well the party was alright. the crowd was very mixed, but I'd say most were not there to see a DJ. From what I understand, people were either friends with the coordinator or they heard about it on the local rock station. The comedians were given kinda a bad gig because both are secular comedians who normally have some racy content and they had to tone it down to be suitable for a church environment. Even then, they still didn't get very many laughs. It wasn't their fault, it totally was the situation.

the bands had it better, but even at the peak, I think they played at maybe 20 people at one moment.

by the time I finally did my set, I knew how it was gonna go down. I started off with some short house tracks and then segued into some hiphop. I mixed in some rock with the hiphop which sounded better than I thought it would. Being so late, I actually only had two people dancing, but they seemed to like what I was doing. there was other people there, but I was more of a background noise thing to them as they played table tennis.

At the end of the night, I had a couple "thanks for playing for us tonight", "you did good tonight", etc. The thing that kinda bugs me is that, I provided music pretty much all night. two hours before the first band started (while the comedians were doing their thing in a separate room), a half hour between the two bands, and an hour after the bands were done and all I walked away with was a couple thank you's. I told her when she asked me a few weeks ago what I would charge and I should have just said a number rather than being the nice guy and offering to do it for whatever her budget could afford. Apparently her budget had nothing left over for me after paying the caterer, the two comedians, and the two bands. She's really nice, but I think I got played.

She probably doesn't think of it that way, but it's pretty much true.  You expected money from the arrangement, and walked away with nothing.  (Would you have done the gig if you'd known that?)

As cold as it sounds, she simply doesn't value your time.  Else, she would have found the money to give you.

This is really, really common in secular gigs, but sadly, it's more common with Christian promoters.  They're working a tough row as it is, and when they see a way to save some money -- a DJ willing to perform for free -- they think they're being quite conscientious in "hiring" him or her.

But, we just love playing right?  Isn't that compensation enough?

(My response to that is not appropriate to this forum, or to polite conversation in general.)

I could really rant on this, but I'll just say this: Even though I don't charge for every gig, I let the promoter know what I would charge, and bank it as a favor.  Gigs like Cornerstone would be the exception (for obvious reasons), but charging a consistent price really does help to form solid business relationships with promoters... even if you don't collect.  It lets you know who's serious.

And as a final note:  This is why I always have a contract.

If you are ever in doubt.....

http://www.djchat.com/boards/index.php

http://www.start.prodj.com/index.php

When I used to DJ weddings and such, I would always get a play list from the forums.

Its a great resource....  They even have a forum for Christian mobile DJ's.... Just don't say that you play the Macarena at a church function, they will tear you apart.