Why join a DJ Association?

Moving on from something Sandy said on Rich's photography thread...

There are several Associations and different types of organisations out there for DJs and I am wondering what they all have to offer and how the different ones appeal to different DJs. I should of course declare that I am a member of WDJA and also the Chairman and I am also a member of AMPDJ and a close friend of the owner. Please lets keep it objective, useful and civilised...Anyway, sure Craig with his big stick won't allow anything else (IMG:http://www.discocity.co.uk/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

This is my take on some of the organisations out there...

WDJA is a not-for-profit Association of Wedding DJs and is primarily for sourcing work. Most forum users know all about it as its unique and as such as come under a lot of attack in the past year or so. Its not perfect but is getting there. Basically there is an entrance standard as its important to maintain a standard in order to maintain its good reputation amongst Brides. Annual membership is £45 and for that one can choose 4 areas for which they wish to recieve enquiries, its then up to the DJ to convert those enquiries. I know one or two people that haven't done spectacularly well out of it (don't think anyone has actually lost out though) and then those who have done moderately well right up to those that have made a small fortune out of it. Personally I have done pretty well and taken about £4k worth of work out of it in about 14 months. Generally by far the vast majority of members are happy with it an renew their membership.

AMPDJ is massive and growing at alarming rates, basically it costs £49 to join and for that one gets £10m PLI cover which is with just one underwriter...Royal Sun Alliance which is the largest commercial insurance company in the country and extremely well respected. However, as a bonus thrown in with the membership fee one can then choose an area for which they would like to recieve enquiries for work, there are a few AMPDJ web sites which are fast shooting up the search rankings so the work is starting to trickle in.

SEDA is based in the South East. From what I know about it it does sound a fabulous organisation. they have by-monthly meetings with all kinds of features and networking opps. Paul the Chair is a really nice chap and they have some very experienced people on their committee. I don't know much more about them but wish I lived in the South East because I would definately join.

MU allows DJs to join and they are certainly the largest with political clout too. I have never been a member so can't really comment more.

DJ@ offer the same sort of insurance deal as AMPDJ but for more money and as I'm not sure what if any extra they offer I can't really comment further on them either.

NADJ...well this is the tricky one for me. I think a lot of you know I have differences with a couple of committee members of NADJ, but I do respect their Chairman...However, its best that someone else comments on them.

So...what organisations are you all in and what do you think of them?

Huh! Blame me why don't you!

I'm a bit of a mirror image of Goodtimes....a couple of things to add though.

WDJA - as well as enquiries, it is a support network too and one of the aims is to raise the standard. It is run by the members for the members and is an association in every sense of the word. It has taken a lot of beatings, mainly from DJs that didn't get in, but it is susseccful and this year the proof of the pudding was in the eating with the majority of members renewing their membership. An important thing to note with enquiries is that all registered DJs in an area automatically get ALL enquiries for that area, then its up to the individual to convert. As a committee we've offered help to a lot of members to finely tune their email/phone reply to improve their conversion rate.

AMPDJ - it is growing at an alarming rate. There are 6 websites out there about it, 4 of them are aimed at clients so feed the enquiries, and the other two are aimed at DJs. One contains newsletters which have some really helpful DJ advice and are well worth a read.

Seda.....like Andy.....wish I lived in the South East as their networking structure is second to none.

NADJ...I believe have good intentions, but don't feel they offer enough to members for the subriction paid.

Just a member of NADJ here. Ive got my public liability insurance with them for the £10m PLI but so far im not Impressed with the NADJ Insurer Binfield Insurance.

I set up a new Insurance policy through NADJ and applied for it 18th August and got a cover letter through while the policy certificates come through. But today is the 8th October and ive still not recieved an offficial certificate of Public Liability Insurance from them.

Ive contacted the insurer a number of times to track down where the policy documents are. But they say they are going to send them and then i dont hear anything from them.

So up to now im not impressed. NADJ are good and efficient as always getting the membership confirmations and that out so my gripe isnt with them. Its with the insurer up to now.

Just contacted the insurer again and they said the policy is ready and will be sent out to me by email this afternoon and a copy in the post. Watch this space theyve said this 3 times before.

