Playing Full Time

[tapehead]

I got laid off last Spring and unemployment is about to run out...I am going to give playing full time a shot. Maybe have a pt job on the side. It's not like I was making big $$ before. I'd be happy making 500 a week playing. I'm in a band (modern rock cover band) where everyones goal is to do it full time so that helps, and the talent is definately there.

Any of you guys playing full time in cover bands? What are some of the plusses/minuses? How often are you playing out if doing it full time?

Thanks,

Tape

 

[sleeplessknight]

It's real tough sometimes, booking gigs enough in advance to get that $500/wk. What cats out here seem to do is book themselves with 3 or 4 different cover bands simultaneously, and keep a stable of reliable, professional subs on-hand who know all the tunes and can be available for the inevitable conflicts. I'd recommend the following books to you:

The Working Bassist's Toolkit
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Bassi...r_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252386526&sr=8-10

The Touring Musician: A Small Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road
http://www.amazon.com/Touring-Music...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252386556&sr=1-3

From Zero to Sideman
http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Sideman-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252386595&sr=1-1

(I haven't read that last one, but its on order and it SEEMS pretty good, from what snippets I've read so far)

I think your best bet is to start thinking 6 months ahead. Try to get as many solid, confirmed bookings a MINIMUM of 6 months ahead, and fill in the 'blank dates' where you can. HAUNT craigslist looking for sub gigs, theater work, whatever you can find.
http://www.musicianwages.com/
^---- LOTS of good info hidden in here about making a living as a working musician. The most valuable thing I've found was this:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

automated Craigslist searching and reporting, delivered straight to your inbox or RSS reader.

 

[tycobb73]

Las spring as in 6 months ago? With federal government extensions you can be on unemployment for well over a year (79 weeks in MI). Are you sure its going to run out? It varies by state, but just be sure.

Otherwise, I'd be working to get whatever gigs I can get anyway.

 

[mward69]

I'm in the same boat, my extension ran out. my cover band went from gigging every weekend to once a month.
The bars are having the same issues with the economy. My friend who manages a bar we play tells me, his customers are still coming in, but the top shelf drinkers are drinking the well drinks, and beer folks are drinking the keg stuff. We had to lower our price $100 bucks....we used to get 6-7 per night, now getting $500 per night..split 100 per man. I hope this crap gets better...

 

[two fingers]

As a hard rock band it would be difficult to say the least where I live. I played for a living for the better part of 20 years (sometimes I had a day job, sometimes I didn't). But the only way we were able to pull it off was to be a party/variety band. The real money is in PRIVATE PARTIES (weddings, company parties, etc.). You may get a private show every now and then in a hard rock band, but I doubt there would be too many. In the last band I was in, we did clubs for $1000 to $1800. But weddings were from $3000 to $4500 (the high end being a Saturday night during the wedding season - April through August). You do the math. You have to play some cheesy songs every now and then, but it's better than working for a living. You would have to play a club date 4 or 5 nights a week to make any real money in a hard rock band. Again, I can only speak for my area (you didn't fill out your profile so it's hard to know what the live music scene is like where you are - not giving you crap, just not able to help any more than that because I don't know where you are). We played NC, SC, VA, northern GA, and eastern TN on occasion. Also, get into selling T-shirts and beer huggers. That stuff is a small investment that pays off in a short amount of time. But the BIGGEST thing you have to do is LOOK PROFESSIONAL! Get a NICE banner to hang behind the band (don't make it yourself with spray paint...no matter what you think, it will look like crap). Dress the part. Show up on time. Make sure EVERYBODY in the band has a spare EVERYTHING! That would include guitars and everything that goes with them. Drum heads and sticks, mics, cables, CLOTHES, anything you have the room and money to bring with you. NOTHING makes you look more stupid than talking to the crowd for 10 minutes while some guy changes a string. Ask the owner of the club (or manager...whoever is there) if everything is going OK. Ask if there is anything you can do to make things better. Talk up the club where you are playing. And no matter what, NEVER plug your next club gig across town while you are on stage! If you want pro pay, act like a pro. If you play for a living, it is your JOB. Treat it that way. Take it seriously. If this came off sounding like a lecture, I'm really sorry. I don't know you, so I don't know how much knowledge and experience you bring to the table. Best of luck to you! If you can pull it off it's a lot of fun!

 

[ding_man]

Go for it.

