London promoters and their ‘rent a crowd’ policies.
DJs beware. If a promoter in London asks you to DJ for them be careful because chances are they’ll probably expect you to sell tickets and not only that, will only pay you based on a % of those tickets.
If I was going to sell fcking tickets i would do it for my own fcking club nights and I’ll make A LOT more % on those sales.
I don’t know why they do this. I run nights and i’ve never EVER expected my DJs to bring a crowd, if they do, then great, but it’s not the reason i’m booking them. It’s MY job as a PROMOTER to sell tickets/get people coming to my night, not the DJ.
I’m booking them because they play the sound i expect for my night, and know how to rock the crowd and keep them enjoying the night so much that they’ll want to return to another one of my nights.
Or shall i just book a DJ based on the fact he might bullsht me on the promise he’ll sell 20 tickets, make a sht job behind the decks playing crap, mixing like a spastic and putting people off coming to my night ever again?
No.
Sorry just wanted to make a little rant and also warn anyone. 
I know how you feel man…lazy *** promoters!!!
sorry Roben I have to disagree.
I’m a DJ and a promoter and know this pretty well from both sides of the coin
i don’t understand why you getting so annoyed?
I’m sure you are fully aware that there is a gazilion of djs, how could I tell one from another? How can I tell that someone who is serious about this ****, or just trying to impress few girls?
Being a DJ myself (and most promoters are) why would I pay someone to turn up at my gig, if I can cover the night myself about 10 times over?
Now I’d never book a crap DJ, but also I’d never book someone who thinks that is to good to help me with getting people thru the door.
This is something thats very common. Like someone has said, theres a million dj’s out there and if your not a Sasha or Richie Hawtin, then its common that most people wont know who the hell you are. A lot of promoters have normally asked for dj’s to bring around 50 guests if your un heard of. **** for you i know, but they need to make money if it turns out your playing music to a room of 10 people all night.
If your well known around your gaff then im sure if the promoter does his job right promoting the night then i wouldnt worry about it.
That’s crap, you don’t let someone DJ only on the basis that they can bring a few people.
You have them DJ because they’re good at DJing and keep your punters happy.
If you want promoters, you hire promoters. Which we do, we’ll pay them an hourly wage and also £1 or £2 (depends on venue entry) per head that they’ve got through the door.
I also have dancers, and this month we have a PA, i haven’t told them that they’ll only get paid on the basis that they sell tickets, that’s BS.
They come, they dance, they get paid for their service. End off.
Likewise with the DJs.
What I do as a promoter is I get the promotion out there, I spread the word, i make sure people come through the door, that’s my job as a promoter.
What next, expect the bar staff to do their job of working the bar and only get paid on the basis that they’ve sold a few tickets to punters?
You don’t see Hed Kandi get their DJs to sell tickets and who’s ever heard of most of their DJ roster? Because it’s the brand and the promoters who sell.
Sure there are a lot of DJs out there, but there are a lot of people out there willing to work the bar too, but you still pay them for their services.
Besides, theres a lot of chaff out there and you get what you pay for, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
I think it’s money grabbing promoters who are too tight to pay people for their work, if I can pay my staff, so can they.
I always pay my staff! I always have and always will!
But as you know its a business and in business you spent money to bring profit (whenever in hard cash or exposure)
I know that by having few hot girls dancing on podiums I’ll attract quite a few guys,
so my investment = punters through the door.
I know that by having a DJ that I can sell as someone worth checking out I can do the same.
But if I have someone who is virtually unknown, etc and can’t even bring few people thru the door than where do I get my money back?
Why would I let someone come in and play on my party to 500+ people (that I’ve worked my bo****** off to promote), give the exposure, fame and glory (lol) and then pay them for nothing?
I agree some promoters take the pi**** with asking to be paid for a DJ slot in empty club, that’s not right!
And I don’t expect my DJs to promote the night for me, I also have my promo team, etc but unless they are freaking amazing, they better be able to ADD value to my night in one way or another.
oh and btw, I don’t let any crap DJs play at my parties, but it seems to be exactly opposite in the clubland, the extreme end of it are so called ‘celebrity’ DJ sets, with people of the telly or radio
seanl
I think you are maybe misunderstanding what Roben is saying here, i think everyone accepts that you book a DJ because they have a following and will create an interest on the night.
But to expect that DJ to sell tickets and to then pay them on a tickets sold % is a bit fo a joke, and I agree with Roben it’s just lazy promotion, and doesn’t build a base for the club, it just brings ina crowd for the night - which is not better then your local ritzy running Bacardi Breezer promotions.
Book a DJ because he plays the rigth music for your night, has a following that will benefit your night or you are impressed by them.
Don’t book them to phsyically go out and sell tickets…
Basically if i can get 100 people to come to a night and hear me DJ why woudl i take ti to someone elses night? Better I hire my own venue and keep the money myself rather then only get a % of what the promoter makes off my friends.
Agree totally Roben. They should be choosing a DJ because they have checked him out before/heard one of his sets & want to book him. It should not matter if he comes by himself or brings 30 friends. Haven’t read through all your posts but has he asked you to pay him yet for the privilage of playing:P lol
This is actually 100% the reason why I’m into producing. You need to IMO in order to get gigs where you can play music you want to & not having promoters asking you to bring so many people to fill the place. Surely the promoter in the first place must realize your not the man for the job if he himself thinks he cannot get enough people to go to the club & should be getting someone else without bothering them to bring people. I mean how low is that when you think about it? It is not your job to worry about if people come up, what if you told him to buy a few tunes for his set etc… What a crap anology:P
[quote]seanl (24/05/2010)[hr]
Why would I let someone come in and play on my party to 500+ people (that I’ve worked my bo****** off to promote), give the exposure, fame and glory (lol) and then pay them for nothing?
