Have you ever heard of a bride or groom having their DJ cancel on them? And sometimes with only weeks to go before the big day?
As you can probably imagine, the stress this causes ahead of the largest party someone has (probably) ever planned in their life is terrible. This happens more often than it should and for a variety of reasons. The primary reason though, is one you can protect yourself from:
Have a signed agreement or contract with the DJ company you hire.
In most cases where a DJ has reportedly cancelled on an event, it happens where there was never a signed agreement, thus making it very easy for a DJ to back out of their commitment. Often times it was a family friend or a friend-of-a-friend who said “Sure, I can DJ your party!” only to have them back out when the pressure of the event began to draw near or another fun weekend opportunity presented itself. It isn’t always friends-of-friends though, in some cases, DJ companies don’t use agreements. That needs to change and you can do something about it.
Anyone hiring a DJ should always request an agreement that both parties (you and the DJ company) agree to. By ensuring you work only with a DJ that uses an agreement, you will be saving yourself from a lot of potential headache.
A proper and fair agreement is designed to protect both parties. The agreement should protect the interests of the DJ AND your interests as the client. It should have balance to it and safeguards for both, the person hiring the DJ, and the DJ themselves.
At a minimum, quality agreements should always include your full name and the DJ company name along with some sort of identification information for each (often through an address, phone number or email address). It should also include the precise date and location of the event. This ensures your DJ will show up on the appropriate date and at the proper location of your party.
Detailed cancellation information should also be listed. For example, what happens if you have to cancel on the DJ or what happens if the DJ can, for some reason, no longer fulfill the agreement? The agreement should detail out appropriate protections for both you and the DJ around this topic. Many agreements also include the name of your DJ written on the agreement so that you can be sure you’re getting your preferred entertainer.
Lastly, the agreement you sign with your DJ or MC should state the services to be provided and the total fee for those services. All payment terms should also be clearly stated so as to avoid any unpleasant surprises later.
There are many other items that can and will be listed in a quality agreement, but simply having one is a start. A DJ and/or MC has the ability to impact a party in such a massive way, do not hire one without a written and signed agreement.
You don’t want to be that person, weeks away from one of the most important events of your life, struggling to find an entertainment replacement, do you?
Sign an agreement with your entertainer. This is a huge step toward ensuring you have the celebration of your dreams!
The DJ Alliance Australasia along with our international not-for-profit partner Associations, the Canadian Professional Disc Jockey Association (Canada) and the National Association of Disc Jockeys (UK) are publishing a series of articles designed to help the general public utilise the industry our collective Associations represent. We hope these articles are helpful and function to assist everyone achieve greater event success with mobile DJ & MC entertainment. These articles are published every two weeks and will continue throughout 2020.
DJs & MCs wishing to publish DJAA “DJ MC Hiring Tips” blog content to their own website is permissible provided the content remains unchanged and when credit is given to a guest author that credit remains intact at the end of the blog post as originally written. Those republishing blog content must also have the following line inserted at the start of the post:
This was originally published by the DJAA (embed link to original article here) and has been republished here with permission.