Pre-recorded wedding mix

[Casual77]

Obviously this is not something we would normally advocate in favour of engaging a live DJ but I received this email recently.

Hi,

I got your contact information from friend who used your services for their wedding. The wedding was for CM and ND. I am getting married on May 21st 2017 and want a DJ set prepared for the wedding. We will not be having a DJ performing, but rather playing the set on speakers.

Is this something you would be able to do?

Best
Natalie

I got back to Natalie asking if she wouldn't rather just pay me to DJ the wedding in person but then realised that this would be impractical given that she lives in Florida (although I would happily fly out there at her expense).

I haven't given her with a firm answer yet but I was wondering if anyone on here has been asked to do anything similar and how you would go about pricing for a service like this. I'm also wondering what the legal and logistical issues might be? If I have the music she wants presumably I would be breaching piracy laws if I sent her a mix using my music, but what if she sent me all the music and I then mixed it and returned it to her. I don't know how long this mixed set is going to be but assuming it is as 4 hours long could that feasibly be sent as an email attachment or would it need physically sending in the post on a memory stick?

My instinct is to help out with this if I can but is this something I would be better steering well clear of?

[Nakatomi]

There is actually a way you can do such a pre-recorded mix legally (in this country at least - I dunno how it would apply to sending stuff to the USA) - see this linky

How much would you need to be paid depends very much on how long it's going to take you to make it. I've done 1st dance & other mashup style stuff for customers & it can take well in excess of the length of the final track to prepare. By my reckoning, it would take me at least 8 hours to make a 4 hour mix of prerecorded music - so figure out what a decent hourly rate for this would be & do some sums.

If you're concerned about the ethics or whatever of doing this for a customer & potentially putting a real DJ out of a gig for that event - I wouldn't bother myself too much. It seems to me they think this is a cheap way to get a good night - when IMHO really at best they're going to be lucky if it works for even half their event.

[rth_discos]

I think it could be argued that this would fit in to the PRS/MCPS and PPL "Limited Manufacture (LM) Licence"

http://www.prsformusic.com/USERS/REC...e-licence.aspx

For a one off-recording, over 25 minutes long, for joint PRS and PPL royalties, it's £24.51

But I'd make sure the charge was suitable to ensure that they aren't using this as a cheap way of avoiding getting a DJ - after all, it's still going to be a considerable amount of work. Everything minus the driving and setting up of equipment!

The hardest bit is how do you "end" it - will they definitely press "play" at the right time, and how will things like the first dance work?

[yourdj]

Is this an American wedding then, I guess its going to be mixed? Thew music and structure is a lot different, so not sure why she has not contacted any wedding DJ's? I don't know how you would do a continuous mix, given that you don't know what will happen? I would probably prepare a series of set lists for different points and they can mix and match to suit the mood. First dance for example - press play at the right point and you get the announcement, nothing to too over the top. As mentioned the end of the night would be tough, but I would do a ten min playlist with an announcement at the end, again nothing too complicated, keep it to a minimum. Other playlists I guess would be buffet, party 1 & party 2, in between the food, assuming they do that out there? I think I would ask them to supply all the tracks though. Don't know anything about the legal side.

For the amount of time it would take I would want something close to my normal fee. Even so there are millions of DJ's in America, especially Florida, so why is she not booking one of them? If she has a lot of American guests they can much better judge the music and formalities. It looks like the iPod disco DJ phobe. Sounds great on paper, but on the night its a train wreck. Have you thought about doing it on Skype LOL. Get a massive TV and a high def camera, so at least you can see whats going on. That would be cool!!

[rth_discos]

Once you consider the logistics like Toby has mentioned, at the very least, she is going to need someone to operate the various "sections" of the day.

And supply the equipment.

My first step would be to arrange a Skype with this person to chat through the logistics and what she is expecting.

[funkymook]

I’d politely decline and advise them iTunes will mix music from a playlist for them.

Chances are you’ll end up putting more time into it than it pays, sending versions for their approval, making amendments, mixing out slow intro’s/outro’s, adding/deleting songs etc.

It’s just not worth the hassle.

[yourdj]

Once you consider the logistics like Toby has mentioned, at the very least, she is going to need someone to operate the various "sections" of the day.

And supply the equipment.

My first step would be to arrange a Skype with this person to chat through the logistics and what she is expecting.

I think they think they can get a DJ to do a set- send it to them and job done. Plug it in on the night and away they go. I think they probably don't want the DJ element, or are running to a very tight budget? Personally if that was the case i would tell them to get stuffed. Once you run into long Skype chats, sorting out all the music, organising the recording equipment for announcements, doing the programming/recording, sending it. and then the actually work of putting it together, your probably looking at more time than the actual event, to which i would want to get paid for. He has come recommended, so thats always good. I think I would want them to sign a waver saying that you have no responsibility to how good the party is as you are only supplying the music.

If it was a UK wedding I would probably do one as it would act as a very nice backup should the worst happen (put in generic announcements etc.) but you will probably have very different music for a US one, especially in Florida. For all you know it may be 50% hispanic or all they want is hiphop & R&B, (not the dated stuff we listen to), will be interesting too see this unfold.

[rth_discos]

I think they think they can get a DJ to do a set- send it to them and job done. Plug it in on the night and away they go. I think they probably don't want the DJ element, or are running to a very tight budget?

That's why I'd recommend a quick Sjype chat - it shows some interest from their request, and saves time asking the questions via email and long replies.

You can quickly get to the crux of this far quicker than via email.

It may be they loved what he did so much that they don't care what the cost is - they want one of his sets.

Equally, if it's a price driven decision, this will become apparent very quickly via Skype.

[Excalibur]

I’d politely decline and advise them iTunes will mix music from a playlist for them.

Chances are you’ll end up putting more time into it than it pays, sending versions for their approval, making amendments, mixing out slow intro’s/outro’s, adding/deleting songs etc.

It’s just not worth the hassle.

The voice of reason.

[Benny Smyth]

I’d politely decline and advise them iTunes will mix music from a playlist for them.

Chances are you’ll end up putting more time into it than it pays, sending versions for their approval, making amendments, mixing out slow intro’s/outro’s, adding/deleting songs etc.

It’s just not worth the hassle.

Boom. 'nuff said.