Bad Economy, Lower Gig Pay?

[jtc_hunter]

With the dwindling economy, has anyone been getting fewer gigs? Should a band possibly think about lowering its price to get more gigs? How has this economy affected your bands number of gigs? I know around here (western wa.) it is getting pretty scary.

[KJung]

The gigging scene has been collapsing for many years now. However, it's gotten amazingly bad in the last 12 months. The corporate parties (where a lot of us freelancers made most of our gigging money) have all but disappeared. The high end wedding business (which also pays very well) is holding on, but is declining due to the high end DJ's (the real hip hop guys) who have discovered that the private society parties and 'Ritz Carlton' weddings are a great way to make some cash.

The pay per gig has not declined at all, but the number of gigs (I assume across all types of music) has really taken a nose dive). Of course, the pay per gig has not even come close to keeping up with inflation over the last 20 years, so I guess you can say, in real dollars, the pay per gig is 'down' also from the 80's.

Most depressing to me is the closing of, or elimination of all entertainment, from all those nice high end restaurants or small clubs that would hire jazz/pop trios, etc., and fill in a couple weeknights. The 6 nighters in these places have been gone for 20 years, but even the Thursday nights have dried up now.

Sorry for the bummer post, but it's really bad. I'm lucky enough to have moved to part time status a while back, but some dear friends of mine who are SMOKING players are really in trouble at the moment.

[BigOldHarry]

DJ's... arrrrggggg.... There outta be a law!

[MNAirHead]

I've noticed there are more places having worse bands.

There are more volunteer to play.

I have not noticed a change in the high end quality stuff.. the bummer is there are more horrid musicians now... basically pretending to be a band.

Quality places have not changed.

[jaywa]

I dunno, here in this market there has been a bit of a slowdown, but the top bands are still working steadily without dropping price (as far as I know). A couple of live music venues have either closed or discontinued live music over the past 2-3 years, but the clubs that still offer live music on a regular basis seem to be doing fine... we did have one client scale us back to Friday night only gigs (vs. Fri/Sat combos), but if we can fill some of those Saturday nights with other gigs we still come out fine (or even ahead, depending on the pay).

I would concur with the poster above about some really bad bands coming out of the woodwork that are still getting gigs just cause they play cheap. (i.e., cheaper than a DJ). However, my band has established enough of a rep and following that we have a good circuit built up and if some place chooses to risk their reputation by hiring a bad band with no following to save a few bucks, that really doesn't hurt our feelings.

My bigger concern is not so much with reduced income as it is increasing expenses. See the many many threads on this board about increased prices for gear, and now of course with summer coming on I'm sure we will see at least a 50% lift in gas prices again (I personally am budgeting for $2.50/gallon (U.S.) by Memorial Day and $3 by 4th of July and that may still be too optimistic depending on what new taxes our wonderful govt has in store for us).

[Phalex]

I play in bars. Bars have been busy around here.

I'm booked three weekends a month into 2010.

I just hope my day job doesn't evaporate.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Phalex

I play in bars. Bars have been busy around here.

I'm booked three weekends a month into 2010.

I just hope my day job doesn't evaporate.

Three weekends a month would not have even been considered part time 20 years ago. Yes, there are plenty Saturday night bar gigs around for the part timers (although less than before). However, the days of making a living as a freelancer (i.e., in the 80's, 300-340 gigs per year, and even in the 90's, 200 gigs a year easy) seems to be gone. It's pretty much a part time business now for all but the top few players in each city (and even they have to teach, etc. now to make ends meet.).

IME.

[John Wentzien]

Bar gigs around here are really picking up!
I think they have finally found out that it's not smart to hire a "cheap" band.
I've seen some of these bands empty a bar faster than a fire..

[alembicguy]

My main gig hasnt slowed down and the money hasnt dropped either but I happen to live in an area that would rather drink than put food on the table.

If power drinking ever makes it to the olympics my area will be pumping out gold medalists for years

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by KJung

It's pretty much a part time business now for all but the top few players in each city (and even they have to teach, etc. now to make ends meet.).

IME.

Same here... I know of one bassist in my market who makes a full-time living at music, and that's only cause his "day job" is playing upright in the local symphony. His secondary income is from teaching, and live gigs are a distant third. The rest of us bassists around here are just weekend warriors.

I recall reading in a drummer magazine where a lot of the big-name drummers have actually built their own studios and are earning a significant portion of their living from recording "custom" drum tracks, for hire. So for example, if I wanted Dave Weckl to play on my demo, I would e-mail him the guide files, he would play and produce the drum track, e-mail it back to me and off I go. He said in the interview he hardly ever travels to a "real" recording studio anymore. Not sure how that would translate to the bass world, but I thought it was a pretty novel concept.

