How Much???

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 6 Sep 2004 1:52 pm

OK, guys, some of this talk of 300.00 a night gigs, 1000.00 a night back in the 70's, laments about how much we USED to make, or how LITTLE we get paid now, has got me to wondering. I don't want to be nosy, so if you don't want to tell, then don't bother. But, HOW MUCH ARE YOU GUYS GETTIN' PAID???
Not including Paul Franklin, Buddy Emmons, or the "big names." I'm sure they're comfortable with their incomes. But you bar/weekend/wedding reception pickers---what do you make?
And I'll say I feel good when a 150.00 gig comes along. Fifty to 100.00 is more like it. How about it, folks??? Am I underpaid?

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 6 Sep 2004 3:14 pm

125$/nite for two niters at one club, 65$@ on another, 60$ two other clubs. Meals sometimes.

I recently did a couple "door" deals for an alt.retro type thing and I didn't even look at the money. I can tell you it's as cheap as I've ever worked, and it won't be happening again. Just a one time shot. It was fun because I looked the other way.

I've thought quite a bit lately about the reason musicians need to get paid.

It has to do with self respect, and transmitting a sense of your own worth to the people that are making money off you.

If nobody is, then fine, but you'll almost always find some greasy little guy that stuffs a wad of money in his pocket because you were there playing.

You're as good or better than that guy.

Or at least I am.

EJL

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 6 Sep 2004 3:30 pm

Steve and Eric, I don't mind sharing the numbers with you , just don't tell anyone else!. I should say we are an R&B/rock band in St. Louis, playing for the last 15 yrs. in one form or the other. The most we made in bar/club on a regular basis was $115 a person(5piece). Our every other Sat. gig pays $50/person plus a dinner,value of about $25. Since we play 25 gigs a year there,its OK. Casuals and outdoor park concerts pay more,100-125 minimum. These are the facts. Most clubs pay~$75 a man on a weekend. JimP

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 6 Sep 2004 3:33 pm

"If you agree to work for peanuts, don't be surprized when you're treated like a monkey" - Mixerman

I've set a minimum of $75/night for local.
Often get $100, rarely get $200 - $300 / night, but it happens.

(Canadian funds, so it's not as good as it might sound)

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 6 Sep 2004 3:48 pm

Joey.

In '88 I played a 6 week in hell tour of Canadia.

Started in Esquimult in BC, to Hinton, The Dodge City Saloon in Calgary, The Bottom in Rocky Mountain House, a place I forget, and ended up at the Holiday Inn in Grand Prairie.

I thought it was great with all those stacks of multicolored monopoly money.....

Till I found out what the $400 a week Cdn ended up in greenbacks...

Oh well.

I'll come back up there some day..

In a tank.

EJL

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 6 Sep 2004 3:51 pm

There was a time, in the 70s, when we got $1.25 US for every Canadian dollar when we crossed the border.

There's enough French folks to welcome you if you drive up in a tank.

Sorry for the topic drift,

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 6 Sep 2004 4:09 pm

Eric,
How much did you guys make for the Deke show?
It sounded like you really enjoyed that gig.
pb

Robert Thomas · Post by **Robert Thomas** » 6 Sep 2004 4:22 pm

I quit playing for money years ago, but I just played a stint of just over 4 hours at the Oregon State Fair at just over $60 per hour and today, Labor Day, played 2 one hour stints for $35 per hour. I have no idea what is the going rate for music anymore, but what I received in the last week was far more then the clubs around here were willing to pay when I was playing for money!

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 6 Sep 2004 4:33 pm

Well Pete. I didn't look at it.

I figured the price of admission, and free stuff, in with watching and hearing Deke, and was glad for the experience. I liked a couple of the little vampire girls thinking I was "cool". I figure it was about a hundred bucks worth of vanity, but the cash involved was almost a negative figure....

It was one of those two...

I think Deke came out better.

Maybe if we hadn't had to split the door with the twenty piece cajun band it'd worked out a little better. That part was kind of a surprise, and everybody was a little disappointed.

I had written it off in advance as just something I'd do to get in a little different venue.
I had it explained to me this way.

" To start out in these "alt" bands you often have to look at it as an "investment", and work for nothing ir less than nothing. Then, before you know it, you're making more money than you can count."

Well, as before, I'm back to taking the calls somewhere in the middle.. Having more money than I can count makes me nervous anyhow..

There's another club in town where the band is pretty much responsible for the crowd, or they don't make anything. Like renting a hall, and charging door. It's just not the kind of business I like to be in. I want to be more of a player than a promoter. nLess pressure, and the gig's over til the next friday night.

Maybe someday I'll have to do it thataway, but I've always shied away from it.

