General Music Chat

Yeah, bob, but oh my dear gawd how will I ever get exposure if I don't get out there & play for free?

That kind of thinking is what we're up against, as well, not to mention karaoke & DJ's...

I won't play in a band for less than a C-note a night. If the rest of the guys gotta take a cut in pay to pay me, well, I'm worth it, dammit. That's my rule, & I stick to it pretty much all the time.

Everyone who I play with knows this, & I always get paid. There are rare occasions when I'll allow an exception - benefits & possibly new venues just starting up - one time only! Other than that, if you can't pay me what I'm worth, you just can't afford me, so get someone else.

There have been times when a band leader needed me to fill in, & took a pay cut, himself, just to do a gig, & ya know what? I DON'T FEEL GUILTY AT ALL AS I TAKE MY PAY & SAY "THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Call me if you need me again."

A C-note for a four set gig is actually very reasonable. I usually start loading equipment around 7:00 pm, get to the gig by 8:00 or earlier, play from 9:00 to 1:00, tear down, load it back up, get home around 2:00, unload it again...you get the picture. It's a full eight hour shift. A C-note is $100 divided by 8 equals about $16 per hour. that's pretty reasonable considering the countless hours of practice, all the money you paid for equipment, etc. Then when the bar owner tries to get you to play for half that or FREE, what AN INSULT. You're making less than minimum wage for crying out loud. What's even more amazing is that REALLY GOOD EXPERIENCED BANDS ARE PLAYING FOR LESS THAN $100 per man. You're damn right to insist on a minimum of $100. Shame on anybody who plays for FREE. It's a travesty, unless it's a big benefit or you owe somebody a favor like me this coming weekend.

Yeah, playing in a 3-piece band, I try to make at least $100 a man. I've had clubs calling wanting us to play and I'd tell them $300 and they'd say they only pay $200 and I say that if we can't make $100 apiece, I'd rather stay at home. I've lost some gigs that way, but I've stuck to my guns. On the other hand, I'll go out and sit in with some friends playing at a club, play all night and when they offer to divide the money, I'll tell them "No. It was your gig and I had a blast." I'll also play at friends parties where they'll have a lot of different musicians jamming and I'll do that for free. But a club is making money for having live entertainment and I'm not going to work for them for cheap or free.

A band is the entertainment and draw that brings patrons into a bar or club ect. IMO it doesn't matter whether there are 3 musicians or 10 if you set your price that is what you should get. For years the smaller clubs down here in the Houston, Pasadena, and Clear Lake areas have had the mentality of "we only pay $50.00 per man" I tell them this is what we charge and if you can't afford that then you can't afford a professional band. We charge a minimum of $500.00 a night and we are only 3 piece and we are the 3 singers and in some instances I am going up to $600.00
we are currently in the process of adding a 4th member. One of the venues we play just called me last week offering a bunch of gigs I told him we need $600.00 net to play any further gigs because I know for a fact that some of the other bands that play there don't play for less than $1000.00 a night and this agent has been playing me for a chump for 5 years now and I am tired of it. I got up off my lazy arse (comfort Zone) earlier this year went out and booked a bunch of new venues so now we can ask for more money, apparently we are starting to gain a good reputation in the area. The venue we are playing tomorrow (Friday) advertises on a local Houston area radio station and a friend of my wife called yesterday to tell her that we were announced on the radio that our band was playing there, I thought that was kind of cool some good advertising for the band and we ain't playing for free!

lol Either they pay a reasonable wage or play for free..

If they low ball you and you play, it feels like you're doing a freebie anyways. (yech) Not like you will want to return.