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DJ contract template.

A booking agreement where the cancellation terms print as real dates and real money rather than as percentages nobody converts — and where a radius clause tells you how many days of your own diary it quietly removes.

Whatever you type here fills in the invoice, tech rider and press kit. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account — it lives in this browser only.

You

The artist name goes on the poster; the legal name goes on anything that moves money.

Artist name

Legal name

Your own name, or your company's.

Phone

Address

Website

Booking agent

Leave blank if bookings come to you.

Registration numbers

Leave blank what does not apply. A sole trader with no VAT registration prints none of these, which is correct.

Company number

VAT number

Tax reference

UTR, TIN, or the equivalent where you are.

Who is booking you

Promoter

Company

Who the invoice is addressed to, if not the person.

Their email

Billing address

An invoice without one gets bounced by accounts departments.

The booking

Event name

Venue

Venue address

Date

Set start

Set end

2h on the floor — the set crosses midnight, which is handled.

The money

Currency

Fee

Before travel, extras or tax.

Deposit

Taken up front to hold the date.

Cancellation

What the promoter owes if they call it off, by how close to the night they leave it. The bands below print as real dates and real money, which is the only form a promoter reads properly.

Cancelled within

days

Fee payable

—

Then within

days

Fee payable

—

Then within

days

Fee payable

—

Radius clause

An exclusivity term stopping you playing near the venue either side of the booking. Promoters ask for these routinely; the thing worth knowing is how many weeks of your own diary it removes.

Include a radius clause

Off by default. Turn it on only if it was actually agreed.

The terms that get argued about

Each of these is a real dispute. The defaults are the artist-favourable reading.

Recording rights

Who owns the recording of your set is the most contested line in a DJ contract, and the one templates leave out.

Travel

Accommodation

Bank charges

A cross-border transfer can lose £20–40 in correspondent fees. Worth one line.

Guest list

places

Deposit is non-refundable

It is what makes a deposit a deposit rather than an advance.

Promoter must disclose a sound limiter or curfew

A limiter that cuts the system at peak is a different gig to the one you were booked for.

Billing — name and prominence as agreed

Force majeure

Governing law

Where a dispute would be heard. Usually where the artist is based, or where the gig is.

Additional terms

Paper

Choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. The text stays selectable, so a promoter can copy the bank details straight out of it.

DJ booking agreement

Date to be confirmed

This agreement is made between the following parties.

The Artist

Your name

The Promoter

Promoter

The engagement

Event: Event
Venue: Venue
Date: to be confirmed
Performance: 23:00 to 01:00 — 2h
Fee: to be confirmed

Terms

1. Engagement

The Promoter engages the Artist to perform a DJ set at the Venue on the Date and at the times set out above (the “Performance”). The Artist will attend in good time to be ready to perform at the stated start time, and the Promoter will make the equipment available and working before that time.

2. Fee and payment

The fee for the Performance is ____________ (the “Fee”). A deposit of 50% (£0.00) is payable on signature of this agreement to secure the Date, with the balance of £0.00 payable within 14 days of the Performance against the Artist’s invoice. The deposit is non-refundable save as provided in the cancellation clause below. All bank and intermediary charges on the transfer are borne by the Promoter, so that the Artist receives the Fee in full.

3. Cancellation by the Promoter

If the Promoter cancels the Performance, the following becomes payable to the Artist:

—31–60 days before: 25% of the Fee (£0.00).
—15–30 days before: 50% of the Fee (£0.00).
—14 days before or fewer: 100% of the Fee (£0.00).

Any deposit already paid is credited against the sum due under this clause.

4. Cancellation by the Artist

If the Artist cancels other than for a reason within the force majeure clause, the Artist will return any deposit within 14 days and will use reasonable endeavours to propose a replacement of comparable standing, whom the Promoter is under no obligation to accept.

