quote:

Originally posted by Inertia how much are DJs baking these days?

Well I dunno about other DJs, but I don't know how to bake so I don't bake anything...

As for the money side of it, back in England, me and some other DJs I know, made 12 quid an hour, starting, I made it to like 15 quid and some other DJs I know, made a fair bit more because they had been doing it for longer and were better than me, for me though when playing out, the only thing I want is a good crowd going nuts, I would of done all that DJing for free, getting paid is a bonus, I dunno how much they get paid here in Canada, I got told it wasn't much, but don't quote me on that, you should just go to your local clubs and ask the manager or ask the DJs, I'm sure they will tell ya, I would of told anyone, plus your better doing that, because I think it would vary depending on where you live.

When i started deejaying i made only about 50 € (60 $ US) an evening from 9 pm to 2 am. Now i usually charge a minimum of 70-80 euros (90 US), which is probably the average pay for a DJ here in Finland. Don't know about the big names but i think they make many grands with one gig. It also depends wether you play with an agency or as "freelancer". If you are with an agency, your pay is smaler but you usually get much employment.

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Selling some records!

John '00' Fleming must make bank.

http://www.john00fleming.com/archiv...2003_diary.html

quote:

Speaking of price tags, the new BMW Z8 was £85,000. What on earth do you get for your money?? It seemed no better that a BMW Z3. Sit it next to a Ferrari 360 ...... // ...... Then the fun bit comes when I spend hours test-driving these cars. I spent the week blasting around in a Ferrari 360, Lamborghini Diablo, Porsche turbo, Mercedes SL AMG, BMW Z6 and a Ferrari 550

Here he is with his Porsche

Those seem like very practical cars to tote your DJ equipment and records around in.. LOL.. Not like he prolly ever has to do that tho.

But shit. Those are some damn fine cars to own when you are a DJ. But he is also a Producer, and I think that is where the Big name DJ's are making there money... Ya they prolly make a couple grand per gig, but I think producing is where the money is at.

But I have NO real idea...

Cheers.

Now you know it's not polite to talk about money.

I know some of the name DJs in England and Northern Ireland and I know for a fact that they earn about £50'000 to £60'000 a month. One of them plays on radio one too (and no it's not Dave Pearce).
Which is more than I make in a year but that's the way it goes.

At the turn of the millenium New Years Eve, top DJs got paid around £20'000 for two hours work. Crazy money!

The reality is that most DJs don't get paid as there are so many of us out there and so many DJs give the more dedicated ones a bad name. It seems that in this day and age anyone with 3 LPs and some walkman headphones calls themselves a DJ.

Nightclubs usually pay DJs or alternatively promoters depending on the set up.

I make enough to live comfortably but not as much as those guys I mentioned earlier. Sigh... maybe one day.

I have worked up a pretty good reputation, quite a lot of people know me, I also get people actually comming to a club now because it's me now(mainly ladies which is really nice ). Still not on the same scale as these big names but if I can be a legend in my own lunch time then that's cool with me.
But things were not always this way, it really does take hard work to get acknowledged and few are prepared to give as much as you need to in order to get anywhere.

I still run into promoters and owners who take the piss. This guy had been calling me for a while and wanted me to play at his place which seemed cool even if it was more like an underground bar than a club but there was still dance capabilities so it was cool. I had a spot free in my calendar (a bit like tonight) so figured I might as well do it. We hadn't talked money and I wasn't expecting much from this place either but that wasn't a problem.
When I arrived the guy said that we needed to exchange money 'now' so I said ok, and then he looked at me as if I came from mars... So I asked him how much we were talking and he replied £25. At which point I nearly died with laughter because it is a heck of a drop compared to what I usually get but I was prepared to be nice about the whole thing and work something out. He then got quite shitty in his attitude towards me and said "look, if you don't stop f*cking around and give me £25 you aint getting the cartridges for the decks and you aint playing".
I handed him £25 took the carts which were crap anyways, than gave them back to the barmaid who was there, and put my own concords on. Then waited for the warm up guy to turn up as agreed.
20 mins later the manager comes up to me and says that I had better get spinning or I could forget about playing there again. At which point the warm up guy turns up and introduces himself to me (nice guy too). The manager says to the other guy that it looks like he is on earlier than planned and would he mind. Then the warm up DJ apoligises for being late and the face on the manager just dropped... as he realised he had just been a complete prick to the headliner.
I didn't get shitty about the whole thing though... no point. The manager came back with £200 which I took no questions asked but I did share it with the warm up guy.
That night gave me a good reminder of how lucky you are if you get to do a job like this, and how much shit the guys in the lower ranks have to deal with especially in a place like Brighton where everyone is a DJ. I have since then helped the other guy get a residency at one of the clubs I play every month.
Just so you know, I'm not a money maniac but it's worth remembering that it's not good to be seen as too nice when it comes to dealing with promoters in terms of money. People will take advantage of you if they can. I have known promoters piss off with all the money before the end of the night so always work out something before if you are getting paid. At least enough to cover travel expenses if nothing else.

Sorry if I went off on a tangent there... just needed to ramble!

Cheers
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

But Nem, you rambled so, yet didn't say anything about how much [I]you[/I make. pm?

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I know who nems talking about....

Having dabbled in promoting some nights and soon to be doing some more as a sideline to my own djing, i know the extortionate rates even commercial A list djs charge....

I make *enough* to live very comfortably from working 4 nights a week 9pm- 2am /9pm-3am- I have two luxury german cars if thats any measure...

Not giving exact figures- because, well its none of your fluffing business...


Started off playing for free and warming up/doing lights for free, so ive paid my dues many times over......

I do regional work playing just about any genre that the promoter wants. That means hip-hop and poppy junk too (but I have a good hip-hop DJ friend that I can borrow the good tracks from). I make on average 50 to 60 bucks per gig. Not enough to quit school but it supports the vinyl buying habit nicely. Thats all I really want out of it anyway.

DJing is definately not about making money in my hometown. Of course, I'm just starting out, so I can't really comment on what the resident DJs, event DJs etc. are bringing in.

Fortunately I'm not really in it for money, I started spinning for two reasons:

a) I love trance
b) I wanted to play my particular taste in trance on a loud system. If it's for a crowd, even better.

If some money happens along the way, great, but my career post-University is going to be my bread and butter...

I have to say that I couldn't believe that one part of the above post though. Having the warm-up guy PAY the manager to play there? That's pretty pathetic.

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DJ Kibon



Click below to download my most recent trance set:
DJ Kibon - August 2004

Last edited by DJ Kibon on Jan-03-2004 at 07:14

Hey Kibon,

Sorry, forgot to mention that it was actually meant as a deposit as a lot of people steal cartridges from decks at events. I would have gotten that back once I handed the carts back. Wasn't actually meant as a payment to play.

Cheers
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

Last edited by Nemesis44 on Jan-03-2004 at 16:58

in the underground rave scene in montreal, in the past, the djs usually earned about 200$ canadien for a 2 hour set

now, i know many djs who got paid about only 50$ for a 2 hour set, and some will never see the color of $$$


so as you can see!! montreal suxx