There are DJs who know where they are going to
be spinning a year from now... even longer.
Some boast of their bookings in self-absorption,
others are more cool.
Either way... distant future
bookings are normally not for me.
I hold to a close-in booking policy.
Here's why...
I like to work in niches
fulfulling the needs of a select segment, in this case, people and events
that need a quality DJ entertainment at the relatively "last minute" - and perhaps the literal, last minute!
There are many reasons why life events are spontaneously
born, besides the one most people talk about. One such example might be a Marine, about to be shipped
into harm's way, needing to protect his/her fiance/e with government benefits, decides to get married, quickly.
I desire to spin at these events, and other near events.
I may rather BE in Margaritaville
than SPIN "Margaritaville." And, if this happens, I don't want to have to either return
from paradise... or break a contract. For me, DJ-ing is a "personal services" entertainment, with the
emphasis on personal. My entertainment is not a service where X number of other DJs, carrying a
company library, are sitting at-the-ready-to-be-substituted, if necessary. I work diligently to provide value added
services and features to my entertainment. Perhaps immodestly, I assume that people who initially choose me...
want me... not a substitute.
For these and more reasons, I customarily like to see engagements
on a time horizon which I view to be about four months... perhaps more if the engagement is in the late
spring / summer / early fall when Margaritaville is stiffling hot!
Despite the above, while not actually booking a distant event,
I will "pencil-it-in" with the understandings (1) that it has first dibs on that date/time and (2) that 90 days
from the date I will confirm whether I will be able to honor the date.
Inevitably, some one, questioning this policy, asks the question, "Well,
don't you miss engagements because of it?" YES I DO. But then again, I have my own life events, too.
