$75-100 gigs in 2023

[groooooove]

on the one hand, if the band brought in a big enough crowd and/or provided a desirable enough service that it was in the businesses best interest to have you there, the price would climb. there's always a cold hard economic fact here. keeping the doors open in a place like that can be shockingly expensive - especially here, on long island.

on the other hand... yeah.. no thanks. when i was starting out i took more $100 gigs than i can remember. the amount of work it takes - and i'm a trained musician, quick to make charts/learn tunes, etc, but it's still hours of work.

during covid live gigs were gone, and everyone had puppies, and i started my dog training business...

i already had a day job teaching music, but doing something totally different makes you realize how bad the work to compensation ratio is for performing musicians.

if you work out your hourly rate for a musician doing bar gigs, it's gotta be around minimum wage.

and i 100% understand why. the economic reality is not lost on me. I understand that the business can't just pay you more because you worked hard. a lot of the young crowds who spend money in bars are completely not interested in live music.

 

[poppunk]

I'm not in this for the money,I already have a job I do for the $$$. Playing is mostly for my own enjoyment and sanity,this isn't my career.

This is not a primary income source for me, but I've realized that they pay has a high correlation to how serious the venue is, people showing up, and the overall situation. I'd rather play in front of hundreds of people who showed up for us and are having a blast rather than be background music.

Most of what I'm doing does involves pro musicians or people with low paying jobs and they do need to get paid. So we make sure they get paid.

 

[pepj]

But they are interested in meeting women which is why we target women friendly venues.
That means a group of two or 3 need to be made to feel comfortable. The toilets need to be nice.
Get women coming, guys follow. Plus a group of girls can make a frightening dent on the wine cellar and the younger guys go for shots to match them.
Its not uncommon for these people to drop a $100 a head.
Then you need a great band getting them all dancing. 2 hrs and you are all done.

Friends bands girl singer told a venue she had a load of girlfriends coming and make sure the wine cellar is stocked. The venue ran out...not happy, lost a lot of sales. But that band could have doubled their fee.

 

[buldog5151bass]

IMO, very few people are going to spend Friday or Saturday night in a bar just because they have some unknown band. If you want to get paid a decent figure, it comes down to how many people you will bring. There are cheaper options (DJ, karaoke, trivia nights) and more solid options (food).

It isn't 1973. People are not going out drinking all night to hear live music.

Again, I'm talking the traditional bar gig.

 

[LAST_C]

There are bands/musicians willing to play for peanuts and some even for free. That makes it hard to get paid what a professional should get.

There's always another band willing to play for less. My last two gigs paid $100 per musician and I consider myself fortunate.

 

[coy garcia]

Large casino gigs in a high energy 5 pc rock band gets us 140 each plus hotel room and food voucher after the agent gets his cut. Minus gas it's more like 90. I do a bit better in my bar gigs with a blues group.

 

[DwaynieAD]

So 100 for 3 hours work plus set up and tear down. So 5 hours work. So 20 dollars an hour?

Its not great but it's not insulting.

 

[BWB]

But this made me wonder, what’s y’all’s bare minimum for gigs in your market?

Here the standard is $100 a person ... maybe. Or $75. My personal minimum is $50. And for $50 there has to be a real good reason why. If I blocked off a Saturday night 2 months in advance for you playing music I don't really care for or about at a club I wouldn't go to otherwise, yeah, I need $100 minimum.

I'm in 2 bands - one is an Americana/jam band thing that's super fun, no pressure, and 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.

The other band makes serious $$$ but is a pressure situation with the music and we play relatively few dates in large clubs and theaters.

The you-will-make-$500-a-weekend and play every weekend days are long over.

 

[pepj]

Told this before..60's act still touring but no original members as far as I know.
$400 for a sub, 4 or 5 hr drive, over night stay to oay for..unless you drive back.. AND GAS=no takers.

 

[richntiff]

In my area, there are definitely a number of bands in that $100 per person range for the typical bar gig- typically 4-5 piece bands, bringing their own sound. My band made a decision to up our price last year, we bring a sound guy, and are a 5 piece band. We are booking bars at $800 on average now. So, not killer pay, but substantially better than the low end of the scale. I often wonder if bands play cheap because they are afraid to ask for more?

