You Get What You Pay For - Part I

As with most other purchases you make in your daily life, when it comes to DJ entertainment, generally, you get what you pay for. While this might seem obvious, with the recent economic downturn there has been an explosion of new "DJs" coming onto the scene because of the perceived low cost to start a DJ business. Unlike companies like Firefly Audio that spend more than $15,000 on state-of-the-art DJ equipment, lighting, and legal obtained music, many simply use home stereo equipment they have on hand and populate their music library with pirated music tracks illegally downloaded from the Internet. A "$150 a night!" free ad on Craig's List and suddenly there's another "DJ" business in town.

Don't misunderstand, "$150 a night!" DJ services shouldn't automatically be written off. There are "diamonds in the rough" and if you can stomach a little trial and error with anniversaries and birthday parties you just might find one. The drawback to this method is that it can result in some less than spectacular events and obviously wouldn't be wise for once in a lifetime events like wedding receptions. In our next "You Get What You Pay For" installment we'll talk about the differences between some DJ entertainment companies and others.