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What is DJ's income per job and yearly?

When I get older I was thinking of being a DJ but then I thought about the income and wondered if it is enough to support a family. #music #dj

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Thank you comment icon annual salary of ​$53,580​, or ​$25.76​ per hour Matthew
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Tariq’s Answer

There are many considerations when it comes to selecting DJing as a profession. When starting out you can expect to make between $50-$200 per hour at a club/venue, but remember, you can’t expect to get 40/hours of DJ work a week unless you live in city with a plethora of events, and are constantly marketing yourself and willing to play any/all genres of music- not just genres you like. DJing weddings can be lucrative if that is something you’d be willing to do, in which case making yourself known to wedding planners would be a good idea. If you are really good, you can get a residency at a club which can pay better/more consistently- but those are harder to get/competitive, and the music industry especially is a ‘who you know’ industry, so networking often is key. DJing alone is not an occupation to expect a consistent paycheck/salary, so DJing alone to support a family is extremely tough and requires intense dedication and is a constant grind. If you start venturing into producing your own music, and playing/mixing in some of your own music/mashups within your DJsets, you’ll have an advantage and open up your possibilities to release music, and more likely to get larger bookings for things like festivals. But being discovered as a producing artist/DJ is just as difficult/if not more. But if you have the dedication, tenacity, and are constantly networking, it is all very possible. If you develop a large dedicated fan base, you'll become a much more valuable asset to promoters- in which it'll be easier to get more bookings, so if that's an option for you, developing a large dedicated fan base that brings numbers to every event can become your golden ticket to playing often and charging higher prices. If you DJ as a job- remember to treat it like one, be professional, don’t get caught up in the partying aspect, learn to network and party without drinking- it's tough, but it's key to longevity, especially if you play multiple shows per week. Your job is to entertain others, not yourself.
If you love DJing and music and don’t want to give up on the dream but want to be practical about it, I suggest a parallel approach. Continue to DJ/make music, but also find work in a related field that will help/take care of the networking aspect for you, and you’ll find opportunities to DJ/perform through those network connections. Examples of this might be, find work on the business or technical side of music venues, music distributors, instruments, ticketing etc. Try to get a job working for Spotify, SoundCloud Beatport, Live Nation, Roland, Ableton, etc. All these companies have job functions/need for marketing, analysts, coders, project managers, interns, etc, which would give much more insight to the industry and opportunities to ‘catch your big break’! Best of luck- and make sure you never stop losing focus and love on the music itself and not just the business aspect!
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Mark’s Answer

Hi Elena--

It's great that you are looking at the practical side of a career as well as being fulfilled.

There is a site that has salary information fro all types of jobs—and specficially in your area. It is called Sokanu(https://www.sokanu.com). Here is what they say about salaries for DJs in North Carolina:

Starting salary: $16,150/year ($7.77/hour)
Experienced: $19,570/year ($9.41/hour)
Top End: $61,180/year ($29.41/hour)

The site has a lot of interesting information that may help you decide if that is the right path for you.

Good luck!

-M
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