Its one of those months now. Ive got the P.A.T test guy down first thing tommorow from Consumer Installations for the annual P.A.T test so nice to get another thing out of the way for another year.

At AMPdj as soon as you've paid the £49 via paypal, your cover note is available to print. Exactly two weeks later you can log in to the site and download the full certificate. Policy is online too. How efficient is that.....and the insurer is Royal & Sun Alliance to boot.

I'll vouch for that, within 2 minutes of paying for my insurance with AMPDJ my cover note was there on-line to print off and 2 weeks later you get the official policy document. this is standard practice now with a lot of on-line policies to stop people getting the policy and then cancelling the paypal payment. The Royal Sun Alliance policy does appear very good too and they will also arrange a good deal on equipment insurance too. I was at a massive hotel in blackpool a few weeks ago and flashed my insurance and they said it was fine as they were insured with RSA too.

I must admit I was a bit put off the NADJ policy as its shared with AIG who were part of the massive and contrivertial £7b American government bail out last year and I have seen news articles to the effect that they are still insecure and in need of further funds.

At the end of the day DJs are tight ar5es and as the £49 AMPDJ deal is unbeatable there's no wonder it is growing the way it is. The newsletters are useful too.

I've just quit from the MU (due to stopping the DJ work - nothing to do with them). They're not bad, quite expensive but their membership goes on how much you earn as a musician so you can get some breaks. Their PLI is good, £10m as standard - the network is good, great for contacts - but really you need to be a musician rather than a DJ to get much out of it. Had I have known about the AMPDJ's membership fee and their PLI they would have probably been a better bet - however I've been winding things down for a couple of years so it wasn't the first thing on my mind! WDJA sounds good to me - networking and lead-generating, can't say fairer than that!

I often wondered what nmight happen if a DJ insured with the MU had an issue that also involved a band or musician...wonder which way they would go (IMG:http://www.discocity.co.uk/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I've Just Joined JLT online Insurance
Has anyone ever heard any stories good or bad about them ?

Musicguard. I had a bad experience with them myself when their broker was Pavillion insurance when they wouldnt pay out when i made a claim. But i dealt with that when the insurance was due. I didnt renew it and they were asking me why i wasnt renewing so i told them.

JLT i think are a new underwriter for musicguard so they might be better now.

I had a claim with Music Guard and they tried it on a bit but they paid up in the end. I had an old nail of a van with a big hasp and staple on the back doors and they wanted to see the pad lock that had been cut off but the Police took it away because they said they could match up the marks to a specific pair of bolt cutters, thing is they lost the pad lock. I was telling Music Guard that it wasn't my fault the Police lost the damaged lock and in the end the Inspecter of the Police team dealing with it phoned them up and explained an then the next thing was they wanted to use a dealer in Scotland to replace the pinched kit to which I said no because it was no use to me if I had any repair issues, I said I wanted the kit replaced by Cookies regardless of cost as they were local and I had a good relationship with them whereby they would come out to me if I had a problem while I was actuallly working and also I could borrow kit if I needed to, it took a bit of arguing back and forth but in the end they paid up. I think most insurance companies will try it on so you have to stand your ground with them.

I finally recieved my documents from Binfield Insurance (NADJ PLI insurer) for the PLI policy after nearly 2 months waiting. I did get a cover letter but i had a problem with one venue not accepting it as proof of PLI cover. So i was onto the insurance company to find out where my policy douments are.

So the next gig i have where they want to see certificates is on 22nd October at the Hull City stadium (Kingston Communications Stadium) Ive finally got my documents through and the PLI has now been accepted. But my P.A.T certificate by the time of that gig will be out of date. I had the gear P.A.T tested again on friday and it all passed and my old P.A.T certificate runs out this coming sat. So my new certificates will arrive sometime this week. On that front im up to date again.

