An essential part of any booking deal is the riders. There are two different riders: a technical rider and a hospitality rider. To perform well, you need to have the right equipment and the proper artist care, also known as artist handling. Every professional event, venue, or promoter should have this sorted out. They will probably ask you for it right after you make the deal. But you have to make sure that your rider is already agreed on before the agreement is made. So it would be best if you had these two documents ready to send.
Technical Rider
This is the document that states exactly what you need in terms of equipment and sound. A DJ setup usually consists of a certain amount of turntables, vinyl or CD, your preferred mixer, and proper monitors in the booth. Since you can never be sure of the quality of any sound system, it never hurts first to go check out the venue on another night. As a live act or playing with vinyl, a soundcheck is crucial. You need to agree on a time before the night or day starts to set up all your gear, hear if everything sounds ok, and meet the technician. And be friendly and cooperative to everyone you meet, because they're the ones who are working for you to make everything sound as best as it can get. To make sure everything is set up exactly as you'd like, it's always good to have a picture or a drawing - sometimes it's called a stage plan, of how you would like the equipment to be set up and also of the size and height of the table everything should be on. All this should be confirmed before you make the deal to perform on the highest level you can achieve.
Hospitality Rider
This document deals with the comfort of the artist on the day of the show. So it's a list of requests to make sure you're taken care of, so you can do a proper performance. The list should include the following:
- A good amount of specific food and beverages (Think about healthy food as you might do this daily and have no time to eat at home.)
- A fan and or fresh towels. As the temperature can be high on stage.
- Transportation (If the travel would be too long from your place to go with your transport), you can ask for travel costs like a taxi & flight. Or let them arrange transport. Discuss these during the deal-making phase.
- Accommodation (if you are too far from home). This could be a hotel, Airbnb, or a friend's couch. Whatever the arrangement is, don't end up sleepless. Ask for an extra fee or let them arrange something.
- Several complimentary tickets or guests lists. You should be able to bring some people to your show as it can be very lonely on tour. But keep this reasonable.
- A stage manager or artist handler. A proper club or festival should always have someone taking care of the stage or its people. They are the people who make sure you have everything you need before, during, and after the show.
Remember to not ask for crazy things as this can only work against you; they may not book you again if you have high demands. Take this as a rule: You should be treated as you would treat special guests at your home. It should also work the other way around. So it would help if you treated the booker like you would treat a friend you are visiting. So with respect.
To do: create your riders in a PDF or word file.
Example Riders
Here is an example of my rider:
