Charging for your time...

[Aaron Saunders]

As our band gets more gigs, more material, more experience, etc., the issue of getting paid isn't so much a yes or a no, but lately a "how much."

We've done a decent variety of gigs, we've got at least one more in the immediate future and I'm putting together a presskit and finishing up our website today so I hope to get a few more gigs together for the month left I'll be in town. The thing is, we're at a bit of a loss as to what we should charge. Yesterday we did a 4 hour restaurant gig for $250 (we'd never played a 4 hour gig before and just gave them a number off the tops of our heads -- holy undercharge) and then played a BBQ for an hour for $100 and ended up getting a very generous tip (and another gig) from a lady there. The young manager at the restaurant seemed really interested in having us back there too and I think he'll be giving a very favourable report to the owner with whom I had been in contact about the gig before.

The band itself is a quintet -- alto sax, singer, guitar, double bass, drums. We play a lot of standards, mostly very uptempo with a smattering of ballads and a couple converted pop songs ("Crash Into Me," "Everybody Needs Somebody,") and an original here and there. We can cover two hours quite easily and more with some more rehearsals next week. We show up early, have our own gear (minus PA, but anything that's really required one has had one at the venue and a soundman) act/dress professionally. We're no Miles Davis Quintet, but I think we're pretty good and get a lot of compliments. We're all 17-18 and splitting up in about a month because we're all moving to different cities -- the singer and I to Toronto, the sax player and guitar player in Kingston, and the drummer to Ottawa.

My concern is over/undercharging. We definitely undercharged the restaurant, clearly. There's no other jazz group in town and apparently there's some market for it in the area and nearby. After discussing it with the band, we'd start negotiations at $150/hour for future gigs, but I figured the more experienced musicians on here might be able to lend some advice to this situation.

Note: All of the monetary values above are in Canadian currency. As such, us charging $150 CAD is somewhat akin to charging $130 USD/hour.

[bolo]

Howdy Aaron.

FWIW, I average $25 - $40 (U.S.) per hour per person on my jazz gigs. Sometimes meals and/or drinks are included, sometimes not. If so, don't abuse the perks.

Private stuff usually gets 1.5x to 2x more. A special date like like New Years Eve sometimes garners 4 or 5 times more.

I've read Ed Friedland's A Working Bassist's Toolkit, where he addresses the same question about money. From what I remember (and it's been a while, so I could be wrong), I don't think these #'s for "casual" gigs are too far out in left field. [ Or maybe it was an article Ed wrote for BP magazine. I can check the book later if you're interested. ]

There's also usually like a $100 per person minimum for those really short gigs (1 or 2 hours).

I think you have to be sensitive to what other groups that play a similar style are charging. It will vary from one city / town to the next. Can't set the bar too high, 'cuz you'll never get the gigs. Can't set the bar too low, 'cuz you'll do all the other musicians in your area a great disservice. The club owners will start to say "Well so an so's band plays for less ...". Don't piss off the other working musicians in your area by trying to undercut the going rate.

You also have to size up the clientele for those private gigs on the spot. If they look and act like they can afford big bucks, go for it. You'll know the type. Full of themselves.

On the other hand, don't lowball people. You might get a few more gigs, but in the end you've backed yourself into an ugly corner. Try to go for a fair & reasonable price. And don't be afraid to use that exact verbiage, "fair & reasonable." I've used it when negotiating a price for selling and buying a house for example. If you lose a few gigs because some folks thought the # was too high, I say "So what?" It has happened to me, but I still get plenty of other calls, and I still get treated fairly IMO.

All this comes with a huge FWIW, YMMV, etc., etc. Others might scoff, or drool. I dunno. I am just trying to be candid and share the reality of my situation. I've been earning money part time playing music since 1979. Ironically, wages for musicians for these types of casual gigs in my area haven't really changed much since then.