swinginstyle wrote:Do most DJs on here get paid or compensated for their services, whether they be local or national?
I won't try to speak for others, but my guess is that the vast majority of DJs here do not make enough to "break even" on the expense of being a DJ. I doubt that many can even cover the direct expenses of attend an event to work, let alone the additional overhead of running a business.
I do get paid to attend an event, with travel, hotel, meals, and pass covered. At a typical event, I will "take home" between $200 and $500 after direct expenses...but that's not anywhere near enough to cover the "overhead" of music, insurance, equipment, etc, etc.
As a result of setting my rates at a level that gives me that kind of income, I am invited to a very small fraction of the events that I was invited to when I charged less.
I run a mobile DJ company and take on wedding and corporate clients that does a lot more than "break even" on my DJ expenses. I have not made enough playing for 'dance events' to break even on that incremental expense in the last several years.
swinginstyle wrote:And what's people assuming that they don't have to pay for our services and that comping will satisfy you?
I wish I knew. The Lindy, westie, C&W, and ballroom scenes do differ slightly... At this point I think that the best explanation is "tradition."
In the past, events did not make enough money to pay anyone, so well meaning and generous people donated their time for all manner of services - DJing, registration, judging, teaching, etc, etc. After a few years, it becomes very hard to change that basic economic structure.
Most events in the westie, C&W, and ballroom world give away HUGE cash prizes to the competitors. That is what they choose to do with their "profit." At one recent event, over $30,000 was given in prize money to the winning competitors. I was told that there was just not enough $$$ to pay the DJs more than we were getting.
swinginstyle wrote:Why, after all this effort of purchasing and organizing music, appropriating software, etc and culling through music to make sure their dancers have the best time of their life, why do I have nothing show? Why do event organizers offer nothing?
The event organizers do not pay because they do not need to. There are dozens of "qualified" DJs who are willing to attend the event and work "for the love of DJing."
Why would a business pay more than is required to secure reasonable and customary services from any vendor?
The majority of DJs I have spoken with do not run their service as a business. Most probably do not have a good accounting of their fixed expenses. So, it would be difficult for them to set a fee schedule that would allow them to recoup their expenses and break even.
swinginstyle wrote:A good DJ is well worth the expense.
Agreed.
-Stan Graves