Booking Gigs for 2021? A Report from the Front Lines

We asked DJs how booking were going for 2021, and if there’s any light at the end of the long dark tunnel this industry has endured.

Shawn Roberts, South Dakota
I’m 85% booked from spring through fall, and I’m now starting to take 2022 bookings.

Andrew DeLassio, NYC
Things are opening up a little at a time, but the phone is still quiet.
Same for my friends in the area.

Jason Escalona, South Florida
We’ve received four calls for proms, two for weddings, and then a private school dance. Budgets are a killer, though. If it’s not COVID it’s the cash.

John Hubela, New York City
The city that never sleeps has yet to wake up.

Shawn Michael Shipper, Eastern Pennsylvania
No light in sight.

Keith Smith, Tennessee
We’re almost totally booked out the rest of this year and booking 2022 like crazy.

Lee Grube, Nevada
Our dumb governor won’t allow gatherings for private events past ten people of the same household yet. Ugh.

Geoff Sockol, Washington DC
In the DC area we’ve had an uptick in leads and bookings just in the last two weeks.

Kurtus Nichols, Ohio
We’re seeing an amazing light at the end of the tire/tunnel since turning into 2021. We’re approaching a hundred weddings booked.

James Glick, Indiana
Indiana just passed a bill that should make venues more comfortable with events. It prevents lawsuits against the venue and the event hosts, as long as the recommendations are being followed by the event staff.

As far as private events go, I never slowed down. But I’m accoustomed to public events four nights a week, and those all stopped cold turkey last March 24, and so far I’ve only managed to book theee public events since then.

Vito Malo, New Zealand
It’s humbling to see where the rest of the world is at compared to us here.

Brian Adams, New Jersey
Many halls are doing postponed weddings that are really scaled down. There seems to be an interest in services, but no one’s really pulling the trigger—and many of the dates that are being searched for are late 2021 , 2022 or 2023. Private events are non-existent, at least in south Jersey. Events that I normally do are cancelled again for this year. And attendance numbers are not adding up for events to be successful.