iPod Wedding... Beauty or Beast

A while back a wedding coordinator friend turned me on to an article about the “iPod Weddings” and I sent a letter to the writer. Below is that letter (followed by the original article):

I'm sure you've had have some response to your article on iPod weddings and I would imagine that some DJ’s would be uncomfortable, at the very least with someone planting the idea of planning an iPod Wedding into the heads of young professionals who may be engaged. Your story focused more on the cost savings and music flexibility as the reasons for couples to consider an iWedding. I think there was a component of couples considering an iWedding that was missed. I will address that reason and offer my thoughts as well on the points you make to explain why I feel couples would be potentially setting themselves up for failure trying to program their own music for their iWedding.

I feel that a stronger reason couples would consider an iWedding is that they are trying to avoid all of the stereotypical antics that are associated with a wedding DJ. You mentioned in your article that couples were formatting what we call in our industry the “novelty, group dance songs” like the Chicken Dance, (actually called Dance, Little Birdie) and the like into their iPods. I would argue that the couples doing the iPod weddings have been to the weddings with all of the “normal”, arguably overplayed wedding music and are looking to stray far from that type of music fair for their weddings. I have been a professional Disc Jockey for over 20 years and can honestly say that I have not played most of the “novelty” songs for my clients in many years. My client base is typically high end professionals with varied music preferences and looks to stay away from the “typical wedding music”. They might be prime candidates for an iWedding but the missing link is the human dynamic. That said the human dynamic does not have to be the used car salesman type DJ for a wedding. There are some, albeit few DJ’s like me who don’t pull the normal DJ Shtick and actually focus on playing the right music at the right time, tastefully.

Every event has a flow to it and there are natural peaks and valleys in that flow that if anticipated, recognized and capitalized upon can turn an average event into a phenomenal event. This is one aspect where the iPod falls short. Sure you can program the music that you like or that you think your friends and hopefully your family will like but the elusive dynamic of timing is completely lost on an iWedding. If you happen to do the cake cutting after an upbeat tune like the White Stripes it most certainly won’t ruin the wedding. However, if you know the cake cutting is coming up and set it up with the proper music like Al Green’s, Let’s Stay Together then maybe, James Taylor’s, How Sweet It Is (cake… sweet.. get it.) the perceived flow from the wedding guests will be, dare I say, perfect. Also, the iPod or average couple planning the wedding probably doesn’t know that there will be a natural lull, for lack of a better term, following the cake cutting so that is the perfect time to work in those special mid tempo requests while the guests enjoy their dessert before taking the dance floor back up a few notches.

Suffice it to say that unless you have a professional babysitting the iPod you are not going to have the events play out seamlessly and effortlessly which is a major key to a great and memorable event. Another consideration is the time that it takes the iPod to go from song to song… again, not something that would ruin the event but definitely not the smoothest execution of the music. And yes, I know that iTunes will mix the music so that it overlaps slightly but having someone, hopefully not the Bride or Groom, trying to search for and start a new playlist can take more than a few seconds which I’m sure would feel like an eternity if you have a dance floor full of eyes watching you. I worked for years in dance clubs and although it is a very different style of playing music, monitoring and responding to the flow in the music’s energy is an important part of creating the atmosphere. Planning a wedding is all about spending your time and money to create an atmosphere and nobody intentionally wants to create a mediocre event. An iWedding is destined to be mediocre simply because of its inability to anticipate and react to the timing of the event’s flow.
You mentioned cost savings in your article and I would say that in most cases couples are jeopardizing the amount of time, money and effort they have put into every other aspect of their event if they choose to ignore the great impact that the timing and music format have on the guest’s perception of the event. They can have a $50,000 wedding but if the music is choppy, awkward or not timed properly the guests will surely remember their event for all of the wrong reasons.

You also mentioned increased music variety as a reason for the iWeddings. I say, c’mon… you can’t be serious. Any disc Jockey worth their weight in vinyl 45’s most certainly has virtually any genre of music in his/her collection or readily available to them on one of the many legal music downloading sites. For the record, Weezer is not really considered eclectic. In the year 2006 the internet has really removed the veil of obscurity for most any artist with even a small following and falling under the umbrella of eclectic is hazy, at best and reserved for the intentionally obscure (i.e. those without web sites).

While I do not dispute that it is quite possible for someone to try and format a wedding using an iPod I would have to argue that the final outcome of that event would be much different than if they had hired a professional DJ to play the music. So to the potential iPod Wedding planners… charge up those iPod batteries and format those playlists but don’t come crying to us DJ’s when your wedding slips into mediocrity and Aunt Sue or your co-workers are raving about the awesome DJ at the wedding last month.

Carl Jr.
Classic Disc Jockeys

Corrections to your article:
The iDJ actually operates 2 iPods at a time and retails for under $300.
The iDJ2 plays multiple songs simultaneously from 1 iPod and retails for under $600.


