Disc Jockey News

Here is a funny little story from my local Newspaper web site.....

This Article is from StarTribune.com

The full Article, with any associated images and links can be viewed here. StarTribune.com

R.I.P. the CD 1982-2007
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune

Once praised for its clear, crisp audio quality but panned for its susceptibility to scratches and smudges, the compact disc passed away in 2007 after a quick but painful illness. It was 25 years old.

The final cause of death has not been determined, but friends and fans blamed digital-download sites such as iTunes and illegal file-sharing among rich kids. In addition, doctors pointed to the big record companies and mega-selling artists who put out CDs in recent years that featured only a few good songs and lots of filler.

Simon Cowell, who is also a suspect in a mass plot to ruin pop music, is being questioned by police.

The CD was preceded in death by its siblings, the cassette and 8-track tape. Its older cousin, the vinyl record, has been hanging on for two decades, with life support from nerdy audiophiles.

Conceived in 1979 by engineers at Sony and Philips, the CD first went on the market in 1982. The inaugural album was Abba's "The Visitors," which led to Jerry Falwell's accusation that it was a gay technology.

The CD survived, though, and went on to account for about 200 billion album sales worldwide.

Its success led to a record-industry heyday in the 1990s, when such substantive and high-quality artists as Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, the Backstreet Boys and Ace of Base sold CDs like umbrellas during monsoon season.

"The compact disc was such a great friend," mourned Brooks, the country singer who sold about 80 million albums in the CD era, many of them at Wal-Mart. "You could pop a CD into the stereo on your pickup truck or Lear jet and let it just keep spinning and spinning."

Since 2004, CD sales have declined by one-third while digital album sales have quintupled. Last year's 19 percent slide from 2006 led doctors to finally sign off on its death notice.

"I sure am going to miss the CD," said Paul McCartney, whose Beatles are one of the last groups to refuse to sell their albums on iTunes. "On the bright side, new technology means that Beatles lovers now can buy our albums for the third or fourth time."

Memorial services have not been finalized, but Elton John has committed to singing at the funeral. In lieu of flowers, please send $17.99 to the record-store owner of your choice.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-***-****

5 reasons to mourn the CD

1. No, really, they do sound better. Most MP3s feature data that's compressed for quicker downloads.

2. Remember looking at album artwork? Granted, you often needed bifocals to read the lyrics and liner notes on CDs, but at least it was something.

3. You can't throw MP3s out the window like frisbees. What are you going to do now for dramatic effect when your wife/girlfriend plays her Madonna, J. Lo or Gwen Stefani MP3s to the point of insanity?

4. Computer/electronics companies, not record companies, will soon run the music business. Compact discs were overpriced, sure, but at least they profited corporations that actually discovered and developed new artists (who then got taken for everything they were worth).

5. The CD's 74-minute max was enough. With MP3s taking over, we could face 150-minute hip-hop albums -- featuring 28 annoying skits, two good songs and four different remixes of those songs.

5 reasons to cheer its death

1. No more mad dashes to the player when the disc starts skipping. A CD skip was 20 times more annoying than a vinyl album skip. It sounded like you were back-masking a Slayer album for a hidden satanic message -- even if the CD was by the Carpenters.

2. No more cellophane wrap. Those genius scientists figured out how to cram 10,000 songs onto an iPod small enough to hold in your butt crack, but could never invent a plastic wrap on CDs that didn't take minutes to get off, dangerously heighten your blood pressure and occasionally require stitches when you resorted to scissors.

3. Those old silvery discs are great for arts and crafts projects. You can string them up as mobiles or cool doorway curtains, or even construct lawn ornaments out of them.

4. It's good for the Earth. No toxic plastic or downed trees are used in the making of digital downloads.

5. Gen-X-ers have to own up to being old. Remember how you rolled your eyes when an "old" guy said, "Man, if it ain't on vinyl, it ain't on!" You're that guy now.

Originally posted on StarTribune.com

posted on Discjockeynews by:

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 05:20 PM | Permalink

DJs and their low- low rates are killing their own business.

