A small poll about the VJ marketplace in your city!

[BrainStove]

Due some comments on the chat a few days ago about the VJCentral forum community, with VJ members from almost all of the 5 continents but clearly with a 95% or more coming from USA & Europe, I was wondering the reason of that and although I know there are a zillion of factors for these results, I want to focus on this fact:
1.- Maybe there are thousands of expert and experienced VJs from Central & South America, Asia even Africa who are not members of VJCentral... some reasons among others could be the awareness of the VJCentral site existence and the knowledge of the English language, but probably it is more a matter of your credence and confidence if you could be considered or not a VJ, due to the very limited marketplace demand in your city/country, that is indeed what I want to make the poll about.

Obviously should be hard to earn a live only as a VJ (opposite as a DJ), but maybe it could be our fault marketing our product and our services only to the more limited market of Rave promoters/producers and some vanguard open mind club owners, because as you know the music and the DJ is the main product here getting the BIG MONEY, so you can even make a great business arranging a party without any visuals at all, but without music or DJs there is no party... therefore I would like to know how many of you are getting VJ contracts from others sources like Advertising Agencys, Fashion Events & Parades, New products promotions, Fairs & Expositions, Etc.

The questions are as follow:
1) City and country where you live?
2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
8) How many events have you worked for free?
9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

Well pals, I hope this poll doesn?t mean so much invasion to your privacy, but I?m sure that of the similar or different reality exposed from our comments, it will be very useful and helpful to make some wise decisions in order to get closer to earn a live only as a good VJ. :nod:

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by BrainStove
1.- Maybe there are thousands of expert and experienced VJs from Central & South America, Asia even Africa who are not members of VJCentral...
WHAT ABOUT AUSTRALIA?!?!?!


1) City and country where you live?

Sydney, Australia

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

Enough

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?

Per hour

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?

No.... do I look like a roadie to you.

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)

I do club gigs (80%), raves/festivals (20%), and various parties mainly with international DJs when they are in sydney and also hold a couple of small low key residencies @ small club nights. I VERY occationally do custom tapes for bars that have no facility or clientel for a live VJ

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?

90% of my shows are in sydney but I have worked in brisbane and melbourne as well and a few places in between, looking @ branching OS very soon, planning tours to NZ and southeast asia.

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?

HUH???

8) How many events have you worked for free?

I normally do 3-4 benefit parties a year depending on the promoter and the worthiness of the cuase involved.

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

Currently 100% towards the end of the night on the night, but moving to a 50% before and 50% after arrangement soon

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

Definately, but I think we should be pushing for recognition of the actual skills in mixing and material production. If you want to be treated like an artist/DJ you have to start acting like one. Which mean putting on a good performance both skills/content wise but also performance and crowd skills. If you want to be treated like the lighting guy and be party of the production team then sit up the back in a dark corner and tweek knobs. SIMPLE

[ristuuk]

you shouldn't really have a pop at roadies and lighting guys.
Theres alot of programming in a large show nowadays and top l.d's are well respected as well as earn an absolute fortune.
As for 'roadies ', shows dont happen with out them.
On any club cut backs / budget problems for events, its the visuals first to get the chop , never the sound or lights.

[MoRpH]

I wasn't having a go @ them..... they are essential to the night and I have many friends that do it for living, I was talking about it from more of a public profile perpective.

[ristuuk]

Go on ...Tell me the luma key hack for the mx12!!

[wellREDman]

i'm sure morph is aware how unwise it is to upset anyone with the combinations of technical knowledge ,evil sense of humour and lack of respect for pretentious artists to be found in your average roadie:p

1) City and country where you live?
Brighton uk
2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
same as morph
3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
per event
4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
yes
5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
clubs 70%
corporate shindigs10%
rave's 20%
6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
mostly brighton some london, just one international so far
7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
please explain the question
8) How many events have you worked for free?
will always support any good cause other commitments allowing
9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
50/50 stipulated in contract tho some of our regulars we dont bother to chase for upfront
10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
please god yes

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by ristuuk
Go on ...Tell me the luma key hack for the mx12!!

All in good time young padwan...... :p

I think there should be some documentation for it very soon.

MoRpH

PS. Damn straight RED

[warpTV]

1) City and country where you live?
New zealand
2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
never enough
3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
event based
4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
no
5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
5% other
65 % club
30% rave
6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
60% city
40%country
7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
plese explain -
8) How many events have you worked for free?
too many
9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
as often as possible 50% in advance
10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
no - definitely better but most VJs are artists - not ego maniacs.....:D

[unjulation]

1) Leeds U.K.

2) I'll go with warp on this one

3) for the whole gig

4) seeing as i have to hire one (without the hire company screwing me) yes. Mind if i owend one I'd still charge it as part of my price but it would give me more flexability with price

5) Rave 80%
club 10%
outher 10%

6) home town 80%
out of town 20%

7) ?

8) 1 is to meny and 1000 will never be enougth

9) 100% at the end of the gig (maybe i'm to trusting)

10) still makeing my mind up personely i'd love to be rich and fameos but i also understand that that as an artist it's not the mony that drew me to this in the first place

[vjpixylight]

1) City and country where you live?
colorado springs/Victor, Colorado USa

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
I alway never get what I should..

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
...event but would prefer hourly..

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
I usually supply most everything related to the visualz..

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
80% event/festival/rave
20% club/coffee shop

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
for the events/raves(hate the werd), mostly around front range of Colorado.. and a few gigs in N.Mexico, and around europe when I can...

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
how good am I in getting contracts?? well I have been able to get some good international gigs...lousy at finding the local gigs.. More of a clickish attitude with the CO promoters...

8) How many events have you worked for free?
this should be, how often do you get screwed from the promoter? but I do EarthDances for free...