[Jefenator]

I've got more gigs this winter than any previous winter I can recall. Good thing, too, because the day job is in serious trouble. (I'm so glad I didn't take on a bunch more overhead when I started working days.)

I think I'm well-poised, though. I freelance with a bunch of different acts, most of which do - you guessed it - bars. I'm not still handcuffed to one main group that's pursuing the higher-end corporate / black tie stuff. I'm thankful for that for many reasons, one of which would now be economic independence!

[emblymouse]

How can the pay get any lower? It's the same as it was in 1977. And we thought Disco was gonna kill us. Ha!

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by Jefenator

I think I'm well-poised, though. I freelance with a bunch of different acts, most of which do - you guessed it - bars. I'm not still handcuffed to one main group that's pursuing the higher-end corporate / black tie stuff. I'm thankful for that for many reasons, one of which would now be economic independence!

Agreed. I think in a lot of markets the standard "bar gigs" are still going strong (more reason to drink now than ever ), whereas the corporate / black-tie stuff is really taking a dive. My main band (bar band) has already made more this year than we had through May of last year. OTOH, another band I sometimes sub with, that caters to the corporate events, has only had like 3 gigs all year so far and only has 4 or 5 more through the fall. If companies have to slash payrolls they also usually do not have the money to hire bands. It has been several years already since my company hired a band for anything.

[lonote]

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

I've noticed there are more places having worse bands.

There are more volunteer to play.

I have not noticed a change in the high end quality stuff.. the bummer is there are more horrid musicians now... basically pretending to be a band.

Quality places have not changed.

Ain't it the truth! We are giving serious consideration to spreading out a little more. We are part-timers based in the twin cities but we played Rochester, MN last Friday and we're in Des Moines on 3/21.

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by emblymouse

How can the pay get any lower? It's the same as it was in 1977. And we thought Disco was gonna kill us. Ha!

you know, I hadn't thought of it like that... But in the '70s, pay for a so-so bar band was around $200 - - and in San Diego, it still is - maybe $250.

Can't say about casuals, save that it's pretty obvious the corporate party thing is going to dry up big time. We have a ton of casinos here now (something we didn't have back in the day) so they are providing some work... But generally, the music scene here for a workin' band or a showcase original act is just plain tough - same as it ever was!

[dmusic148]

I don't really get it, but I have already booked more(bar) gigs that I played all of last year. The money's the same, but the perks are going away. No more free dinners/drinks as before.

[bassbully]

In my neck of the woods its horrible. My main band is booked less for the first half of 09' than ever before. Clubs are closing and reduced to maybe two nights a week of live music. There are to many bands good and bad for the amount of places to play.The clubs have you by the you know whats and reduce pay and make stupid claims or you get the boot. We had 3-4 bars that used to have music close in the last year or so in my city. I got my 1099 from the bandleader a few weeks back and the drummer who has been with the band the better part of 14 years said it was the worse year ever since he played with the act. He said we made a little less than half of what they used to make. The band has also started to downsize our PA and stageshow to book lower price gigs leaving the soundman and manager at home and saving what few dollars we make for us...the band.

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by lonote

Ain't it the truth! We are giving serious consideration to spreading out a little more. We are part-timers based in the twin cities but we played Rochester, MN last Friday and we're in Des Moines on 3/21.

Wow... that's some serious mileage for part-timers. Are you getting paid enough for those gigs to cover your gas, meals, overnight accommodations, etc.?

My band has pretty much taken the policy that if we're offered a gig at that kind of distance and rooms aren't a part of the package, it's no deal.

[kraigo]

Originally Posted by lonote

Ain't it the truth! We are giving serious consideration to spreading out a little more. We are part-timers based in the twin cities but we played Rochester, MN last Friday and we're in Des Moines on 3/21.

You have to leave the Twin Cities to get paid anything more than $50/man/night in my experience. You can get $100/man/night if you're willing to drive for a couple of hours each way.

I actually got paid $40 for a gig in Crystal (Twin Cities suburb) last week. I was amazed! Usually it's closer to $30. If any one else in the Twin Cities is doing that much better I'd be curious where and how.

KO

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by dmusic148

The money's the same, but the perks are going away. No more free dinners/drinks as before.

We're dealing with this right now at one of our main venues. Last year when we played there it was unlimited free drinks for the band, then last weekend we showed up and they said we get one drink per member -- at the end of the night. So we're all going what the heck and they're saying it's cause they have new management and this is the new arrangement. And we're calling BS on that cause we pack their 600 capacity room wall-to-wall every night we're there and they are selling so much alcohol they don't even have enough staff to keep up with the orders. And we are playing there at a discount to our standard weekend rate. Plus, we only drink, at the most, one beer per member per set ( = 20 max for the whole band all night), so we're not seeing what the big problem is.