$75-100 gigs in 2023

[Pacman]

I love it - but I'm guessing what you are calling a 'bar' is what most of us would call a 'high end night club'

Oh no, definitely a bar. College town....

 

[Pocket Dave]

I'm another old "seasoned" DFW guy who lives in NE Dallas.

IME there are better paying rooms in DFW, though the competition makes them hard to get into, and they're further & fewer between.

If you're willing to put on some highway miles, venues seem to pay better the further you get from the DFW urban centers. I'm currently doing country, classic rock and R&B with a band leader who has a handful of better venues in McKinney, Prosper, Gainesville, Anna, Denison & Texoma, with an occasional road trip further.

Another friend here in Dallas has an original act - He's an original country outlaw who studied business while doing a dime bit on the state; His biggest base is in East Texas, where the pay's better.

 

[richntiff]

Oh no, definitely a bar. College town....

I stand corrected! Nice open space there though for crowd/dancers. Great gig!!!

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Definitely a dive bar by most standards, yesterday was a cold snowy Sunday afternoon. Set up our stuff and knew about 3/4 of the people in attendance, $170 in pocket. Better than sitting home doing nothing for 4 hours.

 

[Vincent Van Low]

Oh no, definitely a bar. College town....

this is exactly my point...make them dance, drink and stay=$$. This clip is great because there are mainly females dancing, that will have people buying them drinks to hang and dance longer...it looks like these guys earn their $400+ a night gig...those dancers are having a BLAST.

 

[pepj]

Hmm. Sub date.
28 songs plus 5 encores.
$100 offered.

Tgats 5 nights prep work for a so called popular Soul, Disco and Ska set.
Plus they want a rehearsal...????

 

[Vincent Van Low]

Hmm. Sub date.
28 songs plus 5 encores.
$100 offered.

Tgats 5 nights prep work for a so called popular Soul, Disco and Ska set.
Plus they want a rehearsal...????

Depends. Do you want to learn the songs? Would learning them help you improve? Lastly where are you in your career? If yes to first questions yes, and not advanced enough in your career that it wont help you advance any more, I say take it.

 

[Space Pickle]

i only play for 0 dollars

it's my artistic integrity, man

 

[pepj]

Depends. Do you want to learn the songs?
Would learning them help you improve? Lastly where are you in your career? If yes to first questions yes, and not advanced enough in your career that it wont help you advance any more, I say take it.

No, dont like ska, no interest in it at all, the other song types fall to hand quite easily but the band would be hard work.

So all in all, declined as too much work for the money.
The post was really to point out how much work they expect for little money.

 

[Vincent Van Low]

No, dont like ska, no interest in it at all, the other song types fall to hand quite easily but the band would be hard work.

So all in all, declined as too much work for the money.
The post was really to point out how much wTalkBass Clubs & Special Interest Groups INDEXork they expect for little money.

Oh I understand now, got it. Every "they" is a little different I guess, but if the band is hard work, and it sounds like you already passed, then all is good.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

we get paid 50 or 60 bucks each usually. As we don't really rehearse, play on weeknights, and the club(s) let us do whatever we want when we're on stage the pay is fine for what we're doing. .

Honestly those gigs are the fun ones. All of my gigs are like this now. Time to have fun playing music!

 

[Wisebass]

Hi g4

75-100 per man?

Nope! And it never was.

I started in the 80s, we played for the door in places that were packed (those were the days)

In the 90s I played in a rock show. We had our own P.A. + lights, a van and our own "soundguy".

We only played bars when we knew that we could expect good food and all drinks for free.

These were special occasions with bar owners we knew and liked. ( e.g. christmas gigs)

Today I don't play in bars at all.

Off topic:

Hi Friski

And chances are, I'd end up watching the show through someone else's screen anyway.

!!!

I hate events where I can't see the stage because someone holds a cellphone up and films!

Back in the days you couldn't take any recording devices to a concert.

For a camera you had to show at least a fake press ID video would have been a total nonono go!

But I guess if you ask folks today to leave their cellphone at home they will sue you.


end of rant


Wise(b)ass

 

[SBassman]

~$100 a man for most bars and restaurants around here. Sometimes more sometimes less. You either take it, or don't gig that night. The real money comes from private events generally.

That's what we get in my area. Of course, all the gigs are lame with low turn out. But yeah, that's whawt venues are currently paying.

 

[Tonecaster]

Most bar gigs here in CT it's about $100 a person. Thirty years ago I was getting about $100 a person.

Yup! in '74 I was getting that for NJ bar gigs...
Sheesh...

 

[pepj]

That's what we get in my area. Of course, all the gigs are lame with low turn out. But yeah, that's whawt venues are currently paying.

Not sure how this is sustainable.
We are waiting on repeat bookings at a favourite joint, but we've had 2 blow outs this year. There were solid mitigating circumstances in play...and they accept this...but bottom line is that bands have to be a profitable model for the year as a whole.
We've been unlucky and despite us being one of their most musically capable bands, we might take the hit and not get rebooked.

 

[EdO.]

Not sure how this is sustainable.
We are waiting on repeat bookings at a favourite joint, but we've had 2 blow outs this year. There were solid mitigating circumstances in play...and they accept this...but bottom line is that bands have to be a profitable model for the year as a whole.
We've been unlucky and despite us being one of their most musically capable bands, we might take the hit and not get rebooked.

