A DJ (or disc jockey) is someone who plays recorded music on the radio or at a club or party.
So you’re looking for a career on the 1s and 2s? Being a DJ is a passion lead project that can take you places and introduce you to a range of people as you play at clubs and parties and record mixes for Soundcloud. But getting set up and standing out from the many DJs out there is difficult. Not only do you need a specific style and sound in the work that you do, but you need a business oriented head to promote yourself.
Here we look at some steps you can take to becoming a DJ, managing your profile and getting some revenue.
If we’re starting right at square one, then here’s a few things to establish first.
This is arguably the hardest bit (unless you include getting famous as a separate step). You might have perfected your bedroom DJ skills by this point, but getting to play in front of people and getting paid for it takes a bit of business nous. Here’s a few steps to promote your profile and get you that all important paid gig:
Understanding your rate is also important. These can vary pretty wildly as the control is usually with the person booking you. Mixmag spoke to a range of DJs to get a sense of how much they really earn. They claim that:
There are also expenses to consider. These go up with the gigs until the mid-level when promoters start paying your travel and accommodation. If you end up taking on an agent they’ll take around 20% of your earnings, but they should outweigh this cost if they’re getting you good gigs.
If you think that you’re going to make more than £1,000 in a year from DJing, then it’s worth registering with HMRC for self-employed income. Anything under that figure, you don’t have to declare.
If you declare self-employed income then you’ll need to complete a self assessment tax return each year. What you pay to HMRC is your tax bill minus the expenses of running your business. You can read more on how to complete your self-assessment tax return in this Earnr article.
The usual cut off date to complete your self-assessment is the 31st of January if you’re doing it online, and 31st of October if you’re completing the form by post.
The tax bands for a DJs are the same as any other occupation:
Remember: if you’re DJing as a side hustle, then this income will be combined with your total income from your central job, which can push you up a tax band. You can read more about tax bands, how they work, and what a personal allowance is in our blog post here.
It’s an expensive game to get into with music, software, and hardware all being needed to actually become a DJ. You can however deduct these costs from your taxable profit as long as they’re eligible expenses.
So if you earn £50,000 and you claim £9,000 in expenses, you’d only be taxed on £41,000 for the year.
Note that if you use the £1,000 tax free trading allowance you won’t be able to claim expenses.
Things you might expense as a DJ could be:
Let’s face it, it would be pretty rare if you were a DJ with an accounting background, although there probably are one or two out there. For those less accustomed to managing your business finances, Earnr is here.
Earnr allows you to track your ingoings and outgoings over the course of the year, and automate your tax return. You mark each payment and each expense as you go so that by the time you get to doing your tax return, we’ll have everything we need to do the process for you.
Our first post on our blog! We can't wait to show you what's next
Read more
Here’s how Earnr helps Etsy sellers organise their income and pay themselves a regular salary
Read more
As part of our interest in supporting Etsy sellers, we’ve been doing some digging into the current state of the Etsy world as lockdown becomes more and more a thing of the past.
Read more