Why do clubs not pay DJ's more?

Nope ... currently only one live DJ event weekly. The club is on "autopilot" the rest of the week. Still a fairly new sim after the island purchase and move. Once we get up and running fully, we may have to rethink our pay scales as we host more events.

Not counting the tier, stream, overhead .... a live event runs us about L$25,000. We pay the DJ, seed the dancers tip jars, feed the sploder, and award contest prizes.

LOL..ok, I want an invite to your next event. I have to see a 25k event with my own eyes

a couple years ago (approx) there was a girl that hosted when I DJ'd and her thankyou's were the best I have ever seen, they were not canned, and were very cute and humorous

and needless to say, she got a lot of tips hehe

You got it ... but you have to bring friends. *grin*

I ran my own club for 6 months - I don't have but a couple of friends, although I have a crapload of acquaintences

Hmm. When I dj, I its just for tips. I can make almost 2000 in tips most of the time i DJ. Not all the time.

I DJ mainly because I enjoy it.

Yes, thats what clubs are about. Being gracious, helping guests to have a wonderful time and taking the time to interact with them on a personal level. I've met some really special people in clubs who do this bigtime. Its great to be around people who know their business =)

I like class acts. I was at one club and it was early hours/breakfast time for most of the rest of the world. There were a few people there from the opposite side of the world as there are, jumping around on the stream =) Anyways one of the regular DJs popped in to check on something, saw everyone, went live and rocked the place out. kool !!! And she dressed her avatar in PJs and bunny slippers =) Not long and just about everyone else is wearing the same. Pyjama party woohoo !!! and the place filled up in no time as people called their friends.

It wasnt her shift, she didnt have to, but she did and that was really classy =)

I usually listen to the stream at any given club because I love learning about other people's taste in music. Plus it's a good way to find new music to play in my own sets.

The only time I keep my music off is when I end up at Avilion. Most of that music is played at dentist offices, and I have a fear of dentists. I'd run screaming instead of dancing with the ladies if I kept the music on there

I came across this thread and had to reply.
for me, and any other dj's who has the same obligatory morals, yes I love djing, its not all about the linden, for me, its more of another way to meet and getting to know other people. when Djing and someone sends me a tip, I thank them for their donation, but I always make a point of saying please show some appreciation to all the staff here, even if it is a thank you, which can go a long way, and yes I do tip the staff lol.

Unfortunatly, how I have perceived several people and no disrespect to them, but people see the amount of tips that a dj can get, and then decide to try their hand at djing, now as I said no disrespect to them, I mean everyone's gotta find their niche on here if they want to make something of sl, and I take my hat off to them for trying. but one thing that does spoil it for the dj's and I am not going to say the name of the club for embarressment but being told to announce the sploders, and zyngo every couple of minutes really does spoil it for all the visitors. so my response to that is yes I understand that you need to make money back, but if you put too much work into trying to get as much linden back from every event held. then your just going to shut up shop a lot sooner than you expected. The key aspect of a club is that its a team effort dedicated to making an event fun. do that, and the visitors see this. Its not just the dj who makes the club, its everyone involved, which is why I am not really keen on dj's with ego's.
I'm rather tired atm as not slept due to rl work. but ahh well you can see where I'm coming from with this. so on that note... g'nite

Because most clubs are already losing money.

If they pay DJ's more, they are losing even more money.



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Even the Zombie clubs in the Necropost sim.

I like the fact that where I'm hosting now, people actually come for the music and the social scene, and NOT sploders and contests and whatnot. The tips are better there too than most places I've seen that do rely on paying the audience to show up. I don't put a tip jar out...the DJ cuts me a share, and the better I do my job, the better he gets paid, the better I get paid. And if people like what I'm doing, it doesn't take a tip jar to tip.

Hosting *is* work. I have to pay close attention to everyone that comes in... I'm barely paying attention to the music or the dancing, because at a busy club, you may have people popping up in bursts of up to 5 in a minute at the busiest. Also posting notices, chatting with the crowd... staying focused and "up" for two hours straight is not always easy. But my prep work is minimal, unlike the DJ's work, which involves a significant amount of planning, etc.