[/quote]
You pay the dj because you know he is good & will keep people dancing. If you can do this yourself you don’t need a dj & you should do it your self. Basically I hear you saying right so I’m the promoter, I can get my 20 friends to go. I could also dj but why bother when I can get a random one who will bring in 20 or 30 more people, on top of my 20. If I were to dj myself them other poeple wouldn’t come. This is pretty low IMO. Yes it’s your job to get people in the door but it’s the djs job to play tunes. He’s not a handyman doing all sorts of jobs.
No disrespect to you, just most promoters in general.
Sure i’m not saying that you can’t ask the DJ to sell tickets too, but it shouldn’t be his responsability.
He’s being paid to DJ, not sell tickets. However if you’re only giving him % on tickets then he’s not actually even getting paid to DJ, he’s just getting paid on his tickets sales (promotion).
Even our promoters get an hourly wage before getting a % of ticket sales, why should our DJs not get the same treatment?
Paid for his DJ work and given % of any tickets he sells on top if he/she so wishes.
Don’t get me wrong, i do expect all my DJs to spread the word to their friends list about their gig as well as invite them all to our facebook event, but if no one turns up, he/she isn’t penalised, after all, I myself with my local following know what it’s like, not always people can turn up to my gigs, sometimes i’ll bring 100s, on occasion a handful.
Doesn’t mean that as a DJ i’ll do lesser of a job when I’m performing.
[quote]roben (25/05/2010)[hr]Sure i’m not saying that you can’t ask the DJ to sell tickets too, but it shouldn’t be his responsability.
He’s being paid to DJ, not sell tickets. However if you’re only giving him % on tickets then he’s not actually even getting paid to DJ, he’s just getting paid on his tickets sales (promotion).
Even our promoters get an hourly wage before getting a % of ticket sales, why should our DJs not get the same treatment?
Paid for his DJ work and given % of any tickets he sells on top if he/she so wishes.
Don’t get me wrong, i do expect all my DJs to spread the word to their friends list about their gig as well as invite them all to our facebook event, but if no one turns up, he/she isn’t penalised, after all, I myself with my local following know what it’s like, not always people can turn up to my gigs, sometimes i’ll bring 100s, on occasion a handful.
Doesn’t mean that as a DJ i’ll do lesser of a job when I’m performing.[/quote]
Well said that man.
well at least we are having a discussion 
to re-fraze my point, if a promoter have 20 DJs to chose from, of similar standard (and that’s not uncommon) who is he/she going to pick?
if you are pass that stage in your career, than that’s fair enough
I certainly wouldn’t worry about selling tickets…
Dropping a msg to Facebook group/friends that you have tickets to this great party isn’t hard work really, is it?
BTW It is no different for bands!
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to sell tickets! But if that’s what will take to get me on front of a big audience, then I’m prepared to suffer!
Fair enough, you do give valid points in some areas but you see my beef is with promoters who literally want something for nothing.
There are 100s of DJs in Brighton and I had no problem choosing which DJs i wanted to play at my night, in fact apart from me, my best friend and a Honeyclub resident, non of my DJs are Brighton DJs haha.
They’re not necessarily technically good DJs they’re just freekin awesome at delivering the right tunes and their stage presence is top, they have a grace and vibe and you can tell they’re enjoying themselves and play to entertain the crowd, not just themselves.
This is a BIG thing i find with 95% of DJs… they play for themselves and don’t give a sh*t about the punters, a large group could leave the dancefloor due to the tunes they’re playing and they won’t even notice (or care?) and change direction in order to get things back on track.
Then there are the DJs who have their head down the whole time, standing stiff and look so bored.
How can the crowd enjoy themselves if the DJ who’s playing the tunes doesn’t even look like he’s enjoying himself too?
If I’m booking someone i’ve not seen play before, it will only be on the basis of recommendation from a good DJ friend who i know and trust.
Otherwise they will need to play for me on warm up or trial before our night opens and maybe we’ll book them for next event.
If you’ve ever watched Prok & Fitch DJ live and see how they interact and hold the dancefloor and enjoy themselves you’ll see what I mean, that’s what I look for in a DJ.
Prok & Fitch bummer:P
when i used to dj , i would have to do a lot of the promo. i would flyer cars, pass out free passes to any girls that where above a 4 on the scale and talk to as many people as i could to get emails to build up my base for promo blasts. really made me look at things differently.
Roben, yes there are hundreds of Djs like that and I’m not saying that you should sacrifice quality over quantity …but at the same time as a promoter I’d be more inclined to book someone who was willing to help even if they were ‘not as good’
As a DJ I’d calculate what I can gain from playing at a specific party/club and if I’ve thought that I could gain something from promoting it (experience, exposure, cash, contacts, etc) then the answer would be yes.
I believe that 99% of people do it because they love music, as you know promoting anything is hardly walk in a park and I could certainly think of few easier ways of making money.
At the same time people need to understand that dance music is a serious business, and unless you have something valuable to ‘sell’ than they are unlikely to succeed.
I know that for many people this is hard to accept, but IMO this is reality.
The trick is to negotiate space for your own ‘artistic’ self with in this industry.
and never let girls in that are lower than a 4 on the scale
[quote]tommyt (25/05/2010)[hr]and never let girls in that are lower than a 4 on the scale[/quote]
YES! but if all else fails low lighting and alcohol will take care of that
[quote]seanl (25/05/2010)[hr][quote]tommyt (25/05/2010)[hr]and never let girls in that are lower than a 4 on the scale[/quote]
YES! but if all else fails low lighting and alcohol will take care of that :D[/quote]
hahaha true,
and plenty of smoke from the machine if your dancefloor isn’t looking too busy…