Well like I already said I am a mate of Paul's so guess I have to be careful what I say (IMG:http://www.discocity.co.uk/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Thing is though this is fact and no one can say its bias or anything and anyway if they do I aint bothered because there is no argument. You pay the £49 for the AMPDJ PLI and within seconds you print off the certificate. Having said that I will only go for the cheapest if its up to doing what I need it to do. When buying any goods or services what I do is get a couple of prices an then check that the cheapest is ok and if it isn't I will pay more in order to get the quallity I need...At the end of the day if the cheapest is up to the mark then why pay more?

i.e. I just bought some dress shirts ready for the Christmas rush, I went to a local tailors and had 3 dress shirts out, a Double 2, a Railbrooke and a Fredrick Theaks. They were £19, £49 and £67 respectively and I ended up buying the £67 shirts because they looked to be much better quality in so much as they were cut better, felt nicer material and I thought they looked as if they would wash better and only need a quick rub over with the iron.

with that ampdj PLI policy whats the excess fee? with the NADJ Policy its £250.00

I'll have to check for you John as mine is in my brief case in the van...unless Sandy or anyone else has their's handy. I looked at so many policies that I honestly can't remember which one was which.

I'm with DJ@, signed up just before Christmas. The price is good, and used their validator to get the certificate.
No problems, and same insurer as MU.
I made use of the MixMash discount in time for NYE so could have a few videos & vizualisations at the party. Not sure if I want to offer VDJ as a service, but it did enhance the night.

A few months ago I was getting *loads* of spam from mobiledj.info not sure who was behind that and it looked to be pli only, but it was pretty unprofessional to be spamming people for business.


I've been thinking about joining SEDA, but need to make the trek from my base to their meets to see what they are up to.

Benny

Well that would be me!
As for spamming.... The first email was introducing AMPdj and the £49 membership which includes 10m PLI and extra client enquiries plus other benefits.....mmmmmm..... most people who received it thought it was really useful....but if you'd rather pay £75 for exactly the same product thats your perogative.

The subsequent emails (NOT LOADS....just 2 a month all with the option to unsubscribe) all had useful info for DJs....not junk or advertising. In fact we have had many emails thanking us for them and an email from someone that wants to publish them! So....on the first email there was a clear button that said 'unsubscribe'.......simples!!!!! End of story! To me spamming is the useless stuff that tries to get you to buy penis enlargers or viagra......not information that could be useful or beneficial to your business.

Sandy,
Spam;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic)

In a nutshell;


I have been online since the early days of FidoNet, then NewsGroups. I certainly know what Spam is.

I suggest that the emails were unsolicited, of commercial nature and sent indiscriminately (ie, no prior business relationship).


I've taken a look at ampdj, and do not think the idea of a DJ search on the verification page is in the best interests of the member.
To me, it looks like a client would click on the verification link on my site, and be taken to site that encourages them to look elsewhere. I'm not sure why this was done, the page is a PLI verification page, NOT a "find a dj" site.

With the DJ@ verification, no other DJ's are mentioned on the verification page. That is important to me (perhaps I'm alone in not wanting clients to find ways to contact local competitors?).


I'm not here to slate ampdj, and certainly didn't know anyone here was associated with it. Its important that there are options for all this kind of thing - it keeps everyone on their toes!

I do have a very strict anti-spam policy, and never deal with companies that use those methods to promote their business. For that reason, I'd never consider ampdj or any other organisation related to it.

You say you received loads of emails..........why didn't you just unsubscribe if you weren't interested?



When the system went live we only had that site. Now we have two other sites that are purely dedicated to DJs and not clients, the links are directed there for verification....so problem solved!!!!! An example is here http://www.mobiledj.info/


No problem. Luckily most people were really pleased to find out about it either from the emails, the postcards and link in pro mobile and their local DJ shops. We have also had a lot of people referred to us by their friends in the industry. Do you still receive the mobiledj.info newsletters?

Benny; I do understand what you are saying about spam, however, there is certain spam that I personally am pleased to get. I run my own mobile disco as I assume you do...as such we are business people and as far as I am concerned I do need to find out about things relating to my business...therefore I was pleased to receive info from AMPDJ...in fact I would have been pretty pizzed if I never got an email about it. I get regular emails from various concerns relating to my business, most of them are unsolicited and could be termed spam, however, I read them and sometimes I take advantage of things offered to me. I also get lots of emails non-relevant to my business or lifestyle but I'm a big boy and can cope with that so I just smile to myself and delete them. i.e. today I have had one about perfume, one about a false university degree and one telling me what wine Jamie Oliver is drinking at the moment.

