This will be an eye opening article into why Disc Jockeys for Teen events are not as good as they think they are. This phenomenon actually applies to all DJ events but we will focus on Disc Jockeys that host Sweet 16's, Proms, Project Graduations & other events of this kind.
Bedroom Hobby DJ vs. Professional
Lets Get the first obvious thing out of the way, Hobby vs. Pro D.J. - you get what you pay for so don't expect mom or dad to hire a friend or even worse their friend from work and expect your event to actually be good! If you pay $200 for a DJ your event WILL suck - no doubt in my mind. Is there the occasional lucky event when all the stars align and a cheap DJ turns out to have the right songs he stole, a PERFECT crowd, and just happens to play a certain song at the correct time, and the party is energized Yes it does happen but an Dance floor bomb is not far away and Luck is not going to make your event a success, proper research and planning will! So Hire a Professional but be warned the term is held loosely in the DJ industry ... anyone with $50 to buy business cards is a Pro....so research still has to be done.
Research
The rest of this article will be things to Beware of and watch for when looking for your perfect DJ!
Well lets go right to EGO - this makes even amazing DJ's suck or at the very least unappealing. Ego is the sense that you are better then the rest of the world and what you do can be wrong.. no matter what!
Which doesn't sound bad until you hire a DJ that has a huge Ego! Why you ask? Well imagine being at your event and big ego DJ is doing his thing and you want to change it up, well guess what he is the DJ and he get the say ... so since he knows hes the BEST and he can't do any wrong then why change it or listen to you!
Ego has ruined the Music industry - too many dj's think they are great this applies to the hobby djs as well as the seasoned pros. We have seen dj's with no experience - that literally SUCK tell us they were better then people that trained them and even famous djs! And it is also a Problem with older dj's that have done this for 20 plus years and know they are right!
Age
This brings us to our next sub-topic AGE! Well this is tricky - because we are going to tell you young djs suck and old DJs suck but this is a generalization and we will have to explain our views.
We will start with old since mom and dad read the first part and may think hiring a pro means getting a older guy who has been around and knows how to do your event. Now Age in this aspect related again more to ego and attitude then to the actual number, it just happens to be that OLD Disk Jockeys are "set in their ways". They have a show that has worked for them at least half the time they work, and their theory is: It works most of the time the times it doesn't is NOT their fault because they had a crappy crowd and they are not to blame (ego). Their show is "proven" and makes their job brainless and easy for them and are not going to change their cookie cutter ways for you, why not?? They get paid weather the Party is mediocre or totally sucks.
Younger DJs on the other hand usually suck for different reasons. And when we say younger we mean younger inexperienced, mom and dad bought me all my stuff because I wanted it DJ's. We have noticed their egos are Trumping the egos of older DJ's these days ... which is sad because even an older DJ has some entertaining skills from the years of experience - and like I mentioned before 1/2 of their events usually go well enough. The kid DJ is so blind thinking they are the bomb now that they are a DJ ... that they do whatever they want and will actually tell bosses or clients that they are wrong! Examples of stuff they do: pick random off the wall music that they want to hear regardless of crowd expectations or reactions, drop dance floor bombs often, say stupid things, mix horribly and think its great, do it their way, bring an entourage of friends to help setup and let them hang out at your event, setup dangerous light shows with no insurance coverage, and the list goes on.. but you get the idea The Skills are just not there at all.
Other ways to Suck
Well there are hundreds of ways to suck and yes every entertainer even someone like Bon Jovi has an "off night" because that's what a live performance is.. there's no going back and remixing it. But an off night or an off career are 2 different things. Below is a list of a few other warning signs to watch out for.
Ghetto Style Djs that just have crazy amounts of equipment and think the louder they play it the less people will notice they are no good, Cheesy Wedding DJs, Skills Just not there, Sound clueless on the phone, sound over anxious to book on the phone, drop their price as soon as you question it (means they don't even believe they are worth it), Bad MCing skills, the Old Fat Bald Dj (If they can't take care of their health...well), no idea of the flow of an event, Don't supply you with planning forms before your event, doesn't play requests, doesn't answer any of your questions, is under $500 (the going rate in 1980 for a DJ was $400, with inflation and gas prices alone prices have risen since then), have non radio edits or illegally downloaded music, are not insured, don't have a backup plan.
Even thought this was written for Teens planning Proms & Sweet 16's - I am hoping a few Disc Jockeys Will read this and improve their skills, shows & therefore services to prospective clients, but Ego usually blocks that and just makes them justify why they are the bomb and why this article is a lie... but one can hope.
Twitter states that almost all clients are unhappy with their DJ Services, and it seems to be a growing problem of hiring under qualified DJ's in this "recession" to save money... but are you really saving money if you hire a disc jockey for $50 less and they ruin your once in a life time event?
If you like this article or have an experience or tip to share please re-tweet it or make comments!
Cher!
