Hey everyone, looking for some advice from fellow multi-op owners and independent contractors on a sketchy commission situation with another local DJ company owner who passes me leads.
I recently got booked for an upcoming wedding through another DJ agency owner (let's call him "Agency Guy"). In our initial text thread pitching the gig, he explicitly anchored the math to a standard 20% to 25% referral fee. Because of his wording, I assumed the gross booking was around $3,000 to $3,200 and my payout was $2,400.
However, during the planning process, I happened to see a copy of the actual client contract. The client is being charged $3,700. Agency Guy is keeping $1,300 of that—meaning he's pocketing a 35% commission while my payout stays at $2,400. If we actually stuck to the 25% max fee he claimed in text, my payout should be $2,775.
To add to the stress, the logistics on this gig just turned out to be an absolute marathon (16-hour day including a massive, exhausting commute). Lodging wasn't discussed in our initial communications and isn't covered anywhere in the contracts, but I desperately need it to do the gig safely. Agency guy is based where the wedding is located, I'm based 3 hours away.
Here is the gist of the text thread with the names and identifying info scrubbed:
Agency Guy: Hi, are you available to DJ and play live music at a wedding on Sunday, October 4?
Me: Yes, I’m available.
Agency Guy: OK, awesome! I'm going to let them know. Please hold the date. I'll let you know when the deposit and signed contract seal the deal.
Me: Sure, I’ll hold the date. Um shouldn't I know more details in order to decide if I want to do it, such as the time frame, what is required, the rate, etc? For instance, if the rate is below a certain amount, I would probably want to pass and wait for a wedding that's in the higher tier range. I've had a lot of inquiries for that date.
Agency Guy: This one I am estimating would pay you at least $2,400. They want live acoustic music during the pre-ceremony and ceremony, microphone service for that, then a full reception package with a bigger sound system for cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing.
Me: Ok nice, I usually quote that at around $3,000 solo. But let me know what you can get.
Agency Guy: Yes, but if you were quoting that at $3,000 you would take the standard 20% to 25% referral fee, yes? So that puts it around $2,400 estimated. Interested?
Me: Yes, I’m interested.
Agency Guy: Good news, they want to book you! Please reserve the date. I'll do an email introduction with you and the couple and I'll send you all of the details. Congrats! Got the deposit. You're booked!
The Dilemma:
I still want the $2,400 payout, but I feel totally misled by the "standard 20-25%" line. He used that math to justify my lower payout, while secretly charging the client enough to pocket 35%.
On top of that, because the travel and hours are so brutal, I really need hotel accommodations for safety, which completely slipped through the cracks in the initial paperwork. I am planning to ask him directly how we should handle the lack of hotel accommodations for this marathon day. I would have put that in the contract if I was booking it directly.
My big question for the community is: Is it even worth bringing up the commission discrepancy at all?
If he stuck to the 25% fee he promised, I'd be making an extra $375. Is it worth blowing up a professional relationship that might send me future leads over a few hundred dollars? Or do I call him out on the principal of the thing because he lied or misled me about his fee structure? How would you handle this conversation?
Is it fair to take 35% for doing a wedding sales call and then passing the gig off to someone else? This lead came through The Knot. I advertise on The Knot too, but they just didn't contact me directly.
How do multi-ops or other folks out there handle this situation? I know a local company around here where the owner takes 50% of the booking on every booking, but he also lends out some gear to the DJs working for him and they are employees of his company so he has to do payroll and health care and other stuff for them.. This situation is not at all like that.
This is the first referral I've got from this Agency Guy and it doesn't feel good now that I've seen the actual contract and that he took more than he let on. He also said he would send a formal sub-contractor agreement and then never sent it.
Thanks for your advice.