If I was really into making money, I'd do graphic design in the real world in those two hour chunks.

Pretty Expensive running a club. I kind of broke down the cost for mine.
land tier to pay each month, ($295 usd) which translates into approximately 83,000 linden, our payroll for the hosts/hostesses which is approximately 77,500 linden a month, and our events, which are about 20,000 linden..
Adding a DJ to the equasion will be around L80,000 a Month if you ran one 24 hours a day

So with a DJ, that breaks down to almost $1000 USD to operate per month.

$L150 an Hour + Tips is pretty good according to the economy(Linden-v-Dollar)

And yes It (my club)does support it self.

I have been thinking about this topic recently. I have been Tping to many clubs. And i have began to realise that more often than not those DJ's who see themselves as professional dJs in SL do it for the money, they quit clubs if they dont get enough in tips or pay and to be quite honest usually their music is good, their people skills suck. This is a generalisation BUT those people who think oh DJing looks like fun I think i will try it out are usually more into what they are doing, they chat more and interact more.

I own a club with my partner who is a DJ and wedont pay any of our staff. For one we want the club to be sucessful, we want people to come becuase they enjoy it not just for lindens. To be honest the lack of pay usually weeds out the staff who arent into the job pretty quickly (usuallythe first time they geta slow tip day). My partner and I tip our DJs whenever we are there as well as our staff. We give bonuses when we have extra money in the kitty nd we run contests for anyone to enter (YES including staff, as long as they arent actually working a shift at the time).

We do what we can to make our staff happy. Working in SL is like anythign else it should be recreation. Those doing it for the money should probably re assess what they are doing becuase I see less and less clubs paying DJing 1000L a shift etc.

While I enjoy DJing, unfortunately the simple fact of the matter is that even I have a minimum I need to make by the end of the month.

I do not have the luxury of having a server in my home and must therefore rent one. I rent through nEo streams in SL for about 1k a month for a 30 listener maximum. That is all I can afford most of the time .... and even then I am damn lucky to be able to get that much by the end of the month!

Two of the places I have DJed at before ... I will not get into specifics but I will say that I left due to issues with the management in both instances. The third steady gig I had, I was hired on for a nice sum per gig, ended up having two gigs a week, was paid in advance for the one week .... and then let go the following week because the owner "could not afford to keep me". I was told that it was never a sure thing that I'd be able to work there .... Now mind you, one of my best friends still works there, and she actually gets more than I did because she works an extra day.

That last incident has made me very wary of doing a steady gig for anyone. As I have said, I need to make at least enough each month to cover the cost of the stream. I'd like to be able to upgrade to the largest package nEo has ... 100 listeners for 2k a month.

Not going to happen any time soon.

That aside ... seeing some of the responses to this thread - after my own initial one - I have to say that I am disgusted by the attitude some have shown here.

Being a good DJ is NOT about the equipment or software you use, nor about where you get your music from. It is about playing music the crowd you have wants to hear, playing requests and the like ... That's it.

I myself have a Mixed Bag type music archive, the bulk of it being stuff I have ripped from my own CDs or have painstakingly searched for. Over half of this collection is not even in MP3 format! Most of my rips are in M4A format, which Sam does NOT play.

The first club I worked for ... my partner then ended up being the DJ Manager and handled all of the apps. She got an app from one DJ whose attitude was even more severe than some of those I've seen in this thread alone. A Real Life Professional DJ with a God Complex.

Needless to say: He was turned down on his attitude alone. There was no need to have someone as an employee who - in his own app! - trash talked the other employees.

I think I'll end my rant and tirade ....

Anyone looking for a freelance DJ?

There are many DJ's in SL that are full of themselves.. I hate when I see a DJ playing their own gestures saying DJ so and so rocks or having on a tag like "God's DJ" that type of stuff. Blowing your own horn in the radio industry is bad. Your peers will lose respect for you quickly. Playing music is easy. Entertaining is what makes a DJ. not his/her song selection.