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
well I usually try to get 50% down, but if I insisted on that, I wouldn't be getting manty gigs around here...

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

shit, I think we deserve more.. how hard is it to mix vinyl for a couple of hours anyway.. unfortunatly the visualz need the music, but the music can stand on it's own... maybe best to do both in one neat and tity package..

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by vjpixylight
maybe best to do both in one neat and tity package..

http://lusciouslatins.com/latina/posts/0570lttgp5.jpg --- TITy package hehehehe :p

[BrainStove]

Regarding the 7th question, let me see if I can do it well...:alien:
7) Do you have so much competence with other good VJs where you live that makes it hard to get well paid VJ contracts?
With competence I mean "VJ shared market, Rival VJs, etc."

About the MoRpH complaint!!! well Hehehe, excuse me all of you guys from Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, etc.), but due in your countrys the official language is English I didn?t included it because I wanted to focus on those continents where the language is potentially other than English.
As you can see never was my intention to discriminate Oceania regarding the thousands of experts & experienced VJs... So MoRpH :p (Cheers!!!)
I would like to hear real figures in USD$ about your fees/List price, because I think it will be really helpful to the VJs from our less fortunate countrys (I mean the main continents I mentioned in my previous post)
If you think it will be so much info for your VJs fellow rivals... then it is up to you :nod:
Look forward when I answer the same questions soon! :yep:

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by BrainStove
Regarding the 7th question, let me see if I can do it well...:alien:
7) Do you have so much competence with other good VJs where you live that makes it hard to get well paid VJ contracts?
With competence I mean "VJ shared market, Rival VJs, etc."

Hmmm I think you mean competition...... not competence :)

Yeah there is quite a bit of competion here in sydney but its about building good relationships with promoters and letting you excellent work speak for itself :) persoanlly never had a promoter see one of my shows and then say "no we don't want you", had a little constructive critism here and there but its all good :)

Also its far better if all the VJs work on the same side to promote the art rather than undercutting and slagging each others work... sydney is very co-operative like that as quite a few of us are very good friends and work on an numbr of projects together.... :)

About the MoRpH complaint!!! well Hehehe, excuse me all of you guys from Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, etc.), but due in your countrys the official language is English I didn?t included it because I wanted to focus on those continents where the language is potentially other than English.
As you can see never was my intention to discriminate Oceania regarding the thousands of experts & experienced VJs... So MoRpH :p (Cheers!!!)

No probs mate... just letting you know we're here :D

[unjulation]

7) Hear in leeds a lot of the nights are created by groups of frainds so if there is a visual artist as part of that group then thats who they will use so you wont get gig's from them unless you can ofer somthing they carn't.

[labmeta]

1) City and country where you live?

Plymouth, england.

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

adequate to pay the rent. Does anyone want to answer this question?

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?

Always a package fee, never hourly.

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?

Yes. Screens, lcds, slides and projectors, etc etc etc.

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)

Most of my stuff is contracted from club promoters, odd nights or the occasional residency. But i`ve had the odd gallery commission and entertainments for art exhibition launch parties or closing nights. Probaly 90 % club work.

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?

Everyone i work for is based in my home city. Although they promote across the county of devon. I`ve had a few jobs around the country but they have been from plymouth people who have migrated.

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?

??????

8) How many events have you worked for free?

Too many. Promoters who become friends can be very persuasive.


9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

Always at the end of the event. Though id like to see that change. But i try to make a point of only working with those that have proved their trust.

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

Yes. Thinks are moving forward and when the av set becomes widespread what do want a dj for when you can have a vj-dj.

[unjulation]

as for the mony thing idealy i would like a minamum wage of about ?250 for a night and for that i would provide projectors screens and expensiss but geting that out of a club/rave reminds me of blood and stones.
this would give enough mony to pay the rent etc

[BrainStove]

1) City and country where you live?
Margarita Island/Venezuela/South America

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
$50,00 USD per Hour (4 hrs. minimum per contract "other than Raves"), you know to be worth the annoyance to moving up all the kettles.

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
Hourly based, although in the case of the Raves usually per Event but even so hourly rated (anyway the promoters here hardly are ready to pay $500,00 for a 10 hours VJ session)

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
NO! Promoters responsability on that (Please no more worry to me!)

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
85% Rave/Festivals
10% Clubs/Discos* (See the additional notes on my next post)
05% Corporate/Fairs/Expositions

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
30% Local city, 70% mainly on the capital Caracas and the neighborhoods that is where the open sky Raves really happen.

7) How much competition (Price/Quality) from rivals VJs have you in your city that makes it hard to get good and well paid VJ contracts? (My 3th question option... Better???) you could answer also the interesting Pixy interpretation of my previous bad constructed question!
There are barely 6 good VJs here all over the country getting all of the VJ jobs around, being me the more expensive but maybe the most popular (perhaps because no one do what I do or can do what I can do)

8) How many events have you worked for free?
Because until now every Rave/Event/Party around here looking for VJs are produced only by greedy, money hungry, grocer like promoters... so none good cause none free work at the moment. (See also the Pixy answer to this question)

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
50/50 all the time... No chance to the promoters stiffing further your completely destroyed neck, shoulders and back again, no way!

