Around 10:30pm, someone from the company walks over to the booth and asks whether we can keep going. It is one of the better problems an event can have, and it is also a decision involving money, a venue and a building, made in about forty seconds in a loud room. This post explains how DJ overtime works, who should make the call, what the venue has already decided for you, and what to say to the DJ so the answer is yes when it can be.
What overtime is
Our packages cover up to four hours of performance. Time beyond that is the Extended Hours add-on, priced by the hour and listed on your quote, so the figure exists in writing before the event and nobody is negotiating it across a dance floor. It is billed after the event, since it cannot be known before, and it is the one line on the invoice that runs on your company's normal payment terms. There is no price in this post on purpose; the number belongs on your quote, alongside the other add-ons on the pricing page, where it can be approved in advance by whoever approves such things.
Overtime is measured from the scheduled end of performance, not from when the room feels done. If the package ran 7 to 11 and the music stops at 11:20, that is an extension. Whether a twenty-minute extension is billed as a full hour is in the agreement, and it is a fair question to ask any DJ before the event rather than on the night.
When the decision happens, and who makes it
The right moment to decide is about thirty minutes before the scheduled end, not five. Here is why. The last twenty minutes of a set are built as a landing: the tempo settles, the songs get more familiar, and the room is walked gently toward its coats. Once that sequence has started, extending is not "keep going," it is restarting, and a floor that has been told the night is ending does not always believe it when told otherwise. If the extension is agreed at 10:30 for an 11 o'clock end, the landing simply moves to 11:40 and nobody in the room notices a decision was made. That is the goal.
Thirty minutes out is also when the room has shown its hand. The signs a DJ reads: the floor is full and people are still walking onto it rather than off it; the bar line is short, because people are dancing rather than queuing; coats are not appearing; and the people the room looks to, the senior people and the loud table, are still in the middle of it. When those hold at 10:30, the floor has another hour in it. When the floor is thinning and phones are out, it does not, and the kinder decision is to land the night on time and well.
Who decides: one person, named before the event, with the authority to spend the company's money. This matters more than it sounds. On the night, the person at the booth asking for another hour is frequently not the person who booked the event, and is frequently the most enthusiastic person in the room. We will not extend on the word of a guest, however senior they seem, and neither should any DJ you hire. Tell us at the planning call who can authorize overtime and give us their mobile number. If they have gone home, the answer is no, and that protects you.
What the venue has already decided
The DJ's willingness is usually the smallest obstacle. The venue has a curfew, written into your venue contract, and it is the ceiling on the night regardless of what anyone at the booth wants. Past that, several things happen that have nothing to do with music:
- Venue overtime. Bar staff, security, coat check and the venue manager are all on the clock. The venue's charge for an extra hour is frequently larger than any DJ's, and it is billed to you.
- Sound limits. Many rooftops and some restaurants have a time after which amplified music must drop or stop, set by neighbors and the building rather than the venue. A DJ can play past it only quietly, which is not what anyone asking for overtime wants.
- Load-out windows. In Manhattan, our load-out is often scheduled against a freight elevator and a dock, and in some buildings against a house crew whose shift ends at a set time. Playing an extra hour can push the load-out into a window the building did not approve, which in a union building means charges that go to the venue and then to you.
- The next event. Some venues turn a room the same night or early the next morning. The curfew is not negotiable in those rooms, because the cleaners are already in the hallway.
All of this is why the overtime question should be asked of the venue at the planning stage, not of the DJ at 10:30. Ask what the hard stop is, what an extra hour costs from the venue, and whether the sound limit changes late. The venue questions to ask before you book entertainment includes these. If the venue says the room is yours until midnight and the package ends at eleven, you have an option. If the venue says eleven, you do not, and no amount of enthusiasm changes it.
What the DJ needs to hear from you
Three things, in this order, from the person authorized to say them:
- A time, not a song. "Keep going until midnight" is a decision. "One more song" is not, because one more song becomes another and the set never gets its landing. If you want fifteen more minutes, say "end at 11:15" and we will build the last fifteen minutes to end there.
- Confirmation the venue is on board. Either you have already checked, or you tell us to check with the venue manager, which we will do between songs. We will not extend into a curfew.
- Acknowledgement that it is billable. Not a signature; a sentence. "Yes, add the hour." It means nobody is surprised by the invoice, which is the whole point of having the rate on the quote.
What we do with that: adjust the set so the new end time gets a proper close, check the microphone battery if there is a closing announcement coming, and note the time the extension was agreed and by whom. The last is for your benefit as much as ours when the invoice is reviewed.
Planning so that overtime is a choice
The best overtime is the kind you decided about in advance. If the run of show ends at eleven and the venue allows midnight, decide before the night whether you would take the extra hour if the room wants it, and get that approved along with the rest of the budget. Then the call at 10:30 is a yes or no on something already authorized, rather than a fresh spending decision made by someone holding a drink. The opposite is also fine: some companies want a hard end so that people get home, and a set built to land at eleven, with a closing announcement and the lights coming up, does that better than a set that trails off. Ending a corporate event on time covers the landing in detail.
What to send us
Date, venue and rough headcount to start; the venue's hard stop and the name of the person who can authorize an extension when we get to the planning call. Use the contact page or call (201) 705-3139. We reply within 24 hours.