View Full Version : DJ tip out- what do you think is fair
DesuvsDeath
03-03-2012, 11:10 AM
^Apparently it's NOT only in my mind because a few other girls have agreed with me. :P
Kellydancer
03-03-2012, 12:31 PM
I definitely agree there needs to be mutual respect. I have for the most part gotten along with DJs who were professional. We became friends, I tipped well and they played my music. I've even defended a few from others.
Regarding the ugly dancers, this seems to be a problem now. In the past I have been rejected from some of the top tier clubs because I wasn't perfect, though am attractive. I never had plastic surgery and had the natural look and many of these clubs wanted the Barbie look. So back then I worked in the midlevel tier clubs and of course there was also the low level bars that hired anyone. Now though it seems the top tier clubs are hiring girls that never would have been hired years ago and the lower level clubs are worse.
Djoser
03-03-2012, 07:01 PM
^Apparently it's NOT only in my mind because a few other girls have agreed with me. :P
Well OK, goody for you. Now I'll go round up a couple DJs to agree with me, to match the two or three members agreeing with you, and that will again change what the phrase means entirely, no matter who is saying it to whom, anywhere in the world.
:rotfl:
You can get all the people you want to come thank and agree with you, there is nothing at all sleazy about the phrase the way I use it, and never will be.
It means 'we work together, let's take care of each other', plain and simple. Unless maybe as in your experience it's some sleazy douchebag saying it, but that's not me, and that has no bearing whatsoever on the true meaning of the phrase as I am using it.
Generally I have used the phrase most when I go to tip the girl onstage and none of the fucking douchebags are tipping and I'm trying to set an example and the girl is trying to tell me I don't have to tip her. Of course I don't have to fucking tip her, she has to tip me at the end of the night. But I am making a gesture of appreciation for her efforts in trying to put on a show whether it's being appreciated or not, because I am in it with her doing the same thing. How the fuck that is in any way 'sleazy' is beyond me...
Djoser
03-04-2012, 02:45 AM
But really, it's stupid for us to bicker about this. It's all semantics here, and god knows what out there in the weird zone of the clubs. The phrase could mean any number of things, depending on the speaker and the setting.
I have no doubt that if we worked together, I would hook you up with the best music you could ever want (or just play the cool stuff you brought me), and you would gladly tip me.
It's really all about taking care of each other. What a pity the industry tends to pit us against each other sometimes, when we need most of all to stick together.
GlitterBexie
03-04-2012, 11:46 AM
As a Uk dancer where tipping is not the norm...
I LOVE my club DJ, he is an awesome bloke, is engaged to one of the dancers and will find/play any song if he has it in his repetoire, which is in fairness, enormous. The company has recently opened a new club and im working between the both, so new DJ's are being trialled in the old club, and as a rule, they have sucked ass.
One came, and couldnt cope, he couldnt do two things at once, ie, announce a dancer on stage and press play to the song at the same time, he was mixing up dancers, calling girls by their wrong names on stage, talking all the way through stage shows, telling the club which song was playing (Like they needed to know or cared!), announcing two for ones at the wrong times. Another DJ brought his mate along, literally, he brought him for a perv, the dj booth is small enough and i do not need some gross wierdo looking at me while im getting dressed again. Another brought CD's, so he would announce you as being on stage THEN start finding the songs you had pre-requested, so you were stood by the stage of the stage, unable to hustle, while he worked out which button was which. It has made me infinetly grateful for the one good DJ we have.
But i digress, as i said, in the UK, it is not the norm to tip, it genuinely wouldnt even occur to me to go round at the end of the night and give my money away, to management, bouncers or the DJ, they all get paid a wage. And all of them earn money on a night when the club is dead, whereas we (the dancers) dont. They do also get breaks here, and have time away from their job, now, i cant even go for a cigarette in peace because the customer smoking area has been amalgamated with the dancrers smoking area. As far as i see it, the only people in my club i tip would be the waitresses, the bouncers/management/dj are all earning above minimum wage and would unless they went above and beyond they probably wouldnt accept money off me or the other girls anyway.
We dont make money off stage shows, its just part of the entertainment to be on the stage as is whats offered by the club, we dont get tipped as a rule no matter what song is played or how well we dance to it. Our dj is wonderful, he knows everyones names, remembers your "usual songs", if we are in a sit down/vip we are not called to the stage anyway so he will just move on to the next girl on the list and come back to you later.