More couples program iPods for wedding music
By Raymund Flandez, The Wall Street Journal

Rich Wells is a disc jockey who has provided music for more than 600 weddings in Cincinnati since 1992. It has been a good business, earning him an average of $1050 for five hours of work.
But Mr. Wells sees a competitor on the horizon: iPods and other digital music players. Instead of hiring DJs like Mr. Wells, some couples are choosing the tunes themselves. They are programming music into iPods for their receptions and plugging the device into sound systems so guests can dance to such wedding stalwarts as the "Chicken Dance" and the "Macarena."
Some agencies that book DJs and audio rental companies sense a business opportunity: They are renting iPods programmed with wedding music and sound equipment. The 51-year-old Mr. Wells, though, isn't pleased. "Honestly, I felt a little threatened" by the use of wedding iPods, he says, adding that he thinks the trend "will run its course."
But many DJs fear this newfangled music system isn't a fad. Ken Wilson, a 47-year-old DJ in San Diego, says his colleagues have called iPods the "downfall of the DJ industry."
Audio rental companies say they are seeing an increase in customers renting amplifiers and sound systems, which can cost $150 on average for the evening. By contrast, the cost of a professional DJ varies by location. In Cincinnati, DJs typically charge $125 an hour; in Austin, Texas, it is as much as $800 for six hours. In Manhattan, the price can skyrocket to $4,000 for five hours of work. John Ragusa, owner of John Ragusa Music, a New York-based company that books bands and DJs, estimates he may have lost about 3 percent of his wedding business last year to iPod users, but he still was hired for 80 events.
Yet more DJs are working in the business now than a decade ago, and they aren't lacking for work. In 2005, 72 percent of the 2.3 million weddings in the U.S. had entertainment provided by DJs vs. 30 percent of about the same number of weddings in 1992, says the trade group National Association of Mobile Entertainers.
DJs say that despite the convenience and cost efficiency of iPods, the tiny music player is no match for a DJ's musical timing and experience with song selection. "DJs can think on the fly and make adjustments," says Mr. Ragusa. "The whole idea of a party is that it's fluid. It's dynamic. It's an art."
Kerri McHale, a 29-year-old graphic designer from Richmond, Calif., considered using a DJ for her 2004 wedding, but was put off by the $700 to $1,000 cost. Instead, she rented a couple of speakers from a wedding rental business to hook to her laptop and iTunes library for $75. That saved her a substantial sum on a wedding that still totaled $15,000.
For some do-it-yourself couples, the iPod has advantages besides the lower cost. They have more control of the playlist, and DJs may not have certain songs if the bride and groom have eclectic music tastes. (One couple played songs from the alternative rock band Weezer.)
It's even easier for couples to DJ their wedding with new iPod-compatible equipment. Numark Industries, a professional DJ and audio equipment maker, last year introduced a $400 system, the iDJ, that lets people use one iPod to stream songs. A new version scheduled for release later this year, the $899 iDJ2, has features that allow DJs to scratch and manipulate pitch. Both consoles accommodate iPods and other MP3 players.
Some couples have tried to hire Mr. Wilson, the San Diego DJ, to mind their iPod playlists during their wedding, but he refuses. "I'm certainly not going to just sit beside the table and make sure their iPods don't get stolen," he says.
But he will rent speakers, stands, amplifiers, mixers and tables for iPod users. He charges $350 for 24 hours, including equipment delivery and pickup and a tutorial for setting it up. His typical wedding DJ package ranges from $600 to up to $1,500.
Some DJs are using iPods themselves as backups during events so they can carry less compact discs. "You use it as an auxiliary music source," says Russ Melanson, owner of Glen Burnie, Md.-based RLO Productions LLC, a DJ booking agency.
Mark McAfee, owner of Barr Mansion, a reception hall in Austin, Texas, says about 20 weddings have used iPods at his venue in the past few years. Mr. McAfee says he's not surprised by the iPod wedding trend. Before the digital music player, couples burned their own CDs and played them on speakers, he says. "They don't talk to us about music selection so much," he says. "They just ask us if it can be hooked in or not."
Some wedding professionals think iPods are in poor taste. Claudia Hanlin, a partner at the Wedding Library, a wedding planning firm in New York, says couples should restrict iPods to rehearsal dinners or after-parties. iPod music at receptions may be off-putting. "The whole feeling is much less professional," she says.
Allison Emmerson, a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Cincinnati, got married in July 2005 to Nate Emmerson, a 23-year-old paralegal. The couple's friends tried to talk them out of going the iPod route because they felt it would ruin the reception. It didn't. Ms. Emmerson says guests hit the dance floor to the tunes that emanated from the iPod -- which included David Bowie and the White Stripes. She says. "If you have good music and you have a fun atmosphere, you're going to have people dancing."