You talk about the DJ@ PLI deal...Oh my where should I start? (IMG:http://www.discocity.co.uk/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Maybe I should leave it and let you continue to think you have a good deal though...But, if we just think about pricing maybe you think that a 50% price increase from one year to the next is fair...In fact at one point WDJA members were offered the DJ@ deal for £39 whilst everyone else paid at least £49, now there is at least a 4 tear pricing structure...if you can call it a structure, firstly you have mates that get it for free, then there are students that get it for £40 odd, then there are those that get it for £62 and others that pay £70 odd.

How about a forum that is supposed to be a knowledge base for mobile DJs that won't allow any mention of certain large and well established reputable DJ bodies?

Benny, you say about unprofessionalism, but I think what Andy has pointed out about DJ@ having a varying pricing 'structure' based on if your face fits is very unprofessional and unfair on those that pay full price.

To get a good PLI policy AND enquiries....most people have recognised that AMPdj has an unbeatable deal. And yes....there are the sceptics that have said its too good to be true.....investigated it thoroughly including the policy....then come back and joined us!

Benny, you say about unprofessionalism, but I think what Andy has pointed out about DJ@ having a varying pricing 'structure' based on if your face fits is very unprofessional and unfair on those that pay full price.

To get a good PLI policy AND enquiries....most people have recognised that AMPdj has an unbeatable deal. And yes....there are the sceptics that have said its too good to be true.....investigated it thoroughly including the policy....then come back and joined us!

Sandy & Andy - I don't really want this to turn into an association bashing thread.

I didn't realise you are both part of ampdj - my gripe was with spam from mobiledj.info and a small part of my original post.


Andy, I'll educate you on the rules behind Spam in the UK, it sounds like you're not aware of the facts;
Most web hosts and ISP's have an acceptable use policy, and sending unsolicited email is normally part it of this.
Companies that break these rules either don't read the terms of their hosting, or are happy to ignore it - either way, they are not the companies I do business with.
This is not about being a "big boy", this is about a company that last year abused their suppliers T&C.
Spam is a big problem, and if it can be tackled, I prefer to spend a few mins dealing with it.

I suggest a read of the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) pages on Spam;
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/topic...pam_emails.aspx

I also get the normal Viagra/Drugs etc Spam each day. Most are blocked by my spam filters, and the remainder are simply deleted. My email client blocks remote images, and cleans any html emails- so any web beacons are removed.
If I get a UK company sending spam, I normally report them to their web host and cc them- so they know they have been reported.

I never trust "unsubscribe" links, as this will normally result in an increase of spam.


I am not privy to behind the scenes agreements between DJ@ and WDJA- I can only assume this was based on the mutual benefit of higher membership of DJ@, and higher exposure for WDJA. I'm not that interested in private deals.
It sounds like things have settled down - ampdj, DJ@ offer identical polices with ampdj being the cheaper with different benefits.

Compared to DJ Guard, MU and others, the dj@ policy still a good deal for me personally. If mobiledj.info had used legitimate marketing efforts (forum advertising/affiliation, SEO, word of mouth and banners on dj sites etc) then I would have chosen them.

Please remember, I'm not complaining about ampdj - I've not seen any spam from them.


Peace and Love!
Benny

An email saying 'please remove me from your mailing list' works just as well!! Or a phone call. All our emails have a landline number so people get in direct contact with us. Pah....we make it far too easy!

Benny; I'm not really bothered about the law or polite practices, I expect on that count you are correct. My point is that certain 'spam' is useful, does it really matter where a company got your details or how they approach you?...to me it shows initiative and cheek but I reckon a bit of cheek never hurt anyone. To refuse to deal with someone because they contacted you in this way is like cutting off your nose to spite your face...Your loss.

Anyone going to the SEDA show on Sunday?

I'm thinking about going (weather and workload permitting)...

Yes...definitely going....all booked into the hotel for an overnight stay too. Look forward to meeting you Benny.

To be perfectly honest I am a bit pizzed off that I have to do a staff party for a hotel that I do lots of work for throughout the year on Sunday night or I would be there. Although I have chatted to Paul F and Ian & Tracey F loads I have not yet met either of them. Me and a local DJ mate have already decided to share fuel costs and go to the March one though. As well as there being a few folk that I want to meet the SEDA Show Nights do sound really good events and well worth attending.