United States

I know it's very difficult to find musicians, except for guitarists. So what I was thinking of doing was trademarking a band name and logo, recording some quality songs, and just using friends and hired hands for gigs. It seems like a pain, but the waiting is taking forever.

How much do session musicians usually expect to get paid? If I found a manager, or an entertainment attorney would they be able to help?

Finding members shouldn't be so difficult, especially since I've already posted classifieds on about 10 sites. Does anybody here have any ideas or links where people are more accessible? And, is the whole session musician idea a rip off?

Session as in recording or gigging? Expect to pay $50-300 a session for studio work depending on the musician's credentials, and $50-150 a night for gigs. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks jimmydanger. Yeah, gigging. If I hire musicians for gigs, do they expect to be paid for rehearsing too?

They should not expect to be paid for rehearsing. Unless you want them to rehearse a lot. Most pro's in this area that are hired hands will rehearse maybe once or twice, but a pro does his homework and show's up prepared. My advise for you would be to get very organized have all your songs burned to c. d.'s and ask the potential hired guns for references. Give them a little time to learn their parts and then have them show up for rehearsal to see how much preparation they have done. If they are not prepared at that point they are NOT a pro. Oh and don't put all your eggs in one basket, try out a bunch of different players untill you find a pool of pro's that you draw from. If they are truley pro they won't mind you doing this.

Yep what J said.