Why there is no price list
Numbers from the internet rarely help, and the reason is not secrecy: a fee depends on the city, the occasion, the time, the audience and on whether you bring equipment. The same hour of music is a different product at a corporate party than in a club at three in the morning, and comparing the two numbers compares two different jobs.
What helps instead is your own calculation. Not what others charge but what this night costs you: travel, setup time, a lost Sunday, wear on equipment, the hours of preparation nobody sees. That is your floor. What sits above it is negotiation — and negotiating above your floor is something entirely different from guessing at it.
The five variables a fee is made of
Anyone who can name these five has a reason rather than a number — and a reason can be discussed.
| Variable | What it changes | How you raise it |
|---|---|---|
| Type of event | The single biggest lever | Private party, corporate event, club, festival — four different markets. Ask about this before you think about a number. |
| Length and position of the slot | Two hours of warm-up is not four hours of prime time | Always name your number together with the slot. Otherwise you are negotiating a figure while the other side is discussing a different job. |
| Your own equipment | PA, lighting, setup, teardown, insurance | That is a separate service and belongs named separately — your rider states it anyway. Otherwise somebody pays for music and gets a removals firm with it. |
| Travel and lost time | The item beginners forget | Two hours of driving is two hours of work plus fuel. Name it as its own line and the other side can decide about it. |
When playing for free is worth something
Playing for free is not wrong in principle — it is just almost always justified wrongly. „For the exposure“ is not a return, because exposure is not something anyone can deliver. A return is something still there after the night: a second date in the same series, a recording you may use, a stage you would not otherwise get, or photographs you need.
The second half is about timing: free belongs at the beginning, not in the middle. Anyone still playing for nothing after two years has missed the transition — and there is no reason for a promoter to propose it unprompted. The sentence that starts it is unspectacular and works: from next time, with a fee please.
The negotiation in six steps
This order works in your first year as well as in your fifth. It has a single purpose: that both sides end up understanding the same thing.
Ask about the job before you calculate
Date, time, slot length, expected guests, who provides the equipment. Five questions in one message — and afterwards you know what you are actually discussing.
Work out your floor
Travel, setup, playing time, preparation, wear. Not what others charge — what this night costs YOU. Below that you decline, and without guilt.
Name the number together with the slot
Not the fee alone but what it covers: this many hours, this time, with or without your own equipment. Then you are both negotiating the same thing.
Wait for the answer
After the number, nothing more comes from you. Anyone who adds something is negotiating against themselves — and the other side has not said a word yet.
If the budget is short: cut the service
Two hours instead of four, without your own PA, without driving back the same night. That keeps your rate intact and the date possible anyway.
Put the agreement in four lines
Date, time, slot, fee, equipment, contact. If you have a rider, attach it; if you do not, small nights do not need one. No legal prose, one message — not for a dispute, but so that none happens.
The five mistakes that cost money
Naming a number before knowing the job
Slot, length, equipment, location: without those four, any figure is a guess. Ask first, then calculate.
Apologising for your fee
Ending a number with „is that okay?“ has already put it up for discussion. Name it with a reason and let the other side answer.
Playing free without a return
Nobody can deliver exposure. A second date, a recording or photographs can — and those are agreed before the night or not at all.
Leaving everything verbal
Date, time, slot, fee, equipment, contact. Four lines in a message save the discussion that otherwise happens at two in the morning.
Going down instead of taking something out
If the budget does not stretch, cut the service — a shorter slot, no equipment of your own. Lowering only the price lowers it permanently.
What comes after the number
A fee is negotiated once both sides know the number — it is paid only afterwards, and the formalities sit in between. The five points below are the part of that which is written into German law; each one names the paragraph it comes from. This is orientation, not legal advice: what applies in your case is for your tax office or a tax adviser to say, and on the freelance-or-trade question only they can.
