Booking Mat Zo for a Gig

[Aza]

Although his sound differs from what sounds/style I came to love him for, I'm really enjoying his music and sets lately. I've shared these with a friend in work and he absolutely loves these. His EMix and latest set in Chicago are sublime.

He helps run a local club night in Cardiff and we're interested in considering booking Mat for a gig. We would work up to heavily promote it. It would also be great to meet him.

Does anyone know of any other channels to contact Mat for a booking? A quick Google search does not give much about his agent.

Cheers,

Aza

[Number2Fan]

leena@involvedmanagement.com for general enquiries and his Manager is called James Grant.

(Courtesy Mat Zo's Facebook)

[Aza]

Thank you...

Would that be the best route? Looking for an informal approach first to gauge options... I remember Briggsy booking Fabio Stein one time, but can't recall how it was done?

How much would we be looking, any ideas?

[JasonB]

James Grant being Jonos brother, basically contact anjuna would be a safe bet.

[Briggsy]

Thank you...

Would that be the best route? Looking for an informal approach first to gauge options... I remember Briggsy booking Fabio Stein one time, but can't recall how it was done?

How much would we be looking, any ideas?

I booked Fabio directly because we used to speak quite often anyway from my days when I used to run an old Trance website. He used to do us a monthly mix, plus an interview and also sent tunes over to review years ago. We stayed in contact after that. He was one of the scenes good guys and I was sad to see him retire. He played for me for free - just wanted his train fare and a hotel covering. Legend. It helped that he had friends living in the town where I ran my night, so he killed two birds with one stone - and even brought one of his mates (a magician/illusionist) along to the night to do some tricks too. Genuinely one of the nicest guys i've ever met. He wouldn't even let me buy him a drink - he was buying me (and all of the other DJs) drinks all night instead. I was amazed when he retired because i've never seen anyone so enthusiastic when DJ'ing. He was there from start to finish and clearly loved his music - the complete opposite of another well-known DJ that I booked that turned up 2 minutes before his set, with a real arsey attitude, and left immediately after his set. I think the only words he said all night were "you've got my money haven't you" and "cheers".

Try contacting Mat directly via Facebook/Twitter first. 95% of DJ's will send you straight back to their agent and ask you to do things via them - but if you're lucky, some will deal with you directly (and charge a hell of a lot less as a result - agents take quite a big chunk and insist on other add-ons to bump up the price!).

I was quite fortunate with the DJ's I booked (John Kelly, Ben Nicky and Fabio Stein) - I managed to deal with all of those directly.

I know little about Mat - but from what I do know, he's supposed to be quite decent and very approachable, so he may deal with you directly (unless his agent made him sign a clause that specifically says that everything has to go through them). Be prepared though - DJ's don't come cheap - even those lower down the scale. I reckon you'd be looking at around £500-£700 based on experience from past quotes for DJ's of similar calibre/status. If you have to go through an agent, then allow for an extra 15% on top of that - plus there may be other contractual add-ons too - 4/5 star hotel plus a "reasonable" meal before the gig, etc.

Some DJ's/agents are better than others. Some try to help new nights and will lower their fee to help you out. Some won't touch new nights at all. Some are just greedy and try to milk every penny whether you're a new starter or an established night. Some are away with the fairies and think they're bigger than they actually are and price themselves out of gigs. I was given some ridiculously low quotes for DJs once (Lange was an absolute bargain - although I never booked him because the venue went bust just as the night was taking off and the line-ups were being stepped up a level) - and some DJs were ridiculously high considering some of them weren't particularly big.

Good luck! It's fun - but also a little draining too at times.

[Chrissie Brown]

Very interesting post Briggsy, as you know Jules was a big fan of Fabio Stein's music and played most of his productions :thumbsup:

Good luck Aza, hope all goes well with hiring Matt Zo

[Briggsy]

Fabio holds Jules in very high regard because other DJs were rejecting his tunes - but Jules had faith in him and supported them. Eventually, other DJs started to take notice too - but Jules was the first to give him some support.

He hated Jules's edit of Tran-4 though. The breakdowns in the original version were quite different.

[Max Kane]

All the best with this dude, I genuinely hope it all works out.

It's so tough with new nights, there needs to be a balance between getting someone that you're into & that is popular within the scene and then bridging that gap to the mainstream guys n gals who will attend your night.

I'm not sure Mat Zo has the necessary pull (relative to his likely fee) to be value for money but I guess he has had R1 airplay of late and the Essential Mix will have boosted his profile.

Knowing the catchment crowd will be invaluable in making your decision

[Briggsy]

I'm not sure Mat Zo has the necessary pull (relative to his likely fee) to be value for money but I guess he has had R1 airplay of late and the Essential Mix will have boosted his profile.

Knowing the catchment crowd will be invaluable in making your decision

I agree with Tom here. I know you like Mat and want to book him because you like his music, etc - but at the end of the day, if he costs £500, unless you're not too bothered about losing some cash, you do need to try to get that fee back.

