I've always thought strip club DJ's were losers, but I may have to reconsider. My CF mentioned that her nightly tip out to the DJ was $50. With 25 dancers in the club, that means an income of $1250 a night or $6250 a week or about $300,000 a year.
Am I missing something? My ATF's ex-husband is a strip club DJ, and he is always broke. He even asks her for money.
The American system of dancers as independent contractors means that dancers tip out everybody including bouncers, doormen, valets, bartenders, etc. Some people like bartenders are paid by the club, but many others are independent contractors themselves or are paid very low wages. The idea seems to be that dancers are making a ton of money and so they need to spread their wealth around.
Well, they don't work every single night of the week, at least at the one club I visit with a DJ. I believe that place has a rotating cast of characters who DJ. I've seen no less than 4 different DJ's there just this year. There may be more.
$50 sounds a bit on the high side. In most clubs the tip out to the DJ is a percentage of what the dancer has taken in. In the neighborhood of 10%. Do dancers tell the DJ what they really made? Some dancers tip the DJ higher to keep them off the stage rotation.
At the club in question the tip out is an amount, not a percent. The total tip out is $100, with $50 going to the DJ. This means that dancers can end up negative if they have a bad night.
It depends on the club. Some tip outs are based on what the dancer made. In that case if it's a slow night, the DJ may not make that much money.
also, here in Georgia, thanks to Steve Kaplan's procedures at the Gold Club, most of the strip club DJs now tip out any where from 35% to 50% of their money to the club for DJ Booth/Lighting/ maintenance fund.
They pay me a hard 20%
I have heard the dj tip out is $15 per dancer at kahoots and at gold they take 10%.
I take what i feel from them hoes
I take credit cards
My little slice of life tips 10% across the board.But she needs her phone to figure that out.
@ Jack: I sense that the d.j. you're speaking of has an occasional good night, just like dancers do. I doubt he makes $300K, maybe 15% of that would be my guess. I've never had the impression d.j's were wealthy individuals.
@ Londonguy: Yes, it is common, even customary for dancers to tip the d.j., doorman, bouncer, and waitress. These are all people who help them do their jobs (i.e., earn money). If they don't help, they won't likely get tipped, unless the club has a mandatory tip-out policy. The example that was stated by shadowcat is that many dancers don't like to go on stage. Some clubs have an arrangement where they can pay a fee to NOT go on stage. ($40. at one club that I know of.) In other clubs a dancer can tip (really bribe) a d.j. to not schedule her for stage. Sometimes, there are so few dancers in a club, that a d.j. feels compelled to call a dancer to stage, even though he knows she doesn't want to go. In that case, the d.j. is likely to lose his tip.
I'd guess $5 would be more like a typical good tip from a dancer to the DJ. The DJ is not out on the floor and can't steer custies to a dancer, I think they have the least opportunity to get good tips from dancers.
Checked with girls at a couple of clubs here in Florida and a typical DJ tip out is $10-15
The dj plays one of the biggest parts in helping the dancer. They pick wat song we dance to on stage. If they choose a shitty song than your stuck dancing to it. If they choose a song you love dancing to than u can bank on stage. Which is always nice.
DJ's are shit birds. I actually like going into the clubs that have gone to the jukebox. Not only are the songs not cut off but I don't have to listen to the annoying DJ talking endless nonsense or pissed dancers demanding a new song be played because he fucked up and play something they don't like.
To elaborate on what Club Goer said, the one club I mentioned previously had a setup where if the dancer worked from open to close during the week (Sunday through Thursday), the dancer got some credits they could use to, amongst other things, get their way out of stage dancing. The system may still exist, but the odd thing is I don't see anyone ever skip out on stage dancing there anymore. I assume the DJ can then convert those credits to cash. I don't know of anywhere else like that, but I also don't know too many places I visit regularly with a DJ.
Usually we tip the DJ $20 or 10% of what we make... My tip out is generally in the $50-$100 range. Our weekend DJ makes about as much as most of the dancers on for that night,, but he only works 3 days a week.
"Am I missing something?"
Yes! How much these people SPEND weekly/daily. LOL
@Duo do you feel that's fair or are you pressured to tip so much? To me being a decent DJ is not hard, play what the dancer asks for, announce her as she instructs. I think $150 to $200 a night for a DJ would be more than fair, unless he/she is so funny people tell their friends "you gotta come and hear this guy/chick".
Why do dancers tip the DJ, don't they get paid by the club they work in?
Do they tip the bouncers, doormen etc etc?