The £100 DJ, and what to expect!
Back in the day, a DJ needed a good strong back. Not just for equipment but to lift and shift their music collection. The modern-day DJ can now carry a massive music collection on a small hard drive. This is the era of DJ technology making the life of a DJ easier. But it also brings the wannabe DJ out of the bedroom and into the wedding market. Meet the cheap wedding DJ Scotland weddings are increasingly seeing: the £100 DJ.
DJ technology has made the ‘playing’ of music easier.
DJ software search engines mean anyone can source and play a tune within seconds. Unfortunately, this results in a hoard of people thinking they can DJ at a wedding. All they need is a laptop, suitable software and a music collection, and they assume that’s enough to play to an audience.
Standards Are Slipping
Just at the time when people expect an experienced, knowledgeable DJ who knows exactly what to do and when to do it, the market is bursting with newbies. We all need to start somewhere, but many of these DJs simply lack the skills for such an important event as a wedding.
Hire an experienced Wedding DJ
Because they know most people are looking to save money, they’re willing to play for as cheaply as possible. Worse still, they shop around to see what other DJs are charging, then undercut their fees. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of competition, but you end up with newbies charging just below the rates of fully experienced DJs. This is not good. You’ll have heard the saying ‘you get what you pay for’ — with a cheap wedding DJ, that turns out to be exactly true.
A typical budget DJ will illegally download their music, often poor quality, from Youtube. That circumvents the rights of the musicians and cheats them out of their deserved income — the same rights PPL PRS’s TheMusicLicence exists to protect. Some will stream the music from legal or illegal online sources until the internet in the venue fails or gets slow.
The Hidden Cost of a Cheap Wedding DJ in Scotland
Cheap DJ’s will use budget equipment where the audio sounds cheap and nasty. Even if it doesn’t, it will most certainly give you a sore head. Cheap speakers perform loudly in certain frequency ranges and do not provide a balanced or pleasant listening experience. Their playout systems will typically be low cost and low quality — often because they haven’t made the time or financial investment it takes to provide a decent sound.
Dotty lights? Cheap, price-driven lighting produces those dots darting all over the room. Quality and good visual impact are seriously lacking with these.
Worse still, a cheap DJ will often have no insurance or safety test certificates, putting your event — and possibly your safety — at risk. They often won’t provide you with a contract or have any backup system for equipment or personnel.
Their communications skills are likely to be lacking, some are even scared to use a microphone and will simply blurt out general announcements.
For Your Important day, make sure you do yourself proud
A wedding can cost anything from say £5000 to £50,000. Of course, the ceremony is the most important part of the day for the bride, groom and family members. But don’t fall short at your reception — all the important people in your lives will be there, so make sure you make the correct decision.
Make sure you hire a DJ with principles, one who invests time and money into a great service. One who can use a microphone to enhance your event, takes pride in their appearance and performance, and makes sure you get what you expect.
For an investment of about 2.5% of your wedding budget, you can get great disco entertainment. Most importantly, you can get a DJ who is professional and will do anything to make sure people remember your event for the right reasons.
For a cost equivalent of 1% to 4%, depending on your total budget, you CAN make yourselves and your guests proud.
As always, please let me know what you think on this subject below.
A cheap wedding DJ rarely saves you anything once the night goes wrong. See what Premier Disco offers for your wedding day — find out what a professional wedding DJ actually includes.