A couple times a year I like to check around to see what the DJs in my area are charging for a wedding and compare it to my rates and service. This year I found some very disturbing information from my search.

I received an e-mail from a new DJ internet search site that was looking for DJs to join their web site and as they claim “Be Booked Every Weekend”.

I wanted to check out this site to compare it to others that I have researched and/or are presently advertising on. I wanted to see how it works and how I could be “Booked Every Weekend”.

I went to the web site and was in the area for people looking for a DJ. The site looked very amateurish and not very informative to potential clients.

Basically a person in need of a DJ would fill in a few blanks on a questionnaire and then the DJs available would e-mail or phone you back with their information.

I filled in the blanks with my wife’s maiden name and our home phone number along with a special e-mail address.

I then entered in the information of the date of the event and that I would need five hours of music for a wedding along with the city of the location of the reception site.

This was all the information that they required from any potential client.

The next day I began to receive e-mails from DJ services that were available and willing to work the event.

In all I received four e-mails and two phone calls from DJ services for the five hour wedding.

I was shocked when the first e-mail I received said that this company would do the five hour reception for only $275 especially since my five hour wedding STARTS at $1200.

The other e-mails varied in price but the highest rate I was quoted was only $600.

One company sent me out their packet with all of their information. I found this to be completely entertaining. In 1997 when I decided to turn my “Hobby” of being a DJ into a full time professional business I did the same thing as I did this January and this same company sent me their packet back then.

Now ten years later, this same company sent me the exact same packet as they did ten years ago. Same pictures, same pricing - same everything. The only difference is now they put in their packet a bag of microwave popcorn and two Twizlers.

Their price…..$495! What I thought was funny was that they claim that this is a $200 savings off their regular price if I sign with them before a certain date (two weeks later). This price is the exact same price that they always run on the web site and in all of their advertising.

Basically they are using the scare tactic of “Buy now before the sale ends” but the sale hasn’t ended for over ten years!

I then received a phone call from this company and from the person who was running the web site.

They both asked me about the DJ services and if I had found a DJ for the wedding.

I had to explain to both of them the incredible low rates that the DJs were charging defiantly relate to the low quality of the service they offer.

Of course they both had to argue with me that they can offer lower rates because "they don’t have huge overhead, they work in quantity or they are not “Gouging” clients."

Being in the entertainment industry for over twenty five years and a full time DJ for ten, I know that no business can offer the exact same kind of quality, time consumption or individual attention to their clients as a full time professional can.

It may hurt to hear this, but in reality it is true. Some may think they can, most will argue they can, but when it comes right down to it, after you work your full time job(s) take care of your family and friends and all the other things necessary in a persons everyday life, the time and energy left in a day is far less then those who work this as a full time business and have eight to twelve hours a day dedicated to the business.

I found this out when I went full time.

Looking back now I don’t know how I got things done when I was working another job(s).

Today I can dedicate eight to twelve hours a day, six days a week to my DJ service and I am sometimes still pressed on time to get things done and done properly.

Before I went full time I thought I was doing the best, giving my all and offering the kind of service others were giving, but looking back now I was just fooling myself and trying to convince potential clients that I could give them everything and then some.

Don’t get me wrong, I was offering my best, but my full time job, and everything else in life only allowed me to give “what I could” to my business in the little time left over.

I’m not Mark Ferrell - who believes all DJs should charge a $2200.00 minimum, but I know from all my experience that any DJ who has good equipment, any kind of skills and talents and shows up at the event are defiantly worth a minimum of $995 per wedding.

Then if you go above and beyond the “Average” or basic entertainer, your rate should also reflect your skills, talents, experience and quality levels.

Are actors like Jim Carrey worth 20 million dollars per movie?

Are athletes worth Multi-million dollar contracts per year?

Are C.E.O.’s of a business worth billions of dollars each year while their employees struggle to live?

Some may say no, but someone must think they are or they wouldn’t make the money that they do.

