The Mobile DJ Marketplace: Who Dictates How Much You Can Earn?

By Derek Pengelly

An overview, and analysis, of the mobile disco marketplace: I will try to examine some of the obstacles which restrict earnings, and share some tried and tested methods which are guaranteed to increase your income.

  I am fifty three years old and I started as a Mobile DJ in youth clubs at the age of 15. As I grew older I was able to work in pubs and clubs and learnt my craft doing anything and everything offered to me by unsuspecting clients. Most of my work came via agents or from local advertising and I fixed my fees, like everyone else, by ringing around the competition and then undercutting them slightly.

  Eight years ago I started David Summers & Co entertainment Ltd in partnership with my wife Carol. She runs the office and looks after the marketing and admin whilst I take care of the kit; source sub-contracted DJs and I do all of the technical stuff. Oh, and I DJ on average about four nights a week. Our business is Vat Registered and we will turnover in excess of £110,000 in 2007/8.

  I am a past chairman of the NADJ and am currently their branch development officer. Over the past seven years I have travelled extensively throughout the UK and the USA and have met hundreds of Mobile DJs, all of whom surprisingly, share similar experiences and problems with their struggle to earn a living wage as a professional Moble DJ.

  So let’s take a look at the Market and see if we can’t find out why that is?

DJ or Disco: The root of the problem lies in the title of this article. Mobile DJ or “Disco”: do we market our unique skill and talent or do we try to sell a bunch of speakers and lights?  Can your client get the same as you offer elsewhere? Do you honestly believe that you are worth more than the average disco fee? [£250 currently around most of the UK].

Supply & Demand: How many mobile discos are there in the UK? This is very much crystal ball gazing but a very basic and unscientific estimate based on yellow Pages tells me that there are seventy five listed in my local book. There are 105 editions which would mean that there are 7875 discos advertised nationally. It would be fair to say that only about five percent of discos advertise in YP therefore a figure of 157,500 are active in the UK. Most work on referrals or through agents or have residencies in pubs, clubs and hotels.

  I have spoken with others in our industry who estimate that the total is probably more like 300.000. No wonder many chose to compete on price and price alone.  If we take just on type of event, in this case weddings, we can see that in 2005 there were 250,000 weddings in the UK. Divide this by 105 yellow pages areas and we find that there would have been an average of 2380 in any one area. One percent of this market would equate to twenty four possible bookings. Could you get at least one percent of your market?If you take four weeks off for holidays a year and you want to work two nights a week this means you have ninety six possible booking, not counting the Xmas silly season.

  The national average wage is about £22250 = £427.88 per week. Now to earn a comparable wage as a full time professional DJ and in order to pay all of your business and living expenses including insurance, health care and pension plans it is generally regarded that you need to earn three times this amount just to maintain the same standard of living. Therefore you need to earn £1283.64 per week gross as a DJ. To earn an average wage as a DJ you need to gross £66,750 per year by charging £695 a gig [if you work two nights], or £465 a gig if you work three nights.

Product focused or Service focused: A typical mobile rig would consist of a couple of speakers, mixer, amp, twin CD player, microphone and four effect lights. Nationally the average price to hire the audio is about a £100 and the lights would be about £60 making a total of £160. This does not include delivery, set up and strip down and transportation back to the hire shop. Nor does it include any music library, remuneration for the DJs time or his talent. If we add on just £8 per hour for seven hours labour we get another £56, plus add the cost of hiring a music collection [if you could] £50 maybe, and we arrive at a minimum cost of £266.  So why do some DJs continue to charge less than this. If a client can’t see a difference between you and a competitor he will always shop on price!

Giving Clients a choice and focusing on service: Offering a range of services will help establish what you do. Different size rigs and extra services should demand different fees. Offer different packages and price from as little as………?A professional Mobile Dj spends many hours working on advertising, marketing, replying to enquiries, planning on behalf of clients, acquiring and programming music, personalising events, creative ideas, interaction and performance.

  Specialise in something, but only specialise in one thing. How much is all this time and expertise worth? You do the maths and add your figure to the minimum aforementioned £266. Established, quality, professional & experienced DJs have no problem earning £350 /£500 per gig. I am one of those DJs and I meet many others on a regular basis.

Public perception and expectation: So why is it that we still struggle as an industry to achieve these fees. Where do potential clients get there indications regarding fees from? I mentioned good old YPs before and I guess a great many customers start their search for a DJ here or at the on-line equivalent. They look at the ads and make value judgements based upon what they see. They probably draw up a short list of three or more to call.

  The first DJ who answers their call is going to set the bench mark. If he is a gear head and blinkered by his competition and he does not truly appreciate what he is worth and responds instantly to the question, “how much do you charge”, without establishing key facts first, like where and when is the gig, what kind of party is it and how many people will be attending, and quotes £150……he has set the level. If he gets the booking he will have undersold himself. If the caller chooses to shop around then the next DJ in line will have a problem establishing himself, unless that is, he understands the situation and he has the skills to sell his unique service and achieve a reasonable fee.

