| INTRODUCTION |
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For sound commercial
reasons our Premier roster is only open to established international
'name' DJ's and performers (send us an email if that's you).
However, we have always encouraged the many talented and
experienced professional DJ's out there, those with a wide performance
experience on the UK circuit and who are seeking to find a bigger
stage or greater exposure internationally.
We are known
for our innovative "first to do it" strategies. In
case you weren't aware we were the World's first web-based DJ
agency, the World's first to offer industry coachings days for
non-technical DJ promotion skills, and in 2005 the World's first
agency to offer DJ bookings on eBay - in similar vein our Risin'
roster was created n response to many requests from emerging
DJ's and at the time was the industry's first professional stepping
stone roster.
Our aim is help
promising DJ's make the step-up to a higher World profile, but
sadly we can't help everyone. Our selection is rigorous - as
an established player in the industry we have a reputation to
protect. We invest a considerable amount in time and hard cash
in set-up, administration, advertising and office overheads for
every every DJ on the books so we only take a small number of
artists, those who have already demonstrated by their own efforts
that they have the potential to be the major international stars
of the future.
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| MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! |
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Artists for Risin' are
selected by exactly the same rigorous standards as our Premier
roster in regard to talent, reliability, professionalism, as
well as on critical factors relating to commercial viability
such as presentation, determination, attitude and star quality
as well as bags of experience across the club circuit. Unfortunately
just being a good mixer is not enough to make you a star in todays
overcrowded and competitive market - the other elements must
be present too.
Acceptance onto
Risin' means the dedicated performers we think have the potential
to "make it" are able to support their own efforts
to reach the highest levels of professional DJ'ing, by association
with and support of the Sparkle brand and the worldwide exposure
our roster provides, and be recognised in terms of talent alongside
some of the best name artists in the business.
You must be/have, NO
EXCEPTIONS;
- over 21 (to
comply with international laws regarding employment on licensed
premises)
- a home base on mainland UK and be resident there for
at least 10 months of the year
- at least 4 to 5 years total public performance experience.
- 2 years regular bookings, ie weekly, across a wide geographical
selection of the recognised UK circuit
- ideally some international DJ experience
- a live e-mail address, mobile phone, driving licence/transport,
and valid passport
- an e-mailable professional standard DJ profile and press pics
(not sure? - click HERE for an example).
- a professional standard CD or DVD demo/showreel (need blank
CD's, DVD's, cases, labelling kits or accessories?
- click HERE
for our recommended supplier)
- a professional
DJ website with regularly updated online mixes to link to. (if
you haven't got one yet see HERE)
- no criminal convictions which might stop you from obtaining
visas to work abroad (ie drugs or major offences).
- ability or mix on digital media as well as vinyl - this
is very important, if you can't do this as DJ you will be
dead in the water in a couple of years time,
so learn NOW!
- a totally dedicated and professional approach to your DJ'ing.
- we prefer artists with two or three DJ music styles, or a live
element to their performance
- at the current
time we are NOT taking any Hard Dance/Hard Trance/Hardstyle artists
onto Risin'
- if you
are a mainstream commercial DJ click HERE for info about joining
our Commercial roster
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| HOW WE OPERATE |
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We are a full commercial
operating agency that complies with the Conduct of Employment
Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 with full
time, part time, and freelance staff with over 55 years premier
DJ'ing, promotion and management experience between us, as well
as commercial skills in sales, business management, jornalism,
training, and graphic design. Don't confuse us with the
many hobby DJ sites and paid/free DJ registers/listings on the
web - they are mainly speculative lists of hundreds (often thousands)
of DJ hopefuls - many of them with low levels of experience.
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We support our services
with paid magazine and trade journal advertising, flyer campaigns,
and top Internet search rankings.
At time of writing
Sparkle have top 5 listings on Google, NTL, Virgin, Ask Jeeves,
CNN, AltaVista, MSN, CNN, Excite, InfoSpace, Go2Net, Dogpile,
Overture, Webcrawler, Metacrawler as well as PPC advertising
campaigns, plus additional sales and advertising from our eBay
Store, ongoing promotion and PR, and partnering with other industry
businesses to help give our performers appropriate industry exposure,
plus the hundreds of contacts generated by our flyer and poster
design studio - we have thousands of venues and promoter contacts
worldwide to market to.
Many of the DJ's
accepted onto Risin' at the time of publication have featured
in our full colour double page spreads in the 2003/4 and 2004/5
and 2005/6 and 2006/7 Music Industry Manual in both the DJ Agencies
section and the all important DJ Directory pages plus a three
page editorial feature in the 2006/7 edition (see pictures right)
as well as display advertising in various free magssuch as ICE,
The Tune Review (TTR) and the 2003 season premier Ibizan club
guide NATIVE (ex-Cultura) and UPFRONT.
We also place
adverts internationally and in various genre specific media from
time to time, though specific artist inclusion varies depending
on the target market.
