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Financial Compensation

#21
bluewine said:
I wouldn't say I have a problem with it, I do think it's fair. However it's just not for me. That offer would be a better match for someone else.

All I can say is, I'm and equal split guy, at that level. Now,if it was a band booking $1,500.00- $2,000.00 level,I would consider the offer.

My bands minimum 4 hour bar/ club gig fee is $400.00. We are a 4 peice. My split is $100.00

blue
Click to expand...

So who owns the PA? and does the booking? I play in 2 bands, both 4 piece. One band is in the $400.00 night category. The band leader supplies the PA and does the booking. He takes two shares. My main band averages about $1500.00 a night{mostly weddings, special events} The bandleader and I own the PA/lighting. The BL takes 10% for booking and sometimes more for gas. I average about $335.00 a night with this band.
 
#22
Phalex said:
Equal split. At least $100.00 per man per night (2 nights per gig being the norm). There is always a check, but 99% of the time the bar will cash it at the end of the night. If they do not cash the check money is available mid week at practice.
Click to expand...

Interesting the similarities and differences. We also get a minimum $100 per man per night (going up to $150 per next year... lets see how that works out). Always one night.... no multi-night gigs since the 80s. And always cash.

The only time we where paid by check is when the bl requested it. We all had to sign a receipt that we got our share. He was very paranoid about getting paid cash and then getting charged for laundering.
 
#23
modulusman said:
So who owns the PA? and does the booking? I play in 2 bands, both 4 piece. One band is in the $400.00 night category. The band leader supplies the PA and does the booking. He takes two shares. My main band averages about $1500.00 a night{mostly weddings, special events} The bandleader and I own the PA/lighting. The BL takes 10% for booking and sometimes more for gas. I average about $335.00 a night with this band.
Click to expand...

I joined a band that had been together for 5 years. You know, I don't really know who owns the PA.

We all have a hand in booking. There was a while when a lot of the business was "in bound" but that doesn't happen as much as it use to.

blue
 
#25
JumboJack said:
If I owned my bands PA and had to haul and maintain it darn straight I would get a larger share... Or we could find another PA....
Click to expand...

I agree. I don't get paid extra even though I supply the majority of the PA. The band leader who gets the 10% extra not only has some of the PA he also owns a 14 ft trailer and an Excursion to pull it. So 10% is cheap IMO.
 
#26
JumboJack said:
If I owned my bands PA and had to haul and maintain it darn straight I would get a larger share...
Click to expand...

Yep.
That's definitely worth being paid for.
So is:
maintaining the website, Putting together promo stuff, making phone calls, cold calls and smoozing bar managers and owners.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that anything that requires time and effort deserves compensation.

Here's a question:
If the band is established already and has developed some momentum, should a new guy just walk in and expect equal pay to the original members that put in the sweat and tears to make the band what it is?

I say no.
 
#27
nortonrider said:
Yep.
That's definitely worth being paid for.
So is:
maintaining the website, Putting together promo stuff, making phone calls, cold calls and smoozing bar managers and owners.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that anything that requires time and effort deserves compensation.

Here's a question:
If the band is established already and has developed some momentum, should a new guy just walk in and expect equal pay to the original members that put in the sweat and tears to make the band what it is?

I say no.
Click to expand...

+1
 
#28
Anyone who bears an additional responsibility beyond playing their instrument (or singing) as required by the needs of the material deserves more. When you are a 5-piece at the $400-$500 level, the split is too difficult. All of us in my main band (in full electric configuration) are able to book gigs, but most fall to the leader, who also provides PA, and the trailer. The drummer and keys guys are video recordists, I am the audio recordist, and do both audio and video post-production, and I am also the webmaster. Singerbabe often gets us free drinks, on sheer force of her personality, and the fact that she does promo work for the booze makers. We split equally, and agree to the occasional requests from the BL to pay for biz cards, or equipment repair. Emphasis is on "occasional." Nobody gripes.

We do have plans to move up, in terms of profile, and compensation, but, it would be so hard to determine who deserves what, since everyone does something extra. The prior singerbabe (the notorious violinist, and a superior talent) would not help with load-in, or load-out, and was not a crowd-schmoozer, like the new gal, and was sometimes docked pay, as a result. It's about being a good teammate. All 5 of us sing lead vox, in a 4-hour gig, so it is not about being "the voice" of the band, as the violinist's ego often said. The new gal gets better with every show, and our fans already think that she is awesome (shows you what audiences know; BL and I know that she is maybe 70% of what she could be, in time, which is to say, "dangerous"). She is not afraid of the load-in/out work. We do not ask much, in that area; hold a door for guys moving big, heavy stuff, roll cables, etc. It's all about the attitude and work-ethic, which she has, in spades....and I've known her the longest, amongst the bandmates, and it's less than 2 months, as of this writing.

Sorry to digress, a bit.
 
#29
These days I do mainly fill-in stuff. I play for no less than $150. If you get me the set list less than a week out, it's $200. All gigs are local unless I agree to travel and that's more money (based on how far, overnight, etc.). I don't let them pay my expenses. I give them a price and I can get myself there and find somewhere to stay.

When I was in bands, we had a band fund. Each band member got 10% of the nights take. Of course, that would be less for club gigs at $1200-$1500. But for a $4000-$6000 wedding or corporate gig, it turned out pretty well. (It really paid off when we did two weddings and a festival on Friday Saturday with a club kicker on Thursday night.) And at the end of each quarter, if we had more than our minimum set amount in the bank, anything over was split among the owners of the band. Nothing was bought without approval from all owners. If you left the band on your own, you took nothing. But when the band split up, we sold everything (truck, PA, etc.) and split the money.

Both ways have their ups and downs. These days I have a lot less headaches, but I make less money.
 
#30
JumboJack said:
If I owned my bands PA and had to haul and maintain it darn straight I would get a larger share... Or we could find another PA....
Click to expand...

Exactly. And booking gigs is no picnic either. I do that and I am going to make more than the guy who just shows up and plays. Generally I take 10-15% for the booking plus my "cut". Anyone who just shows up and plays with no skin in the game (ownership of PA, off time work booking/marketing, arranging songs) should get paid accordingly.
 
#31
For our bar gigs we split the money evenly 4 ways. $100 a person for a 4 hour gig. We don't use our own PA at these shows. No band fund, everyone has their own stuff, some have lights, PA's. Not me, just my bass gear. I have a set of 4 big PA speakers and an amp at home, no sound board or monitors, but have never used it.

If we do use our own (that is one of our band members) PA, then usually they get a little bigger cut, but those have usually been outdoor shows where we get a little more money to play, so it usually ends up being about $100 again.

It's loose. I usually get paid in cash by the BL after the show. A couple of times I had to wait a month to get a couple hundred bucks, but its mostly cash within a few minutes of ending the night.

We have no money issues. We won't play unless we get paid, but once the show is over it seems like we're trying to give our money away half the time. I drive a long way, and sometimes the other guys try to chip in for it (I always refuse).
 
#32
nortonrider said:
Yep.
That's definitely worth being paid for.
So is:
maintaining the website, Putting together promo stuff, making phone calls, cold calls and smoozing bar managers and owners.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that anything that requires time and effort deserves compensation.

Here's a question:
If the band is established already and has developed some momentum, should a new guy just walk in and expect equal pay to the original members that put in the sweat and tears to make the band what it is?

I say no.
Click to expand...

I would say "no" too.

blue
 
#33
My band is about as easy-going as they get. We are currently playing as a 4-piece (vocalist, guitar, me on bass, and a drummer), your usual bar classic/modern rock band. However we have a rhythm guitarist who is coming to practice and learning our set- hopefully by the new year.

The drummer and vocalist have been playing in bands together for ~20 years. They're about 45. The guitarist is 23 and joined the other two in their last band. The current band started about a year and a half ago, and I (I'm 20) joined last January as the second bass player.