I don't know the Cardiff area, so I can't comment on that - but there are certain DJs that work better in certain areas - for example, if you put on a night in Sheffield (or the Yorkshire area in general) and put Matt Hardwick on a line-up, a large percentage of the tickets will sell immediately - whereas if you put him on in the Midlands, chances are, not many tickets will sell.

If you put Big Al on a line-up in Swansea, people will go to see him. if you put him on a line-up in Sheffield, nobody is going to bother going to see him.

If you put Ben Nicky on a line-up in Bristol, people will turn up in the masses to see him. If you put him on in the Midlands, nobody is going to be too bothered.

It's a case of seeing what DJs will work in your particular area. For example, I booked John Kelly - not because I think he was particularly good or relevant at the time I was running my night - but simply because Banbury was a fairly commercial town, the clubbers there are generally "older" (late 20's - late 30's) and he was a "name" that allowed us to start stepping the night up, whilst keeping in with the theme of the night, but also appealing to our kind of clientelle. He suited Banbury quite well.

Just before the venue went bust, we were 90% of the way to confirming Dave Pearce at a future event - again, not because I think he's a Sasha-esque DJ that everyone will come flooding to see from far and wide. We went for him simply because Banbury like commercial Trance and a "name" that they know. Dave Pearce would have pulled people in from Banbury and probably filled the club - whereas in reality, i'd have preferred someone like Richard Durand or Sean Tyas. Although they were much cheaper than Dave Pearce, they just wouldn't have worked in Banbury - and a lot of money would have been lost. Dave Pearce would have cost more - but getting the money back was almost guaranteed.

The venue did book Westwood for one of their other nights - and it was a flop. Simply because Banbury just dont want Urban music (or it could have been because he's a massive bell end and nobody likes him......).

Before you commit to any DJ, it might be worth doing a bit of market research first. Who have other nights in your area booked before? Which DJ's pulled people in - and which flopped? Is it better to spend an extra £200 on a different DJ that will pull in an extra 50 people and put you into profit, rather than paying £200 less for a DJ that might not work and end up losing you money? It's a fine line - so try to find some things out first.

I'm no expert, so i'm not trying to teach you to suck eggs. My first few nights, literally, had one or two people in attendance all night. You could hear a pin drop. It took me a good year or so before we finally started getting people in - and it took lots of wet weekends standing out in the rain flyering, begging local businesses to put posters in their windows, local radio giving us a few mentions in exchange for an advert on a flyer, etc - and even then, there was some luck involved (such as a change of venue to somewhere more central with passing trade rather than the top end of the town a little out of the way. Another night playing at the same venue the week before us every month playing the harder side of Trance and Hard House - so a lot of their crowd also came to my night because of the similarity in music, etc).

[Aza]

Hey all,

Wanted to report back and update you on this, but firstly wanted to thank you all for your input and much valued help...

leena@involvedmanagement.com for general enquiries and his Manager is called James Grant.
(Courtesy Mat Zo's Facebook)

Thanks so much for this info, we did manage to get through to the right person to inquire.

Try contacting Mat directly via Facebook/Twitter first. 95% of DJ's will send you straight back to their agent and ask you to do things via them - but if you're lucky, some will deal with you directly (and charge a hell of a lot less as a result - agents take quite a big chunk and insist on other add-ons to bump up the price!).

We did try and would've much preferred to interact directly, but to no avail.

Good luck Aza, hope all goes well with hiring Matt Zo

All the best with this dude, I genuinely hope it all works out.

It's so tough with new nights, there needs to be a balance between getting someone that you're into & that is popular within the scene and then bridging that gap to the mainstream guys n gals who will attend your night.

I'm not sure Mat Zo has the necessary pull (relative to his likely fee) to be value for money but I guess he has had R1 airplay of late and the Essential Mix will have boosted his profile.

Knowing the catchment crowd will be invaluable in making your decision

Thank you both, but unfortunately it's now very doubtful for reasons below...

I'm not sure Mat Zo has the necessary pull (relative to his likely fee) to be value for money but I guess he has had R1 airplay of late and the Essential Mix will have boosted his profile.

Knowing the catchment crowd will be invaluable in making your decision

I agree with Tom here. I know you like Mat and want to book him because you like his music, etc - but at the end of the day, if he costs £500, unless you're not too bothered about losing some cash, you do need to try to get that fee back.

Before you commit to any DJ, it might be worth doing a bit of market research first. Who have other nights in your area booked before? Which DJ's pulled people in - and which flopped? Is it better to spend an extra £200 on a different DJ that will pull in an extra 50 people and put you into profit, rather than paying £200 less for a DJ that might not work and end up losing you money? It's a fine line - so try to find some things out first.

After speaking with Mat's agent a fair bit and running through all the details etc., which they ask you to answer (all of which are variables in determining a cost), we were quoted a fair few times what's bold quoted above.

