Nobody Booked a Jukebox or Spotify
A DJ recently wrote something I have heard (and experienced), in one form or another.
In this issue
Why the request line is longer on your best nights
The rule above every other rule: the couple is never the answer
What to Say at the Booth
The Name Test
Drunk and rude: the Two-Line Rule
Make the booth harder to interrupt
The must-play list is the same problem
The takeaway
The floor is packed. People are singing. A line still forms at the booth, song by song. People ask for requests that don't fit the room and sometimes don't fit any room.
Add the two or three hours of must-plays the couple handed over on their planning sheets, and the DJ has almost no room left to do the one thing they were hired for.
In the DJ’s words, “they need guests to leave them alone long enough to entertain, not just get through the night”.
Last week I shared about the playlissat AI hands a couple. This week is about the requests guests hand you at the booth.
Most DJs see this as a guest problem. Nope. It is a “script” problem.
The DJs who never seem to get harassed are not luckier. They have decided ahead of time exactly what they will say, and they say it the same way every time.
Why the request line is longer on your best nights
Guests take a full floor as permission. If everything is working, their song will work too. The energy you built is what brings them to the booth.
That does not mean you are doing something wrong. It means improvised answers make their way out of your mouth.
“Maybe later”
“Let me check”
“I’ll see”
Without a plan behind them, each of those sounds like a delayed yes. The guest is back two songs later to know when you will play their song!
The goal is not to shut people down. A guest who walks away feeling refused is a problem for the rest of the night (and in reviews). The goal is a guest who walks away feeling heard and has no reason to come back.
The rule above every other rule: the couple is never the answer
When a request does not fit, the tempting move is to point at the couple.
“It’s not on the couple’s playlist”
“Let me ask the couple”
“It’s on the couple’s do not playlist”
Do not do it.
You have just sent a guest across the room to interrupt the people you were hired to protect. Now the couple is approving songs at their own wedding.
When they say yes to Uncle Dave, because of course they do, you have to play it. You have lost the room and your authority in one move.
The couple hired you to make these calls so they would never have to. Every request that reaches them is a job you handed back. Nothing you say at the booth should contain their name.
What to Say at the Booth
Five lines, running from soft to firm. The first two handle almost every request. You only move down the list when the guest does.