Setting your prices

People are funny! Some hire the most expensive company assuming they are worth it. Some hire the cheapest assuming there is no difference. Most however, try to strike a balance and get the most service for a reasonable price. What is reasonable depends on the area you're in. You may find most DJs charging upwards of $700 for a 6 hour gig in your area, or as little as $250. Pricing your service doesn't have to be a complicated experience. The easiest way to set your price is to scope out the competition. Assuming you are prepared to do real gigs, below are some simple things to help you set your prices.

Have someone you know call around to your competitors and get prices for 4, 5, and 6 hour packages. Find out what is included (lights, smoke, etc) and try to get a song list. This will give you an idea of what they offer and what prices they get. Call both large and small competitors ...............
Stay in the middle. Try to keep your prices somewhere in the middle. Charge too much and people will look elsewhere, charge too little and they will think you aren't a professional. The biggest mistake I found when starting out was to lowball a price to get the gig and then have to turn down a higher paying gig because I was already booked. You can however lowball dates you can't fill or odd days like during the week when you probably wouldn't work anyway ..........................
Offer an incentive for booking a 6 hour gig rather than 4 or 5. Wedding couples sometimes try to keep their cost down by booking the DJ to start after dinner say 8:00 for a reception that starts at 6:00.The main problem with doing a job like this is you must setup before the guests arrive at 6:00 and you're getting paid from 8:00 on. That's 2 to 3 hours you're working for free! What I did was set my prices in such a way that the per hour charge got slightly cheaper for longer gigs and offered this as an incentive to book me from start to finish. ............................................................
Stick to your price. Another mistake I made was to adjust my prices just to get the gig. At the end of the year my per hour income was about $15 per hour less that my set prices. During the year it's hard to keep track of how often you drop your prices. When you look at the big picture it's amazing how the discounts add up to less money in your pocket. As I mentioned before, you can adjust your price from time to time when you are sure you aren't going to have to turn down a higher paying job for the same day later in the year.............................................. .........................................................................
Build a reputation for being a good DJ for the money. If people recommend you to their friends you will find you can charge a higher premium than if they just call you from the phone book. The bottom line is people want to have fun. Do a quality job and people won't hesitate to pay a little more.

Mobile DJ 101 Music Pricing Mobile DJ Basics Mixing with CDs Increase bookings

As always, your input is requested. If you are a working DJ and would like to contribute to future articles, please send your suggestions to DJ Town's webmaster