If you're interested to know how this highly rewarding (and very demanding) area of the DJ world works, we've gathered the thoughts and advice of four mobile DJs at the top of their game.
Although DJs often stay in the area they know, there can be many different types of DJing to explore and pursue. The art of curating and playing music is a transferable skill set that can lead to many different opportunities, in a variety of environments. While some may dream of headlining their favorite club or festival, or landing a residency at their local hotspot, others opt for regular work in bars or restaurants. One area of DJing that can be overlooked, and perhaps even looked down on, is mobile DJing. This means having your own complete setup (decks, lighting, DJ booth and so on) and hiring out your services for a variety of events.
This may conjure up images of a wedding DJ idly playing pop hits while trying to hype everyone on the mic, with a cheap set of lights and not much else. But this was never the full picture, and the game has changed over the past decade or so. As the general public has become more au fait with DJing as a form of entertainment, there is a greater expectation of what DJs will do, as well as the quality of their service. Mobile DJing is a serious business, with the potential for lucrative work, from weddings to corporate gigs.
While it may take more upfront investment—time, energy, money—when approached with the right attitude and level of professionalism, mobile DJing can lead to a sustainable career that allows you to indulge your passion for music, while also entertaining people across a variety of diversity and locations.
We spoke to several longstanding mobile DJs, all of whom have made a success of their business, some of whom have scaled from a solo operation to create their own agency or production outfit. If you’re keen to learn more about what it takes to become a mobile DJ, we’ve done all the legwork for you, giving you a better understanding of what’s needed to take your first steps.
Above all else, having a passion for music of all kinds is vital to becoming a mobile DJ. This is not the same as focusing on a niche to achieve club and festival tours. “The first thing you need to have is a passion for music, and a passion for what music is, not for a genre, but for what music is,” says Marcus Bond of MaxMarcusEvents. A long-time mobile DJ and successful production company owner, as well as a former staff member at the West End DJ shop in London, Bond has plenty of experience of the mobile DJ game. “Music is emotional, and it’s an escape, and it can be used to epitomize a moment, or describe a moment. You’ve got to understand that music is that kind of beast,” he said.
Mobile DJing is largely about working with people. Having the ability to learn about people, to have compassion and understanding for their needs, and provide everything they want is essential. This is not only about connecting with people and being personable, but also being able to put your ego to one side. “It’s all about customer service,” said Marcus. “That’s the key thing. For a wedding, the married couple are your clients, and they’re the ones whose music policy you need to understand.
“You’ve got to just enjoy entertaining other people,” he continued. “Doesn’t matter if it’s two people or 2000. What they’re into won’t be what you’re into. So it’s having flexibility, compassion and a very, very open mind, because you never turn up knowing how it could go down.”
“I don’t do mix tapes or pre mixes,” he added. “Because then people have a preconception of how their party could be, whereas I’ve gone the other way as a personality, which is to say, ‘You’re into Arabic music? Yeah, that’s fine. You like Lebanese?’ You’re playing for an Asian family. Oh, it’s Punjabi music. Or someone wants deep house, or amapiano, or disco. For everyone it’s, ‘Of course I can play that, of course I can accommodate you.’ It’s showing that you can do that preparation, you can do a bit of research, and show that you’re accommodating.”
That love for music and entertaining people lies at the core of what it takes to be a mobile DJ. Having the flexibility to traverse a wide range of musical styles, or at least a willingness to research and provide what the client wants, is also key. You don’t always have to like what you’re playing, but a good mobile DJ will do it with positivity and enthusiasm anyway. “You do have to turn up with no ego,” said Marcus. “If they want Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys all night, then that’s what they’re getting.”
As obvious as it may sound, being able to mix will be useful; it’s what many people will expect. You might wind up playing to experienced clubbers, or home DJs, or connoisseurs who’ll be able to scrutinize your set and judge your abilities. “I delivered some seminars years ago on why it’s important for mobile DJs to mix,” said Brian Mole, who’s been in the game for over 15 years. “Because they never did. They used to crash the tracks, talk a load of bollocks in between them, take the piss out the mother-in-law—it was appalling. When you’re doing something as important as a wedding, you need to bring that cool vibe, you need to bring the experience to be able to play to every age group.”
“You have to start with experience,” says Mike Walter, owner of Elite Entertainment, a US-based mobile DJ company with over 18 members on its roster, including Mike himself, who’s been working as a wedding DJ for over 30 years. “If someone is a novice they should start out working for a company that has a training program in place. Somewhere they can work alongside veterans to learn the art of DJing and MCing and then hopefully be trained to throw great parties.”
