4:43
Earning enough to pay for your music
On YouTube this video is called Dj help, Bedroom dj?, Earn Cash to pay for toons!!
What this lesson teaches
An argument aimed at the bedroom DJ, and the economics in it are still right even though the prices are a period piece.
The pitch
How much money do you earn mixing in your bedroom? Probably nothing.
How much do your records cost? Eight or ten pounds each - and that is a lot of money whatever you earn.
So: become a mobile DJ once a week or once a fortnight. One Saturday night, and the music pays for itself.
His figures from the time - a full rig for £600 or £700, a mobile gig at £180 - have moved, but the ratio has not. A handful of bookings still covers a starter setup, and after that the work funds the collection.
The two requirements
He is clear that it comes down to two things, and neither is mixing.
A broad knowledge of music. You may know a great deal about house, hip hop, soul or ragga. Do you know anything about the chart pop of the last forty years, the sixties, seventies and eighties?
Because when somebody's aunt comes up and asks for track three off her favourite album, it would be very good to have it. And more likely you will be asked for Michael Jackson, or ABBA - which is a bit dodgy for a drum and bass DJ, except that the people at weddings love that material.
His own admission is the useful part: you can get into it and enjoy it. He does. A bit sad, I know.
Can you use a microphone? Quite important - you need to be able to speak to your crowd. The mic lessons in this stage cover how.
And the embarrassment
He names the real obstacle, which is not money or skill.
It may be embarrassing in front of your mates to become a mobile DJ. Oh my God, you're thinking.
Well - there is money in it. And while your friends are spending on records, you are being paid to play them.
That is the whole argument, and for anybody who has sat in a bedroom with an expensive hobby and no income from it, it is a good one.
One correction
One piece of his advice should not be followed, and it conflicts with the copyright course in this same stage.
He mentions places - unnamed, because he will not say on air - selling MP3 discs with forty or fifty albums on each, and suggests four or five of those as a starting library.
Compilations of that kind are usually sold without the rights holders' permission. Buying them does not give you the right to play that music commercially, it is the sort of thing a venue's licensing checks will not survive, and it contradicts everything in the copyright lessons about where your music should come from.
The legitimate version of the same idea exists and is cheap: a DJ download pool - a subscription service that supplies large, legal, well-tagged libraries to working DJs for a monthly fee, covered in its own lesson in this stage. That is how to build a wedding-capable collection quickly without buying four hundred singles, and without a problem waiting for you at a venue that takes its licensing seriously.
Contents of the video
0:01 Have actually asked about earning money from DJing
People have actually asked about earning money from DJing. Well, let's be honest, the original concept of a DJ, ladies and gentlemen, late 50s, early 60s, was basically a chap with a couple of turntables who played music and used a microphone. The idea of mixing didn't come about until the 70s, 80s. The mixing concept in the early 60s was basically... If you are a bedroom mixer, how much money do you earn from what you do in your bedroom? Probably bugger all. How would you like to earn some money from your joy, that is music? First, do you have a good knowledge of music? In other words, you may know fantastic amounts about hip-hop, soul and R&B, house, ragga, whatever sort of music you're into. But do you know anything about ABBA, Take That, the Now CDs, 60s, 70s, 80s? If you do, then you're in a position to earn some money from DJing. Can you use a microphone? That's quite important. You need to be able to speak to your crowd. How can you earn money from DJing?
1:46 Oh my God, you're thinking
It may be very embarrassing in front of your mates, but why don't you start becoming a mobile DJ? Oh my God, you're thinking. Well, there's money to be made in it, okay? Let's be honest. How much do your fantastic records cost? Eight, ten quid each, right? It's a lot of money. I don't care how much you earn, it's a lot of money. Why don't you start becoming a mobile DJ once a week, once a fortnight, okay? Buy yourself a CD deck, double CD deck, a mixer, the whole lot, speakers, stands, a few lights, amplifier. The whole lot would cost no more. Nowadays everything's a lot cheaper than £600 or £700. What's that about? $1,000, $1,200. Then what do you do? Advertise yourself. There is a lot more to it than this.
3:02 Weddings love that sort of stuff
And if you do want any more in-depth information, you can always email me and I will endeavour to answer your questions as best as I can. So, how do you go about doing it? The main thing is two important facts. Firstly, you've got to have a good knowledge of all kinds of music. When you get Aunty Megan coming up to you and asking for track 3 off her favourite album, it would be great if you had it. But more than likely you're going to get someone asking you to play... Billy Jean. Yes, you're going to have someone asking you to play, say, ABBA, which is a bit dodgy. But then again, you see, the people who go to weddings love that sort of stuff, OK? And you actually can get into it, you can enjoy it. Believe it or not, I do. Bit sad, I know, but there you go. But to be quite honest, ladies and gentlemen, that is how you can earn money from DJing, OK? Unless you're super-duper trooper Carl Cox's...
If you're in your bedroom playing drum and bass and you're scratching your head thinking, yep, these tunes here are costing me £8 each and you can only afford to buy one a week. Why don't you do yourself a favour? If you're on CDs, brilliant, because nowadays CD players will play MP3. There are places, I can't say where, on air. But there are places where you can buy MP3 CDs that have 40 to 50 albums on each one. You only need 4 or 5 of those with best of, and that is your music library initially to begin with. And then what have you got to have? Like I said, a mixer, you get yourself some transport, you advertise yourself, you go out, mobile disco, bang, £180 on a Saturday night, you've got in your back pocket while your friends...
The DJ Tutor is available for purchase at Ellaskins.com
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
This video is part of
Related videos
-
How to Get a Better Fee for Your Mobile DJ Services
He disclaims it as not financial advice and notes that everything depends on where you are. Taken as a checklist of what justifies a higher…
