If you’re in the market for a DJ for your nightclub, hotel or a mobile DJ for your birthday party, corporate gig or wedding only one factor will remain the same. There are hundreds of DJs out there clambering for your attention who want the gig.
In Australia, DJ services are almost completely unregulated, anyone can set up shop. There is also intense competition for gigs as a natural part of that. Now that you don’t need to spend $30k just to get started it is even easier, which means that as a customer it actually makes it harder for you to decide on who to use.
From the DJ side I see a lot of fighting going on for “territories” and some even colluding to push up local prices. It will never work due to the free market economics in play, someone else will just enter the market when prices go to a certain point. This is great for you as a customer as it keeps prices down.
This does beg the question: Why are some DJ charging $100 and others $10,000 for the same exact gig?
This is the question that you should actually ask the DJs you are looking to use, “What is the difference between you and other DJs?”
If there isn’t any difference between one company and another then you SHOULD go for the cheapest. What you will find is that most DJs provide completely different services and charge what the market is willing to pay.
My advice to you is to find out their points of difference, then decide which DJ companies have the point of difference that you want for YOUR event and then go with the one that you TRUST to provide their point of difference. Trust is the important word here in such a unregulated industry.
At Griffin Alliance our reputation is one of our main points of difference. We’re clear that we’ve been in the industry for 15 years, but we’re only as good as our last gig. Sometimes as a DJ it is easy to get complacent, I myself performed at over 200 gigs in the past year (it sounds like a lot, but I do both nightclub gigs and mobile gigs) and it really does take some work to make sure we don’t get burnt out. I’m clear that the client at each of our gigs only cares about that one performance though, so its important to make each one count. These are the types of things you want to find out from your potential DJs before you book.
For our competitors: We need to raise the industry standard if we want to raise the number of gigs and be able to charge a higher rate. I see a lot of DJs fighting for gigs and harassing each other when we should be working together to raise the entire standard of the industry. It’s a sad state of affairs when iPods are providing a better entertainment experience than some DJs. It doesn’t do us or our clients any good.
I know that there is a perception that there are not enough gigs around for everyone, but we have clients that spend up to 80% of the entire event budget for our entertainers because they see the value in that over extra balloons, chair covers, canapes or decor. We’re stepping up our game and I encourage you to do likewise, give me a call if you want any advice.
Daniel Toop