If you don’t think that you are worth at least one thousand dollars for your talents, skills and service for a wedding, then maybe you should find yourself a job that you are worth your pay. Wal-mart is always looking for greeters.

In the end I decided not to "PAY" for advertising on this DJ web site because I didn’t want to be linked to or have any association to these “Button Pushing” DJs.

Sure I could be "Booked Every Weekend" if I was charging so little, but my clients tell me at every event I perform that I'm worth more than the measly rates of DJs who are advertising on DJ search sites like the one I was researching for this blog.

Last weekend I did a wedding for $2000 and I still received a tip from the very happy clients.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 02:55 PM | Permalink

This weekend was the coldest weather in a very long time across much of the upper Midwest. This kind of brutal weather can really make loading in and out a real difficult task.

This last weekend (Jan. 18th & 19th 2008) I had two corporate events to perform, one on Friday night and one on Saturday night. Normally this wouldn’t be any big deal, but the temperatures fell to the coldest it has been in a long time and that made the load in and out one heck of a miserable time.

The air temperature was in the negative numbers with a wind chill that made it feel like it was negative 35 degrees below zero. The weather man said that if you are outside for anything that you have less then twelve minutes before frost bite would set in.

Taking this to heart I made sure I was well protected with two pairs of socks, thick warm pants, shirt, sweat shirt, warm gloves, hat, ear muffs and plenty of warm cocoa. Even with all that, I was still chilled to the bone.

I planned to arrive extra early to the location sites just so my equipment would have adequate time to warm up to room temperature before starting them up. The extreme temps made what should have been just another easy load in/out a complete pain in the neck.

It’s times like this when I ask myself, why do some DJs lower their rates during the winter months when they have to battle weather like this?

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 11:20 PM | Permalink

Many of the Disc Jockey News readers have been calling to ask me questions about their business and to thank me for sharing all the information in my monthly articles.

I just want to thank all of you who over the last few years have taken time out from your busy schedules to give me a call to chat about your business and have me try to answer your questions.

It is a real honor to have DJs from all across America call me and let me know how much the Disc Jockey News and my Starting from Scratch articles have helped you with your business.

Over the last few months I have received many more calls then I normally do. Most of the calls have a few common threads that I would like to address here.

1) Rates: How can I charge more then what I am presently charging?

2) The slowing economy and the huge lack in bookings for the year. What can I do?

3) Should I and how do I leave the Multi-Op DJ service I’m presently work for and start my own service?

1) To answer question one is a long and complicated process. I would suggest starting out with what you are comfortable with and build from there. If your clients are very happy with your work and they consistently give you a tip, then raise your rates to include what your average tip is. If your average tip is $100 then raise your rates by $100.

Your clients are already telling you that they believe you are worth that much, why should you not charge that much? If you continue to receive tips then again raise your rates to include your average tip rate.

When the tips stop coming, then you must improve upon your service, talents and skills until you again start getting a consistent tip from your clients. Continue this process until you reach a plateau. At some point you may reach a point that the economy and/or clientele will say that is the best you can do but you will never know that point unless you try.

2) The economy is slowing down; people are tightening their budgets and are looking for the lowest priced DJ they can find. With the increasing numbers of DJs available for events and the decreasing numbers of events available for those DJs the only way to combat this situation is to rise above the competition and be a better entertainer. There is nothing any of us can do about the economy, but we all can do something about our quality and service to clients. It will get even more difficult in the next few years to convince potential clients that you are worth more then the average “Button Pusher” but that’s all that you really can do. There will always be those untrained, unknowledgeable and unprofessional DJs out there who are willing to work for pennies and sometimes for profit loss.

3) Leaving an established DJ service to go off on your own is a very difficult decision and there are so many factors to consider before taking that step. Before you do make sure that you’re not only a “Great Entertainer” but also a “Great Business Person”.

It won’t matter how good of a DJ you are if you do not have the skills necessary to operate a profitable business. Learn everything you can about the operations of a DJ business from your present employer, read any and all books you can about running a business and speak to other full time DJs who are qualified to give you the help you are searching for.

