Changing the industry.....

[jsabolent]

I am very much liking the responses! Keep em coming.

Although I have liked everyone responses, i feel like Stevie Ray saw where I was going with this and virtually nailed it on the head.

CAP and Karl , i completely understand, honestly... in my market there is only 3 companies i care about. Mine, my friends/colleagues, and... the one a**hole who keeps undercutting everyone else's shows. I am secure in my venues, as they have tried to undercut two of five that were mine... still want to get em one day. In the mean time, I am focusing on many other things and they are not a priority. HOW EVER.. in the past 8 months, since i made the decision to go off and start my own company, i have began networking with many other companies. The beautiful things about "Egos" is it makes people want to show off and talk. I have actually learned from some of the networking.

Old Goat - I don't disagree with you at all. The organizations can have a huge effect. I will eventually even get my ADJA Membership, once i am ready. I just wanted it to not be considered in the answered. Price points, and associations seem to have become a crutch in almost every conflict i have seen on this board. The difference between my post, and others in the past, is i am actually building some concepts and ideas, to make something happen. Outside of my own little world. Just gonna take me some time to get there. Need to have my stuff straight before i can do/build anything.

[jsabolent]

Two sig lines come right to mind:

"The only thing that beats a failure is a try"

AND

"If you think you can or you think you can't...you're right".

It's almost as if you WHOLLY, (two halves, after all...), expected your post to be doomed out of the gate.

Your right, I base that off what I have seen in previous threads. And although now i am forced to give away my secret ( seems a lot of people just like to proves others wrong on here) so reverse psychology was kinda the point lol. I know there are some really good minds on these forums. I know that things can be figured out, if the right minds got in one place. Its the ones with the narrow mindset that will eventually ruin the initial point of this thread. I am just curious to see who is truly on board to make things right, get us out of the grey area, for future reference.

[jsabolent]

For Mr. Sabol, I'm not even sure what your question is: how do we do something about these 'DJ's in a box?' Or just how we redefine ourselves as (wedding) DJs in general? Some new game, approach, or something? What are you hoping to learn? It's rare for something to come along that changes an industry since, like any broadly inclusive group, DJ covers a lot of types and styles: club, radio, wedding, school, karaoke, and on, and on. It's hard enough to come up with changes for just my wedding sector, let alone something that would redefine the entire industry of people who play music for others' entertainment.

In the end, we are all start with the same tools. It is only us as individuals that make the difference. I said this in a recent discussion with a friend of mine. We have lost touch with what DJs truly are, because of all the different labels and titles. Any way you look at it.. we are all DJs.. club dj, radio dj, wedding dj, school dj. KJ is a bit different. I am talking more about the BASE of everything. How do we make it so that it takes a little more than just a large library and a microphone and some speakers to be a DJ. I am not looking for anything specific. Trying to pick some of the brains on here!

[Maverick]

PS: Its like this in every industry(keep that in mind) Plumbers, WoodChippers, Photographers, Painters....its not unique but everyone gets a piece of the pie...set yourself apart, stand on your reputation and you will not need to worry about the industry..its not going downhill from my point of view....

[DJSTEVEZ]

J Sabol: The problem rests with the "we" portion in the second line of your post... "We" has never worked, will never work, and is the industry's diving board into the massive pool of poor me excuses and underachievers.

I live by one simple rule for my DJ business. Don't worry about what the other guy does. This pertains to price, upsells, gear, advertising etc...Again, worry about yourself and stop worrying or blaming the guy priced lower than you.

EXACTLY! Bullseye! -Z-

[jsabolent]

Let me put a different angel on this. Lets talk about the consumer. How do we protect the consumer?

[djsarge]

Even tree climbers have to be licensed.

[Big E]

*yawn*...*yawn*...(it never ends!)

[hippydog]

So... I always hear all this talk about how the industry is tanking or degraded because of the illegal and undercutting DJs ( i call them DJ in a Box). I want to pose a question on what can we do to change it?

Who exactly is saying the industry is 'degraded' because of the illegal or undercutting DJ's? And who says they are right?
1.) the only thing that can be possiblly illegal for a DJ to do is to not pay taxes on his income.
2.) The other thing is the use of stolen music and breaking the copywrite law.. which is laughable in the USA as their is very little in place to allow DJ's to be 100% legal (as per the current copywrite law). So it s hard to condemn the copywrite breakers when a.) most DJ's are breaking the copywrite law even if they dont want to b.) the music industry doesnt seem too concerned about stopping it (nor creating a fairer competition OR making things possible for DJs TO BE 100% legal without having to sell their house)
(and thats a whole nother thread)


As to the undercutting.
how does charging a lower price then the guy next to you "degrade" the industry?
Is it the actual problem? or is it a symptom of the problem? Can ANYTHING be done about it?..
Simple answer on that one.. Thats a bigger problem then You are I can deal with.. Its the Walmart mentality of the 21 century. The race to be the cheapest.. the ONLY way to fight it is to get OUT of the race.. (and thats a whole nother thread)

[hippydog]

Let me start with what I don't want to hear.

Why? Why dont you wanna hear it? Because it doesnt make sense to you? or its too much work? or some third reason?

The things you "dont want to hear" are brought up endless times for a reason, because they are the ONLY answers that have worked.
Saying 'i dont want to hear it', is like having your doctor say you need to lose weight, and your answer is 'no.. I dont want to excercise, give me a pill instead'

for example.
1.) raising the bar is not nonsense.. just because you dont want to, doesnt make it a valid solution..
as per my last post.. If you were selling groceries and cheap household products, then Walmart moves in.. you have two simple choices. Try and compete with them, or change your type of business (IE: sell high end household products, and specialty imported groceries or specialty organic groceries, etc etc)..
either way, RAISING THE BAR means taking your business to ANOTHER LEVEL.


as to the rest.. "charging more", & "become a member of an association", they are also mentioned for a reason..
I would explain it.. but you dont want to hear it

We dont need to come up with something new.. most DJ's are not even using (or have barely tried) the existing solutions..