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NEVER HIRE A DJ
SERVICE
This is one of the most important messages that you will
read if you are about to hire a DJ/Emcee for a Wedding
or Private Party.
Let me begin by saying once again. NEVER
HIRE A DJ SERVICE for your wedding or special event and
here is why.
Many of these so called "DJ services" are
nothing more than a marketing company that tricks you
into thinking that they are this huge company with DJ’s
all over the country. The truth is they are out right
lying to you.
What many of these DJ Marketing companies do
is hire a company to create an elaborate website and
come up with a very “professional sounding” company name
with the hopes that potential clients will fall for
their deceptiveness and call their 800 number and
unfortunately many do.
Once they convince you to hire them they
usually ask for a large deposit to secure the date and
then demand full payment two weeks before your event.
You should never pay more than twenty five percent of
the price for a down payment and the balance
should be paid the day of the event AT the event,
ONLY, Period.
Here is why: Once these DJ Marketing
services get you to sign their contract that
really protects them and not you they begin to
look for a DJ that they can hire to actually do your
event for usually half or three quarters of the price
they booked your event for. Example, If you agreed to a
fee of $800.00 for your event chances are they will look
for a DJ to do your event for $400.00 - $500.00, making
them a nice profit for doing nothing more than talking
with you and making a few phone calls or sending out
some emails.
Now here is where the problem really begins.
Most of the time the service has NO and I mean NO idea
of how good or how bad the DJ they are about to hire for
YOUR event is. There is a good chance that they just
googled DJ’s in a certain area and began looking at
websites and making phone calls. Don’t be fooled when
they tell you they have a huge list of DJ’s that work
for them. They don’t trust me.
I know this all to well because I get DJ companies
calling me all the time to see if I would take a gig
from them. I always tell them that I am not interested
in doing any work for them. Mostly because I have no
idea what they have told the client and because a true
professional DJ is always in contact with the client
prior to the event to make certain that everything that
the client wants will be accomplished. Also I will not
use my more than thirty-five years of experience to
promote a company other than my own just because someone
found them online.
When I receive a call from someone looking
to hire me and I am already booked I do have two DJ’s
that I know for certain will do a great job for them and
I refer them. I never ask for money from either party. I
just want to make certain that the client gets quality
entertainment for their event.
Last year I received two phone calls on
different Saturday afternoons from brides that were
frantic. The DJ they hired never showed. All the guests
were at the reception sitting there with no
entertainment. Fortunately for one of the brides I took
that weekend off because I had relatives in town that
was planned months prior.I could not let this special
day for the Bride and Groom be ruined so I performed at
the event.
The other bride unfortunately ended up not
having any entertainment because when I received the
call I was already at a wedding reception and I had
another one right afterwards. I did try to contact a
couple of DJ’s that I knew for her but they too were not
available.
Now in both cases the DJ services were paid
in full. What I believed happen was this. The DJ’s that
these companies hired most likely booked their own event
for more money after being hired by the DJ services and
either did not just show up because their name was not
on the contract or they did call the DJ service and told
them but the DJ service could not find anyone to replace
them. Either way it was wrong.
Here is what you need to do when booking
your DJ/Emcee For your Wedding or Private Event:
1)
Make certain that the person that you are talking
with is the person that will be performing at your
event.
2)
Never pay more than a twenty-five percent deposit
and only pay the balance in full AT THE EVENT.
3)
Make certain you use a contract and that the
person’s name that is on the contract will be the one
performing.
When it comes to the cost of hiring a Professional
DJ/Emcee In my opinion you should not pay more than
$600.00 for four hours. If you need music at your
wedding ceremony expect an other $100.00 fee which
is acceptable. If you want a particular DJ and he does
have to travel a considerable distance then he should be
paid a traveling fee.
The DJ fee should include, a quality sound system, one
or two lights light and a wireless microphone.
Don’t let
DJ’s charge you more money if they have to bring an
extra set of speakers because you have a little larger
party (no more than 500 people) than the usual. It's no
big deal to throw up a couple more speakers.
In Closing there are many reputable DJ's out there that
take pride in what they do. Make sure you hire one of
those and once again NEVER HIRE A DJ SERVICE!
I always
provide FREE Consultations so feel free to contact me
anytime at 321-507-2216 or email me
joey@joeyentertainment.com.
Best
Joey
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