“If you’re thinking about it, start with a company as a roadie or assistant, get your feet wet and see if you love it,” he added. “If you don’t, find something else. This is the type of job you should have a passion for or don’t do it at all.”
Getting yourself set up as a mobile DJ requires a bit more upfront investment than most other forms of DJing. For your average “DJ for hire” or club DJ, you usually only need your headphones and your music (USB, laptop, vinyl etc). Essentially, it’s plug-and-play.
With mobile DJing, you need all the necessary equipment to create a party. That includes a stand or DJ booth, speakers, lighting, your music, headphones, a mic, and whatever DJ gear you decide on. “In the very early days, mobile discos were mostly home-built, diabolical things, unsafe and dangerous,” said Brian. “It was definitely a home-build industry. You’d build light boxes and things like that. But the safety aspect came into it. So manufacturers started making lighting effects, but they were heavy, power consuming, and expensive.”
Over time, Brian explained, equipment got cheaper, more professional and more portable—his go-to’s include the DDJ-FLX10 and the Opus Quad. Today, there are whole sections of the industry that cater to mobile DJs. When you’re investing, the key things to consider are portability, durability, and how professional things look. You won’t be impressing anyone with a cheap DJ stand, tiny speakers, and dim lights, but it might still be advisable to keep things affordable when you’re starting out—not only to get up and running, but also for the purpose of ultimately doubling up on some pieces of kit that are at risk of damage.
For transport, you need your own vehicle, and, according to Brian, preferably a van. “I use a van,” he said. “I started off with cars, but they’re not really a good idea. Everything’s on display in a car, you can get it nicked. When I left my day job, up to that point I used a car, and if I needed to move a big amount of gear, I’d hire a van. You can’t do it on public transport.”
Brian also recommended joining a trade association. In the UK, for instance, there are organizations set up for DJs to connect, share information, and cultivate a supportive community. “A trade association membership is quite a good way of starting, because you can meet and network with experienced DJs,” he said. “There’s NADJ (National Association of DJs), and SEDA (South Eastern Discotheque Association), which I’m on the committee of. We’ve got 200 members in the south east who meet up every couple of months. You end up with a load of people in a room who are DJs of all types. They might be bedroom DJs, they might be mobile DJs with years of experience. There might be one or two radio DJs, and there’s a few of the new internet streamers and those that turn up as well with their cameras, videoing everything. So that’s a great way for a DJ to start networking and learning more about it all.”
You’ll also need to get the right insurance in place. Public Liability Insurance is created to provide cover for accidental injuries to members of the public and damage to third party property. On that note, PAT (portable appliance testing) testing should be on your checklist. This is the process of checking electrical appliances for safety through a series of visual inspections and electronic tests.
It’s necessary to get to grips with setting up all your equipment efficiently, transforming a room into a party space. Then there’s setting up your own website and social media platforms. Having a strong, professional digital presence can make all the difference with getting bookings.
As Marcus concluded, “To be a mobile DJ you have to become very competent with a variety of disciplines. You become a bit of an electrician, a bit of a rigger, a bit of a health and safety guy, a bit of an MC, a bit of a host, a bit of a musical specialist, a bit of a mixologist. You know, all these different things form the foundation and then, if you want, you can go and pursue different avenues.”
Reading through what it takes to get started, you can probably already tell that mobile DJing takes a lot of work. And we haven’t even mentioned the physical process of transferring your equipment from your vehicle to the venue and back, which can be taxing, depending on your fitness levels. We explored the pros and cons with our experts, who spoke about a delicate balance between long hours, good pay, job satisfaction, and quality of life.
“Part of the reason why things like the DJ networks are important is because there are people there that understand your pain, and they understand the pitfalls of being a mobile DJ,” Marcus said. “I’ve calculated sometimes that I’ve gone 10 hours without having a conversation with someone, which is kind of weird. You leave the house at 2 PM, maybe have a chat with someone on the way to the gig, get there, do your intros with the clients, set up and get going. In that whole time you might not have a single real conversation with anyone, so it can be lonely at times.
“The plus-side of that particular element is it gives you a chance to analyze what you’ve done, and that’s where you hone the craft of people watching,” he said. “In a slightly less risky environment, say where you’re providing background music, you can experiment a bit and see how people react to certain tunes.”