The vocalist owns the ENTIRE PA. Probably $4,000+ and he's still buying stuff/updating/upgrading. That's his deal, he sets it up and rough mixes the band on the board and during soundcheck and all that. He also owns the lights and all of the cables associated.

We all help everybody set up everything, except the drummer, who has enough setting up and micing and all that.


Now to your question- finances. There is no band fund. We all buy our own stuff. We get paid in cash while we are tearing down. 99% of the time, the bar/club owner pays the band member who booked the gig, in person. When we're done packing up, the one who was paid will split the money in exact equal 4ths. One time, I was paid $112.25- which x4 is $450. So it's nice to know that everything is equal. Another time, the bar was already closed when we divided payment, and I got $112, so I'm assuming 2 people got $113- but I really don't/shouldn't care.

We used to have a hired soundman who took $300 off the top of the night. So that night we were all paid $25. That was cut in half at McDonalds on the way home. Life of a rock star....
 
#34
I think the issue were dealing with here is, when a band is booking at that $400.00 level it's really not enough of a margin there to do the unequal split.

Side note;

As you know I'm in Milwaukee and some of our local "top of the heap" guys that have been on the scene for over 30 years still find themselves doing $400.00 shows.

blue
 
#35
We have a 4 piece band, with our own sound man. We split it 5 ways, equally. People have made remarks in the past about the sound man getting an equal cut. Why not? He went to school for it, and he takes the band as serious as we do. He's a big part of how we built our reputation as a great sounding band. And, he's a TOTAL GEEK, when it comes to all the new effects, lighting and such. If he sees something that'll benefit us, it's in the rack inside of a month. He's also the bus driver (a 1999 Bluebird school bus that's been modded. Front 1/2 for the band, back 1/2 for the P.A.), or the equipment vehicle (cube van). Yes, we do have a band fund. Never a dispute over funds. Ever. We won't even think of walkin' into a bar unless we're walkin' out with at the very least a c-note in all our pockets.
 
#36
I used to be in a band where we put all of our money we made from shows into a bank account for the band that only our BL had access too. I wasn't a huge fan of this and would have preferred to pocket the money and pay for anything we need from our own personal expenses.

I ended up quitting the band but it was a pretty nasty break up and we weren't really on speaking terms, so I didn't chase the money but looking back I feel I should have.
 
#38
i take $100 off the top for pa, then pay an equal share to everyone. always by check. bars pay at the end of the night. private gigs pay their outstanding balance before we set up. out of state checks clear before any funds are split. if we travel together(schedules don't always allow) travel expenses come off the top. we're pretty flexible for the most part and nobody's trying to screw anyone else over.
 
#39
I am the band leader and handle all the bookings, bills, etc.

Are you satisfied with how, when, where and the method of how your paid. YES

Do you get paid in a consistent format? YES

For example, lets say it's a four man band.

. Do you have per man dollar minimum for booking shows, if yes, is it acceptable to you? MINIMUM $100 PER MAN BUT USUALLY QUITE A BIT MORE - ALWAYS GUARANTEED FEES - NEVER PLAY FOR THE DOOR, PERCENTAGE OF SALES, ETC.


. Are you paid or does your money go into a band fund? If your share of gig money or a portion of it goes to a band fund, are you ok with it? BAND ALWAYS GETS PAID BUT OCCASIONALLY SOME SMALL EXPENSES ARE TAKEN OUT

. If your paid is it an equal split? YES

. Are you paid in cash after every show. Or paid whenever someone finds the time. If yes, are you ok with it? SOMETIMES CASH AND SOMETIMES CHECK AND I MAKE SURE EVERYBODY GETS PAID QUICKLY

. Do you have to chase your money down from a BL or other band member? NO SINCE I GET THE MONEY OR CHECKS


. Do you have a payroll and your paid by check on a weekly or monthly basis? NO
 
#40
Originials band.

All regular gig money goes into the band fund to pay for future recordings and promo materials.

Equal split for private gigs, pay varies widely.

Our goal isn't to make a ton of money at this point (though we've made as much as $900 in a night) but rather to work our way up to opening slots for national touring bands in our genre.
 

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