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
(See the additional notes on my next post)... At the moment I have to stand with the ever insuperable image post MoRpH opinion about the TITy package. :D

[BrainStove]

1) Clubs/Discos*
Since here in Vzla the existence of private clubs & discos with a true underground feeling (Music, People & Attitude) are very scarce and very often established over small places (400/600 persons Max.) probably as a direct space heritage from those old 60s/70s clubs where the couples used to be dancing embraced those legendary slow rock ballads like LedZep/Stairs to Heaven and Neil Young/Down by the river songs. :cool:

Therefore all of them are not big/high enough to put the Projectors/Screens stuff in a proper and comfortable way to avoid the people reflection shadows... this fact impose a lot of restrictions to be regularly hired as a VJ on such marketplace.
However a few times I did some crazy partys on that small places, using the projector/VJsetup as a sort of lighting effect, projecting the images over the people bodys and be able to immerse to everyone on a total inner madness watching each other their fast changing drawed faces. :jump2:

On the other hand the really useful and new Big places around; usually are owned by a bunch of PinHeads yuppies, filled up with their respectives PinHeads asiduous customers, their lame music and their damm habit to grant the entry only to those necktied pompous people who are ready to spend on a Champagne, Whiskey, Vodka, Tequila, whatever whole bottle basis.

So it doesn?t matter they could earn a fortune by night selling a 10 tons of cans of RedBull, Cyclon, Beer or just plastic bottles of water on behalf of the remarkable more loyal underground people, but even so they always prefer the yuppies ones, due to the limits of their narrow and obtuse point of view as well as their tight ass attitude and discriminative behaviour. :grrr:

[MoRpH]

Well Brain, after a rant like that mate you'd better hope none of those promoters ever check this site :)

Glad to see you got it out anyway........ maybe one day in the not to distant future I can come jam with you as I'm planning on passing through your part of the world either mid 2003 or early 2004.

[BrainStove]

2) About my 10th question*
WOW! what a quite interesting opinions on this one... well I would like to express my point of view only based in your answers.

a.- Pixy/Warp answer: Totally agree with you pals, but about to become a sort of hybrid DJ/VJ combo neat & "tity" package...
I do man, I?m one of that weird creatures trying to be the Orchestra Man due to my perfectionist and demanding way to do the things, but it is a real and unavoidable paradox too.

There is no way to fulfill a good performance doing both at the same time and simultaneously (You know why), the only way to built such neat & tighty<--Hey Pixy-< package (Look at me correcting the other people english!) :D... is to arrange a partnership with another so damm good hybrid DJ/VJ of your confidence and alternate the roles all night long.

So only 50% of the tiny earnings to each one...?!?! Hmmm maybe a million dollars to each one if you can be able to create such DJ/VJ team a la Chemical Bros way but hybrid. (Who knows)

At last and the hard part of the paradox is this:
I?m currently getting more contracts as DJ than VJ, aside of my large activity as a versatile hobbyst DJ & Electronic musician (I said versatile because I could mix every style of music continuously 3 days in a row ranging from Swing, Jive, BeBop, Boogie, Zydeco, Funk, Rumble Tumble Rock, Rock & Roll, Mambo, Pachanga, Watusi, Boogaloo, ChaChaCha, Guaguanco, Brave Salsa, Cuban Son, Techno, Trance, Jungle, D&B, AcidJazz, Etc. keeping all the people dancing and jumping on their G-spots and make all the party myself alone (I already did it not so much time ago), obviously my 12000 50s/60s/70s LP record collection and my knowledge on that music styles helping me out a little, but the real issue here is as follow:

I?m too old right now to struggle with all of these pretty face ego maniacs DJs teenagers (...as Warp wisely said) new on the scene looking for contracts (thousands in fact), but when I get hired for DJing I get easy $200 usd for a 2 hours set and only had to bring with me a CD holder with 10 CDs.

At this point, it may be very tempting to give away all of your VJstuff to your dearest nephew and stand only as a DJ (I?m afraid the neat/tighty package could be a real Utopia) :(

b.- All of the other VJs answers so far: Creativity/Artistry/Recognition...
Well from this point of view, I think that is exactly the reason we are into and getting more involved on VJing right now, in my personal case because I?m sure I?m using only the left side of my brain, could be also for the technical challenge to do it and obviously the personal satisfaction we all share about our creations.

But sadly after all of this Long/Bored/Abusive (I hope helpful) post, if I have to answer to my own question with the most honest/shorter opinion... it could be a simply "NO"

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by BrainStove
the only way to built such neat & tighty<--Hey Pixy-< package (Look at me correcting the other people english!) :D...

That would be neat & tidy :D

[warpTV]

morph - where's your picture for the

"neat and tighty" correction.....


:D :D :D :D :D :D

[MoRpH]

hahahahaa I'm not touching that one :p

[InsideUsAll]

1) City and country where you live?

Reading UK

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

About half what I should do

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?

Per Event

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?

Yep

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)

30% Un Licensed
70% Pucka

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?

All over the place, not got out to Europe yet tho

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?

competition is getting bigger and better, but its still a pretty close nit community.

8) How many events have you worked for free?

too many, but I always try and make freebies the ones that I don't consider to be work

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

100% once the jobs done, can't seem to change that very often

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

hmm, hopefully. I can give up my day job then!

They are two pretty different disceplines often undertook by quite different people, maybe we shouldn't compare ourselves with DJ's. Maybe we should just ask when will we be recognized for the significance and impact our work can have on a croud. That understanding is what we should be encouraging.

[BrainStove]

Originally posted by visualnaut
2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

adequate to pay the rent. Does anyone want to answer this question?

http://vj-brainstove.0catch.com/Pictures/Family.jpg

From which one of the guys above are you afraid about????

Come on pals... as I said before that info could be very useful/helpful to everyone, specially to those who live in less fortunate countries with a minor VJsCulture/Marketplace. :yep:

[MoRpH]

Sorry mate but if ppl don't want to answer this they don't have to, and putting on more pressure won't achive anything. And I think your wrong saying it will help ppl in other marketplaces. I'm sorry but ALL VJ market places @ the momment are minor, none of us are getting the money that we want, but some of us are getting just enough, leave it @ that. All prices are relative to your local market so I don't think this is relevant unless you are touring in which case you should directly contact ppl in that area and find out about rates so you don't come in and undercut locals.