“Being self-employed is great because I can choose when I get in the camper van and bugger off and when I come back,” said Brian. “But nobody tells you that you have to be a salesman, you have to be a marketing expert, you have to be an accountant, you have to be an advertising manager, you have to be an expert with social media—everything.”
Brian explained that he went from working 40 hours a week in his old job, to sometimes doing up to 80 hours per week with the mobile DJ business. “It’s bloody hard work, but I’m responsible to myself only,” he said. “And I love it to bits. It’s the best job ever.”
Brian is proof that mobile DJing can be a successful vocation at any age. When he was made redundant from his job as an escalation manager for US technology company Sun Microsystems at the age of 45, he was given a year’s pay. He used that financial buffer to explore whether he could live from mobile DJing full-time and, 15 years later, he’s still busy and enjoying the life he chose.
For some, the biggest sacrifice of the mobile DJ life is giving up almost every weekend. “I can’t even tell you how many things I’ve missed out on—friends’ parties, date nights with my wife, concerts etc—but it’s just the nature of the business and I’m used to it,” said Mike. “For many though, once that reality sets in, they eventually move on and find a more traditional job.”
“At least three of my ex-girlfriends have all gone, ‘Oh, I really hate that you work on the weekend,’” Marcus said. “Sometimes they might be like, ‘Were there any nice girls there?’” The impact on your social life, whether you’re in a relationship or single, can be huge, a price some just aren’t willing to pay.
Marcus, who formed his own events production company, touched on the scalability factor of mobile DJing. From a one-person operation, there’s an opportunity, once you’ve established yourself, to build a roster with other DJs or capitalize on your reputation with more lucrative bookings/offerings. “Once you’ve started to carve out your market and what you’re into, as well as having your own equipment, you can start to steer the pricing,” he explained, while also warning that novelty add-ons are bloating the industry. “There are a lot of DJs who are adding photo things and giant signs and all this kind of stuff. But there are things that are still light- and sound-related that can help you make more money, rather than doing a £150-an-hour slot in a bar or whatever.”
A simple, yet effective addition that Brian Mole uses is a booth that looks like the front of a Volkswagen van. He also brings 12 lights with him and slimline Bose speakers, which take up less space and look impressive.
The variety of the work was a big plus for everyone we spoke to, meeting different people, in different scenarios, every week. “My favorite thing about what I call ‘mobile event work’ is the change of scene,” Marcus said. “Every party is a different party. Every environment is different. Every bride and groom are different. Even if you do one wedding and there’s another couple, who are like, ‘I like this vibe,’ it will never be the same as their friends’ wedding that they saw you at. Ever. Whereas [if you DJ at the UK bar chain] Yates’s wine bar and 10 o’clock hits, you’re playing the same shit you played last Thursday at 10 and last Saturday at 10.”
Mike backed up this point. “If you have the right personality and traits—a love of music and people, an outgoing personality, etc—this is an awesome career,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 36 years and I can’t imagine doing anything else. Every weekend I get to work with awesome people and help them celebrate one of the biggest days of their lives. It’s a very rewarding business.”
However, Mike also highlighted one of the common pitfalls of performing at celebratory events: drunk people. “Every once in a while a guest will have one too many and they’ll get belligerent because I haven’t played their request yet,” he said. “It doesn’t happen at every party but it’s always a thing that might happen. There are happy drunks and sad drunks and angry drunks. I hate the third kind.”
Anxiety can rear its head when on the road, as you’re solely responsible for making an event unforgettable. You might forget an important cable. There’s the concern that something goes wrong with the equipment, which means being meticulous about the set up every time. Then there’s the worry about people actually enjoying themselves.
“You have to have trust and faith in your equipment, and that you’ve got enough backup,” said Marcus. “Also the inherent fear that people might not dance or enjoy themselves. It happens to all of us and the more gigs you play, the higher the chances of something going wrong or you having a terrible gig. It’s the law of averages.”
An important thing to keep in mind, too, is how to deal with requests, or guests who say they’re not happy. “I always say to people, it’s about keeping 99% of people happy 100% of the time,” said Marcus. “You’re never going to get to 100 but equally, you’re not going to have 100% of your events be amazing—but you just have to try. You have to aim for greatness for it to be brilliant.”
Across the board, every DJ we spoke to covered very similar ground when it comes to sustaining a career. Jay Brannan summed it up: “The longevity of your career is often based on your ability to consistently grow with music, trends, equipment changes, and adapting to every situation,” he said. Jay is an award-winning DJ from Boston, with over 20 years behind him. “The way we do a wedding in 2024 is different than, say, 2014 or 2004. If you are open to being educated on how things are changing, you can have a great career that will last a very long time.”