As has been discussed on this forum ad nauseum, bar/club owners don't care nearly as much about who's "most musically capable" but much more so about butts in seats and money through the till. I've seen some pretty popular and busy bands in my locale that weren't all that high (IMO of course, FWIW) on the "most musically capable" spectrum (but are really good at backing tracks) who fill the places they play. Obviously they have something going on that works - sound quality, staging (lights, props, stage appearance/dress, backing tracks...), and they keep things moving. IOW they bring the show and they bring the party. Something to be learned from that.

Music is what we play. ENTERTAINMENT is the name of the business we're all in. Accept that or don't, your call. You can be the best musicians in the country but if you're not ENTERTAINING, if you're not interesting, if you're not bringing whatever the particular audience at that bar/club/whatever is looking for you're fighting an uphill battle trying to stay busy and make decent $$$. Like it or not that's just the reality of being a bar/club level band. A bar owner will repeat book a so-so band that puts money in their pocket over a "most musically capable" act every time. Art For Art's Sake is definitely a lot more fulfilling but if you want to perform to a paying audience on a regular basis it's about providing what the paying customer wants, not what we want.

 

[MegaSwing]

^^^
A band’s job is to sell drinks, to make the regulars drink more, and make newcomers want to come back. All of these can be accomplished without impeccable musicianship. If you do not connect with the audience, it doesn’t matter if you graduated Summa Cum Laude from Juilliard. That’s why showmanship trumps chops every day of the week. How ever humble it may seem, this is still showbiz.

 

[pepj]

I get this, we have killed it there before but the last two dates were both up against outdoor events in glorious weather, plus those overunning despite an 'agreement' to stick by pre ordained time slots...so the whole town gets a share, hurt the venue.
But sure, we'll book elsewhere in the town and they'll have that to deal with too.
We've stuck by them, supported them and played below rate, but they can do what they need to, as will we.

 

[gln1955]

As has been discussed on this forum ad nauseum, bar/club owners don't care nearly as much about who's "most musically capable" but much more so about butts in seats and money through the till. I've seen some pretty popular and busy bands in my locale that weren't all that high (IMO of course, FWIW) on the "most musically capable" spectrum (but are really good at backing tracks) who fill the places they play. Obviously they have something going on that works - sound quality, staging (lights, props, stage appearance/dress, backing tracks...), and they keep things moving. IOW they bring the show and they bring the party. Something to be learned from that.

Music is what we play. ENTERTAINMENT is the name of the business we're all in. Accept that or don't, your call. You can be the best musicians in the country but if you're not ENTERTAINING, if you're not interesting, if you're not bringing whatever the particular audience at that bar/club/whatever is looking for you're fighting an uphill battle trying to stay busy and make decent $$$. Like it or not that's just the reality of being a bar/club level band. A bar owner will repeat book a so-so band that puts money in their pocket over a "most musically capable" act every time. Art For Art's Sake is definitely a lot more fulfilling but if you want to perform to a paying audience on a regular basis it's about providing what the paying customer wants, not what we want.

I'd also add to that don't be a PITA to work with. No one in my current band is a pro but we act professionally. No cancellations, show up and start on time with working gear, treat the staff and audience with respect, do the gig to the best of our ability (yeah, we're not the most musically gifted band out there) and then get out with no fuss. We usually get asked back and some the horror stories venue managers tell us about other bands are unbelievable.

 

[Pocket Dave]

We've had a number of venue closings in N. Texas this past month, though mostly lower paying $100/man rooms.

In August, one of our reasonable paying venues in far N. Texas near the OK state line closed down. We brought in a crowd that spent money on our one date each month, but I've got no idea how the other days of the month went, or what the venue's P&L looked like.

Since then we picked up a popular restaurant in that same area where we're playing our fifth time this Friday.

Another venue we've played monthly announced they wouldn't be using any more bands, only solo acts, due to neighbor's noise complaints. Still, we played there again last week, apparently the only band to do so in the past month. No complaints, good crowd. I suspect the BL's talked the venue into special consideration for us since he books the other (solo) acts for them.

This business has always felt kind of like a shell game. Watch closely and the pea still ends up under a different shell.

Still, we've been reasonably successful making money for bars and restaurants, and our BL keeps us booked. We're decent in terms of musicianship, though not the top of the heap by any means. BL's charismatic, sax player's energetic, drummer's certifiable and I'm the band's incognito straight man.

BTW, Agree with both:

As has been discussed on this forum ad nauseum, bar/club owners don't care nearly as much about who's "most musically capable" but much more so about butts in seats and money through the till. I've seen some pretty popular and busy bands in my locale that weren't all that high (IMO of course, FWIW) on the "most musically capable" spectrum (but are really good at backing tracks) who fill the places they play. Obviously they have something going on that works - sound quality, staging (lights, props, stage appearance/dress, backing tracks...), and they keep things moving. IOW they bring the show and they bring the party. Something to be learned from that.

Music is what we play. ENTERTAINMENT is the name of the business we're all in. Accept that or don't, your call. You can be the best musicians in the country but if you're not ENTERTAINING, if you're not interesting, if you're not bringing whatever the particular audience at that bar/club/whatever is looking for you're fighting an uphill battle trying to stay busy and make decent $$$. Like it or not that's just the reality of being a bar/club level band. A bar owner will repeat book a so-so band that puts money in their pocket over a "most musically capable" act every time. Art For Art's Sake is definitely a lot more fulfilling but if you want to perform to a paying audience on a regular basis it's about providing what the paying customer wants, not what we want.

A band’s job is to sell drinks, to make the regulars drink more, and make newcomers want to come back. All of these can be accomplished without impeccable musicianship. If you do not connect with the audience, it doesn’t matter if you graduated Summa Cum Laude from Juilliard. That’s why showmanship trumps chops every day of the week. How ever humble it may seem, this is still showbiz.