I hope this will help those who have called or those of you who are thinking and asking yourself the same questions.

Please continue to phone me with your questions or concerns. I enjoy speaking with DJs from all across America. I learn something new from every DJ I speak with.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 12:30 PM | Permalink

If you have never heard of "A DJ Christmas" as created by Mark Ferrell? Here is another chance to get a little inspiration for the New Year.

If you have itunes, click on the itunes store. Then go to the top and in the search area type in DJA Radio.

A list of songs and podcasts will appear. About five down should be “DiscJockeyAmerica” with Mark Ferrell as the “Artist”

Now click twice and the DJA Radio theme will begin.

What you will be listening to is a thirteen minute production created by Mark Ferrell in December of 2006 called “A DJ Christmas” This version has no commercial breaks as the original version had.

If you haven’t heard this creation before please listen closely to the real message behind this great little Christmas story.

If you have listened to this story before, please listen closely to the quality of the production, the writing, the voice inflections, the pacing and timing. This is the kind of quality that Mark and many other DJs give to their clients at every event.

You must admit it is of superior technical and production quality.

Some DJs will hear the increase your rates to the quality and value that you offer, and they will do so.

Some DJs only hear a “Raise Your Rates” to a level that they dream of but are afraid to and thus would never even attempt.

Some DJs will scoff and make up any excuse to try and fight against those of us who have raised our rates to a respectable income. They will blame everything and everyone for their lack of talent, skills and abilities that would allow them to make a real living at being a DJ.

This story was first aired in December of 2006 and suggests that quality DJs are worth at least $1200 for an event.

For over ten years Mark has been spreading this message and some have come to a realization and have done it. Unfortunately there are some DJs still charging today the same or almost the same as DJs did ten years ago.

In October of 2007 at the Northern Disc Jockey Convention Mark spoke to a room of DJs and has since raised the bar of a quality DJ to charge at least $2200 for an event.

This is a very big leap for those who are still charging $1200 or less but a little bump for those of us who have wedding packages starting at $2000

Listen to this “A DJ Christmas” and see if it doesn’t inspire you to be more, to be better and to charge a respectable, livable wage for your events.

Get inspired; listen to “A DJ Christmas” today.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 12:55 PM | Permalink

The focus of the Disc Jockey industry is changing, are you?

Once upon a time DJs were viewed as the cheap, non important clowns of entertainment who showed up (sometimes) for a party with loud music, silly games, flashing lights and a “Cheesy” DJ.

Our reputation and credibility with clients, vendors and the media was less then favorable. There was no organization, no standards and certainly no ethics amongst our group. It was a “free-for-all” with back stabbing and undercutting as a business plan.

Over the last ten years a new message began to get out and spread among the industry. Associations, (local and national) conventions, seminars, DJ Chat sites, CDs & DVDs began teaching us how to be better and how to earn a livable wage by being better. We started working together instead of fighting one another and many of us formed friendships with other DJs.

The biggest change over all started within the last two years. DJ Associations are beginning to realize that their organization really doesn’t mean anything to potential clients, Wedding Vendors or the general public if they just “collect a check” and have a “good Ol’ boys” mentality with out substance, regulations and REAL requirements to be a part of the group.

Groups like the W.E.D. (Wedding Entertainment Directors) have formed to try and set apart the real quality entertainers from the wanna-be’s and the less then desirable “Button Pushers”

Associations are beginning to tighten up their requirements and demand that their membership step up to the next level and become a “legal” business and offer higher quality professional service to their clients.

The Midwest Association of Professional Disc Jockeys in the summer/fall of 2007 added to their requirements of membership that every DJ Company must be “registered” or “Trademarked” in the state they are located.

This “registration” is a Legal requirement of four out of the five states that the Association had chapters and membership in. It is in the states laws in order to be a “legal” business you have to be registered with the secretary of state.

In the fifth state they do not require a sole proprietor business to “register” but recommend a “trademark” which offers the same basic rights and protection for a company as the registration offers.

