North Carolina's First Choice For
Professional DJ Entertainment

Booking a DJ

A bride in North Carolina told me that she had discovered a fantastic website that offered a great dj and the kind of music she wanted. She booked the dj and believed she had taken care of the music for her wedding reception. Shortly after that she attended a friend's wedding reception who used the same dj. It turned out that she was not satisfied with the dj nor the service supplied. The dj's contract was immediately cancelled even though the deposit was not refundable. She called me and we set up a meeting in short order.

We determined how the bride wanted to set up her wedding reception and the preferred styles of music for the evening. Shortly after that her reception took place as planned and everyone had an enjoyable evening. The bride admitted that the website for the first dj was extremely misleading to her which can happen to anyone. Basically a website is advertisement that can promise and say anything but there is no guarantee what a person will receive. There are several things to consider whether using the internet, telephone book, magazine or any other resource for booking a dj.

METHOD OF CONTACT- E-mail is a valuable method of contacting people but it gives no indication of what the dj is like. Websites may be created by a company or someone who is computer savvy. Think of the celebrities who look fantastic in pictures, movies and magazines but look very different when not in a professional set up. Telephone conversations can give a better idea of who you are dealing with but there is the question whether the person is the dj or a booking agent. You may want to check if the person is willing to meet with you. Consider, also, how to finalize your plans for the party or wedding reception.

DESCRIPTIONS IN ADVERTISEMENTS-Be careful what you accept as truth. Anything can be used or said on a website, magazine ad, specialized bridal directory and any other form of advertisement. Direct contact with the dj will help determine whether what you ask for can be supplied.

REFERENCES-Do consider contacting people on a reference list. These people can talk to you about the dj's service. Keep in mind how many people are on the reference list. Ten or more people offer more information than one to five.

WHO'S PAYING THE PRICE FOR PAID REFERRALS? People looking for a DJ appreciate when locations (such as hotels) supply a list of "preferred vendors". The belief is based on the idea that the vendors have proven to be reliable and a supplier of quality service. Five to ten years ago this perception was generally true. Unfortunately, due to the economy and a desire for more money, today's "preferred vendor" lists may be based on how much the vendor (DJ) pays the hotel banquet manager for referrals rather than the quality of service consistently supplied by the vendor. With these paid referrals, the money is exchanged "under the table" so that the customer and the hotel manager are not aware of such actions. The customer, hotel manager and venue pay dearly for such, though, when quality service is not consistently supplied.

Why have paid referrals become so popular? Ten years ago, there were far fewer mobile DJs working in any given city and the majority of these DJs were not booking agents. The DJ only contracted work that they could handle themselves.

Times changed and now everybody and their brother claim to have some sort of DJ experience. Booking agents began to capitalize on this and started hiring anyone who claimed to have or wanted to develop experience as a mobile DJ. In these situations, the Agent or DJ company often supply some basic sound equipment and a basic supply of typical music that is considered necessary whether by CDs, laptops or MP3 players. Naturally, with all of these "DJs" expecting steady work, the agent had to make things happen somehow so the era of paid referrals was born. The sad part is, most of these booking agents spend an enormous amount of money developing flashy, eye-catching websites. As stated above, websites are often misleading such as in this case featuring photos and accomplishments of a DJ-turned-booking agent with very little about the "hired hands" actually performing at the events. The customer naturally assumes they are hiring someone with years of experience only to be disappointed with the service.

All this being said, paid referrals do not happen 100% of the time. Based on the possibility of it happening, though, the well-informed customer who performs research greatly reduces the chances of receiving poor quality service.

Here are a few tips on avoiding the "paid referral rip-off"...

DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Don't rely solely on a vendor list that a hotel banquet manager gives you. Be sure to compare rates/services provided of the DJs on the vendor's list with ones found through an online search for your area. You may be very surprised how much more the "referral DJs" are charging. Remember-many "DJs" on the referral list are booking agents and are "padding up" their rate to cover their agent fees AND cover the money that they slip the banquet managter. MOST IMPORTANTLY-If you like what a particular DJ has to offer, be sure to ask if he/she will be the DJ providing services for your event.

BE WARY if a banquet manager is very insistent on recommending one or two names from the referral list over the others. It may be that these are the folks that are slipping $100 per referral under the table rather than $50. Here again, do your homework. Check out others on the list as well as DJs found online.

WHEN CALLING DJS ON THE REFERRAL LIST, be sure to get their going rate BEFORE you tell them where your event will be held. Agents/DJs will often ask you the name of your venue first in order to determine how much to pad up their rate.

There are other elements that can affect your search for a dj but these are the major factors that I chose to share with you on this website. I would be happy to discuss any of this or other factors with you.

DJ Alex has supplied professional dj service in such locations in NC, SC, TN and GA as Charlotte, Asheville, Young Harris, Atlanta, Chatanooga, Knoxville, Andrews and Murphy.