We weighed it up and it was only based on 400-500 people and ultimately could not afford the risk. We did consider paying some out of our own pockets, but it came down to not being able to do so.

It's a shame since we were/are psyched and would've loved to put him on and promote the whole thing. Expenses inc. hotel were also to be on top of that.

I'm not sure if rates have moved on a lot from years ago and would've loved to compare to what Jules for example would charge.

Thanks to all again

Edited July 18, 2013 by Aza

[drtim]

It would be very interesting to know what Jules now charges. How many gigs a week does Mat Zo do on average?

[Number2Fan]

Jules was approx 6.5 grand I was told last week by a fella who worked promoting a club up North. However I think he may have been overcharged, as the club couldn't even recover that cost. But i dunno how long ago that was. he did charge the shit tiny club in Hastings £6000, (theyve shut down now) I know aswell that Tonedeff just couldn't afford him if they wanted any other well-known names on the line-up. But they wanted the kudos, I was also talking to him about Seb Fontaine as we were in his fathers restaurant att, and Seb dad had recently bailed Seb out money wise as he's still living like a superstar DJ but not working like one.

I don't think they can be earning that much now can they? Does Jules even work in the UK anymore?

[Briggsy]

I think Jules's fee has always been fairly varied based on the size of the venue, and whether the promotor books him quite often.

I enquired about Jules years ago when we were looking to "step things up" when the venue were offering to put most of the money in for DJs - and I was quoted quite a high price, but quite a lot lower than £6000. It was more than the venue, and myself, were willing to gamble on anyway.

A lad I know that is well known for promoting in Coventry, who knows Jules personally, gets him for a ridiculously low fee. Jules has stated in his diary quite often that he's never priced himself out of smaller gigs too.

Thats a real shame Aza - it would have been nice if you could have booked him, but I had a feeling that you'd be quoted somewhere around that fee.

In all fairness, considering he's had exposure on Radio 1, etc, that fee isn't actually too bad. As I said earlier, some DJ's are more reasonable than others. For example, one of the Godskitchen warm-up Trance DJ's (it won't take much working out who i'm referring to) charges more than Lange. Yet another DJ I was quoted for, who is pretty much similar status to Lange wanted twice as much as him. Bizarre.

Just as a guide though, sadly, £500 is about the cheapest you'll be quoted for a DJ - and they're usually residents of the big clubs, or Producer-DJs that are just breaking through. For a fairly "middle of the road" DJ (DJ Mag top 30-40 for example), you're looking at about £1500 to £2000 + VAT (plus flights, hotels, meal, etc), anyone with a Radio 1 background around £4000+.

It must be the best job in the world - silly money for an hour and a half's "work" playing other peoples records - whilst getting drunk for free in the process.....

That's why the Trance scene is on its arse. DJ's just cost far too much - particularly Trance DJs, who seem to charge more than other genres for some strange reason.

One of my old mates used to promote Republica in Oxford. They generally had a rotated music policy of House one month, Trance another month, and Hard House another month. He said that the Trance nights were a struggle to even break even. The profit they made from the House and Hard House nights used to pay for the Trance DJs. For example, they'd book Andy Farley for a few hundred quid. A Trance DJ of similar status/calibre would charge three times as much.

[drtim]

Jules was approx 6.5 grand I was told last week by a fella who worked promoting a club up North. However I think he may have been overcharged, as the club couldn't even recover that cost. But i dunno how long ago that was. he did charge the shit tiny club in Hastings £6000, (theyve shut down now) I know aswell that Tonedeff just couldn't afford him if they wanted any other well-known names on the line-up. But they wanted the kudos, I was also talking to him about Seb Fontaine as we were in his fathers restaurant att, and Seb dad had recently bailed Seb out money wise as he's still living like a superstar DJ but not working like one.

I don't think they can be earning that much now can they? Does Jules even work in the UK anymore?

He does.

August is obviously much quieter than usual due to his weekly Ibiza & BCM commitments, but according to his website he's at;

Status Nightclub, Bangor, N. Ireland,

Berties Nightclub, Newquay, England

Waxfest, Priory Park, Chichester, England.

In 1999 I saw him in Brisbane, Australia - a gig that he flew there exclusively for. He left the UK on the Monday afternoon, played to us on Wed night, and was back in the UK for his Friday show :sweatingbullets: I would LOVE to know what he charged for that!!

[Number2Fan]

Not bad going then.

[Number2Fan]

Not bad going then.

[lennox2s2s]

I honestly cant believe that Jules still charges over 6 grand. Not bad if you only play for about 2 hours....

[Chrissie Brown]

He may have charged 6grand when he was at his peak, probably averages around 1.5-3k these days.

I think you're right Noff, it also depends on the size of the club and distance he has to travel.

When he came to Penzance (3 years ago) l was really surprised at how little he charged! It was a great night too, packed out :thumbsup:

[Number2Fan]

Yeah he has said before that a smaller club, or a promoter he gets on with, will probably pay less.