NotPepper
04-29-2012, 02:08 AM
I love tipping out my DJ extra. I'm a very, very picky dancer when it comes to requesting music. I bring in my own USB full of my own music and I pick my 3/2 songs before I go on each set. I would be a pain in the ass if I only tipped out the bare minimum (which is 10% at my club). I put on my best performance to the music I love, which is what catches my customers' attention and leads me to VIP.
Now, if I were at a more upscale club and I had to dance to the Billboard 100, no exceptions- that might be a different story.
Valid_Username
05-17-2012, 06:35 AM
Hey there,
I'm a long time lurker / former poster (forgot my old log in details). This topic has struck a nerve....... I've been reading these topics for years on countless message boards and mostly just kept my mouth shut. You see, I'm a former club DJ/MC. When I first started I absolutely sucked and was in way over my head. I only made due at first because I had raw ability and was rated equally other DJ/MC's because of one fact that won't be acknowledged in this industry -- That fact is: 85+ % of strip club DJ/MC's Suck! They are horrible and don't even know it (and wedding DJ's are even worse Lol).
I knew I was bad and I wanted to improve so I went about teaching myself the ins and outs, techniques, and the psychology of music (yes I wrote that - music does motivate). I started improving myself by doing everything the exact opposite of what most other DJ's were doing, trial and error, and a few failures ...... I could go on and on, but the sad fact is bad DJ's just wont get it even if I wrote a step by step guide book.
This is the pure essence of what I came up up with:
The dancers and I are a team, but more importantly the dancers are my customers. I provide services to my customers. The services I provide to dancers is making them more money. Everything I do is to the dancers benefit.
I can make dancers more money. I have a proven track record.
I only asked for $20.00 or a 10% minimum (which ever was higher) per shift (dancers often gave me more). If a dancer is unwilling to pay that minimum* she is free to seek out the services of somebody else and then she will be welcomed back when she learns the difference.
*Right before I got out of the entertainment business was the start of this economic down turn. I made lots of financial concessions because thankfully I have a side business I was able to fall back on. I have no idea the money making situation in clubs today. I've been in two clubs in four years and have not been impressed.
lol1337a
05-18-2012, 01:19 AM
^^You sound awesome. The problem with most club DJs is that they don't know we're their customers. DJs almost always focus on their role of authority rather than their role as a service provider. Granted, the industry has set a confusing power dynamic, but it surprises me that most don't get it.
Laurisa
05-18-2012, 08:39 AM
Hey there,
I'm a long time lurker / former poster (forgot my old log in details). This topic has struck a nerve....... I've been reading these topics for years on countless message boards and mostly just kept my mouth shut. You see, I'm a former club DJ/MC. When I first started I absolutely sucked and was in way over my head. I only made due at first because I had raw ability and was rated equally other DJ/MC's because of one fact that won't be acknowledged in this industry -- That fact is: 85+ % of strip club DJ/MC's Suck! They are horrible and don't even know it (and wedding DJ's are even worse Lol).
I knew I was bad and I wanted to improve so I went about teaching myself the ins and outs, techniques, and the psychology of music (yes I wrote that - music does motivate). I started improving myself by doing everything the exact opposite of what most other DJ's were doing, trial and error, and a few failures ...... I could go on and on, but the sad fact is bad DJ's just wont get it even if I wrote a step by step guide book.
This is the pure essence of what I came up up with:
The dancers and I are a team, but more importantly the dancers are my customers. I provide services to my customers. The services I provide to dancers is making them more money. Everything I do is to the dancers benefit.
I can make dancers more money. I have a proven track record.
I only asked for $20.00 or a 10% minimum (which ever was higher) per shift (dancers often gave me more). If a dancer is unwilling to pay that minimum* she is free to seek out the services of somebody else and then she will be welcomed back when she learns the difference.
*Right before I got out of the entertainment business was the start of this economic down turn. I made lots of financial concessions because thankfully I have a side business I was able to fall back on. I have no idea the money making situation in clubs today. I've been in two clubs in four years and have not been impressed.
If you could prove to me that you made me more money over the weeks (i.e. I actually saw a change in my income that was directly correlated to your actions) then I would DEFINITELY tip you a lot more than a typical DJ. Now let's say I normally made $900/night and when you started working I made $1000/night. If I gave you 10% ($100) then I wouldn't be taking home anymore money than before. I'd wind up giving you the $100/night profit I made from you. But let's say I was making $500/night and when you started I was making $700/night, by giving you $70/night I'd still be profiting $130/night. That's why I think the percentage is unfair, because if I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off doing more and more dances each night but I'm still walking home with that $900 then I wouldn't want you to "help me" anymore. Why should I give up my breaks/down time to do a lot more work if I still take home the same amount? It could go either way.