Try doing some other types of gigs.. musicals, duos, teaching...

 

[tapehead]

As a hard rock band it would be difficult to say the least where I live. I played for a living for the better part of 20 years (sometimes I had a day job, sometimes I didn't). But the only way we were able to pull it off was to be a party/variety band. The real money is in PRIVATE PARTIES (weddings, company parties, etc.). You may get a private show every now and then in a hard rock band, but I doubt there would be too many. In the last band I was in, we did clubs for $1000 to $1800. But weddings were from $3000 to $4500 (the high end being a Saturday night during the wedding season - April through August). You do the math. You have to play some cheesy songs every now and then, but it's better than working for a living. You would have to play a club date 4 or 5 nights a week to make any real money in a hard rock band. Again, I can only speak for my area (you didn't fill out your profile so it's hard to know what the live music scene is like where you are - not giving you crap, just not able to help any more than that because I don't know where you are). We played NC, SC, VA, northern GA, and eastern TN on occasion. Also, get into selling T-shirts and beer huggers. That stuff is a small investment that pays off in a short amount of time. But the BIGGEST thing you have to do is LOOK PROFESSIONAL! Get a NICE banner to hang behind the band (don't make it yourself with spray paint...no matter what you think, it will look like crap). Dress the part. Show up on time. Make sure EVERYBODY in the band has a spare EVERYTHING! That would include guitars and everything that goes with them. Drum heads and sticks, mics, cables, CLOTHES, anything you have the room and money to bring with you. NOTHING makes you look more stupid than talking to the crowd for 10 minutes while some guy changes a string. Ask the owner of the club (or manager...whoever is there) if everything is going OK. Ask if there is anything you can do to make things better. Talk up the club where you are playing. And no matter what, NEVER plug your next club gig across town while you are on stage! If you want pro pay, act like a pro. If you play for a living, it is your JOB. Treat it that way. Take it seriously. If this came off sounding like a lecture, I'm really sorry. I don't know you, so I don't know how much knowledge and experience you bring to the table. Best of luck to you! If you can pull it off it's a lot of fun!

Well we're in Dallas.....I think playing here 3 times a week or so and doing some regional shows plus the occasional Vegas, LA, NY gig would work. We have a pretty cool image thing worked up with a bit of a "gimmick" for lack of a better word. Even though we are a cover band, I can guarantee there is no band in the country doing what we are doing with the "image" we have....Which may not mean squat if we dont have the right gigs lined up. But I think we will. Theres a circuit we can get on that would be profitable.
Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[Vetchking]

Vetchking Here:

Great advise Two Fingers.......... Excellant........

[email protected]......... Later

 

[WalterBush]

I think your best bet is to start thinking 6 months ahead. Try to get as many solid, confirmed bookings a MINIMUM of 6 months ahead, and fill in the 'blank dates' where you can.

This, +1000. By the time you realize you're in a dry spell, it's too late.

Our singer kept us hanging for months about whether she was available for the latter half of the year, and guess what...club dates and a few casinos only this year, because out of loyalty we waited to start booking I'd advise you find subs for everyone, including yourself, and keep them up to speed on your current set list. Wish we'd have done this with our singer earlier this year.

Fortunately, we're a pretty versatile group, the Yuma area gets a lot of one-off 'festivals' and other quickly-booked and slapped-together events during tourist season, but these events generally don't pay well enough to live off of.

Even more fortunately, the cover band ain't my only gig. Take any studio work you can get, no matter how wierd or how small, unless you just hate recording. I'm amazed at how many times someone calls me based on the good impression I left when working for them a few years ago.

Also, a poorly-paid gig is better than no gig, IMO. There are some who may argue, but when we're not booked elsewhere, and a low-paying gig at some dive opens up, we load up the 'B-grade' equipment and slum it.

 

[busmandan]

Well we're in Dallas.....I think playing here 3 times a week or so and doing some regional shows plus the occasional Vegas, LA, NY gig would work. We have a pretty cool image thing worked up with a bit of a "gimmick" for lack of a better word. Even though we are a cover band, I can guarantee there is no band in the country doing what we are doing with the "image" we have....Which may not mean squat if we dont have the right gigs lined up. But I think we will. Theres a circuit we can get on that would be profitable.
Thanks for the input everyone!

Hit the Casinos in OK and LA. I'm in Dallas, too, and I've never thought there was enough work here to play full time.

-- Dan --