Clubs can't afford to pay DJ's cause there are simply too many of them in existance and it's hard to make one successful, Some clubs open hoping the DJ will take them to the top.. Sorry folks this won't happen unless you hire 12 good Dj's to run 2 hour events around the clock to keep your traffic steady and on top.

Why are DJ's not respected? Like I said in the beginning, The cocky one's that think they are the best ruin it for others.. One bad apple spoils the bunch remember?

I have a friend who DJs and he usually makes really good tips.... One evening about a week ago, I saw him make about 6500L in tips between two different clubs he went to. That's not including what the clubs gave him for coming.

If the tips are rather scarce lately, maybe you just suck... or your at the wrong venue. Personally I hate DJs that don't entertain. I'm not going to tip someone that makes the club no different than turning on the radio. Honestly, some DJs need to lrn2DJ.

Tips to me are a reflection of the talent. The better you are the more you make it's really simple.

Not true at all ....I've known some very good DJs who have walked out of a gig with one of four things: Just the amount agreed upon beforehand with the employer, said amount plus tips, no prearranged amount plus tips, and finally .... nothing at all.

Basing someone's ability on how much they are tipped is not a good thing to do.

A very good DJ in your opinion.. a little known DJ will not profit in a "new" club. a well established club yes. IF they are good. Clubs must not rely on the DJ to bring the crowds without a good marketing attempt. I have seen clubs that the owners dont' even know how to post an event.. A DJ should check out all areas of the club prior to making a commitment to working in it. So if you dj and walk out of an event with no tips..

A: you are not as good as you think
B: you didn't do your research on the venue

That attitude is the exact sort I was railing against to begin with. sorry - tips are not a measure of talent, even the best DJs will walk with zero in tips.

'Talent' is how the crowd reacts to you - not how much they tip you. Yes, tips are nice, but it doesn't matter how good you are if the people tipping cannot afford more than 50 to 100L a tip or if the venue is new or having a slow day.

Just like RL the talent fee's associated with the talent for a live remote broadcast is based on TALENT not venue. Simply put.. if one of our sales persons sells a remote at an area where we know will not generate revenue we simply will not assign our top talent to it. I will state it again it's in the research of the venue prior to booking.

The attitude is from a professional stand point of working the the US's top 100 radio market not SL.

Even with requests I'm lucky to make 300l in tips a night. :c
Some people don't tip at all when I play a request.

That's what I say about checking the place out prior to booking it.... Visit during other DJ's gigs.. Learn about the place.. Don't just go from an IM.. "Hey, I hear you are a DJ will you do this time slot"... Make sure that djing an event will net you profit.....

Here is a tip.. The more Dancers a club has at an event.. The less you will make. Trying getting jobs at clubs that don't employ dancers.. The more staff that is on shift at an event the less you will make.

And ..... this has a bearing on this topic, why?

this is Second Life, not real life. Once again: Not everyone can afford the fancy equipment or the luxury of having a server in their home.

The attitude being shown is one that somehow believes that talent can be measured in overall monetary gain.

It is simple: You play the music the crowd seems to like, mix in the occasional odd ball track to expose them to something new and then go on your way. That is the job of the DJ. It is the job of the DJs manager to do the research so that the DJ does not mess up.

As I already stated ... I do this for fun, and to expose others to something new. I do however have to make enough to at least cover the stream.

Is it really that difficult to understand that a person's talent CANNOT be measured in ANY monetary means?

If Talent didn't net $$ then Seacreast wouldn't be making the money he is. Correct? The job of the DJ is to entertain.. Not just play music. winamp with a loaded play list is capable of that!! It's how the DJ talks, what he/she talks about.. are they a dead ass or a fire cracker? there is a huge difference...

It's not the DJ managers job to research.. It's the DJ's prior to taking the job, If you take on a bad job in RL or SL it's your fault and nobody else's.