LA club DJs - $1000 deposit yay or nay?
soulmarcosa
4,296 Posts
So I met with a clubowner who was interested in holding my Masala Beat Club bhangra/bollywood party. I couldn't get a weekend but he offered a Thursday. The club is a good size, decorated & outfitted great, and in a good Hollywood location. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get around 150+ paying attendees at around $5 a pop.Anyway, we emailed, phoned, then met in person where we discussed some details. I asked what the club's cut would be and he said, "You get the door, we get the bar." Sounded good to me so we shook on it and he put it on his calendar. A week later I sent him an email to hammer out the details and in addition to answering my questions, he mentioned that I'd have to put down a $1000 deposit,[/b] returnable only if the bar makes $5000 in sales.[/b] He's insisting that's biz as usual in LA but I don't buy it and I told him it's a nonstarter. We're still haggling, but I'm just interested in ya'll's take on his expectation of $5000 in bar sales on a Thursday night and my putting up $1000 to guarantee it. 
Comments
OH HELLS NO.
Why would you give him money when you'll be bringing him business?? Is he giving up an otherwise lucrative night to gamble on your gig?
Sounds like a shitty deal. I've heard of pay to play, and shook my head every time.
Let them make no money with no DJ.
I've been gently explaining that fact to him via email, and he seems to be slowly loosening up. He brought the bar minimum down to $4000 (what a saint), and has gone from asking for $1000 to asking me how I'll guarantee him the bar business. I think if I hold firm, he'll come around especially since I have a successful 5-year track record with this party in NC.
Anyway, I plan to go down to the venue on this Thursday night to see how much money comes rolling in. (rolls eyes)
if this place does less than 100 people on a given thursday, you should ask for door and 15% of the bar, minimum.
One of the best times I had was during the 2002 Olympics, in the Indian sponsered party tent. DJ was dropping the hardest beats and dudes were passing the mic. I was partying my ass off.
I'm sure it goes without saying, but if you decide to take the door, make sure you have one of YOUR folks taking payment. Don't trust those fools to be straight with you.
Also, do they have a normal weekly on Thursdays? I doubt they'd bump a regular to try something new.
Not to mention what does this say about your future working relationship with him if he's already pulling some shit like this out the gate??
In my opinion YOU are bringing this dude business. What else does he have going on on a Thursday? He's lucky you're not asking for the door + a cut of the bar.
"Sorry we can't do buisness together uou (sic) need to find another club"
Guess I'm just a dumb hick from the south who doesn't know how ya'll do thangs in the big city. Golly!
No matter what kind of deal you ended up working out with him it probably would have been funny business anyways. His loss.
Just make sure you invite him to the new spot once things are doing well.
Anyone wanna meet me there this Thursday, order water, break some chairs, then go check out Mannybolone throw down at The Short Stop?
pm me. my good pal who I started dj-ing with 8 years ago and basically schooled me on so much vinyl I can't even begin to tell you manages the king king just a few doors down. we've been talking about doing something on sunday nights. the owner is really cool. the king king is legendary from it's roots back in the late 80's when it was on la brea ave. soooooooo many heads used to dj/play live there.
F--- a Hollywood club!
Promoter/DJ getting the door is pretty standard here until your night is consistently successful. Then you can bargain.
I try to set the precedent at all of my gigs and get smashed early and hopefully the crowd comes along for the ride.
If you claim your dj'ing/promoting income and pay taxes on it you can write some alcohol off as a business expense.
There's a backroom - of decent size - with a DJ booth built out of an old, satellite bar. I spun there about a year ago and it wasn't the best space ever created - the low ceilings and the fact that it's cut off from the rest of the bar by an "L" shaped hallway makes it feel both private but also isolated.
However, it could very much work for the kind of party Marco wants to launch. The thing though: capacity isn't huge. The bar has a much larger capacity but that room could probably only fit about 50-60 people max, comfortably (I could be over/under estimating). But last I knew, the Redwood Room was pretty open to trying new stuff out there.
The other complication is that you can't charge at the door - you could, possibly, charge at the entrance to that back room though.
HOLLYWOOD!!!!!!!!!!
RedwoodBar
http://www.yelp.com/biz/redwood-room-maywood
....but it's WAY too small for MASALA BEAT CLUB. I'm sure I'll be able to draw 150-200+ people if I can get a weekend night so I need a big dancefloor and video screens which is why Joseph's was actually kinda perfect. I mean, we were getting this size crowd back home:
CSB: King King looks/sounds pretty rad based on their website. If it's large, it might be great for MASALA BEAT CLUB as long as it's loungey/upscale enough. I wanna check it out. Check yr PMs.
I can vouch for the King King from the perspective of a punter - I've never DJ'd there but it's a good sized room, a big bar and a good sound system. I've seen bands there.
I've never given any club any money for any show I've ever done in Houston or Austin.
When's the last time you promoted your own event at a mainstream club?
The space is big enough for the club......hit 'em up
http://www.myspace.com/lacitabar
Or maybe Bar 107....it's decent enough size, with a back room off of the bar for partying, and they certainly won't break you off with this $1000 down business.