 

[bigdaddybass12]

I have a low paying gig tomorrow night. I look at like this, either I play for $75 or not play at all. I play for fun. I enjoy playing music. Either my equipment sits at my house because I am too good to play for $50 or I go do what I enjoy. I play golf for free, fish for free, spend all day in front of a smoker for free.

 

[NC_Rob]

As others have stated the economy sucks and the bars are mostly empty (just a hair north of Charlotte) compared to what they were in the 80s/90s. There are a few bands up here that can pull a crowd but for the most part the younger crowd spends more time online than out with their friends. Average bands are looking at $250-$300 a night for bar gigs.

 

[turf3]

Answered a call for a working “pro” 5 piece country band in the DFW area who needs a bass player. Band is made up of older players who have some time under their belt (guess at 46 yo, I have some time under mine as well). He said they play out 2-3xs per month, 3 one hour sets, and take home 75-100 a man. That’s when I said thank you for your time. I’m not your guy.

I mean seriously, are cover bands still working for 400-500 per show/ 75-100 per man? I can understand the pay disparity for original acts trying to find their way and build and a following. But a cover band, especially for a full nights worth of music. No way. Maybe it’s cause I’m older and my time is worth more than that. I dunno. I also know what bands make in this circuit as I’ve played in several before. 200+ in a man in DFW for a good cover band (county, rock, variety, or top 40) is becoming more of the standard pay at clubs now. I just couldn’t believe a band of supposed seasoned guys working for less than a 100. Obviously, they’re not that pro and or seasoned as they led me to believe. Lol.

But this made me wonder, what’s y’all’s bare minimum for gigs in your market?

I was making 150-200 a night in a cover band in 1984-1985.

The issue here is not that these guys "aren't as pro and seasoned as they led me to believe"; the issue is that the market is shrinking for what they're offering.

I THINK the wedding circuit still pays pretty well, but I bet the number of gigs is shrinking there too, as younger generations get married and their parents come from younger generations and the parents have different expectations of a wedding party.

 

[pepj]

In our towns, the rates and terms are well known.
Nobody takes seriously the low balls so leave that territory to the low ballers. Its not really going to be a great gig you are missing anyway.

You can hit a venue with a special event and aim high but you'll need to deliver.
There is no point charging excessive fees if the venue does not do well out of it, because all you do is break that venue.
Good venues and good owners are not that plentiful so you want to keep your relations with them on vg terms.
I consider the better ones 'friends' so price accordingly. If they tell me their top payout is X, then I judge whether we can do that for them. We dont just see it as the price we set for them because they might pay it to others.
We know we are worth $500 and they get a great band for that but getting a premium for the players we use does not always transfer into packing the place like the ra ra bands might.
So, we try and stay sensible.

 

[ole Jason]

It is what it is. It isn't like most bars are going to be able to pay a band $1000 or whatever to play covers.

 

[bigthemat]

I'm lucky if I make more than $100 at any of the local bars here in salt lake. Private gigs can pay better, and depending on the night if the bar gives you the door or whatever it can be better, but yeah pretty standard in the $4-500 range sadly

 

[brianrost]

$10 plus meals? Their cost on the food is minimal (especially BBQ), so you're basically paying for free.

Of course, I’m almost playing for free

I’m getting a good meal for free (saving me at least $20, $40 if my wife comes along), the $10 covers gas and tolls and I get to spend two hours playing with old friends. I’m fine with that, but I’m not signing up for any more gigs like that!

I suspect we won’t be doing it for much longer, anyway.

 

[brianrost]

The fees for pub cover bands in the UK haven't changed for over 20 years.

Here in the Boston area it’s been more like 40 years now.

If having bands brings in an extra $500 a night, once they subtract the cost of drinks and such, you're not going to get all of that.

One owner I spoke to about this said his metric was for every dollar he pays a band, he needs to attract at least $2 more business and ideally $3 or more.

 

[Bullitt5135]

In fact, the gig we like most pays the least. The real "pay" comes from the attentive, appreciative audience.

Bingo.

 

[ThinCrappyTone2]

Meh I look at playing music as LARPing. No matter how much I slice and dice the numbers, at the end of the day, the reality is that I'm paying for the privilege.

If it's any comfort, a lot of professional touring bands are just breaking even.

What can ya do. They told us to go into finance or porn if we wanted to make money, but did we listen?