Sparkle Agency is also
researched on a regular basis by TV, printed media, film and
advertising companies looking for DJ's to take part in a diverse
range of opportunities - 2 Sparkle artists were in the EMMY and
BAFTA winning DJ episode of "Faking It", 3 in editions
of "The Weakest Link", 6 nominated for "The Joy
of Decks", 2 nominated for the "Ladette to Lady"
reality TV show and 1 for "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire"
plus various vox-pop and interview shows, shop openings been
panel judges on OXY/Smash Hits "Search For A Band"
on THE BOX, contributed extras and technical advisors to TV and
film productions,and even opened their souls for articles and
photo shoots for Marie Claire magazine - well we did say diverse,
and there's almost no such thing as bad publicity!
We are often
asked why we don't place adverts in DJ magazines - simple, we
are not a DJ club, directory, or listing service, we are a pro
booking agent and our promotion is targeted at promoters, venues,
and event companies - not at other DJs or clubbers like many
seem to do. As a reputable agency we don't need to advertise
for artists so we can spend our budget on reaching the people
who book them!
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| WHAT IT COSTS |
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Sorry
people - we would love to do this for free (and perhaps we will
do one day) but for the moment we have to bow to commercial pressures
and charge an annual fee towards the costs of a professional write up, graphic
finishing and publishing of your information on our website pages
and roster lists, updating and re-publishing them, and preparation
of suitable professional artwork for the agency's advertsing
in trade magazines or other media as appropriate.as well as the
set-up and administation
costs of featuring each artist.
UK based DJ's
may apply free of charge and if accepted we will charge you a
publication fee of £100 per year. All artists accepted
will automatically be provided with representation to the same
high standard as our Premier roster artists, providing they sign
our non-exclusive agency agreements.
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| ADDITIONAL BENEFITS |
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Apart from providing
the same high quality agency booking services for Risin' artists
as for our Premier artists there are a number of additional benefits
available to Risin' artists.
The possibility
of promotion to the Premier roster alongside our well known headline
acts as your experience and marketability widens and appropriate
places become available (please note this is not automatic
and is entirely at the discretion of the Agency). Chris Davies,
DJ Jolie, SophieDJ, Miss Kelly Marie and Kinky D have all made
the jump from Risin' to Premier in the last two years.
£50
off
the cost
of our Pro Industry Coaching Days (click HERE for details) for you
and up to 4 friends, subject to suitability for the course
and at a date convenient to the Agency.
Use of the Sparkle
brand logos, and agency promotional materials available from
time to time for your own marketing activities (permission required
for any retail use - ie use on CD's offered for sale)
Template pro-forma
DJ contracts for work you may find yourself.
Inclusion on
our mailing list for other DJ opportunities that Sparkle get
asked for assistance on - charity events, DJ competitions, free
play parties, magazine articles, TV game or reality shows - and
anything else that comes along that is an opportunity for some
extra exposure for you. You are under absolutely no obligation
to take part in play for free events or similar, though we would
expect you to take up paid DJ bookings offered if you were available
and the event was appropriate to you music style
E-mail help with
just about anything DJ or promotion related during normal
office hours.
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| LEGAL & STUFF WE HAVE TO TELL YOU |
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Under employment legislation
(The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses
Regulations 2003) effective 6th April 2004 we are required to
have specific written agreements with all artists joining or
continuing on our roster. We operate as an "Employment Agency"
under the terms of the legislation, representing artists for
the purposes of contracting them for temporary occasional work
with bookers as performer/s in the entertainment industry.
Representation
by Sparkle does not constitute employment with the Agency. All
contracts are direct contracts betwen the artist and the booker,
not the Agency. For more info on our terms and conditions of
business and booking see HERE
To avoid any confusion
please note we are a booking agent, and don't currently offer
management or individual artist promotion or plugging for our
Risin' artists - if that's what you are looking for you need
to get yourself a manager or marketing/PR person as well as applying
to Risin'. Just like our Premier roster, we make no guarantee
relating to quanties of bookings as you will appreciate this
is subject entirely to market forces - however we do offer a
high level of professional international exposure alongside our
established artists and the bookings that this generates are
usually of a high calibre and well paid.
We do NOT charge
promoters a booking fee or (currently at least) VAT - this makes
the booking transaction very attractive to bookers and has contributed
greatly to the popularity of our agency with promoters worldwide.
Acceptance onto
our roster requires that business dealings between you and us
are confidential and that you carry out your performer duties
and business in a professional and courteous manner - artists
on our roster must be good ambassadors for Sparkle as well as
good performers!
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| HOW TO APPLY |
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Email us your full professional
DJ CV along with a covering note telling us a bit about yourself
- if we like what we see we will ask for a demo (CD/CD-ROM only).
If we select you we will send you our agency agreement and ask
for your publication fee. Don't forget we look at the professional
presentation of your demo and CV as much as your experience and
technical skills.
Need blank CD's,
DVD's, cases, labelling kits or accessories? - click HERE
for our recommended supplier
Please do not
apply if you haven't got the required experience as detailed
above, live outside the UK or don't have current regular bookings
in the UK - your application won't be successful, however you
may still be interested in our Pro DJ Career & Industry Coaching
Day to help you boost your DJ bookings - click HERE for details
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