5. Force majeure

Neither party is liable for failing to perform where prevented by something outside their reasonable control — including illness, injury, bereavement, government restriction, the closure of the Venue, the withdrawal of its licence, industrial action, or the cancellation of transport. Where the Performance cannot take place for such a reason, the parties will first seek to agree a replacement date, and failing that any deposit is returned and no further sum is due either way.

6. Technical requirements

The Promoter provides, at its own cost, the equipment and booth conditions set out in the Artist’s technical rider, which forms part of this agreement. Any substitution is to be agreed with the Artist in writing before the Date. The Promoter confirms it has disclosed any sound limiter, decibel restriction or curfew applying at the Venue, and will notify the Artist promptly if one is imposed after signature.

7. Travel and accommodation

The Promoter arranges and pays for the Artist’s travel to and from the Venue, and confirms the arrangements in writing no later than 14 days before the Booking Date. The Promoter provides and pays for one twin or double room in a hotel of three stars or better, within reasonable travelling distance of the Venue, for the night of the Performance, with check-out no earlier than 11:00.

8. Recording, streaming and broadcast

The Promoter may record or stream the Performance only with the Artist’s prior written approval. Where approval is given, the Artist retains ownership of their performance in the recording, and the recording may not be sold, licensed or used in paid advertising without a separate written agreement. The Artist is to be supplied with a copy of any recording within 14 days.

9. Billing and promotion

The Artist is billed as ____________ in all promotional material. The Promoter uses only photographs and biography supplied or approved by the Artist, and does not represent the Artist as performing any set, alias or live show other than the one booked.

10. Guest list

The Artist has 2 guest list places, with names to be given to the Promoter no later than 24 hours before doors.

11. Safety and conduct

The Promoter is responsible for the safety and security of the Venue, the audience and the Artist’s equipment while on the premises, and for adequate security at the booth. The Artist will conduct themselves professionally and will not perform under the influence of anything that prevents them doing so.

12. Entire agreement and governing law

This agreement, together with the technical rider, is the whole of what has been agreed between the parties about the Performance, and replaces anything said or written beforehand. It may be varied only in writing signed by both. It is governed by the law of England and Wales, whose courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

For the Artist

Signature

Name

Date

For the Promoter

Signature

Name

Date

This agreement was produced from a free template and is not legal advice. It is a general starting point for a straightforward booking and has not been drafted for the parties, the venue or the country involved. Both parties should read it in full, amend what does not reflect what was actually agreed, and take qualified legal advice before signing anything significant.

The clause that pays for itself

Cancellation, in money rather than percentages.

“Fifty per cent if cancelled within thirty days” is a sentence a promoter reads once and never converts. When the cancellation actually happens — usually by text, usually late, often apologetically — nobody has the contract open, and the conversation starts from scratch.

A line that reads “£600 if cancelled on or after 13 August 2026” starts from somewhere else entirely. There is nothing to interpret, both copies say the same thing, and it is already worked out before anyone is upset. That is the whole idea here: enter the fee and the date, and the ladder prints as dates and amounts.

A default cancellation ladder resolved against a £1,200 booking on 12 September 2026
If the promoter cancels	Which is	Fee payable	On a £1,200 booking
31–60 days before	14 July – 12 August 2026	25%	£300
15–30 days before	13 – 28 August 2026	50%	£600
14 days before or fewer	on or after 29 August 2026	100%	£1,200

An illustration of the shape, not a recommendation — every band in the tool is editable, because there is no standard ladder and anyone who tells you there is has one to sell you.

The clause nobody costs

What a radius clause takes out of your year

A radius clause stops you playing within a distance of the venue for a period either side of the booking. Promoters ask for them routinely and there is usually nothing sinister about it — they do not want to be selling tickets against you playing a mile away three weeks earlier.

The problem is that it is written as two numbers and lived as a range of dates. Sixty days before and thirty after is not “ninety days” in any way you can feel; it is a specific stretch of calendar, starting well before you have thought about the booking at all. Take three of them in a city you play often and they can overlap into most of the year without any one of them looking unreasonable.

So the tool prints the two dates and the total. It is off by default — plenty of bookings have no radius clause and adding one to your own contract would be arguing against yourself — but if the promoter has asked for one, this is where you find out what you are agreeing to.

What else is in it

The terms that turn into arguments.

The rest of the agreement is boilerplate and should be: engagement, fee and payment, force majeure, safety, governing law. Four of them are worth an actual decision, and they are the four the tool asks you about.

Recording and streaming. Who owns the recording of your set is the most contested line in a DJ contract and the one templates leave out entirely, which is how a set ends up somewhere you did not agree to.

Travel and accommodation. Not who arranges it — who pays for it, and by when it has to be confirmed. “We’ll sort your travel” in March means very little in September.

A limiter or a curfew. A venue with a limiter that cuts the system at peak is a different booking to the one you accepted. Requiring the promoter to disclose it in advance costs them nothing if there is nothing to disclose.

Bank charges. One line, and on an international transfer it is worth £20 to £40 of your fee.

The technical side belongs in its own document, which is what the tech rider is for — this contract incorporates it by reference rather than trying to list equipment inside a legal clause.

Frequently asked

Common questions

Do I need a contract for a DJ gig?+

For a local booking with someone you know, an email that states the date, the times, the fee and when it is paid is a contract and will do. Ask for a written agreement as soon as any of the following is true: the fee is big enough to matter, travel or accommodation is involved, it is somebody you have not worked with, or the booking is far enough away that either side could reasonably forget what was said. The clause that earns its place is cancellation — everything else you will probably never look at again.

What should a DJ booking contract include?+

The parties, the venue, the date, the set times and the fee; when the deposit and balance are paid; what happens if either side cancels; who pays for travel and a room; what technical requirements apply; who may record or stream the set; and which country's law governs it. The two that get argued about later are the cancellation ladder and the recording rights, which is why both are decisions here rather than blanks.

What is a radius clause and should I sign one?+

It stops you playing near the venue for a period either side of the booking, so the promoter is not competing with your own gig down the road. It is normal and it is often reasonable. What is not reasonable is signing one without converting it into dates: a 90-day-before, 30-day-after clause on a booking in September has already taken your July, and if you have three of them in a year they can overlap into most of your diary. Turn it on here and it prints the two dates and the total number of days it removes.

How much should a DJ charge if a gig is cancelled?+

A ladder, because the closer to the date it is cancelled the less chance you have of replacing the income. Something like 25% if they cancel between 30 and 60 days out, 50% inside 30 days and the full fee inside 14 is a common shape, and every band here is editable because there is no standard. Note what that means at the top of the ladder: cancel earlier than the widest band and nothing is owed at all. The important part is not the percentages — it is that the contract prints them as amounts and dates, so when it happens there is nothing to interpret.

Who owns the recording of my DJ set?+

Whatever the contract says, and most templates say nothing at all, which is how a set ends up on a promoter's YouTube channel or sold as part of a compilation. There are three sensible positions and this tool offers all three: recording only with your written approval, the promoter may record and owns it, or no recording at all. The default here is approval, because it is the artist downloading this. Whichever you pick, ask for a copy within a fixed number of days — you will want it and nobody sends it unprompted.

Is a deposit refundable?+

Only if the contract says so, which is exactly why it needs to say so. A deposit that is refundable on demand is an advance: it holds the date in name only. The default here makes it non-refundable except under the cancellation clause, and credits anything already paid against whatever becomes due if the promoter cancels — so the promoter is not paying twice and you are not chasing two separate sums.

Is this contract legally binding?+

A signed agreement between two parties who intend to be bound generally is. But this is a general template, not legal advice, and it has not been drafted for you, your promoter, your venue or the country the gig is in. Read every clause, change anything that does not match what you actually agreed, and take proper advice on anything substantial, unusual, or worth enough that a dispute would hurt.

Does the fee here match my invoice?+

Yes. The booking is stored once in your browser and read by the invoice, the technical rider and the press kit as well as this contract. Set the fee and the deposit here and the invoice already knows both, which removes the most common way two documents about the same gig end up disagreeing.

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