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How much for a wedding band?!?!

zac2944

zac2944

Dec 28, 2004
2,291
213
Rochester, NY
#1
I saw this in an email and thought I'd share it here. I'll be using this one next time I have to negotiate a wedding price. :)


A guy calls the musicians' guild to get a quote on a 6 piece band for a wedding. The rep says "Off the top of my head, about $2000".He says"WHAT? FOR MUSIC?. "The rep responds " I'll tell you what. Call the plumbers' union & ask for six plumbers to work from 6 to midnight on a Saturday night. Whatever they charge you, we'll work for half."
 
#4
2k wouldn't get my wedding band for more than 2 hours. You'd crap your pants if you knew how much my band and band's in my company get. And I'm booked every Saturday and Sunday, with Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays rotating every week, or doing combinations of all days, until mid December :)
 
#5
FYI. In Mexico a full band will be around $ 2500-3500, you need to add another $ 1000 for the mariachi, I paid $1000 for 3 hours of piano and sax 8 years ago, so I am sure that in US a full band is way more expensive :)
 
#6
A bit really depends...

For a wedding, it's not realy a "band" but a party focal point.... if you don't have the people that can start and maintain a party, you're in the $400 realm.. if you have cute folks who can start and maintain photo opportunities, then you're in the $2000 realm.. if you take any request (and pull it off) you're in the $3000+ realm

most of the bands I play could "attend" a party, but don't have the acting chops to be a wedding/party/corporate gig.
 
#8
MNAirHead said:
A bit really depends...

For a wedding, it's not realy a "band" but a party focal point.... if you don't have the people that can start and maintain a party, you're in the $400 realm.. if you have cute folks who can start and maintain photo opportunities, then you're in the $2000 realm.. if you take any request (and pull it off) you're in the $3000+ realm

most of the bands I play could "attend" a party, but don't have the acting chops to be a wedding/party/corporate gig.
Click to expand...

+ 1

Wedding bands will bring all kind of stuff to make the party: hats, balloons etc. They also will bring the PA, stage, lights, fog, etc. They need to interact a lot with the crowd and not just play a set of songs. There is a lot of things going on with bands that play weddings or corporate events.
 
#10
Not much of a wedding market for bands around my area anymore.

2nd-rate DJs undercutting good bands on price ... combined with general bad behavior / lack of professionalism by too many bands over the years ... have pretty much put a stake in that revenue stream, sad to say.
 
#11
In my region, 90% of the wedding gigs go to D.J.s who get anywhere from $500 - $1,000 to have no talent and press play. The few bands that get random wedding gigs are lucky to make $500 - $1,000 for an entire band.
 
#12
When you work for a company, you get jobs. I guess that was where I got lucky. They've been the top of the industry for 30 years, and I'm out playing weddings/corporate/private parties literally every weekend from March-December.

We usually bring our PA rig, but if people want to dish out more, we have sound light and video guys on with us as well, and sometimes roadies. Yes, sometimes I get a roadie for a wedding. People will even book me in a trio along with a DJ. The DJ handles the top 40, and the clients want us for straight rock.

I know private bands that play 3 weddings a year and get about $1000 a guy. But, they hardly work. I get checks, pay taxes, and am in a union. But it's enough to live on. People will always be getting married, and (at least here in the NY NJ CT area) they all want live bands. Our company comes with a reputation, and they know they'll get a good product. MNAirHead said it right. You're the focal point. You're the MC's, you're in charge of the required music, you have to make an art out of reading the crowd and you have to prep the week before if you have to learn songs. Sometimes I'm learning 20 songs a week for a standard work weekend. Bands get in over their heads, because they have NO idea what goes into this. People say "Whats your set list like?" I say, "What's a set list?".

Can you tell I'm passionate about my job? Haha :)
 
#14
new york tri-state area wedding bands get $3K to as much as 7K or 8K remember there is set list add ons like couples first dance, parents dances, and overall request of the party. Matty H has it right as the band you have alot of emcee stuff to do (the bride cuts the cake and so on). dinner music. now a days there is a video of the couple played before the first dance. you might have to run the audio through the PA. $2K sounds cheap to me. At my wedding the DJ was $1200. I've seen enough wedding bands to choke a horse.
 
#17
oldbassplayergu said:
new york tri-state area wedding bands get $3K to as much as 7K or 8K remember there is set list add ons like couples first dance, parents dances, and overall request of the party. Matty H has it right as the band you have alot of emcee stuff to do (the bride cuts the cake and so on). dinner music. now a days there is a video of the couple played before the first dance. you might have to run the audio through the PA. $2K sounds cheap to me. At my wedding the DJ was $1200. I've seen enough wedding bands to choke a horse.
Click to expand...

Yeah there's very definitely a huge difference in that whole scene depending on market. Just the whole approach to weddings in general. My wife's sister lives in New Jersey and it's not uncommon out there for people to spend more on their wedding than a lot of people out here in the Plains make in a year.
 

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