[eXhale]

LOL brain, this is a funny image :jump2:

I didn't answer because I'm still rather new to the scene and I can't really answer half of the questions... maybe later I'll come back here and answer :) Regarding the price, it's usually illegal to talk about it, because it's considered "price fixing" (anti-competitive). I heard rumors that a web developement message board had to be shut down temporarily a while ago because of this. However I don't really think the site is big enough to bring us troubles so I don't mind if some of you want to talk about it.

[wellREDman]

are you saying that if we as a community got together online and
agreed a standard minimum fee then some big brother agency would come along and shut down this site?

[Amukidi]

1) City and country where you live?
Ipswich, Suffolk UK.
2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
Tricky one! As a long serving (25 years) visual artist, I have to say whatever you get is not enough (unless you've been on TV!!). So, you've got to try and get what you can - usually about ?40-50 an hour. Having said this, I will happily VJ for free if the circumstances are right (i.e for MY own satisfaction/pleasure, Charity, mates etc). My overheads are very low (Laptop, "Flash" software, scanny and 4-way extension lead) plus the fact that this is my first year as a VJ, so some "Loss leaders" can pay great dividends later!
3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
Depends on the circumstances - different situations demand a different approach, but if you go for a package, then you WILL end up on less per hour - I just did a 4 day music, comedy and Arts festival in London, for which I was paid a reasonably generous flat fee, but I ended up doing a LOT of work, however, I know that they will ask me back PLUS a large number of people saw my stuff and I made many new contacts.
4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
No way! After afew years of lugging a Wurlitzer electric piano around I was determined to keep my operation simple - if it doesn't fit in my ruck-sack, I don't take it! How many DJs take dex, PA, mixers etc to gigs? None - we need to train promoters, club owners that this sort of kit should be installed in the venue by default - this way they will attract more artists, and less tech-heads!
5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
Mostly clubs/ events, but this year I am doing both Big Chill festivals which, I suspect, will contribute a fair percentage of this years work/earnings.
6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
VJing in Ipswich???? Ha Ha - no, I have to travel 1.5 hrs on the big iron horse to London Village for most of my gigs (get expenses tho! ;-)
7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
Don't understand the question.
8) How many events have you worked for free?
See question 3. If I fancy doing the job, I'll do it, always get my travel expenses and a few free beers, couple this with a cracking party and money is the last thing on my mind. Will do as much serious charity work that comes my way - putting something back and all that! Also remember the "loss leader" priciple......when I was a working painter (oxymoron??;-)) I gave/lent work around which meant it was visible in many diverse houses. This led to loads of commission work.
9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
Never asked for it up front - I'm lucky that the folks I work with are serious and professional, I have an un-official agent who gets me most of my gigs and she handles this side mostly
10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
Oh yes! Our day will come, but only if we continue to have the right attitude and self-confidence (not to be confused with militant attitude!!). We must remember that a good DJ feeds his/her audience with a clever blend of favourites and NEW material, we, as VJs must follow suit if this is to happen - as I believe Morph stated in another thread, constant regurgitation of Godfrey Regio movie clips and Fractals is no better than a DJ playing chart music every week. Go figure!

[eXhale]

Originally posted by wellREDman
are you saying that if we as a community got together online and
agreed a standard minimum fee then some big brother agency would come along and shut down this site?
Yeah pretty much :rolleyes: At least that's the law in the US and since my server is located in the US, I *think* that it applies to this website (I guess other countries have similar laws too...). As I said, I don't think we have too much to worry at the moment but if the site becomes really big, then I might have to set this rule to avoid troubles...

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by jaffa808
as I believe Morp stated in another thread, constant regurgitation of Godfrey Regio movie clips and Fractals is no better than a DJ playing chart music every week. Go figure!

WOOHOOOO!!! I'm glad someone out there is listening :) and taking it on board rather than whining (see the organic art thread).... cheers Jaffa :)

And BTW its MoRpH not Morp :p

[Amukidi]

Sorry 'bout that MoRpH, 'tis been corrected (albeit without upper and lower case - can't have averything ;-). Its so true though - ownership of a video recorder / camcorder does not a VJ make! Its the bit of kit between our ears that counts.

[Amukidi]

Christ, my spillings rarely gaing down teh tbues!

[many2]

1) City and country where you live?
Montreal, Canada

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
I'd say about 10% of my work real value. 50$ canadian (like 30$US) an hour when I'm performing, but since I will have worked 10 hours beforehand for 1 hour of show content, that gives you an idea. It's really hard to get even 50$ an hour when I'm doing whole nights (8-10 hours) though...

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
most of the time it's based on hourly prices but it is finally cut down as a deal for the whole event.

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
No never I never will. I hate setuping screens and projectors, that's not my job. When is the last time you saw a DJ having to come to a club with his sound system ? I do bring one or two computers, VCRS, mixers, camera, etc. and I wish one day I'll be able to bring just one pice of hardware as bringing, setuping, and packing all this stuff is another thing I hate about being a VJ. Maybe my soon to be delivered Hippotizer (www.hippotizer.com) will be the answer !

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
Raves 10%
Afterhour Clubs 90%
Raves have become so sketchy in the Montreal Scene that they don't have money for VJs anymore, or that's what they'll tell you at the end of the night... And most big commercial rave events here will just hire the person who's renting the projectors and screens, and most of the time this is not even close to what I would call VJing. I used to mix at raves almost exclusively in the past.

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
Most of my contracts are in Montreal, but I did 2 raves last year in Quebec City (3 hours from Montreal).

