payday

pace520 · #1 02-15-2004, 06:37 AM

Hi!

I have a band, and we have been playing for a couple of years now. Yesterday was our first money gig. it was a 50-years birthday party. We played about 2 hours and we got 200 € ($) Is it a decent money for that kinda gig? We hav 4 guys in a band, so everyone got 50 €. Should i ask more for the next gig? or is 200 decent?

weserman · #2 02-15-2004, 07:55 AM

it seems ok. My band has been paid around the same for a similar length gig. Although when i say the same, we got £250, which is £50 each. I'm not exactly sure what that works out in Euros. We did three sets and an encore and had to drive for 5 hours to get there though.

Kev Brigden · #3 02-15-2004, 12:16 PM

doing three sets AND an encore?

I would have done THAT gig for free

GuyCool · #4 02-15-2004, 12:49 PM

That seems reasonable.

My old band-covers-weddings, balls etc charged £200-600 depending on what we thought we could get, but the money always went back into the band (6 piece, plus 'manager' and 'sound man'). That would probably represent 2-3 hours playing, 2 hours setting up, an hour to break it all down,and maybe 2 hours travelling. So maybe £10 an hour...

Like Kev says, we'd do a lot of gigs for nothing. We liked playing.

Once, I had a groupie! That was the pinnacle...

Guy

weserman · #5 02-15-2004, 02:04 PM

Heh, the sets were fairly short. 35 minutes with a 10 minute gap, so it's not that impressive really. Was fun though.

Ancestor · #6 02-19-2004, 03:03 AM

Any money is good money. The real reward is playing live to a receptive audience.

Mr Orange · #7 02-19-2004, 04:47 AM

Well, it's ok for beer money, but I wouldn't start planning a professional career based on that kind of money. Remember to add to the calculation equipment setup and travel times (plus rehearsals) and you'll see that it's not that much per hour...

But anyway and to digress a bit, musicians do alot of gigs for ridicolous wages. Yeah, it's always hip to play for an audience, but maybe we should consider the overall economical effect of our actions on the whole branch. I mean, nowadays there are lots of diligent, proficient and hard working professional players struggling to get a living together. How come we're in a situation where it is ok to pay 50$ per player for a professional all night jazz gig? I'm guilty as charged as well, I've done my share of gigs for a nominal fee. But no more shall I let myself be buttfunked by cheap buggers who cannot appreciate the effort one has to put into the practice of the sacred doctrine of music...

Well, it's easy for me to turn down a 35$ + a pizza kind of a deal since I don't have to pay my rent by playing music.

Just thinking out loud...