I was listening to the after show banter in the band in one of those places, as they were a 6 piece, and didn't make 50$/Each, I'm sure. They weren't real happy, and were looking forward to an upcoming wedding, and wondering who they were going to get on guitar and another piece, and getting their mailing list more up to date so they could make more money etc etc...

I like life a little simpler.

EJL

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 6 Sep 2004 4:47 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:37 PM.]

Stephen Gregory · Post by **Stephen Gregory** » 6 Sep 2004 4:59 pm

So, If we're being honest, we do it for fun, and if we had to we would do it for free, right? Only very very few steel players actually make any real income playing steel most just really meet their expenses and are usually paid far less than a good waitress or bartender that doesn't have to lug all that gear around.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 6 Sep 2004 5:04 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:37 PM.]

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 6 Sep 2004 5:52 pm

Let's see. 300 dollars a week in Salem, Oregon. That wouldn't be the Black Angus steak house?

We worked there in '76. 900 a week for a trio minus the agent and union fees.

I eventually went back to my career in engineering and spent 20 years kicking out the jams on weekends for the normal $50 a night and special events for $100 to $300.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 6 Sep 2004 6:11 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:38 PM.]

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 6 Sep 2004 6:42 pm

Los Angeles, $200- 300 for the band is a good night. Usually it's $25 a person or less. The last time we played for tips, at the Cinema, we made $11.52 for 5 players, that didn't even cover gas.

Gary Meyer · Post by **Gary Meyer** » 6 Sep 2004 7:38 pm

averaging about $50.00 a night for a bar gig.Which is how much I was getting,playing bass,in the 70's.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 6 Sep 2004 8:01 pm

Usually between $100 and $250 per person. But we don't work all that often. If we had to play more regularly, we'd get paid a lot less, like most folks.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 6 Sep 2004 8:43 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:38 PM.]

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 6 Sep 2004 10:00 pm

$100 is nice (and fairly typical) as a sideman. $50-$75 is also typical. As a leader I have typically made negative to nothing, but that has improved recently.

THis is in Seattle, where there is vertually no steel work, other than what you can get together.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 6 Sep 2004 10:08 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:38 PM.]

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 7 Sep 2004 12:17 am

I started playing for a living in the early 50's.Steel and fiddle.Played in most states and over seas.But think i went about the money thing wrong.When i asked how much the gig paid thay always told me they would pay me what i was worth.It was hard for me to work that cheap.
I am now taking spelling lessons.Edited for spelling.[This message was edited by Tracy Sheehan on 15 September 2004 at 08:57 PM.]

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 7 Sep 2004 1:14 am

but no one is commenting on how many are in the band !

I currently play in a 6 piece band..and I would have no problem if we added a fiddle making it 7.

So if a 4 piece band ges paid $400 thats $100/man of course..if we book out for $400..it's $66..and if we had 7 it would be $57.

For us it is not about the cash at the gig although we will not play for free..but playing with this band is great fun and if we had a 7th ..even more fun..

Average out for us is in the $50 to $75 /man except for Leslie..she's a gal..who plays Bass and sings just fine thank you very much...she gets the per/Lady share of the winnings...

2 acoustics, bass, Tele/Strat, Steel/Tele/Strat and the guy with the sticks..all 6 on vocals..but not all at the same time though..thank god for that!

Previous bands I've been with was the same. $60 to $100..we gigged with 5 or 6...

I have never played anywhere or booked gigs even with my own bands when we billed per man..it was always a set BAND fee..club owners didn't give a hoot how many were in the band..as long as it was more than 1 player..!

t[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 07 September 2004 at 02:16 AM.]

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 7 Sep 2004 2:51 am

An observation....

At one time I worked with a touring band that booked lots of military clubs and the contracts always specified the number of musicians in the band.

Contracts of course were in advance of the actual performance, so sometimes when we finally arrived on site for a job, we occasionally were unexpectedly short a musician for the diverse reasons common to musicians.

Our bandleader always covered that shortage by putting the bus driver on the bandstand holding the instrument of the missing musician.

The driver couldn't play an instrument, so he just held the instrument that was not even connected to an amp and faked it.

To my knowledge this was never discovered by the military club managers who approved our contracts as fulfilled!

www.genejones.com

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 7 Sep 2004 4:35 am

I figure if I perform 4 hours, I will have worked 7 hours by the time I get home.
I set my price at $100 within ~30 miles from home. I don't have to work hard anymore. VERY FEW CALLS TO WORK AT THAT PRICE...
How many jobs require you to furnish several thousand dollars worth of equipment and do the work of a moving company?
I could work cheaper if I worked several days in the same place. Trouble is, jobs like that are usually in a place that I don't care to be(I don't feel comfortable wearing a hard hat).

Richard Brandt · Post by **Richard Brandt** » 7 Sep 2004 4:41 am

Are band does not play bars anymore.We play private jobs and set the price of $100 a man and they can take it or leave it.