“In fact, I would say that older DJs are oftentimes in a better position because they have knowledge going back to different years,” he added. “They’ve been exposed to different things, and that’s actually of more value. In my opinion, they’re not just into one type of music, or just new music. I’ve been doing this a very long time, and I can always learn new hits, but I know what the hits were, 20, 30, 40 years ago, so I’m often a better choice for someone than, say, a DJ who’s only been in the industry for a few years.”
Managing your self-care, building a solid network, and surrounding yourself with entrepreneurial people also featured prominently among the advice given by our contributors. Essentially, treat it like a serious career. Mobile DJing is a self-run business enterprise based on entertaining people musically. Yes, it can be a lot of fun. But you must also be conscious of how you operate and what impact that will have on your ability to do a great job, maintain a good reputation, and get more work through recommendations.
Single-op DJs work independently, navigating the profession off their own network and handling all of their own logistics. This can be liberating but also very taxing, as already explained. Agencies take the load off, but they also take a percentage of booking fees. They can be a great way to get started, learn the ropes, make contacts, and then go it alone.
“As a multi-op owner, I obviously think joining a company or agency is the better route for DJs, especially if they are going to DJ part-time while trying to maintain a full-time career,” said Mike. His company, Elite Entertainment, does all the marketing and selling for their DJs so all they need to do is go rock their gigs on the weekend. “If you want to be an independent DJ you have to do all that preliminary work before you start booking events and that will take up a lot of time and also money.”
“With an agency you often get very little information,” Brian said. “You get timing, you get a place, you get some steer on the event, and you get a fee that’s really rock bottom as well. But there isn’t that communication with a client, which to me, is essential, especially for a wedding. To be fair, some people who are getting married aren’t interested in music, they’re just booking a DJ package because they think they have to. For most other people, their passion for music is what I want to explore, and they’re the clients I want.”
All of that said, Brian is signed up to an agency. “Last week, I did a James Bond-themed party at the RAC club in Epsom, for the Aston Martin Owners Club,” he said. “That came through an agency and they were great. They basically detached me from the client. They did all the sales, all the to-ing and fro-ing, and the money, the contracts, and everything else. All I did was just sign a contract, send it back to them, and that’s it. Job done. So minimum involvement, just a couple of hours prep, music-wise, because they had a theme, which I needed to fit in with. It’s an easy way of getting work and getting known.”
“As part of the DJ journey, an agency is great, because they will be guaranteed to put you in front of people you’d never be able to get yourself in front of,” Marcus explained. His roster of DJs is less about making money from as many events as possible and focussed more on finding the best person for the job, whether that’s him or one of a few DJs he calls on intermittently. “There are agencies such as JW DJ. They have connections with a lot of high-end operators and nationwide brands. If I wanted exposure in that world, I’d go through an agency like that.”
“I like to be my own boss, though,” Marcus continued. “I like to make my own decisions. There’s nothing worse than being sent as a round peg for a square hole.”
“The difference between being just a mobile DJ and working through an agency really comes down to the amount of responsibility you are willing and want to undertake,” Jay told us. “I’ve always been a single-op, so I’ve done it on my own from beginning to end, and I find that it allows me to meet new people and learn from them the things that are starting to become trends and what’s ultimately going to make my clients happy. So I really would push someone to consider doing this on their own as a single-op.”
With over 90 years of combined experience between them, our experts have an abundance of first-hand knowledge and insight. They’ve made the mistakes, faced the difficult dance floors, and traveled thousands of miles in the name of entertaining people.
What advice would they give to a novice? Or to someone who’s already working as a mobile DJ but not achieving the success they’d hoped for?
Getting training may not always be in line with the purists’ attitude towards DJing, but there are so many online and IRL courses and tutorials available, you’d be missing a trick not to consider sharpening your skills through guidance. “If you’re already doing it and not achieving success, you’re probably not ‘wowing’ people at your events,” said Mike. “If you were, you’d be getting tons of leads just based on word-of-mouth referrals. Try taking an MC workshop or attending a DJ convention to improve your skills.”