See, I don't believe that other staff members or dancers contribute to my income. I tend not to talk to most of the people there other than friendly discussion during slow times, so it's unlikely you would affect my income. I don't ask the DJ to play any specific music (I usually don't speak to them at all during a shift) and I just do my thing. My pole tricks and stage tricks are cool enough that when I decide to do them the crowd gets excited based on my performance...not the "dope track the DJ dropped". I also am curious how you make all these dancers extra money. Do you get all the customers to circle around your DJ booth and send each of them with a girl? I guess I'm skeptical. Maybe it's because of all the shit DJs I've seen.
Valid_Username
05-18-2012, 11:03 PM
[...] Now let's say I normally made $900/night [...] I'll never forget the first time a dancer handed me a $185.oo tip-out. She made 1'800.oo that night and gave me that extra $5.oo because I'm a nice guy and she liked me. Okay lets do some quick addition: If you normally made $900.oo a night and if you worked five nights a week - you'd have grossed over a quarter million dollars in just over four years. It's feasible you could make a million dollars at that rate during the length of a typical exotic entertainers career (8 - 10 years). If that is the case, then, well I'm sorry babe - you are way outta my league - it's taken me forty years to bank a million on paper and I still couldn't write a cheque for a fraction of that.
See, I don't believe that other staff members or dancers contribute to my income. I tend not to talk to most of the people there other than friendly discussion during slow times, so it's unlikely you would affect my income. A snippet from my old resume (I'm self-employed now): [...] where I recruited, managed, and trained entertainers [...]and[...] was responsible for promotions: including a website, photography, video and printed publications. [...] You see I just didn't hype the fact that you can climb to the top of the pole and ring the bell (I paid my own money for that bell by the way -- just little things like that is what I'm talking about.) - I took girls fresh outta high-school and made them elite-stripper-celebrities. My girls were in brochures and travel guides and on shows like Jerry Springer. What I don't write on my resume is all the cab drivers, hotel clerks, airplane flight-crews and television producers I had bringing fresh high-rollers in from all around to see girls like you. I paid these people with my money (call it a commission or finders fee, whatever) to bring in guests. Anybody can do what I did - I'm just a average guy - but like I wrote in my first post (paraphrasing) 85% of club DJ's are sub-average.
Laurisa
05-20-2012, 03:34 PM
I'd say $50,000-$75,000/year is reasonable based on my experiences. That is a normal middle class wage. If I grossed $75,000/year and gave the DJ 10% I'd give him $7,500/year which is absolute crap. I can only speak from my experience but there is no way in hell any DJ I've met deserves to have his rent paid for an entire year from me.
And you know, as an entry level Paramedic you could easily bring home $50,000/year AFTER taxes. So if a dancer made $50,000 after taxes she'd still walk home with $45,000/year if she gave you the 10% you ask for. It's unfair to expect dancers to pay the house, taxes, AND DJ's 10%.
I pay the club 45% of my earnings (Deja Vu) because I am free lance (no schedule). If I gross $1,000 I walk home with $550. If I give you 10% I walk home with $495. Of that $495 in the 20% tax bracket I'd have $396 take home. I work in that club because it is clean and there is money potential. So basically I'd lose $154 each time I made $1,000 just to taxes and the DJ tip alone. I would be bringing home 35% of my gross sales which is again--bullshit. Of that $396 I'd be losing about $60 weekly for gas to/from work, routine purchases of make up, shoes, dancer outfits, and a myriad of other expenses we incur. Of that $50,000 after pay out I would pay $15,000/year in taxes and DJ tip out with your model, therefore making $35,000/year when in fact my sales were $100,000.
Smells like highway robbery to me. Would you take a sales job if you knew your exact take home (money in your pocket less taxes, tip outs, fees) would be 35% of your sales? Unlikely. For me to make a decent wage (which I consider to be $50,000) I'd have to sell about $150,000/year. That is $2,885 worth of sales a week. In two nights my shifts are 8 hours each--so 16 hours total. I'd have to sell $180.31 worth of dances AN HOUR. That is a little over 9 dances an hour at $20/song. That is about 27 minutes of dancing each hour, leaving me 33 minutes to go on stage, pee, find customers, go back to the dance booth, wait for the next song to start, etc. So basically unreasonable to guarantee that every night for every week I worked. That also doesn't include vacation time, sick time, etc.