  Most people have no idea how much a Mobile Disco or DJ will charge.  Fees vary enormously between pubs, hotels and agents. The market place, and the value of our services, is in the hands of, and the responsibility of, all mobile DJs around the country. It is the DJs who do not know their true worth who continue to undervalue their products and services and determine our market.

  If someone rings me and tells me that they can get the same for £xxx from DJ ABC I ask, why didn’t you book them? Or better still, “I thought you wanted a “Professional” DJ”. Were you offered a written contract, what happens if they fail to turn up or their equipment fails? And the best line of all to combat price shoppers is to tell them, “my phone is always very busy on a Friday and Saturday night about seven o’clock, with people desperate for a DJ because their £xx DJ has failed to show up!

Not in my back yard syndrome: [NIMBY] Now I can hear you all yelling at the page saying that it’s all very well and good for me but you could never get £300/£500 in your area. Wrong!I love pork pies and I can buy one in my local supermarket for 0.49p. I can also buy one in my local petrol station shop for .99p.I can also buy one in my local newsagents/ corner shop and pay £1.49.

  The fact is I buy pork pies in all of these places. It just depends on where I am when I fancy a pork pie. I evaluate my need with convenience and I make a judgement. Often that judgement has nothing to do with logic. It has more to do with need and hunger. It has more to do with spontaneous whim or meticulous planning as to whether I spend 49p or £1.49.Anyway, back to discos and clients in your area. How many doctors, dentists, solicitors, sales managers, franchise owners, plumbers, electricians, builders, department heads etc live in your area? The percentage of them may vary from one area to the next but you can guarantee that you have them. Would you like to be a small fish in a big pond or would you rather be a big fish in a small pond?

Know your market: Do your research. Ask key questions like, where did you hear about me or where did you get my contact details from? What is the name of the venue? Where is it? What kind of party is it? How many guests will be there? Have you booked any other entertainment for the night? Are there any extra services you require? All these facts will give you and idea of the kind of client you are dealing with and what their total budget for the event is.

  Not all enquiries are from people you want to do business with. Learning to say no is a difficult thing. But sometimes things are not commercially viable and you do yourself and your colleagues no favours by devaluing your product or services.  What’s in a name? Boogie nights, night fever, star sounds, discomania, revolution, groovy nights, A1, Acme, Ace discos are often found in many editions of YP. They are synonymous with a dated discotheque era and they do nothing to describe you, the DJ, or what you do that is unique and therefore of value. You could end up being confused with another operator in the same or nearby area. My advice would be for you to use a real name which describes exactly who you are and what you do.  Ego or

Talent: Ego drives us to do what we do; it enables us to be different and creative. Ego often clouds our judgement and can detach us from reality. Ego can be destructive.Talent is unique. Talent is entertaining and sets you apart from the competition. Talent is valued.Talent gives you confidence. Talent creates demand for your services.

Professional; [Definition]

1. Earning one’s living from an activity, such as a sport, not normally thought of as an occupation.
2. Engaged in a specified occupation for pay or as a means of a livelihood.
3. A person who engages in some sort of art, sport, etc, for money, especially as a means of livelihood, rather than a hobby.
4. A person who does something with great skill.

What is your unique selling point? What do you do that no one else does. Why should you be hired rather than another DJ? Why do other service providers recommend you to their clients? Do you care about the success of your client’s function?

What have we concluded here: Pricing is determined by you and you alone.

1. If you are unique.
2. If your service is outweighing supply.
3. If you constantly deliver greater value than your clients expected.
4. If your clients are telling you that you exceeded their expectations.
5. If your clients are telling you that they got great value for money.
6. If your diary is full and you are turning away bookings. Time to raise your rates!

Tips for success: Decide which are your markets and stick to them. Not everyone is your customer.

• Remember this well established business code and you won’t go wrong.
• You can have low cost & great value but not high quality.
• You can have high quality and low cost but you can’t have great service.
• You can have high quality and great service but you can’t have low cost.
• You only get one chance to make a first impression.
• Use quality marketing materials, professionally produced and definitely not home made.
• Use professionally printed full colour flyers and double sided business cards - Include your name and full postal address as well as your e-mail and web details.
• Use testimonials from satisfied clients to sell your services for you.
• Join local business forums and networking clubs.
• Become a member of professional organisations such as the Federation for small business, chamber of commerce or National association of Disc Jockeys.
• Use their logs in your marketing materials.
• Remember that people buy people.
• Make sure web sites have been spell checked and that they are grammatically correct.
• Sell when you perform and perform when you sell.

Always under promise and over deliver: Invest in yourself. Good luck. 

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