The first six months of 2022 have already passed, and since I'm currently serving another COVID-19 quarantine, I've finally found the time to write about a few things.
The picture you see was taken in May of this year at my first 3-day event of the year. A fantastic and diverse event, and thank you so much for letting me be a part of it again...
Summer 2022 is off to a great start, and I'm currently overwhelmed with inquiries, which is becoming a problem because I'm usually already booked on Fridays and Saturdays. This means I have to rely on DJ colleagues I can recommend. However, these colleagues are also mostly booked, and so the DJ scene is experiencing a staff shortage. For some dates, it's simply impossible to find a DJ, and for a variety of reasons...
Some are already fully booked, and others prefer to go on vacation themselves rather than postpone theirs, which is understandable to some extent. What I don't understand, however, and this applies to the third and final category of DJs, is those who want to profit from the DJ shortage and demand fees that wouldn't have been paid to any of these MP3 collectors before the pandemic. We're talking about sums of €2,000 and up, and apparently no upper limit.
Sure, the pent-up demand after the pandemic is currently enormous, including for corporate events, but even the increased energy costs in no way justify a fee increase of well over 100%. Of course, one can try, and when I look at what this current COVID quarantine has cost me again, in terms of lost revenue due to a lack of diligence, I too would have to drastically raise my prices to compensate for a potential COVID infection and the resulting cancellations. But that's difficult to explain to clients, and unfortunately, I have to say that some clients even accept being in quarantine and sick for a week, as long as the party goes ahead.
As a full-time DJ, I simply can't afford that. I'm also sure that some of my fellow DJs operate on the principle of "as long as I don't get tested, I don't have COVID," and thus unknowingly become virus spreaders at their events. It's a real dilemma that infuriates me, because when you're like me, working at all sorts of events and currently booked 3 to 6 times a week as a full-time DJ, you can't afford to be running around at an event with a positive test result (even if you're asymptomatic). And you still have to be realistic with your pricing, even though everyone wants to party right now and the risk of infection is incredibly high...
Even in the third year of the pandemic, I unfortunately have to note that venues, much like classrooms, still haven't bothered to ensure proper ventilation and air exchange. And now, it's even happening again that the ventilation is often turned off during events to boost drink sales in the summer heat. Congratulations, you haven't learned anything. Having to work as a DJ in a stuffy corner of the venue for 4-8 hours during the party, surrounded by stale air without any chance of getting fresh air, is practically assault. If DJs had a union, occupational safety measures would be implemented here with absolute force. Since DJing isn't a recognized profession, we're simply cannon fodder for the partying masses, who couldn't care less whether the DJ can play other gigs the next day or week, or even survives...
Generally speaking, I must also say that the joy that events can now take place again is very, very great, and this naturally leads to forgetting various precautionary measures, especially regarding "safety" at the DJ's workplace...
I hope I'll be through with Corona by 2022, and I hope the summer wave doesn't get any worse. So party hard, but stay careful and, above all, stay healthy...
