Just so I'm getting the situation straight before making a suggestion:

1. You have equipment that you would like to bring
2. The venue has equipment (and good equipment at that!)
3. Your last gig at the venue was for $150, including equipment fees
4. You want $400 for the next show, which includes equipment fees

Personally I would not bring my equipment to the venue if I didn't have to. Since the venue has good equipment in house already, leave your stuff at home. The only thing with the equipment is to do a sound check with the in house equipment before doing the actual gig.

As for the price, I think $400 is too much to ask for 4 hours when the venue has no cover and you are not bringing equipment. I would either ask for $240 (4 hours @ $60/hr) and negotiate down to $200, or if bringing equipment charge $350 (4 hours @ $60/hr + $110 equipment rental charge) and maybe negotiate down to $250. Having no cover makes charging more a problem. If you plan to charge the venue this way, make sure you break down how the cost is being calculated to the owner.

Another option (and the one talked about here) is to take a portion of the cover, and give the venue the bar. The bar owner will have a no-risk win-win situation with this plan, which will make him much more eager to book you. This is what I use for my gigs in Hickory. I take the cover from the door, and promote the event myself. Whatever cover money is made is payed to the DJs and the people that helped out in the gig (visuals for example). Usually I'm one of the DJs so I get to pay myself this way also.

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Overload (House/J-Pop/K-Pop): Click
No Pants Dance (Funky House/Electro House/K-Pop): Click
Dark Beach (Deep House): Click

my friend's cousin is a DJ and he started getting paid $50 for a 3 hour gig, now he is getting paid around $550 a gig in the same amount of time

I'm guessing you've got the Mackie SRM450s like most folks?

You might consider taking along one of them, as your monitor, pointing at you... Unless he's already got a good monitor. will help you mix better, and makes the DJ booth area more exciting and loud. Otherwise, I totally agree use the house gear; that's not a bad setup especially if you are used to pioneer kit. Around here a CD DJ would be blessed to have that setup. Most of the clubs around here have ADJ or Numark CD decks and a DJM600 if you're LUCKY, but usually a cheeseball mixer too.

Obviously if he's invested in newish CDJ/DJM setup he's putting some value into the musical aspect, if I were you I'd try to get somewhere between 40-60 an hour and see if he's willing to throw in some extra if you can bring out more than some preagreed number of heads into the club. Then promote the piss out of your gig! Heavy boxes of flyers aren't really that expensive and graphics design students are often very willing to do design work for reasonable prices. I would avoid the cover route unless you are sure most the patrons would be willing to pay cover, and even then keep it low. Think of it as a way to make some extra cash and start building a name for yourself; you want as many people as possible. Greed never pays in the long run. You can get greedy when you've got a name They all do anyways.

Honestly, that's damn good money for walking into a club and doing something you enjoy.

spoke to the owner, no problems and I got another gig coming

mentioned that I thought $300 would be fair as I was able to round up a good amount of people, and he gladly said thats fine, now i'm pissed i didnt go a bit higher!

anyway, good times ahead and a bangin deal thank you guys for all the advice!

Congrats, dude

Good job! I wish I was getting paid that much to spin

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Overload (House/J-Pop/K-Pop): Click
No Pants Dance (Funky House/Electro House/K-Pop): Click
Dark Beach (Deep House): Click

quote:

Originally posted by Sound O fTrance spoke to the owner, no problems and I got another gig coming mentioned that I thought $300 would be fair as I was able to round up a good amount of people, and he gladly said thats fine, now i'm pissed i didnt go a bit higher! anyway, good times ahead and a bangin deal thank you guys for all the advice!

Out of curiosity, are you bringing your own gear or not?

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-Jon
www.DJjoncaserta.com - - mixes and whatnot (melodic progressive house and trance)

no i decided not too... its way too risky taking mk3's and my xone mixer, one drink can totally set me back to hell

i'm going to use his cdj 800's and a pioneer 3000 mixer, i'm dumb for not doing that the first time

however i am taking my macbook and mackie speakers which are on stands, so those are away from most potential damage

quote:

Originally posted by midavmusic no i decided not too... its way too risky taking mk3's and my xone mixer, one drink can totally set me back to hell i'm going to use his cdj 800's and a pioneer 3000 mixer, i'm dumb for not doing that the first time however i am taking my macbook and mackie speakers which are on stands, so those are away from most potential damage

Good call.

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-Jon
www.DJjoncaserta.com - - mixes and whatnot (melodic progressive house and trance)