Brian also highlighted the benefits of getting training. While there’s an almost endless supply of online DJ tutorials, which are great, learning in-person from a seasoned pro can be a massive part of elevating your skillset. Despite being a DJ since his teens, the 60-year-old sought training a few years ago. “I went on a scratching course a few years ago,” Brian said. “I was in my late 50s. I went to see Terry at the Rise Academy in Wembley. He’s a scratch monster, he knows this stuff, and I spent two hours with him trying to scratch.
“Some mobile DJs don’t make progress because they think they don’t need to learn anything else,” Brian continued. “But with any job, you have development throughout your career. And this is something which is really important, and it’s also a very important way to get youngsters into the industry.” Brian mentioned his son, who initially had no interest in DJing, but changed his mind when he went to university, asking to borrow his dad’s turntables. “The first thing I did was send him off to Terry,” Brian said.
“Take advantage of the fact that you could be a stranger every single week and think, ‘I’m here for five and a half hours of my life, let’s just have a go,’” Marcus said. “You have to play every party like it’s your last, as if you don’t know where your next booking is going to come from.” With this mentality you can give it your all, hopefully pushing past any worries or anxiety to simply enjoy the moment.
Networking with people who work in the same industry or area of entertainment you work in (or would like to work in) can have a big payoff. “The way I get most of my work is through building relationships with venues and other vendors who I work with now,” said Brian. “If you talk to any venues, DJs are an absolute pain in the ass. They’re always complaining. They’re not a very easy bunch. So it’s fairly obvious to me that I’ve got to make sure I go out of my way to work with a venue. Because, let’s say you’re getting married and you go and visit the venue, you fall in love with it, you’ll ask them, ‘Who do you have here for DJing?’ They’ll recommend me. That’s what I aim to do every time. Then there’s the caterers, photographers—every aspect of a wedding—make connections, as they could lead to more bookings.”
“Trying to understand people, as in understanding what their vibe is and what they’re about, goes a longer way in the mobile DJ world than knowing how to mix from ‘70s into R&B,” Marcus said. “It’s about reading the room as one beast, and trying to tame that beast. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the decks on the kitchen worktop and you’re looking at five people. If these five people were morphed into one, what song would they enjoy most?”
On that note, selection and working closely with a client is paramount. “I have a document that I give to every couple who are getting married, which is the ‘don’t you dare’ list,” said Brian. “This allows them to list all the music that they absolutely do not want at their wedding.”
Marcus was also keen to say that requests can be the fuel behind improving your performance, and should be handled politely. “Have an open mind with requests, embrace the criticism and roll with it,” he said. “You’re there for four or five hours, tops 10 hours if you’re doing background music and all that. Just be approachable and enjoy the journey of it all. They’re going to be your friends, they’re going to be your congregation for a few hours, and then chances are you’re never going to see them again.”
Ultimately, self-care should be paramount. Successive late nights, driving around your city or country, carrying equipment, while also managing your day-to-day business and admin, can take its toll. “Between six and 10 years ago, I felt like I was invincible,” Marcus said. “I was in my mid-20s, doing parties and working a normal job because my parents insisted, despite me making over 30k a year at the age of 17. I hit my breaking point twice. I was having stress migraines that hospitalized me. They were purely from DJing four nights on the bounce and getting up early and not listening to my body.”
The impact of AI-driven algorithms can be a worry for some. There’s no doubt that technology is evolving rapidly and many of us are already tapped into the power of AI-curated playlists through all of the prominent streaming platforms. How this could impact the role of the mobile DJ is still not quite clear, though some people see AI as a threat to their livelihood.
“There’s a guy who supplies bars with computers and he feeds them a playlist of types of tracks which are coming in,” Brian said. “It does its own thing. He makes a fortune out of that. It’s putting the low-end mobile DJs, those who are just starting, out of business. I’m not worried about that, because when people book me, they want somebody who’s got the experience and knowledge to do what they want. I do things like getting my clients to have a DJ battle. Now nobody knows about this, except for the client, until it happens. Things like that you can’t do with AI.”
Similarly, Jay pointed to reading the room, intuitively reacting to people’s behavior—a skill that comes from years of experience. “The one variable that will always rule supreme is the fact that the sole purpose of a DJ is to read the crowd in front of them and play the right song,” Jay said. “AI algorithms, streaming, none of those can see what’s going on in the room the way a DJ can. Ultimately, if I watch somebody at a wedding grab their ankle and start doing something that reminds me of Vanilla Ice, I can immediately throw on Vanilla Ice and get a reaction. AI can’t do that. That said, I think living in both worlds is the wave of the future more so than abandoning the past.”
