Ah yes, the infamous question. How can I make some money at this thing I love so much?

I've been DJing for about three years now and have quite a bit of experience at it as well as some solid contacts. I've made a bit of cash here and there for past shows but its mostly just homies slipping me some money at the end of a profitable night.

So my question to all of you who do or have made money from playing shows before is how do you go about getting the train rolling? Whats the proper 'etiquette' when it comes to asking for some cash to play a show? And when are you in a position to do so?

As shows start presenting themselves and more opportunities arise what is the best way to approach a promoter in a positive and friendly manner and ask to get some money out of it? Unforgettably you can't live for free, or else I wouldn't even be posting this thread

The way I deal with it is as soon as anyone contacts me about playing, I lay my cost out on the table. I've found that most people dont think twice about paying you. I kind of tend to think you actually get more respect when you ask for money.

You need to look at it as a business, they want you to work for them so you charge. You need to respect and value your skills before anyone can value you as a dj!

Be professional, get a press pack together, a rider with any and all requirements clearly stated, and be humble...

I heard you have to get a big guy with a gun. Someone who's willing to break fingers and knee caps of sniffling little shit punks.



Haha. Holding off on getting a booking agent pimp for as long as I can. When someone wants to book me I tell em what I need and send em my contract/rider then hopefully I get a message like this that I got in my inbox today:

"thanks and let me say that i think its awesome that you represent yourself so well. its a breath of fresh air to work with some one who is forward about what they ask and takes there business seriously.
Everything in your contract is exactly what i expected and there should be no issues wrapping this thing up. Ill work on getting hard copies signed sealed and delivered as quickly as possible this week and my only remaining question is preferred delivery of funds."

A friend of mine started a booking agency recently and I joined them, they're still beginners but they deal with all the paperwork and get shit done. I love it like this plus it doesn't cost me a thing, they just add their fee to mine.

I didn't ask money for my first few gigs, but quickly realised that (even the really small) clubs will almost always have some money to spare to pay the dj. So I started building from €50 and I'm adding more as I get more bookings/release stuff etc.

In my experience you can easily ask like $200-300 if you have some releases out that people have heard and you had some nice bookings in the past.