How Far Are You Willing To Travel For Gigs?

[Scott McKinney]

PS. This was about 15 years ago and was paid $2000.
Most of what I do is Colorado and Wyoming.

[Jim Casey]

BTW, I just signed a wedding for a location in New Hampshire I have never been to about 110 miles and nearly 3 hours of travel time one way for $1199 and a night of lodging.

More than likely I will take my wife with me for a romantic overnight (wedding ends at 9)

My average wedding is over $1200 this year so far.

Yes, traveling is worth it for me!

[Glen Millar]

Function I JUST booked breaks down as such;

Event Fee: $650.00 Including taxes.
Travel Fee: $1,845.00 including taxes (mileage only..client paying for accommodations which includes 2 brunch buffets and provinding meal at wedding reception)
Roadie fee: $500.00 of which he gets $400.00
Total Fees; = $2,995.00
Net after projected expenses: $2,000.00

Not bad for a single nights work. Although it means 1 day travel each way. Okay i know you're probably saying that is $2,000.00 div by 3 but that is still over 650.00 a day. And that is NET.

[DJMC]

On that scenario of June 19, here's what developed:

Customer "C" found out on Monday that I was going to meet with Customer "B" on Wednesday---so she FED EX'ed her contract/deposit which arrived today (Tuesday)

Called customer "B" and offered my other 25-year veteran DJ (he's going to accompany me to the meeting tonite).

Now it looks like June 19 is going to be one of my biggest paydays of the year!

[djdonny]

Glen,

That's great, but are there no competent DJs near her that she could avoid spending close to $1900 in travel fees? (I know you're going to say that you're just that much better...)

And $400 for a roadie? Isn't that a bit much? Is that to cover his travel also?

I get very good roadies for $50 each, and have one in each region that I play to avoid their having to travel much.

[Glen Millar]

Where she is is a place called High Level Alberta and is only maybe a hours drive from the Alberta, Northwest Territories border. So there is not much up there except Moose, oil derricks and brush.

As for the roadie...he is technically working 3 days. In Alberta we must pay the equivilent of minimum wage and since he is driving each way and doing setup...we pay well. As well, he can act as a back-up DJ to myself if necessary.

I pay my staff well. Reason I've had some people stay with me for 7 years or more.

[djdonny]

Hey, Glen, I think I might take a plane from NY to Alberta to roadie for you for $400 !! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

No, seriously, that's really good that you're able to pay your staff so well. Here in NYC, work is so hard to come by lately that my roadies always act as if I'm overpaying them when I pay $50 for what amounts to less than 2 hours of work (with 5 or so hours of idle time). If a roadie thought he was being underpaid (which hasn't happened yet), I could easily find a capable replacement as it is really unskilled labor (my roadies are not backup DJs).

In fact, I plan (later this year) to look into offering the work to organizations for the mentally handicapped, as I think it would be a great opportunity for those who would otherwise have difficulty finding part-time employment.

[DJMC]

Remember, $400 Canuck dollars was only worth $240 (US) about 20 months ago.

Thanks to GWB and his inflationary economic practices, the Canadian dollar is at an all-time high (approaching 80 cents on the dollar)

Now that $400 Canadian is more like $320 US, even I'm considering hopping a plane to Alberta!

(Actually, I wanted to cozy up to Jay Tea Vegas in Vancouver BC...)