7) How much competition you have for good VJ contracts?
Getting contracts in Montreal is much more related to good PR than to good VJing skills. I do have a lot of competition PR-wise, but I don't know a lot of VJs here who are even near my skill level if we are talking about visuals. I'll definitely have to hire a PR-person like an agent to book me in the future or I could be hijacked by some no-talent VJ with good PR-skills or well-placed friends...

8) How many events have you worked for free?
none, work is never free. I'd rather be having fun on the dancefloor and pay 25$ than work all night for free while some promoters are filling their pockets.

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
Almost all the time it's at the end of the event. If the promotor is sketchy or something I would ask for 50/50.

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
I don't see this coming yet, it will take at least 5 years before that even comes close to DJ status. For most people we aren't even entertainers, we are just technicians twiddling with knobs and buttons to make the things work. We need superstar VJs first, then we have to convince promoters that we have as much potential as this superstar VJ, and then, maybe, some of us will be able to have access to the real money. Where is electronic music going to be when that happens is another unanswered question. If you are VJing and expect to get rich (or even to make a living) out of it, you are on the wrong side of the fence. There are so many things to do before adding a VJ name on a flyer is going to bring as much people to an event as writing "Sasha", "Paul Oakenfold" or whatever big DJ name on the same flyer. There is no magic, promoters aren't paying because your stuff is good, it's only because you are bringing customers.

VJ Many-2

[BrainStove]

Very honest post many2 :yep:

I really share your thoughts and like your opinions, aside this; I?m pretty surprised also to see our status as a VJs regarding the earning money thing is so similar everywhere even on the countries supposely to be more advanced and richer than mine :confused:

Dont get jelaous the rest of my dear VJs pals :D ... but the wild honesty of many2 touch me a little... Sniff... :rolleyes:

[konsumgrafik]

I agree with you, brain. Here are my answers.
The Crew I work for is called Stilice, Konsumgrafik is just our try to build up a booking agency/Label.

1) City and country where you live?
Magdeburg/Leipzig/Germany

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
200 EUR - 600 EUR

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
Eventbased

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
No, but we can rent for a good price.

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
no average, it really depends on the season. and 50% we?ll rock our Residence -> Prinzzclub?

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
Hope to have good competence for this.

8) How many events have you worked for free?
not that much. One this year.

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
Always 50/50.

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
We are working on it.

[BrainStove]

This time you have a point, a interesting one and I totally agree with you *****... Me as a Tech Researcher & Consultant person could to anticipate this sad scenary long time ago and also it was the reason I posted the 2 additional notes posts in my reply to this thread in order to clear out further my hunch.

In fact maybe it was the main goal to make the whole poll about, looking for matching feelings about the VJ near future.

Besides of that I couldn?t stop to laugh myself for a while about the "The most competitive bunch of bastards in the world" ***** remarks, regarding our closer next VJ competition (an awful truth), but funny and sad at the same time, because we all are witness of that crazy egomaniac competitive DJs behaviour and even worst if they could be putting their noses in our work field too.

So my dear VJs pals, we all must to hurry up to show and educate our audience and the people in general about what an authentic VJ is and make the difference to get apart avoiding to be taken by mistake in that creepy future scenary of the next DVD-DJs generation.

[fluchtpunkt]

1) City and country where you live?

zurich, switzerland

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

varies from nothing to 'just about enough' (i.e. a little more than the pay i'd get for the same hours of work -preparation & gig- as a waiter)
i insist on getting at least as much as a dj, though (not the big names, of course) which works out fine.

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?

event based

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?

no, but all the other equipment.
am looking forward to having a video-beam of my own though (additional flexibility, i like to know my hardware(&software) cause i like to abuse it)

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other

Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
clubs 70%
lounge 20%
other 10% (fashion shows, readings, theatre...)

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your
country or International?

zurich 80%
switzerland & just across the border 20%

7) How much competition you have for good VJ contracts?

not enough

8) How many events have you worked for free?

at first most of my gigs, now (3 to 4 years later) i occasionally do small stuff for friends every couple of months. depends on the event, my mood and how many other bookings i got.

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

100% after

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

no, i think sometime forward vj'ing will not be compared with dj'ing anymore but be respected as its own 'thing' (btl: i believe that's the only way to go).
...
to those of you who appear to be afraid of future tecnologies and 'phony' vjs that might evolve: i don't undersand your fears. first & most important of all skill&imagination will always be more important than the toys you have to play with. besides, i consider (and many 'normal' people i know (i.e. not vjs) feel that way too) a party with crappy viz worse than one without any at all; but good viz at a party can really push a crowd and get them yellin(that's what we're here for isn't it?) in a way a dj alone could NOT! and then people are getting more & more accostumed to having viz at parties & are starting to expect good viz at a good party (at least that's the direction things are going in my town)... and yes! a party with (good) viz will draw a bigger crowd, or at least they'll stay longer... . a smart promoter should realize all this. now of course corporate clubs/raves will give the crowd their opium - but always the cheapest opium possible i guess... and that's where your cd-dvd jockeys come into play. they're only (tryin to) cash in on the past (a few years ago viz at such places were snowboardvideos etc). so if money is your primary concern, become a cd-dvd'j (though i doubt success will be yours in the long run) & a good pr agent of yourself & a good businessman (which leaves the question why you aren't working for a bank or insurance company where you'd earn even more). if you want to (try to) shape the future of vj'ing (whatever that means to you), i guess money will have to come in second (or third...) place - unless you win the lottery & become a superstar & earn a million. i'm sorry if i piss of some of you - i too dream of one day being able to pay my rent with vj'ing (though it's still a long way), but most importantly i want to contribute to a good party & mix the best viz i can.
my point is: if there's more sellout with viz going on it's probably due to the greater demand for them. and that's good for all of us, and that's to the credit of those who have been doing viz the last years or decades!

rock on my fellas

[phluxm]

With pleasure my friend...