They now require all DJs to properly file tax statements and declare their income from the DJ business and not become “white collar criminals” by avoiding state & federal tax regulations.

They are looking into running back ground checks on DJs to ensure that Sexual Offenders, Child Predators or other dangerous Criminals are not a part of the group who could possibly cause embarrassment or legal troubles for its membership.

Taking little steps like this will help strengthen the DJ industry for those of us who wish to be the best DJ we can be and make the kind of money it requires to operate a successful and profitable business. This will also help legitimatize our profession in the eyes of those looking to hire entertainment and by our fellow wedding vendors.

The DJ industry as a whole has a long way to go before we reach the goals needed but we have certainly come a long way from the days of “monkeys with a boombox”.

What are the laws in your state? Do you/are you following those laws.

Are you trying to be a Legitimate, Professional Entertainer or just another Illegal “Button Pusher?”

The DJ Industry is changing.
Clients are demanding more from us.
The Music industry is monitoring us.
Government is waking up.

Are you ready for the change?

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 10:26 AM | Permalink

I got schooled by some high school students on the value of crape paper and confetti.

I received a phone call from a high school looking for a DJ for their Prom. It is a small school in southern Minnesota that my wife’s nephew is a student of.

The teacher who has been the faculty member in charge of the Prom dance for many years gave me a call because I was highly recommended by many of the students who would be attending the event.

Several of the students and their parents had previously attended my wife’s nephew’s 16th birthday party that I entertained at earlier in the year.

The young folks had a great time and they actually surprised the parents in attendance because the kids danced all night and participated in the games.

I received a thank you note that read the teens wanted me to be their DJ for their prom because the other DJs in the past all “sucked”

As we spoke of their entertainment needs I found that it would be a much easier event to host then most Proms due to the teacher’s previous work and planning. I would have less pre-planning and pre-event preparation needed to handle the affair.

Because of this and the fact it was for my wife’s nephew’s school I offered my services at a slightly discounted rate.

I could hear the audible gasp on the other end of the line. Even with the discount I was more than twice the rate of the DJ who preformed last year and that I would be charging one third of the total prom budget.

Being that she was an intelligent school teacher I tried to logically explain my rates, how the students would not be disappointed and the school would not be unhappy with my performance as they are with the DJ last year.

She said she would have to take my rate back to the students on the planning committee and get their approval for my performance.

I hung up the phone feeling pretty confident that with those students having experienced my past work, would agree that I was worth the price I was charging.

When the teacher and I talked a week later I found that I got schooled by the female students on their perceived value of a DJ vs. crape paper and confetti.

It seems that much like a Wedding, the females of the planning committee make all the rules and all the decisions.

They decided it was much more important to have the hall, the ladies bathrooms and the table tops decorated pretty then the importance of having a quality professional entertainer to make their evening fun and memorable.

I tried to convince this teacher that she should inform the girls that although the bathrooms would look pretty, it didn’t have any effect on the overall success of the evening.

I tried to convince her that she should inform the girls on the importance of the entertainment when compared to crape paper, confetti or wall decorations but there was no changing her mind. This was what the girls wanted and this is what the girls will get.

It is unfortunate that the school didn’t use their influence as a learning experience and teach these kids about quality, service, value and worth.

I can’t help but think that if they did teach these important values and life lessons in school then there would be less disappointed Brides & Grooms who didn’t know the difference between a quality entertainer and the DJ that “Sucked”.

These DJs are typically their first and only experience with entertainers prior to their wedding day so when they hear of the higher, professional rates that many of us charge for quality entertainment, they automatically think back to that bad DJ at the school dance and automatically think that no DJ is worth that kind of money.

It’s a major catch 22.

The School doesn’t want to pay for quality entertainment because of the lack of students participating in the dances.

The students don’t go to the dance because they didn’t like the entertainment.

The DJs doing high school dances are the low priced, less experienced and less qualified entertainers who don’t know how to keep the students happy.

It’s an endless loop that gets worse and worse every year.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 01:02 PM | Permalink