Below €25,000 you may not charge VAT
Germany's small-business rule is not a choice between two kinds of invoice: if your total turnover was below €25,000 last year and stays below €100,000 this year, your turnover is exempt — so you do not show VAT on the invoice. For the negotiation that means your figure IS what the promoter pays. No „plus VAT“.
An invoice has mandatory details
An invoice is any document that settles a service — what it is headed makes no difference. What has to be on it is set out in § 14(4) of the German VAT Act. A note saying „fee €400“ is therefore not yet an invoice, and the promoter who needs one will not get it through their accounts.
Starting a trade has to be notified
Anyone starting the independent operation of a standing trade must notify the competent authority at the same time — that is the German trade registration, and „at the same time“ means when you start, not afterwards. Whether your DJing is a trade in that sense is the question in the next point.
Freelance or trade — not your call
§ 18 of the German Income Tax Act counts „artistic“ work among the liberal professions; § 15 governs income from a trade. Which of the two fits a DJ is said by neither paragraph — the tax office and the courts decide that case by case, and it turns on how much artistic shaping of your own the service contains. Anyone relying on being „an artist anyway“ is relying on an assessment that is not theirs to make.
Germany's artists' social fund exists, and it is not a grant
The German Artists' Social Insurance Act and the fund charged with running it exist so that self-employed artists and writers enjoy protection under the statutory social insurance system similar to that of employees — that is how the fund describes its own remit. Whether YOU are admitted and what it costs is not stated there; settle that with the fund before counting on it.
How you know the number is right
There is no confirmation that you negotiated well. These four signs are what there is instead.
You get asked again
The most reliable sign. Someone too expensive does not get asked again; someone too cheap gets asked and stays too cheap.
There is no discussion on the night
If fee, slot and equipment were in writing beforehand, nobody discusses them at two. That is what the message was for.
You say the number without hesitating
The confidence comes not from the amount but from the reasoning. Anyone who knows how they arrived at it says it calmly.
A no does not hurt
If a rejection does not shake you, the number was yours and not theirs. That is the real gain from this exercise.
⚠️ To be explicit: this guide names no figures, and that is not reticence but honesty. Fees differ by city, year, genre and job so much that any number here would be wrong for most readers — and a wrong number is worse than none, because it works as an anchor. What is written here is the structure of a negotiation, not its outcome; all of it is experience and marked as editorial judgement. If you want reliable numbers for your city, ask three DJs who play there — it is the only source there is.
Frequently asked questions
What does a DJ charge?
That cannot be answered in general, and any number that tries is wrong for most readers. What can be answered is the structure: type of event, slot length, guest count, your own equipment, travel. Work those five through for your specific night and you have a number with a reason — worth more than any average from the internet.
What do I charge for my first paid gig?
Enough that the night costs you nothing, and little enough that the question does not dominate the conversation. Add up travel, time and preparation — that is your floor. Taking nothing the first time when there is a budget makes the second negotiation harder, not easier.
Should I play for free?
At the start, yes, if there is a return somebody can actually deliver: a second date in the same series, a recording you may use, photographs, a stage you would not otherwise reach. „For the exposure“ is not one of them — nobody can promise that. And it belongs at the beginning, not permanently in your calendar.
How do I name the number without being awkward?
With a reason and without a follow-up. One sentence is enough: for this slot, this length, with or without my own equipment, this amount. Then say nothing more. The most common mistake is not a high number but the half-sentence afterwards that reopens it.
What if the promoter can pay less?
Then you cut the service, not the price. Two hours instead of four, without your own PA, without extra effort. Your rate stays the same and the date is still possible — and next time you are not negotiating up from a reduced figure.
Do I need a contract?
For most nights four lines in a message are enough: date, time, slot, fee, who provides the equipment, who is the contact on site. That is not legal advice and does not replace a proper contract for large jobs — but it settles the misunderstandings that small nights actually fail on.
Start learning
Play well first, then negotiate
The best negotiating position is a night after which the promoter asks by themselves when you are coming back. On DJLearn you learn the craft behind that — free, and no account needed to try it.
Start for free