The questions are as follow:
1) City and country where you live?
Birmingham, UK

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
Sweet FA (nothing)

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
I should be so lucky (lucky, lucky, lucky)

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
I loan them for free or some other unfortunate organiser does..

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
Whats a contract..?

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
never had one.

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
???

8) How many events have you worked for free?
all of them

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
never been paid [weeping offstage left]

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
Your damn right we should get DJs privalages!! We fight for what we do, against the grain! I'm a DJ aswell and DJing is an absolute breeze compared to the stuggle, trauma and effort of VJing: and worst of all the appreciation level is far lower. DJs are Easy.

[eXhale]

I'm seeing your point, ***** & BrainStove, the DJs are really competitive and at the moment they could easily "replace" the VJ. DVDs/VCDs for DJs don't exist yet but, on the other hand, I've seen several live musicians creating their own visuals, which are of course boring and repetitive since they can't do everything on their own.

While it's possible to prevent this to happen by "taking over" your local scene (;)), mastering PR and providing a complete visuals "solution" to promoters, I think that to create really good visuals, to focus on the content, is an equally good tactic. The goal would be to create a name of yourself, so that people and promoters remember you and ask you. There is only a small percentage of VJs who have this status.

Of course the best is to do both, but most likely this will be done by associating with a manager, a label, a production company or a collective (if you aren't too interested in the content, maybe this is what you should head to, *****.)

[vjrei]

1) City and country where you live?

R: Caracas, Venezuela :nod:

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

R: Around $100 now because I'm cretting my name around and I need to be every where. I'm the only official VJ in Caracas (the rest are production houses that offer the service but as visuals not VJ them it self).

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?

R: Per party and taking care of the hours too. I like the party but the money is in the pre-production and from the sponsors directly (not the party producer).
For party I may charge $500+ but from the sponsor (creatting a DVD with 20 minutes of visuals) about $10.000.

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?

R: No, only my computers and my videonics MX-Pro mixer, I rent the projectors appart, too expensive and not enough clients. So, usually I would need about 3 + proyectors, so why getting just one?

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)

R: Clubs, no (industry is in dipers).
Events yes, big bucks there. Companies like Luckystrike, Marlboro, etc are cretting big parties (3000 people), there are the $$$.

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?

R: Locally all of them, very soon in other cities and probably Miami next year.

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?

R: Nasty competence, the companies that owns the proyectors offer visuals services at not cost, the usually drom a Underworld and Moby DVD. That is so bad for me. I'm working my way around.

8) How many events have you worked for free?

R: One for 3 hours, no too much work, jut one powerbook connected to one proyector and that was it. If I work for free I do it for 1 or 2 hours with a very siple stuff, if I do it very often the people are going to abuse with everybody else.

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

R: 50/50 when there is a pre-production, 100% by the end of the party or the same week if is only performance.

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

R: Yes, not as many because we travel with more than only CD's and we are part of the party atmophere while the DJ are the party. But VJ it is taking place because parties and events are envolving.

Very good thread.:)

[katascope]

1) City and country where you live?

Huntsville, AL - USA

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?

Friends(just to cover costs)
Large/Unknowns - base, hotel room, and $500 per projector

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?

Event - hours are totally unpredictable

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?

Yes, but that's negotiable - gotta be modular

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)

Mostly raves, few clubs(smaller clubs don't like to dish the dough), some concerts.

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?

10% city, 90% across country

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?

They pay half before, half after - I provide the projections. If I believe they will screw me I pass on the job.

8) How many events have you worked for free?

back in the day? a lot.

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

Depends on if the promoter wishes:
Advance - Sure, I'll take it.
50/50 - A balanced working arrangement.
End - I make sure they have the money before I start, even if I don't get it then - none of this "we'll pay you from door sales"

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

No. Perhaps a VDJ, but people expect music from their stars, VJ's don't usually provide sound. VJ'ing is really a niche market. You want status/ego/groupies - DJ, don't VJ.


The hardest part about vj'ing is people's lack of any knowledge of it:

Assuming projectors are cheap ($250 for a night! ohmygod!!)
Assuming it's mostly all alike (if it's trippy it's the right one)
Assuming projectors don't need throw distance.
Assuming putting up a random video ("put some dancing llamas up") is just as easy as putting text up ("say DJ Megamega")
Assuming I want a bunch of drugs.
Assuming I don't want a bunch of drugs.

and don't even get me started on VJ's who use other people's footage.

Personally I believe any VJ doing computer-based visuals should be writing their own software too - so I guess I'm a luddite too.

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by katascope
Personally I believe any VJ doing computer-based visuals should be writing their own software too - so I guess I'm a luddite too. Hmmmm interesting opinion, and I guess that flows on then that hardware based VJs should be designing and building their own mixers??? or is it OK to say build one from a radioshack kit (you know we all wish there was one :p)

[Amukidi]

Yeah, and every writer worth his/her salt should be coding their own word-processing software!! Get real!

[katascope]

You really think hardware or word processors should be self-developed? I totally disagree - which is why I didn't say that.

There are major differences between hardware, text, and visuals(obviously).

In hardware, the original content isn't in the mixer - it's in the video clips - and I *would* say the VJ should be making their own clips, not using other's. Do you respect VJ's who use other people's materials as much as ones who make their own?

Word-processing technologies are already established. Formatting, spell-checking, page breaks are all known technologies. It's the text/story that are important.

Computer generated visuals are(generally) one of three types:
1) Pre-generated - made in maya/3dsmax/etc
2) Real-time generated - geiss/cthugha/etc
3) Transitional - Go from A to B by using a star-wipe

Note that writing your own software that interfaces with pre-existing apps is still writing your own software.

Pre-generated visual software should be self-written to fill in gaps where the programmers didn't foresee VJ related issues (does 3dsmax have a spectrum analyzer?)