I usually work 1-2 nights a week, and it is very possible to take home $750-900/night during the busy season if you hustle. During the slow seasons $200-400/night is possible if you hustle. An annual average is the key factor here. Also, I have a family, a medical license, and an education which therefore would make me hot want to be an elite stripper celebrity...whatever that means. I wouldn't want to be in a brochure or on Jerry Springer (that show is a joke). Most dancers I know do not want their face plastered all around town, that's a hard thing to hide. A lot of us have families, educations, and ambitions that far exceed what stripping could ever hope to give us (i.e. financial security, a 401k, benefits, social security entitlement). You putting me on Jerry Springer is not going to help me one way or another.
Laurisa
05-20-2012, 04:01 PM
Just because you work somewhere that has a lot of money circulating through it doesn't make you entitled to a piece of it. If you want big bonuses in addition to your salary then go get a college education and work for it. Or, get some nut huggers and head down to your local male strip joint and shake your shit and earn your money that way.
If you work at BP you are not entitled to 10% of the CEOs salary because you work in his presence. And honestly, the dancers are the only thing that are worth ANYTHING in the club. Without the dancers you have NOTHING in a strip club, absolutely nothing. This is not arguable, this is fact. So to try and take advantage of dancers and coerce them into giving you 10% of their profits is asinine. I used to work in radio, I had a morning show, I woke up early 5x week to do that show (around 5 AM). I know what it's like to prepare for a show, find music, news stories, keep the conversation flowing, take calls, record PSAs, find people to donate money--it's hard, tedious work. But the part that a DJ does (talking to the crowd, playing music) is not worth 10% of what a dancer makes. Even if only 10 dancers worked a night and they each made $200 and gave him $20 he'd walk home with more than each and every one of them. He'd have $200 plus his base pay from the club. If each girl made $500 and there were 10 of them he'd have $500. Most DJs don't get $500/night plus salary because there job is not worth $50/hour. You might get that at a wedding or special event, but it's not to be expected. People that make $50/hour are strippers, nurses, business professionals, prostitutes, etc--not strip club DJs.
Djoser
05-20-2012, 05:58 PM
Fuck weddings lol. I tried that many years ago--not for me at all, and thank all the gods I figured it out instantly.
I don't expect 10%, and there's very few DJs that do anymore, so it's beating a dead horse at this point.
A stripclub without dancers would not be a stripclub. A stripclub without music for the dancers would not be much better. Since 99% of stripclubs in the country have DJs and not jukeboxes, it appears that we are going to have to deal with the fact that there are going to be DJs in the stripclubs. Sure a lot of them suck. So do way, way, way too many dancers. So it's up to the professional, good-looking dancers, and the professional talented DJs--working together--to try and do something about it.
I cannot count the nights I have come to work and seen 50-60-70% or more of the dancers that were unattractive, unprofessional, couldn't dance, and had the worst taste in music imaginable. As a customer, I'd walk out the door immediately and tell all my friends never to go there. But instead I was the DJ, and had to try and put on a show.
So this notion that the stripclub is NOTHING without the dancers is not always true. Sometimes the stripclub is a party going on because 10-15% of the dancers--and the fucking DJ--are carrying the dead weight of a bunch of fat, lazy, drunken slobs calling themselves 'dancers', but who really have no business on any kind of stage whatsoever.
I've seen clubs turned around by good DJs, and I've seen clubs turn to shit after they left. Largely because the dancers were happy and dancing their asses off when the good DJs were working, miserable and pissed off when the assholes took over. Sometimes it matters more than others, and every club is different.
I've made 50$ an hour (and more on special events) DJing stripclubs and earned every cent of it. Dealing with the drunken, whacked out basket cases, trying to get them onstage, trying to get them to choose music that won't drive everyone out of the club or put them all to sleep. Keeping them from beating shit out of each other, or the customers. If all dancers were really good looking professionals, there wouldn't be any need for this thread. But they aren't. Nor are all stripclub DJs professional or talented.
A productive solution might be to try a little mutual respect. Anyone who tells me I deserve minimum wage or whatthefuckever will get that much respect in return--which is shit.
It is interesting that the point was brought up that DJs are made into quasi-authority figures in some clubs. Generally by those in management who don't want to deal with trying to get dancers to stage or enforcing music Format. But usually they fail miserably to backup the DJs. Quite often it then turns into a lose/lose situation.