@PauFerro I think you see where most of us are coming from. I assume you have a stable of potential musicians for each chair. Just keep in mind that the ones who are willing to work with you on the lower paying gigs would be the ones that I would call first for the higher paying ones.
Yes, I see it. My opening post was on how to respond to the I need $175 thing.
I get that maybe some are tired of hauling ash for $50 and sit at home until something good comes along. Others are content with maybe a few gigs a year at high rates of pay, so they are quoting high. I do that to clients during peak periods or if they ask me for a quote in a gig I don't really want. So I don't begrudge anyone for doing it -- that's business.
But how to respond to it, to keep the supply of musicians in your favor so you have flexibility to do gigs at different price points is critical to me. It's a hassle to orient new players...
Also, as far as giving the lower priced players the high paying gigs, that's what I do too.
It does mean you sometimes end up with weaker players, but they are still within range to get repeat bookings and the audience doesn't seem to care. Then the ones with high minimums end up sitting at home until they realize you've moved on without them. Not all are like that though -- piano players tend to be in demand because they can do so much alone...but sax, guitar, and drums -- I've seen that pattern. They get their minimums for solo work. But strangely, they don't impose them on me if they have an open night! Figure that out. It's based on availability and not pay above the going rate.
The non-piano players with minimums then join or form other bands but are subject to the "let's start a band with no entrepreneur in it" syndrome. In this phenomenon, they start rehearsing with a group of guys. After building a repertoire, realize they had it better in a band with regular work at $100+. They find themselves rehearsing and no gigs. When you call then again to sub at the $100 rate, they express a desire for more regular work. So when I call them with sub work at $100 they often say things like "I thought you had given up on me" or "what happened with all the gigs" and I just explain I couldn't meet their minimum so I had to use other guys...happy to renengage when appropriate if they can handle the pay. Someimtes they say "I'd like to do more small group work" again. These are direct quotes...
By the way, I don't begrudge paying $175 a person if I can get it. I WANT that as it means I get it too -- for my own musician pay. It also increases my cred with the group, and keeps the band together, and its good for the musicians economically, and for morale.
It's the "industry structure" that keeps these prices down. Sure, you can quote high under the delusion of changing the market (like most of these high minimum-holders) , but unless everyone in town is doing it as a coordinated effort (broaching on a cartel and price fixing, which is illegal), you end up just giving the gigs away to another BL -- a BL who has managed to set the members' expectations properly for what the market can normally bear.
If I really want to make the pay go up, I'd have to figure out how to change the industry structure so there's less competition. Music performance is a cottage industry, like photography, painting and other low-entry barrier businesses that border on hobbies. Unfortunately, it makes for a crowded industry with competition that keeps prices low.
I have one tactic that I'm sure would decimate most of my competitors and allow me to jack up prices on clients. And it means VERY LITTLE effort on my part-- so easy a Caveman could do it. But a few things stop me from doing it. One is my love for jazz and to see it perpetuated. Another is sheer personal ethics. These things prevent me from doing it.
So, for now, people with high minimums on instruments with a large supply will have to be subject to the effects of stiff competition just like I am.
