10 Steps to Booking a DJ

I don't book shows for a living. I'm a DJ first, then the content curating and writing follows. But my hands are in quite a few avenues in music, an

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Complex Original

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I don't book shows for a living.  I'm a DJ first, then the content curating and writing follows.  But my hands are in quite a few avenues in music, and I've facilitated deals for a few incredible shows.  My first big one had Dieselboy, DJ Craze, Dillon Francis, Heroes x Villains, Messinian, and myself all in one evening in Chicago.  Despite knowing exactly what I was doing, the event wasn't promoted as well as it could have been.  Security was atrocious.  And the venue never turned on the air conditioning.  It was 90 degrees and all of us were sweating profusely.  Despite the factors that were beyond our control, this event went quite well.  Artists got paid, transported to and from the airport safely, and there were very little snags.  Great music was played by great DJs.

There are people out there that think that booking an act is as easy as having a budget.  This is so far from the truth that it's not funny.  There are dozens of factors that need to be considered before reaching out to booking agents.  You need to evaluate these points before thinking you want to jump in the arena of throwing shows.  I'm going to share some of my experience, and give you a heads up on everything that needs to be considered when looking to book a DJ.

A Market

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Patience

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Money

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Venue

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An Advocate

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An Offer

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A Contract

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Sobriety

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Accommodations

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Follow-Up

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