| Gigs in Chicago - The Money Game
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My apologies for the lengthy post. I have literally no work to do at work (not good, but at least I'm still employed). I hope this post serves as a warning to up and coming bands in Chicago. Beware the gig payment schemes if you actually intend to make money. Try to know exactly what you will be paid before taking a gig, otherwise it might go a little something like this...
My band has been getting a few gigs in Chicago lately. I'm the only member of the band that lives in the city, everyone else lives about an hour and a half away, in the west burbs (where I moved from). Anyways, all the gigs we have been getting have at least two bands for the night, usually four. If it's four bands for the night, we usually play a 45 min to 1 hour set. Two hours if two bands are on the bill.
Now, what I don't get is why every gig we get, we are paid a split of the door/bar sales between the bands, or % of bar sales during our time slot. Which, as you can imagine, is never very much, especially during the week. I think the most we were ever handed at the end of the night was $35. Now, factor in gas, drinks (which aren't free!), and print cost for a few posters, and we are losing money. No big deal for me, since the gigs are slose to me, and I like to play, so I usually give my split of the meager earnings and give it to the rest of the band for their troubles driving into the city.
I then had a discussion with the booking agent getting us these gigs, that there is zero potential to earn money at these gigs, which he does not believe to be true. Here is my justification/formula...and it is ultra conservative/generous.
Lets say the maximum legal occupancy of the bar is 300 people, which is probably on the high side. If on a weekend we play for 1 hour, and get 15% of the bar sales for that hour, and drink specials are $3 beers, and $5 mixed drinks, and lets say everyone is getting hammered, so each person buys 2 beers, and 1 mixed drink an hour, spending a total of $11 an hour. Now, for even numbers, lets say that even the staff, included in that 300 people capacity is getting hammered, and buying their own drinks, that equals an intake of $3300 an hour. Not bad right. So we get 15% of that which is $495, so each of the four band members takes about $125. Not bad for an hours work.
Now, factor in that the other three members had to drive an hour and a half, plus the return trip home, totalling three hours (without traffic). That brings their earning to about $40 dollars an hour. Oh, and not to mention set up and take down. Lets say we're speed demons and only spend 30 minutes total doing both. Thus, about $36 an hour.
Lets factor in about $10 for printing posters (which doesn't seem to help anything, but the venue wants them anyway), $15 to the booking agent (weekend slot is usually $25, but this is best case), and about $50 in gas for all the vehicles used. Since our own drinks are not a mandatory expense for the gig, I'll leave that out, although, I think the band should at least get two freebies per member. I will also exclude the time that we have to be at the venue to load in, which is about an hour early. Thats basically an hour of unpaid work, on a weekend, which should be time and a half, in which time all we can do is chill and buy drinks. More money out of pocket.
Now our total take is $495 - $75 = $420. So the other three out of town band members are making $30 an hour. Still not bad, especially for playing music. Each of us walks away with about $105, no argument from me. But, keep in mind that these are under the legally best conditions possible.
Reality check. Lets say that realistically there are 50 people getting hammered at $11 an hour again. Our profit is 1/6th of what is was. We each walk away with $17.50. I think it would also be reasonable to say that not everyone is getting hammered, only drunk at $8 an hour. So, the bar intake is $400 during our one hour set. 15% of $400 = $60. Well hell, we already have $75 in expenses, not including our own drinks. So we lost $15 + our drinks. Well, I guess it isn't the venue's or agent's decision where we live, so lets remove the $50 in gas as an expense, and all non-performing time. We magically teleport to the gig, and all our equipment is set up, tuned, and we immediate start playing. Voila...we made a whopping $10 total, we each walk away with $2.50 for an hours work. Hell, I could beg on the street corner and make more than that, even more if I was busking. Kinda sounds like slave labor.
In my discussion with the bookng agent, I intended to inform him that he should not promote these gigs to other musicians as "fun place, great staff, bring some people out to your show and you can make some good money". Now, that quote was from a particular venue, but he says basically the same thing for all these % of bar gigs. Now, I will say that yes they are fun places with great staff, but as I have clearly proven bringing "some people out to your show" will not make you money.
So, I hope this serves to paint an accurate picture of expectations money wise for up and coming bands in Chicago. At the very least, you get a free rehersal space and your drinks for an hour are 15% cheaper. Now, I know why all these bands that are not very good, or play too loud to sound good, or perhaps are just not quite ready to gig out play everywhere in the city. 'Cause they aren't getting paid squat. If I was a club/bar owner and could hand over a ten dollar bill at the end of the night to have "LIVE MUSIC" on the sign all week, I would. Everyone loves live music. You have become a tool of the bar/club scene in Chicago, and we have been used. You practice, promote, show up, and rock it...for ten dollars. I'm afraid that it is going to mean the end of my band performing in the city, which will mean a drastic reduction in the amount of shows we play. Bummer.
My advice to up and coming musicians in Chicago is this. Keep a positive attitude, and understand that you play music because you love to do it. Most likely, nobody pays you to do your other hobbies. It's always worth it to see just one drunk guy say "You guys f*****g rock" in the bathroom, as you then notice he isn't taking a leak into anything other than the room itself.
Thanks for sticking it out to the end. Congratulations, it's over, you did it. |
