The world’s highest paid #DJs – reason for all DJs to celebrate.

In my opinion every DJ should celebrate that the highest paid DJs make up to $66 million. When the top end is this high there are so many more opportunities to make money in the middle. I agree with many of the complaints I hear from DJs, that skills have really deteriorated (mixing and programming both), that PR/promotion and looks have become too important, and that you don’t have a shot at the big bucks unless you are also a Producer. But still, when I was a DJ in those ancient late 20th century days, I’m not sure if there was even one DJ making a million a year. An entire industry has been created. There’s a game to be played that was never there back in the day.

Then again, a lot of things have changed for DJs.

Here’s the list of the world’s highest paid DJs for 2015.

 

Sales of vinyl music are (actually) breaking records

As someone who made a good living off spinning vinyl for 8 years back in the day, this gives me a lift….

#TBT :: DJ Worries, Past and Present.

WHAT DJS HAD TO WORRY ABOUT BACK IN THE DAY	WHAT DJS HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT TODAY
1. Manager firing you for stealing his girlfriend.	1. Manager firing you and giving his girlfriend your job, cause now with auto sync anyone be a “laptop DJ.”
2. Competing with Jukeboxes.	2. Competing with iPods.
3. Spending a fortune buying records.	3. Being fined a fortune for illegally downloading digital music or uploading mixes.
4. Bringing a spare needle in case one breaks and you can’t play any records.	4. Bringing a spare hard drive in case your main drive crashes and you can’t play any music.
5. Having only 2 hands to cue, mix and scratch.	5. Finding something to do with your hands when you play pre-mixed tracks.
6. Local producers walking up a couple of times a month with a test pressing and asking you to play it.	6. People walking up EVERY NIGHT and asking you to play a track “off their phone.”
7. Getting paid by the club owner.	7. Getting paid by the club promoter.
8. People bumping into the DJ booth and skipping the record.	8. People knocking over the entire small table or stand holding your laptop, since real DJ booths are an endangered species.
9. Having a couple of popular records long enough to get to the restroom and back.	9. Coming back from the restroom and your laptop has been stolen.
10. ODs	10. DUIs

For DJ Venues: 5 Better Ideas for Opening DJs

Club owners and managers:  Instead of always letting your local bookers, promoters or even club staff schedule themselves and their friends as openers in your DJ driven venue, turn the opening slot into a promotional opportunity to put more people through the door and improve your club’s rep.  Here’s 5 ideas:

(1) Have a social media contest between local DJs and their fans to get follows on your Facebook page, subscribers to your YouTube or SoundCloud Channel, followers on Twitter, or best of all more attendees at your events through contestant-created sub events (as Teisto demonstrates here).

[ See how Tiesto, Zedd, Deadmau5 and others stars use social media contests on the excellent JustGo blog. ]

(2) Have a cool sub-genre you’d like to promote to help your club stay cutting edge or appeal to a specialized audience starving to hear their music in a club?  Opening slots are perfect for scheduling less commercial DJs and giving them a chance to be heard.  This also prevents irritating the headliners with repetitive tracks by the opener.

(3) Let your best customers pick the opening DJ through a social media conversation or contest.  Give out a code at the door on each night with instructions to reach a private online page (I suggest a closed group page on Facebook) to suggest/vote on future openers.  Or better yet create an app that requires club check in to get into the exclusive online group.  Great way to foster an online community of your best customers!

(4) Contact your headliner or their agent for suggestions for complementary openers for the particular headliner.  This is most apt for larger city clubs with a scene known beyond the local area.  Headliners may know and have favorite up and coming talent in your market.  If you book their choices, the headliner will be more motivated to promote early arrival and can work together with opener to promote the event.  The alliance will likely do more to publicize your event and push people to arrive early!

(5) None of these suggestions are to say you should not listen and take advice from your local promoters, bookers, in house staff etc.  Just don’t consider them the only info source, and always question the reasons and promotional value of an opener.  Keep an eye out for conflicts of interest and people trying to build their career in your club with your money – it’s very common!  There’s hidden value  to be discovered in taking control of your opening DJ schedule that can help boost your sales, your social media presence and your club’s reputation!

To increase sales and profits at DJ driven venues, contact A-List Marketing through this site and join dozens of successful venues that were developed and opened with help from A-List Marketing, and continue as clients to leverage the A-List Advantage.

The 40,000 sq ft Castle Nightclub Complex in Chicago, winner of Top 100 Clubs in the US. Consulting client of A-List Marketing Solutions from pre-opening in 2012 through present.