doing it for free, i said im doing it for fun.
You comments are way out of line, and completely uncalled for and insulting so as far as im concerned go retire and then go screw!


(1) Catch phrases like "Ive been a bedroom Dj", "really JUST doing it for fun", "not in it for the money" and "fun to get out only 1 or 2 days a month" all used together usually implies free or no pay is being asked for...if all those phrases used together were misinterpreted i apologize foir the misinterpretation...however I stand by the my statement that you are taking a couple gigs a month away from another Dj on their staff and taking money out of his pocket on the 1 or 2 days a month you work and that extra $200, $300, whatever for each of those nights may well be his truck payment and insurance to get his equipment around for his gig to support himself the rest of the 28 days of the month.

(2) I never said YOU were self centered, untrained, etc....I was stating my observation as to the direction that the club business is going, hence the statement "I have SEEN in the last 5-8 years...."

(3) My comments are not out of line, they are quite relevent facts regarding the direction the industry is taking as I have observed over the last several years.

(4) As far as the comments being insulting, since only #1 was specifically directed at what was apparently wrongly interpreted as your situation then the other comments can't be insulting if they don't apply to you....and if they do apply to anyone out there they should not be insulted but rather take a hard look in the mirror!

As far as your last comment retirement is coming (not soon enough I am afraid) and since I will then have more nights free my wife and I will be doing much more of the latter!
 
Just because someone is doing it for "FUN" and "not in it for the money" and "fun to get out 1 or days a monty" all used together doesn imply that someone is going to run out and work for free, so its a dumbass thing to say, if I was planning on working for free i would have never asked what a typical salary would be. Funny I hear Professional Athletes say i play for "fun and the love of the game" as their agents are negotiating million dollar contracts. So just because you do something for fun does in NO way imply your doing it for free.
As i said I did DJ a long time ago and believe it or not i got paid for it....

All that my statements are saying is that I'm not relying on this to support my family, and to think that im taking the food out of the mouth of "professional dj" is absolutley asinine. I have just as much right as anyone to go out and make some extra money DJ'ing even though it is not my bread and butter.

If you actually read the entire thread my replies were in response to someone that said I should start dj'ing for myself, and i was explaining why i could not go out on my own and that it will be easier for me to work for a company.

 
if you are starting, then take what ever they give you and eat shit. take sales, business, and marketing classes as well.

once you learn how to do everything on your own and CAN do everything on your own, do everything on your own and charge what ever you feel comfortable with.

i started at $100 for the whole night. did several parties for $200, 300, 400, got to know people in the industry, recently came along a musician, and now i take anywhere between $600 to $1300 for up to six hours.

if you dj for clubs, it's a whole other story. some dj's take 2,000 for four hours, some take 300 for 8 hours. go figure.

LA DJ Shahar
www.djshahar.com
 


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