What the going rate in your region?

[And I]

If my boston-area 8-piece band (mostly original funk soul and a little bit of rock n roll) makes $300 at a bar gig that's a good night. We don't provide the PA, but still. Playing bar gigs for the money is a losing proposition.

 

[delta7fred]

NE UK, weekend warrior.

With my 60's band we get between 80 - 120 GBP each. I sub in a bar band where we get 60 - 80GBP each.

30 years ago I was in a band that wouldn't start loading gear for less than 100 GBP each. Gigs were very welcome extra income.

(100GBP is currently about $120.)

 

[ThePez]

on average 100-150 per man. sometimes more, rarely less. we bring sound and lights, but most places it's just kick and vocals in the pa. Hampton Roads area in Virginia.

 

[mark roberts]

NE Kansas...new/newer/not in the local cult-of-personality preference groups? Lose money (negative$ after expenses on a per player per gig basis). Established groups...depends on the radius of miles from home. Can be negative $ after expenses to $100-$350/player per gig...with a nod towards the lower $ part of the range.

 

[TheReceder]

just played a nice "patio" gig at a bar last night.. 6-10 pm (that's a Thursday night). I made $250 in a 5 piece with a sound man.

Played the same gig, same place, with fewer people in the band and came home with $100. Minnesota, not a big metro area.

 

[Charlzm]

No idea. I play in an originals band in Los Angeles and so we have to pay the venues to play.

 

[obimark]

The band in Western PA I was in was a 10 Piece rock/funk/disco/R&B cover band, with 1 female vox, 1 male vox/guitar, drums, bass, keys, alto sax, tenor sax, bari sax, trombone, and trumpet. In a usual night, we'd be looking at $50/each a night for 3 sets. I think the band was getting paid $500-$700, and we paid our sound guy $200.

For the quality of the bars we played in, this was not sustainable. The female vocalist left, and they found a replacement for her, but said replacement required making at least $150 a gig, and that lead to some changes. The band leader was one of the sax players, so instead of thinning out the horn section, like would be logical, I got the boot, and now the keyboard player covers the bass parts. How fun is that? Haha. Sorry, that was a ramble.

10-pieces at that rate? That is truly nuts or solely for the love of the game!

 

[lowendrachel]

Since bands vary in size, we'll go 'per musician'.
I'm talking about regular working bar bands. The backbone of the industry.
Assuming- 3 sets, bring your own p.a. and lights, not including bar perks.
I'm from outside Toronto Canada, and my region we're at $100 CDN per person,(about $75 U.S.) and a 'good paying' gig is $150 Doesn't sound like much does it?
Where are you, and what's the going rate? Not talking about national touring, I mean the road warriors who have played 'Tush' 2000 times.

The most I got around Markham, Stouffville, Uxbridge, Port Perry, Sutton, Barrie area is $75.

 

[baileyboy]

My band plays in the tri-State area of NY, NJ and PA. 5 piece band, typically $100 per.

I don't know what "Tush" is...??

He's referring to a ZZTop song... but I didn't get his point...

 

[Alik]

I live in MD. 4 piece top 40 band that has never played "tush". We usually take home $350-450 per person.

$80 per person, west Texas.
*starts googling tickets for MD*

 

[fdeck]

My most frequent guarantee is 100/gig. This is for in-town with minimal load in and no sound check (jazz combo). Out of town is usually more. Some really easy gigs, like 2 hours or under, might pay 50 bucks. The bandleaders are rarely making any extra money on those gigs.

I actually don't care that much about food or bar comp. After all, a free beer is worth about a buck, unless it's something fancy, and it takes the bartenders away from serving customers. If it's a wedding, I'd rather the couple save their money. They pay a huge amount per plate for food that's usually pretty vile. If I need sustenance, I can just bring a sandwich from home.

My main band is non-commercial when we play our regular venue, but if you hire us for an event, it's 19 players at 100/player.

 

[ArtechnikA]

If my boston-area 8-piece band (mostly original funk soul and a little bit of rock n roll) makes $300 at a bar gig that's a good night. We don't provide the PA, but still. Playing bar gigs for the money is a losing proposition.

Just to be clear - that's $300 a person? $2400 total for the band ?

 

[Paulabass]

'Tush" is an overplayed bar band song. I coulda said "Mustang Sally", but it's mere mention might get me thrown out of here.
"Brown Eyed Girl" anyone?

 

[Jason Hollar]

 

[Gustopher]

We do about $100 per musician, four piece classic rock band. Play about 1-2 times a month. Southwest Virginia.

 

[ArtechnikA]

"Brown Eyed Girl" anyone?

I've never actually played BEG. (The other two - yup...) It was on the rehearsal list once. I was still following the lead sheet and missed a change since I'd left my readers behind and mis-read a 'C' for a 'G.' Guitar guy had a hissyfit accusing me of going to the chorus too soon, and yanked the song. It actually would have fit that band pretty well, but it was not a good match for hair-trigger guitar prima donnas...

 

[TerenceE]

Got one this weekend where we make $300/each and there's 5 of us. 3 45 min sets. That's a private gathering though. $100 is the average at standard bar gigs....well $500 divided by however many are in the band

 

[Engle]

$100-130 per person for my 6-7 piece cover band. When I'm subbing it's usually $120 and up.
My heavy originals band will likely not make that much once we're gigging.

 

[pasmithy]

Standard bars/clubs. 500-1,000 capacity typically. Lots of beach and dock bars around here. The summer gigs we usually net more money. We have 3 gigs this weekend at 3 different tiki bars in southern VA and will each come home with around $1,200.

I think the original poster is more interested in the average bar pay. The Deer Park and Chesapeake Inn aren't in that bracket, are they?

 

[[skyraider]]

Central North Carolina is about the same. My band packs the house just about every time we play and they are staying the whole night. It's always a great party. But we were still pulling down $100 per for most gigs. We did that for a year and then I put my foot down, demanding at least $180 per person.

The standard Friday night show includes a full days' work at the day job, getting up at 6:00 AM. I take the gas-guzzling Jeep with all the equipment that I personally paid thousands of dollars for--the PA and whatnot--to work so that I can go straight to the show after work. Grab something to eat and circle the block for 40 minutes to try to snag a parking spot near the venue, because the cops are ruthless about handing out $75 parking tickets. Finally get in only to have to wait an hour for some people to finish eating so they can move the tables. Spend a few hours setting up, play the show until 1:00 to 2:00 am, usually, spend 90 minutes tearing down, another 30-40 minutes (for local shows) driving home. Crawl into bed around 3am Saturday morning. Spend rest of the weekend recuperating. Next day fill up the tank with $30 out of the $100 or so after tips that I made the night before.

After a year of this I decided to start refusing the $100/person shows. I'd rather have my weekends back.
I've been playing $100/person shows since 1988. We're getting better pay but a lot fewer shows. Which suits me just fine. If the band wants to replace me, fine. It's worth it to not be killing myself for pocket change when the bars are making big bucks.