• Experience
  • We have been providing quality entertainment since 1994.
  • Proud members of the USODJA.
    Two important reasons for your DJ to belong to a DJ association:
    • It shows they are professional and not just an amateur with lots of music.
    • Your DJ can draw on the experience of the group to gather fresh ideas, so your occasion won’t be the same dull routine.
  • We stay current on the national and local trends.
• Music Selection
  • Access to over 1 million songs of all genres during your event in larger metropolitan areas.
  • That’s nearly 5 ½ years of no repeats!
  • We have one of the largest karaoke selections in the area.
  • We do not pirate music, nor do we support piracy.
    • Here’s how piracy could affect you: Moral arguments aside, piracy is against the law. A DJ found guilty of piracy will have his equipment taken as evidence, and a DJ with no equipment will have a hard time performing at your event!
• Equipment
  • We use professional DJ gear and cutting edge PC and software components.
  • Modern, custom built DJ equipment that allows requests to be played instantly
  • Even with such a large selection, our software allows us to find your request and queue it almost instantly!
  • We have a wide range of speakers, so we can fill the smallest rooms or entire street dances with the right amount of sound.
  • Full light show Here’s a sample of some of the lights we use.
    • RotoBalls
    • Moonflower
    • Saga
    • Octopus
    • Strobe Ball
    • Electra II
  • With our cordless mic people can make toasts and announcements without standing on stage.
  • We even have wireless technologies to transmit audio and video across the room or across the internet!
  • Oh, and did we mention we have a complete backup system? You’ll never have to worry about failed equipment when you hire By Request.
• Fully Insured Insurance is important. We’ve never had an accident (and we don’t plan on changing that), but where would you be if the DJ’s smoke machine set off the water sprinklers? Yeah, insurance is important.
• Price Even though we have more music, better equipment, and are one of the most experienced DJ companies in the area, our prices are substantially lower than those of our competitors. How can we offer so much for so little? Easy:
  • We don’t have a fleet of vehicles to pay for.
  • We don’t buy expensive advertising
  • And quite simply we lack the corporate greed gene.
  • By working smarter, we save money and can pass that savings on to you.
• And most importantly DJs that care about your event! Our goal is to provide the best service possible at the best quality possible for the best price possible.

Song List by Artist
Song List by Song

Want to make sure we have your song Search the music library.

Weddings: By Request would like to make your Special Day a special day indeed! We offer everything you want for a fun, magical evening. The only extras you may want to consider are karaoke or dinner music. Use our Wedding Dance Planner to plan the types of music and activities you want (or don’t want) at your reception.

Proms / Dances / Reunions: No matter if your the class of 2010 or 1974, By Request has the music you love to hear. Our high energy DJs will even have the wall flowers impressed. For a small fee, we can add karaoke to your event or play background music during dinner. Use the School Event Planner to tell us about your event.

Company Parties / Corporate Events: Business presentations or Christmas Parties, By Request is your best choice. We have a wide range of applications to suit your needs. Everything from fun and games to the ability to web cast your event, By Request can do it all. Plus, our price is so nice even your accountant will smile! Use this Event Planner to tell us your needs.

Karaoke / Bar Entertainment: If you want exciting entertainment that draws in crowds, you need By Request. With 6 month contracts, low prices, and a dedicated following, we can bring the crowds to your location on a weekly basis. We have one of the largest selections of karaoke in the area, and crowd pleasing games that no one else offers. Best of all, our set up won’t take up valuable space that could be used by a customer. Reserve your night now with our Karaoke Planner.

Audition us right now! If you would like to see one of our DJs in action, please view one of the following  commercials.

Because By Request uses the latest technology, our DJs are able to instantly find and play all your requests, when other DJs would be busy searching for your first request. By using compressed digital audio, your disc jockey will be able to spend more time interacting with your guests making sure everyone is having a good time while other DJs are still searching in the dark. Our DJs spend less time setting up and tearing down, never have to worry about lost or scratched discs, and won’t take up half the dance floor with tables to hold all our music. All this adds up to a more affordable and more elegant solution for your party.

By Request DJ & Karaoke Company has been in business since 1994, and has provided outstanding wedding receptions, company parties, proms, street dances, and karaoke in North Dakota and Minnesota ever since. Fun and variety is our area of expertise, and our customers particularly value our extensive music library. No other DJ service comes close to offering the variety we do. If you have an event in North Dakota, Minnesota, or South Dakota that requires music, karaoke, video presentation, web casting, or high energy entertainment, look no further than By Request DJ & Karaoke Company. By Request is not just our name, it’s what we do!

If you are not familiar with our company and your first contact with us is online we would be pleased to hear from you! Please let us know what your needs and questions are, we will be more than happy to help.