Real-time generated visual software should be self-written because they are template based (adjusting the gain so someone else's metaballs move quicker is not the same thing as creation of unique content) - a VJ who uses other's software that way is, imho, not a VJ, but a VVJ - a "virtual visual jockey" - it's the same thing as playing someone else's tapes and chroma-keying it on something else

Transitional software should be self-written so VJ's can make their own wipes - ever seen a "llama wipe"? - it transitions from A to B like a star-wipe, but with each pixel breaking up into a running llama then back - I had to write it myself. Other software might have let me do the same, but then I'm locking myself into that software.

I suppose there are really two types of VJ's.
1) a VJ like a DJ - they mix other people's material
2) a VJ like a band - they make their own material

I'm just arguing that I think VJ's should be like bands - they make their own material, and mix their own material. Sure their is a line of reason (I still use paint shop pro to edit images), but cookie-cutter visuals will, imho, never be as good or useful to the future as self-made visuals. And with computer-generated visuals, most of the content(at least in real-time programs) is in the software, not the configuration - using someone else's software like that isn't creation so much as plagiarism.

Okay, now extrapolate that to something stupid like "well why don't you write your own OS then!" or "every DJ should just quit and we should only have live-performers?"

I still eat fast food, but I know home-cooked is better.

[Amukidi]

I would suggest that this depends on your abilities as a cook! Don't get me wrong - I make all my own clips and IF I could design a better mixer for them than "Flashmixer" then I would....BUT it does the job perfectly, I don't use FX s (bit like Photoshop Filters.. seen 'em all yawn!). I'm not being stupid, just picking up on a rather huge sweeping value judgment like "Personally I believe any VJ doing computer-based visuals should be writing their own software too - "

[PilotX]

just a quick reply to a couple of the questions.

1) Birmingham, UK

7) Presuming this means how do you find contracts - my experience in the UK is that contracts are found through friends initialy, and then through promoters seeing or being told about your visuals and wanting you for their night. Perhaps there is potential for speaking to promoters and/or sending mix tapes to clubs.

10) Yes there is the potential for VJs to become as important to nights as the DJs. In the end, particularly for the big/commercial clubs, decisions about whether to cut the lighting, sound or visuals come down to a decision about whether more lasers, another K or 2 on the soundsystem or a live VJ will attract more people for the money spent. DJs will never be cut out - clubs are primarily about the music, and for the same reason the soundsystem is likely to be prioritised. However, when it gets to the point that people expect a VJ at an event, clubs will have to provide one in order to bring people through the door and make some money.
When this point arrives, promoters will start dropping some lights and lasers, maybe even a big name DJ in favour of live visuals.
As to how this occurs, I think enough has already been said about quality content etc., but remember that a live VJ can create visuals that combine with the music and atmosphere in a way that pre-recorded visuals cannot be guaranteed to do.

[CodyWan]

1) City and country where you live?
Toronto, Canada
2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
$500 - $5000 (depending on the size, rental amount, studio time and amount of productions that we need to put into it)
3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
per studio day (custom/themed content), and event package
4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
if they are not already provided then we can provide them
5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
5% Raves, 85% Clubs, 10% Business
6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
95% in our city, 5% in our country, (hopefully more international to come!)
7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
quite a bit
8) How many events have you worked for free?
a few early on (see business post : the problem with doing shows for free)
9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
on large events or with new clients we ask for half in advance, the rest of the time we invoice after the event
10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
I think that it will never be on par with the DJs but I think that it is a growing industry and that the VJ profile will get bigger

[bluntfaktory]

The questions are as follow:

1) City and country where you live?
Vanouver, BC. Canada

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
Industry standard plus additional studio fee's for preproduction.

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
both

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
always!

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)

RAVES: We use to do a lot of raves but the cost of throwing them is now very high and promoters seem to penny pinch visuals, so we don't do as many now.
5%

CLUBS: Although we've done many residencies over the years as more people started doing visuals it became very cut throat and not very lucrative, so now the only club nights we do are one-offs for specials events and big name dj's.
20%

SPECIAL EVENTS: We've been focusing on alot. Due to their high production quality and industy standard budgets.
Corporate sponsored shows; (Event-Marketing)
Music Festivals; (BC's Shambala)
Circuit and Pride parties; (Whistlers Altitude X)
Tours with performers; (Cross Canada Tour, with Hip Hop's Baby Blue Sound Crew)
Film Industry Installations; (Stark Raving Mad, released soon.)
75%

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
45% local shows
50% out of town
5% International

7) How much competence do you have for good VJ contracts?
Visual contracts- tons
VJ contracts- no one ever seems to know what I'm talking about.

8) How many events have you worked for free?
none, as a company.

9) How often do you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
50/50 on the 50/50.

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
I wish it would be so. But its kind of like comparing apples and oranges. There seems to be no set standard for what a VJ's equipment should consist of unlike a DJ's turntable, records and mixer, partly because of the reluctance of VJ's to set a standard because of a dog eat dog attitude between them that if a standard is set it will somehow level the playing field rather than seperating the regular from the extroadinary to create the superstar VJ. If you want it to be like the DJ world the playing field has to be just as level.

see attached billing formula.
:smurf:

[okot]

1) City and country where you live?
Brisbane Australia

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
enough

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
Event only

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
projectors and screens : that way we know that everything is oing to work. Much better than turning up to an event with a bed sheet as a screen and weak projector

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
Rave and Events. Clubs seem to want something for nothing.

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
90% in the city and surrounding metro areas, 10% interstate

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
There is a lot in our city but most are not very professional. Promoters go with the ones that are most professional and can deliver a good show everytime.

8) How many events have you worked for free?
0

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
Full upfront or at least 50% upfront. It always depends on the promoter. But We always push for some monies upfront, that is the standard in any service business.

