What is classed as local ?

[ppentertainments]

Bit of a 2 part question, and I know it is maybe going over old ground but the question is usually phrased in a different way.

1. What would YOU ideally class as local ?
Ie how far, how long would do you realistically think you should have to travel for the majority of your booking.

2. What IS your ‘real’ local area ?
Ie due to demand, venues, competition etc what is your actual local area that you generally find you have to travel for bookings.

I find the 2 often differ.

For me, I go by time rather than distance as an hour in one direction could see me covering 10 miles at most, the other direction I can do about 60 miles.

1. I would ideally class 30 minutes drive as local. Reasons being this gives me 3 big cities in my catchment as well as some lovely scenic venues
2. Realistically, I have to travel between 90 and 120 minutes for the bulk of my bookings.

[musicology]

Same as you. I would class 30mins and under as local which the vast majority of my bookings are.

[ukpartydj]

I'd say you're local to me if you lived 5 miles or less or within my town.
Any more and I would argue you're using the word incorrectly.

I'd let it slide if you'd flown in from Austria and had a friend 20 miles down the road and said "Ich habe einen Freund, der vor Ort lebt".

[Imagine]

Since I'm fairly rural (OK, I know the sprawling city of Ely is only 3 miles away), then I call anything up-to about 30 minutes local. That can get me to the other side of Cambridge or even nearly to Norwich (on a good clear day with a back wind and no tractors in the way).

As for the majority of my work, normally within about 15 minutes drive believe it or not. I used to travel all over East Anglia but really don't need to these days

[DJColsie]

Local for me is into Portsmouth say 20 mins. Don't work there much as the locals think I am expensive and won't pay my fees.

So drive up to an hour and I can get three times the local fee and usually work for a better clientele.

[yourdj]

Local for me is into Portsmouth say 20 mins. Don't work there much as the locals think I am expensive and won't pay my fees.

So drive up to an hour and I can get three times the local fee and usually work for a better clientele.

Same with Southampton, I never get any enquiries for any 'local' venues, considering I rank well for anything DJ+Southampton.

Glad I live the New Forest side of the solent. 20 mins is about as far as I travel on a regular basis.

[TONYTIGER]

It really depends were you are based,30 minutes for me would be 25 miles not really much traffic but i charge a bit for fuel anything over 15 miles from base.

[ukpartydj]

Thinking about it, when I work in London they don't think I've come far from Bournemouth. When I work in rural / north Devon they don't think I've come far. If I go to Portsmouth some people react as if I've come from Scotland.

[Daryll]

up to 1 hour is local for me , Basingstoke is 50 minutes , Portsmouth is 40 minutes , Brighton is an hour and twenty , so is not local , guildford is 45 minutes , Chichester is 30 minutes

Daryll

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

There's 2 or 3 uber local (5 minute drive away) nice venues that I'd be booked in other than that, local is really Glasgow City Centre (about 4-5 miles) but given how bad the load in and parking for most of these are I'm usually happier to take on gigs in Loch Lommond and Stirling (around 45 minutes drive each)

I don't really start thinking of anything as "far" until you're looking at 90 minutes of driving or so.