PLI (Public Liability Insurance) is important in case of accidents, injury or damage caused by the DJ or their equipment. PLI covers legal liabilities in the event that an entertainer is sued by a third party for damages in the event of an accident or damage caused. For example, if a disco lighting stand were to collapse due to negligence or unsuitability and injure a guest at a function, the injured party would have a greater chance of realising compensation should a court award in their favour.

It is not currently a legal requirement for mobile entertainers to be PLI-backed but needadisco.com regards this as good practice for the protection of the client, their guests, and an entertainers ongoing business commitments.

PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) applies to any piece of electrical equipment which connects to a premises mains supply and which is portable. Workplaces and public areas such as shops and restaurants all have to provide regular PAT testing of their portable appliances in order to comply with the Electricity At Work regulations, Provision and Use of Work Equipment regulations, to comply with Health & Safety requirements and satisfy fire inspectors.

However, there is currently no legal requirement for mobile entertainers to PAT test their equipment. To minimise the risk of fire and injury caused by appliances, especially high-powered audio and lighting equipment which is being used in a public place, needadisco.com considers it good practice for mobile DJs to regularly test their equipment.

Lots of disco equipment is used in environments where the public in attendance are often the worse for drink - increasing the risk of them coming into contact with equipment they might otherwise ignore and significantly increasing the risk of liquid spillages affecting the equipment. Any item without a good earth connection could then become lethal. Regular PAT testing would identify equipment with poor connections enabling them to be repaired or taken out of service.

Most people dont book mobile DJs or Discos on a regular basis; in fact the industry as a whole has a shady public image with everyone knowing a horror-story or two about the wedding DJ who didnt show up, or played inappropriate music, or whose equipment left an awful lot to be desired...

As with any other field, sadly there are a significant number of "rogue traders" in this field. A written contract is one way of understanding exactly what you are signing up to, and should include some form of protection for you the consumer in the event of a problem.

Here at needadisco.com we encourage advertisers to provide written contracts (or Statements of Work) to customers so that both sides of the arrangement know exactly what is to be provided and the terms of engagement. In our experience, those providers who DO supply a written contract are generally the most trustworthy organisations who are most likely to provide a dependable service.

If your DJ provides a contract, you should of course exercise due diligence to ensure you are happy with the content before accepting.

DJs making digital copies of music they already own, or transferring the format of legally-acquired digital music files (for example to remove DRM to enable hassle-free playout) require a ProDub licence from the MCPS/PRS Alliance.

Without one, DJs are breaking copyright and it is likely that any venue concerned about its own Public Performance licence will not allow the DJ to perform on the premises.

Is it important to you to meet your DJ before your party? To talk through your wishes and desires, the structure of the evening, the things that you do and dont want said or played?

Some of our advertisers offer such meetings as standard as part of their package - a few of them even insist on meetings for important events such as weddings!

This section of needadisco explains each advertisers stance in respect of meetings for your information.

Would you like some say into how the music for your event is selected or the order/timings in which it is to be played?

Some DJs are happy to play from a completely customer-defined playlist whereas others prefer to be more creative and be able to "read the floor" selecting music in accordance with the guests mood.

In our experience this preference comes down to how important the music is for your event, and whether you have musical preferences which are not mainstream.

Feedback from previous customers is a good way for you to understand the capabilities of your prospective DJ.

We ask members to produce three positive customer testimonials that are less than 6 months old and we follow these up at random to ensure they are genuine. We then invite members to submit newer feedback as this becomes available.

Some DJs will actively pursue feedback through the use of surveys or questionnaires whilst others will wait for unsolicited feedback which is much more meaningful.