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Quality or Quantity of Gigs?

Quality or Quantity?

  • Quality

    Votes: 77 71.3%

  • Quantity

    Votes: 11 10.2%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 20 18.5%
  • Total voters
    108
#84
JimmyM said:
Let's see...do one gig for $400 or work 4x as hard for $400...

A tough decision, but I'm going with quality.
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I don't think it's that simple for all of us.

Ok I have my $400.00 now what am I going to do with my weekends for the rest of the month. I am a one band guy and I don't and have no interest in subbing.

It's not hard work, I'll take the 4 gigs at $100.00. I have nothing else to do.

Blue
 
#85
JimmyM said:
Let's see...do one gig for $400 or work 4x as hard for $400...

A tough decision, but I'm going with quality.
Click to expand...

+1

And there's a long term business strategy to keep in mind here, as well. If you get known for playing any gig, anywhere for little money, word gets around. Club owners & talent bookers talk. They know if you're playing everywhere, and they know if you'll play for cheap. Ultimately, that could hurt your asking price. Because those bookers may be budgeted to offer a band $600, but if they know your act will work for $400 what do you think they're going to do?
 
#87
bluewine said:
I don't think it's that simple for all of us.

Ok I have my $400.00 now what am I going to do with my weekends for the rest of the month. I am a one band guy and I don't and have no interest in subbing.

It's not hard work, I'll take the 4 gigs at $100.00. I have nothing else to do.

Blue
Click to expand...


Blue has a point.

I think the point he's getting at is that $400 gigs are far less common than $100 gigs.

I'd rather play 4 times a month for $100 a shot than 3 times a year for $400.

But that's just me. I like to play.
 
#88
ShoeManiac said:
+1

And there's a long term business strategy to keep in mind here, as well. If you get known for playing any gig, anywhere for little money, word gets around. Club owners & talent bookers talk. They know if you're playing everywhere, and they know if you'll play for cheap. Ultimately, that could hurt your asking price. Because those bookers may be budgeted to offer a band $600, but if they know your act will work for $400 what do you think they're going to do?
Click to expand...

In Milwaukee for bar bands $400.00 is the top of the scale for non represented bar bands.

Your theory works but you would have to scale back to $400.00 offer to the band that will work for $300.00.

Blue
 
#89
It seems like everyone here is looking at this from a cover band perspective, for the most part anyway. But for an original band, the equation is a little different. I'd say priorities on a gig probably look like this:

Cover Band:
1. Pay
2. Professionalism (quality of sound system, ease of dealing with promoter, etc)
3. Labor/Inconvenience
4. Exposure

Original Band:
1. Exposure
2. Professionalism
3. Pay
4. Labor/Inconvenience

For most of this thread, exposure has been of little or no concern. But for an original band, exposure is everything. Building a following is worth the investment of playing some lesser gigs. It may even be the same for a cover band that is still trying to build a reputation, but there is an issue there of establishing yourself as a "cheap" band.
 
#91
Original bands getting paid is not an easy trick to pull off in most areas of the country. And really, those types of gigs are more about getting your name out, so I kind of understand taking more gigs for less money.

And yeah, Blue, I get a little stir crazy when I have an extended break, such as the one I'm just coming off of. But I work pretty steadily, even though not all my jobs pay $400 or more to me. But many do, so hence my original answer ;)
 
#92
JimmyM said:
Original bands getting paid is not an easy trick to pull off in most areas of the country. And really, those types of gigs are more about getting your name out, so I kind of understand taking more gigs for less money.

And yeah, Blue, I get a little stir crazy when I have an extended break, such as the one I'm just coming off of. But I work pretty steadily, even though not all my jobs pay $400 or more to me. But many do, so hence my original answer ;)
Click to expand...

I understand, I guess this has a lot of guys thinking;

"How do move from the $100.00 per man bar band gigs to making myself $400.00 per gig?"

For many it would mean switching genres and your overall philosophy on gigging.It might mean some originals guys would have to switch to covers or in some instances from cover to original.

In most regions bars are not paying $1,500.00 to bands.

Blue
 
#95
bluewine said:
I understand, I guess this has a lot of guys thinking;

"How do move from the $100.00 per man bar band gigs to making myself $400.00 per gig?"

For many it would mean switching genres and your overall philosphy on gigging.It might mean some originals guys would have to switch to covers.

In most regions bars are not paying $1,500.00 to bands.

Blue
Click to expand...
We avoid bars like the plague, my man! Concerts, conventions, things like that. We do one bar on a regular basis, and it's really a restaurant more than a bar. It's not our lowest paying gig, and on concert nights it pays downright great, but on a regular night, it's fairly low paying. Still, we do dates there as a package to get the concert dates. A loss leader, if you will.
 
#96
JimmyM said:
We avoid bars like the plague, my man! Concerts, conventions, things like that. We do one bar on a regular basis, and it's really a restaurant more than a bar. It's not our lowest paying gig, and on concert nights it pays downright great, but on a regular night, it's fairly low paying. Still, we do dates there as a package to get the concert dates. A loss leader, if you will.
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Your in the big league Jimmy. I know very little about your world.

Are most of the guys involved in this thread also in the big league?

Heck, I might not even belong here.

Blue
 
#99
bluewine said:
Your in the big league Jimmy. I know very little about your world.

Are most of the guys involved in this thread also in the big league?

Heck, I might not even belong here.

Blue
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Ha ha........

I certainly don't belong there. I'd be laughed at before the end of the first song......


I have thought about it, and if I were looking to move over into better gigs, I'd probably want to be in a wedding/function band. I watched my father's band play weddings for years, sometimes 2 in a weekend, and he said it always paid well, even though it was a lot of work and a long day. But he really enjoyed it, I think a lot more than playing bars.
 
#100
bluewine said:
In Milwaukee for bar bands $400.00 is the top of the scale for non represented bar bands.

Your theory works but you would have to scale back to $400.00 offer to the band that will work for $300.00.

Blue
Click to expand...

Who said I was talking about Milwaukee?

It's a general business strategy with the goal of maximizing your gig income. That means not oversaturating your market (regardless of where you are). It means knowing what your target market will bear. And it means placing some value on what your act has to offer to talent buyers. That demands a good deal of professionalism, talent & business savvy on the part of the act. Professionalism & business savvy (or a lack thereof) are where many talented acts fail.

Also? A good number of talent buyers specifically state that they don't want you gigging within a certain geographic area and a certain time period relative to the date you book at their venue. Because they're also aware about the potential for oversaturation and the negative impact that may have on your act's draw at their venue.

All important things to keep in mind.
 

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