Song Suggestions...how Many?

How many songs do you allow your clients to request before hand. Recently, I have noticed the requests list I am getting are really long.

Must play limited to 15, play if possible 25 and do not play 25. Have to have room for requests.

Question is handled at the very first contact, to wit, "How hands on are you going to be with must play dance songs?" If it's more than what I wish to handle based on our discussions, then I recuse myself and suggest seeking another avenue.

After several failed attempts to be the "do it your way, do it anyway you want, do it all day long at one rate" kinda DJ, it's just a matter of being selective and being able to hit home runs with my own bat and balls (emphasis on the latter).

allow?! they're paying me. what do i care?
not like they'll notice one missing if it's 30 songs. besides, 2 chorus' and a verse and you're out.


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allow?! they're paying me. what do i care?
not like they'll notice one missing if it's 30 songs. besides, 2 chorus' and a verse and you're out.

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Oh boy, you have obviously not been burned once let alone several times with that ideology. You will eventually and unfortunately experience the wrath of a pissed off client unless one puts their potential full time career and reputation in perspective.

Having trained 26 DJs, 10 of which have been full time 10 or more years, the #1 rule:

Protect career and reputation at ALL costs. Everyone where your performance is being held is watching and judging everything you do. They are your next clients or word of mouth referrals. Contemplate everything that might go wrong and fix it before it happens.

I've always judged the request list based on 17 songs per hour. Then I let them pick roughly 1/3 of them. Remind them also that their specialty stuff (1st dance, garter/bouquet, cake cut, parent dances etal.) and dinner take away from the total dance time of the reception.

I have never set a minimum OR maximum number of requests. For some clients, it's all they can do to pick a first dance, and then they instruct me to "just play what people like"! For some clients, I have received spread sheets of every song they have ever liked, sometimes hundreds of tunes. That tells me a lot about those clients, and informs the conversation and planning with them. "Wow! You two really love music and music is obviously very important to you. There are some really good ones here, but, I won't have time to play most of these. (Explain the whole 17 songs an hour average here IF needed) Because I want to make sure I get it right, can you help me prioritize a few MUST PLAYS. If you can tell me (Groom) top picks, and (Bride) top picks .... and any special family or friends favorites, I can take it from there." Once I have some priority to work from, I can then try to decide if some of the original list is perfect for ceremony, or cocktails or dinner or whatever. I make it clear I appreciate their choices (I do), and also clear there is no way they will all get played. With a rare few exceptions, this has worked great for lots of years and hundreds of receptions. By the way, most couples are in the middle - a few "Must Plays" a few "Don't Plays" and a bunch of generalities (for example "we like current, and don't like country"). So, in summary, do what works for you, but make sure you communicate with your couple, so you both have clear and realistic expectations of what will happen with all of those requests!