A Little History and Perspective

The MobileBeat General Forum included a post about  the DJ Industry forming a group to regulate standards and qualifications. Many DJs responded with a variety of comments and opinions. There are a wide variety of “takes” on this topic. Charlie Stone, a business owner from Wesley Chapel. FL, posted the following history and interesting critique:

I’ve been all for this since the mid 90′s. I predicted then that this day would come. No one wants to listen. Here is a post I wrote about this topic last year.

I had a Vision

In 1997, a few of us local deejays formed an association called tampaprodjs. This was before the merger with The ADJA.

In 1997 I stated to everyone in our organization that if we invited more Deejays to join and learn to become better Deejays, while it will help the deejays become better, it would also create a slew of new blood and the pricing war would begin. You can’t tell me that you learn a slew of new games, introduction techniques, etc and your calendar is open and bride calls you and you rave about all your new talent and offer a price of $500 to work one Saturday night when you just made that working a 40 hour week. You’d laugh all the way to the bank.

This is all due to the fact that No-ONE in our industry needs to be licensed and education is readily available for FREE!! Add all the tradeshows, lower priced equipment, DJ forums, free internet advertising, the popularity and coolness of being a jock has ruined the entire business when it comes to making a living. You take all the above add thousands more deejays and you simply have too much supply for the demand of business.

History Lesson – Here’s proof!

In 1982 while I was fresh out of high school, I begged a local company to hire me. At that time, there were only 2 companies. They were Sunset Entertainment and Sound Entertainment who later became the Pros who later split up to become several other companies including the FAME owner Rob Smith Productions.

They had to have a talent booking license to run an operation. Their primary source of advertising was the Yellow Pages. Remember them? Well to advertise your business in the directories back then, you needed to have a business telephone as well as an occupational license and state talent agent license which cost $1,200. In other words, you needed to spend a couple grand just to claim to offer a service. To drum up business, you advertised in the yellow pages at rate that was several hundred per month.

Guess how much we charged back in 1985? $400 to $800. You know how much I made per gig back then? $40. The Company I worked for (Sunset Entertainment) had 40 deejays working at least one gig per Saturday while the better ones worked several every weekend 52 weeks a year. I did this work because I loved it. Heck I had to buy all the latest 45’s to keep up with the music. I probably spent more money on records and gas then I did receive in pay. Now that’s doing it for the love.

This was long before Dual CD players, compact discs, Mobile Beat, ADJA, NAME, and everyone else pushing a product. Today they are charging the same and struggling to survive!

Changes Are Coming

At some point in the early 90’s, states eased the regulations and eliminated DJ companies from being required to have a talent license. Instead of $1,200 for a talent agent license, all you needed was a local city license for $50. Enter more deejay companies!

Fast forward to 1997; 10 years after I left the industry, I decided to get back into Deejaying. I needed gigs and I didn’t have any connections. The yellow pages would be my answer. To advertise in the books, I needed to have a business telephone (not cell or home phone) which costs more than a home line, a business license or corporation records. Once I got in the books, my phone was ringing and I booked hundreds of gigs the next 3 years. In 1997 I attended my first DJ conference. WOW! That was an eye opener! I realized then while watching Mark Weinstock that I was way down the scale compared to everyone else. I was in the audience in Vegas when Mark Ferrell was introduced. I took his MC workshop, I bought Randy’s 1% series. I have purchased Scott Favor‘s DVD’s; I attended the Minnesota, Dallas shows. But you know what? So have thousands of others!

The Internet

Take all these ideas and add the internet age and you now created a whole new animal. If you don’t believe there is more supply then demand, then type in your city and DJ. You now have 1000’s of self proclaimed disc jockeys ranging from bedroom hobbyist to fulltime professionals trying to make a living all wanting a prospect to click me. The vast majority are charging the same range. What’s a bride to do? Geez, go to craigslist and you can find a DJ for $250. He advertises he has 20 years experience, has 50 gazillion songs and questions them why pay more. What’s a bride to do?

A Fisherman’s Dream

The oceans are filled with millions of fish (deejays) there are only so many fishing lines being tossed into the waters. Unfortunately, you have starving fish begging for food and taking what they can bite into. However, since (part time) deejays don’t need a lot of money to survive (wife works-they work during the week, etc.) they continue to hang around in the waters and every once in awhile they catch some food.

Vendors – Are we really good enough?

I’ve asked vendors what they thought of us and most say were good. They will reference the occasional horror story but they are less frequent. My question to them is…what qualifies as good. Most answers are…be professional, show up on time, do what the bride asks, don’t piss my staff off. Don’t eat before the guests, have neat equipment, dress professionally. Notice they never mentioned talent.

Whose To Blame

So here we are 12 years later. We now have local and national organizations who want to help grow your business. We have access to chat rooms where you can get all the latest trends, games, and so much more all for free. We have access to trade publications, tradeshows and several sources for music including free ones. While we have grown by leaps and bounds as an industry, we still have along way to mature. Just read the mentality of most of the post on the chat boards.

What We Don’t Have

Is Protection from ourselves. Let’s face it; we all do this for the love of it. Otherwise we wouldn’t exist. Didn’t we all start doing this for fun and to land that first gig we gave our service away for next to nothing. Wasn’t it cool to say you’re a DJ? The fame the buzz the excitement after a gig! The problem we all face is now we realize we can make money at this and were all divided like sections of a pie as to how. Solutions?

Many of you including Drax will disagree with me.

I suggest two solutions:

1. A national certification that is beyond DJ101 like FAME offers. This would be a requirement to obtain a state license. Continuing education would be a requirement to stay licensed.

2. States get back to recognizing we are a legit business and start requiring and charging a realistic business licenses fee like that of a talent agent.

My guess is you would have the serious ante up to stay in business and the remaining 60% or so get out. Finally, Deejays would be forced to have a business plan and charge accordingly. Now the ocean isn’t filled with so many fish.

Will It work?

Twelve years have gone by since I thought of this. With the good Lord willing and the creek won’t rise…Ask me again in 2021.