Every year in the telephone book there are approximately 7 new DJ services.  Some claim to have been in business for years.  Those of us who have actually been doing this for years and keep track of our competitors have never heard of them.  We laugh and chuckle.  Because next year 6 of them will not be in the phone book and out of  business the following year.  A DJ company who charges less than what it costs to do business will inevitably go out of business.  It is that way with any business.  This is what you will want to be careful of.  If you book a DJ who is $200 cheaper, will they still be doing business when your wedding date has arrived?  This summer there was a DJ who decided to move to Minneapolis.  He had weddings booked here in the FM area.  For the weddings he had previously booked he would start calling other DJ services asking them if they would take his gig.  He would start calling around Thursday for a Saturday wedding gig!  Once again he had said he had been in business for years, even though I had never heard of him!  We did do one of his shows for him.  We did not know that he had lied to the bride and told her that his wife was in the hospital.  He also did not bother to send us or even tell us about a special song the bride had sang and recorded to her groom.  We did our best and the dance went well, but of course the bride was upset that he had been lying to her.  Another example of a cut rate DJ service not being a great deal was a groom who couldn’t get in touch with his DJ.  His wedding was 2 weeks away, he didn’t have a signed contract, and the DJ’s phone number was disconnected.  The groom had been price shopping and was shocked that my price was $300 more than his original (and now non-existent) DJ was charging. You do get what you pay for! I will be there (I have never missed a wedding!) and this is my profession.  This is all that I do.  I do not have a day job to support my DJ habit.  This DJ business is what pays my home mortgage, supports my children (all 4 of them), and makes sure I won’t need a McJob come retirement. This is why your event is of the utmost importance and why we do everything possible to please our customers.

Really Expensive DJs

On the flip side of the coin, a high price does not ensure quality and can indicate poor management instead. Every business has basic costs. For example, all DJs need to buy equipment, music, telephone service, etc., but there are also additional discretionary costs that can be avoided. Bridal shows are a great example. To get a booth at the KVLY Bridal Preview starts at $600 and only gets more expensive. Add in the cost of gas, employees, and additional business cards and brochures to hand out, and the final expense is well over $1000. For a DJ service which typically books 40-50 shows per system per year, that can raise the price dramatically because that $1000 dollar expense must be spread across the approximately 100 shows a smaller service can expect. now add in the cost of being in the other prominent bridals shows in Fargo-Moorhead, and you have raised your cost of doing business by as much as $100 per event without adding any extra value for your customer. This is not to say that bridal shows are bad, just that they may not be the best method of advertising for some services. If you have a new exciting service (like a photobooth for example) that you wish to spread the word about, being in a bridal show or two is an excellent method of promotion. The yellow pages are another good example of an expense that a business can go overboard on. I’m sure you’d agree that the biggest, most expensive ad doesn’t mean the best service, and it certainly means that business has to charge enough to cover the cost of that ad.

Websites are another cost of being in business that can get expensive. One cost of being on the internet is pay per click advertising. Adwords is Google’s paid search results program where businesses can “buy” words and phrases typed into their search engine, and when browsers search for these terms, these businesses will appear at the top of the search results as a sponsored link. We currently do not do this because we naturally rank first or second for terms like “Fargo DJ” or “Disc Jockey in Fargo”. (As an aside, this morning I typed in By Request DJ to find that my competitor, Power Play DJ, has bid on my company’s name.  In other words, if you type “by request dj” into Google’s search, Power Play DJ in Fargo comes up as an advertisement over the top of mine.  I was kind of shocked that Power Play would do this since its about like McDonald’s buying a billboard in Burger King’s parking lot. It’s not illegal since they don’t use our name in their ad, but it certainly isn’t friendly. I have always tried to be on friendly terms with Jim. I have never spoken to the owner. I have called him a few times and left messages. I have even sent work his way. I guess it is kind of a compliment that he considers me such a competitor that he uses my company name to promote Power Play DJ. Thanks for making me feel number one guys!) Now enough already about Power Play DJ (you make me blush) back to what brides and grooms really want to know!

Some of the costs of doing business are:

Office rent, telephone lines, advertising in telephone books (much higher than you think), bridal shows, employees, web site expenses, music purchases, equipment updates and replacements (one good, professional quality speaker or amp runs from $1000-$2000), gas, vans and trailers to haul equipment (I need another one), insurance on a vehicles for the DJ business for employees to drive, set up and tear down guys, DJ pay. business insurance, computers and the costs of updating computers we have 5, stand by equipment in case something breaks down, repair costs, training of employees, advertising again with business cards, brochures etc. Here’s a great link to a tool some DJs use to get a general ball-park figure of what it costs to run their business: http://www.customdj.us/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,46/

It is true that the DJ can make or break your wedding dance. Quality does not come cheap, but it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg either. Look for the signs of a professional before hiring them. Do they have a written contract? Do they have professional equipment? How many people do they have to sue (ND Courts | MN Courts) for payment?  Do they give you a price that is only good for two weeks?  As always, take the time to actually talk to your prospective DJ on the phone or in person. Are they courteous? Do they seem knowledgeable? Do they sound like someone you want handling your guests at your event?  If it is a large DJ company with more than three disc jockeys how will you know who is going to be your DJ?  How can someone you have never talked to provide you with the personal service that you deserve?  Make sure that you talk to the DJ who is actually doing your dance.  There are plenty of checklists on the internet that can help you when hiring a DJ. Do your research and you can have a great experience that will give you a lifetime of good memories.