A guide to selecting your songs for the perfect DJ playlist.
Over the years we have received playlists from clients that exceed the time we are booked for and other times have not chosen any songs at all.
More times than often a DJ is booked for a 4 or 5-hour show. During this time on average, we allow 1 hour of background music to be played as guests arrive and begin to mingle, background music during the main meal, hosting a few speeches and then we are usually left with 1.5 to 2 hours of total dancing time on the night.
There are times where clients will tell us we have our own playlist we want to pass on to the dj for them to play only the songs off your playlist, some of these lists have a total playtime of 7 hours of songs selected.
At Pro DJs Australia, we appreciate clients who want only their songs played, however, it is important to understand that these songs are only songs that the client wants. More times than often we will try to stick to your list however if is not working on the night we also try and accommodate for their guests too. This is why it is vital that we discuss the pros and cons with the client first. For example, we may ask “In the event, your songs are not working, are you ok if we play songs that we feel will get your guests dancing on the dance-floor?”
At Pro DJs Australia not only do we have many years of experience in reading crowds, knowing what appeals to various age groups and cultures, we also carry an extensive music library to cater for all genres of music from the 1950s through to todays top 40 party hits. In fact we share these our party dj playlists. with our clients to help them with their song selection process. We have even gone to every length to capture all our wedding clients most popular song selections from our past events capturing every moment music is required to be played at weddings and have prepared a wedding dj playlist which we also share with our wedding clients too.
Let’s now take a client’s long playlists into consideration. We mentioned earlier a general dance bracket more times than often runs for approx. 1.5 to 2 hours. An average song plays for 3 mins, therefore 1 hour = 20 songs. 2 hours = 40 songs. Therefore 40 songs would be the maximum amount of songs for a 2-hour dance bracket. Some clients are happy for us to take requests from their guests, others are not.
At Pro DJs Australia, we ask for;
- 10x MUST PLAY SONGS
- 10x TRY AND PLAY THESE SONGS LIST
- and a DO NOT PLAY THESE SONGS LIST.
This offers us an indication of the styles and genres that appeal to you and if it works on the night we will stick to it, if not we would have had the discussion prior to your event for us to be flexible and accommodating on the night if we need to be to ensure a fun-filled and jam-packed dance floor on the night.
The truth is most DJs do not want to be ‘Jukeboxes’, however some will accommodate to the clients request just to get the gig. How this will actually work on the night comes down to the responsibility of the client and their DJ to have this discussion beforehand and together to create a suggested Dj Playlist.
Ultimately investing in a DJ who is highly experienced in catering for all music genres, age groups cultures and who is flexible, accommodating, & has a fun personality results in a night that all your guest will cherish and remember.
