This is from the Boston Globe.
Bobby Kariotis discovered one of the challenges of being a DJ five years ago after a club gig in downtown Boston. Kariotis, known as DJ BK, says that at the end of the night the club owners refused to pay him, claiming they didn’t make enough money for the evening. According to Kariotis, the owners, whom he didn’t want to identify, told him they were doing him a favor by hiring him. Kariotis refused to back down; he argued that if no one at the club had been playing music, the owners wouldn’t have made any money at all.
“I made sure I got paid,” says Kariotis, now 22, who remembers getting about $150 for the night. “It wasn’t what I expected, but I got something.”
The most obvious irony, of course is, if there wasn’t a DJ there, undercutting and yet making money off of the creativity of others, there might have been some actual, lowly musicians scraping together a few bucks. Good Story, DJ BK…
….club owner tries to screw you out of some money because he hasn’t done his job in promoting the event and then acting like he’s doing you a favor. It’s a drag isn’t it? It’s the kind of story that musicians used to hear a lot more often before any swinging Richard with a $300.00 turntable set could make the case that it was more profitable to hire a DJ than a band.
They Tuk R Jhawwwbsss!
Yeah, whiny but true.
Anyway what’s this all about? The……..
Million DJ March!!??
Yeah, it’s for real.
On Saturday, DJs from all over the country will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Million DJ March. The event will not only give them an opportunity to protest unfair compensation practices but will help DJs organize their businesses, sign up for health insurance, and learn about the legal issues mixtape DJs face.
Even more bizarre; they actually asked, and received permission to use the name from Louis Farrakhan.
Power to the people, DJs. I’d join you but, I actually do have to load up the gear and play a gig. I’ll be there in spirit. Keep fighting the good fight.