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning) Yes.

If a VJ is to be stand alone like a band they should write all there own material as well as their software. A DJ that just mixes records and doesn't write their own music never really gets the level of DJ who is a producer. Likewise VJs should be the same. However in the world of promoters, club owners and the punters, most don't know anything about VJing, Its all just moving pictures to them. Education is necessary for VJs to rise above the lighting Guy role.

[bassy]

1) City and country where you live?
Antwerp - Belgium - Europ

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
?0 (1time: ? 50)

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
whole party

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
exept projector, everything like sreens ans cables comes for free, I don't care about, peolpe do that for us

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other
Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
100% parties (compare high school party)

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
100% own town

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
I don't know about any VJ over here in Antwerp, but it seems that the trendmakers of five years ago are moved to other cities.

8) How many events have you worked for free?
except one, all (10-12 parties)

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance,
50/50 or at the end of the event?
100% before (100% of nothing is nothing,...exept that one time)

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)
I think in a far future, they can. Specially on big events, people see if there aren't video support. In the smaller one, people see more and more Vj's so in the far future, vj's or even important than Dj's

[psychodude]

1) City and country where you live?
Antwerp (D City), Belgium, Europe, Earth, 3rd Rock from the sun....

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
From 300? ( to cover expenses) up to as much as we can get our little greedy fingers on.

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
We go for the package

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
All in (Visuals that is)

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
70% raves, party's, etc.
20% Clubs (although we would like to do that more :) )
5% other

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
I think we actually performed twice in my hometown (D City) but most of the time we're moving our stuff 'cross the country (sound's cool but our country is maybe as big as a small stamp)

7) How much competence you have for good VJ contracts?
In the rave scene virtually none (except for the freak with beamer+winamp who's still doin it for free)
In the Clubs we've performed : some competition

8) How many events have you worked for free?
1 (one) which was actually charity against Cancer, so we've paid for our expeses ourselves (fuel, consumables ;) , tapes, ....)

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?

Never up till now, but a very nice idea :)

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

Well that would in my opinion be wishfull thinking. As we are doing things which are technically a bunch harder that DJ-ing I do not see that happening in the near future.
Although I might seem a bit pessimistic about it, I am working on that road .

[scopi]

1) City and country where you live?
Melbourne, Australia.

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
Enough to employ 2 people full time. Our price varies considerably per gig, but we only average about one gig a month.... so you can imagine for that one gig we are pretty expensive. If we were doing a commercial party or similar our base pricew is around $US500 for a 2 hour show per person. But we rarely do parties.

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
per performance... but we develop custom content for each act we work with so we usually charge them a development fee as well... this encourages the client to think about long term relationships....

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
never

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
%20 touring acts, %20 theartre, %20 the art world, %20 tv associated, %10 corporate, %10 other (very varied)

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
Australia wide, occasionally international

7) How much competition do you have for good VJ contracts?
thats a curly one.... there are a lot of vjs in Australia but not many doing it full time.... we seem to have postioned ourselves well in the market that we want to work in so we get enough work to keep us very busy

8) How many events have you worked for free?
in the last 12 months we have probably worked on about 5 events for free... which equates to maybe %10 of our time

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
we are usually dealing with large reliable organisations..... we usually charge for a development period well before the event (this often makes up for more than half the total fee)

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do? (N? of contracts, Travels, Money earning)

If you want to be treated like a star you have to be the focus of the event.... if all you do is accompany antoher performer you have your task cut out for you....

think laterally ;)

Nick

[WordVirus23]

Originally posted by BrainStove

1) City and country where you live?
Fresno, California, USA

2) Your average service price list as a VJ?
from $50-$200 depending upon gear required

3) Are your fees per Hour or a whole Party/Event package based?
whole event/party

4) Are you supplying also the projectors/screens in your price?
Projectors and home-made screens

5) How many of your contracts comes from Raves, Clubs, Other Events? (Please specify in percents & type of events)
85% - bars & clubs
10% - festivals/gatherings/massives
5% - art exhibits

6) How many of your contracts are in your own city, cross your country or International?
95% local
3% out of town
2% out of state

7) How much _competition_ you have for good VJ contracts?
I'm the only active VJ for about 250 miles, 1 retired, and 1 in the closet that I keep trying to convince to come out and play, but no luck yet.

8) How many events have you worked for free?
No such thing as a "Free Lunch"
house parties are about the only thing I'll do w/o getting paid, but there are always other forms of "payment" ;)

9) How often you collect the money of your fees in advance, 50/50 or at the end of the event?
end of event... I've had nothing but headaches trying to collect 50/50 deals

10) Do you think sometime forward the VJ community could enjoy a similar status like DJs do?
with more focus going towards A/V sets, yes, definitely... I personally won't make the jump, however a 2nd (wo)man might convince me to do an A/V set... too hard/much work alone

[WordVirus23]

Originally posted by katascope

Personally I believe any VJ doing computer-based visuals should be writing their own software too - so I guess I'm a luddite too.

that is ridiculous. if we all spent our hours coding, then no one would get any work done, we'd all have different software (no sharing tips n' tricks) and 95% of our softwares would suck and crash more than it ran. I think anyone VJing should create content, be it renders, captures or custom presets.

..james...
Pilot/Director
N:VP

[giant]

Originally posted by MoRpH
Hmmmm interesting opinion, and I guess that flows on then that hardware based VJs should be designing and building their own mixers??? or is it OK to say build one from a radioshack kit (you know we all wish there was one :p)

That's not accurate. A word processor doesn't limit your ability to write.

If a word processor only allowed you to use certain words in your writing, then it would be a fair comparison. It would be even more accurate if the only words it let you write were shitty slang.