What the going rate in your region?

[brianrost]

Where are you, and what's the going rate?

I'm from the Boston, MA area and pay varies widely by genre and venue. So there is no real going rate here. I've played gigs from $5/man up to $600/man

 

[Charlzm]

So it's like renting the venue basically right?
How much is pay to play in LA? (And how big the venue)

I think the future model for staying sustainable is just organizing your own events and becoming a wiz at promoting yourself. Especially in big cities it seems to me that's what a lot of people do.

Not to be cagey, but it depends on everything. Want to play The Whisky on a weekend? A lot more than The Mint on a Wednesday.

My band is planning on renting a smallish (100 capacity) venue, selling our own tickets and making something special out of it for the same or less than playing a "name" club on a poorly curated 5 band bill.

 

[And I]

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

No--assuming you are even partially serious--no, that would not be clear. That's not $300 per person. It's for the whole band. Local originals bands don't get paid well around here.

 

[interp]

I play in a band in southern Bavaria. Local bar gigs pay about 100 Euro, or about 120 dollars, per man. We try to minimize these types of gigs. Special events, weddings, etc. pay 200-300 Euro per man.

 

[Basically Bob]

… I am about 2 hours away from you. Back in 2005/2006 my busy hobby band had no problem getting $100 per band member for anything we did (bars, private parties). $125.00 is stretching it. We are not playing as much but that still seems to be the going rate around here. A small "Bistro" in the area was paying $300 per night … very small stage and most acts are duos or trios. They have just lowered their pay to $200.00 per night per act.

 

[b_carville]

Suburbs of Philadelphia,PA.
$100 per member.Four to six piece bands.Seems to be the standard bar rate. I've been playing off & on with the band I left 6 years ago. They don't play every week anymore but they still get $150 to $250 per member(four piece band). I play in a few original band's & they get far less.The original acts only have to play one set.Lucky if you get $40 to $50 with them.
Pay scale hasn't gone up in thirty years I'm semi retired now so I can pick & choose who I want to play with. I am playing a bit more now then I've been for the last few years.I've had some medical expenses & could use some extra $$$. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it.I had to get a car again. Between car payments,carrying insurance repairs,etc.takes up a lot of the extra bucks.Not to mention driving time. Some gigs I do are fairly far away & start early.Traffic can be so bad that you have to leave at least an hour & a half to go 25-30 miles.I won't even do New Jersey sea shore gigs.Two to three hour drive each way & $15 -20 in tolls.& the pay scale isn't that good. I'm starting to consider dropping gigs & applying for medical assistance!

 

[Magthegrate]

Our aim is $100 per person per night. Sometimes we do better, sometimes we do worse. Most of the venues we play seem to want to play the game of "first time you play here we hardly pay anything, but if we invite you back it'll be more!".

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

I'm in an original band that plays out probably once every two years in upstate ny. We usually pay about $300 each to play, if you count facebook promotion, new cargo shorts, drinks and gear upgrades.

 

[Cage]

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

Ya.

 

[Cage]

I am happy for your scene. In this part of the world, that's not standard. 100 capacity is more standard for a bar. I'm not sure I can even think of a 500-person capacity bar. (Actually I did - but it's in Reading - and outside.)

K

 

[Moosehead1966]

Sault Ste. Marie in Northern Ontario reporting. $100 a person but $300 a gig more accurate. We're a three-piece largely due to that economic reality. Can earn more for private functions of course. A few establishments pay $60 a person which is a non-starter for us. Have p.a., lights and haze used for private shows and and the bars that require production. Play about 40 shows a year.

Marc

 

[pappabass]

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

Dang !! That is good money! I usually play for free!

 

[TemplesOfSyrinx]

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.

Boy, I wish our "Standard" clubs & bars at the Jersey shore sat 500-1000. The high end ones do, but they only have the same 4 backing tracks bands all summer long. Most bars here are bar/restaurants. 300 capacity is a lot.

Normal pay is $100 to $150 per. I need to move to MD....

 

[Odinbass]

Cleveland.

$100 is usually the go/no-go mark. That's after soundman is paid for.

Mid-tier bar bands can get more like $125-200 but at that point you need to have a draw to justify. The top bands command quite a bit more but they are the top bands and most of us aren't in those bands.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Smaller bar portion of MD here, $350-500 per night for the band.

 

[markjazzbassist]

Cleveland.

$100 is usually the go/no-go mark. That's after soundman is paid for.

Mid-tier bar bands can get more like $125-200 but at that point you need to have a draw to justify. The top bands command quite a bit more but they are the top bands and most of us aren't in those bands.

I'm in Cleveland but I haven't wadded into the bar scene yet (just moved back here recently). I do private/corporate jazz gigs as a trio and usually it's 200-300 a man. More money for sure but not as frequent. I was wondering what the bar scene was paying.

 

[levis76]

Wait a minute, you guys/gals get paid to play? What manner of sorcery is this?

Most, if not all, bar/club owners in the Detroit area have made an art out of screwing over live bands, particularly rock, metal, and punk. Calling the cops is their go to move, and of course the police always side with the business owner, regardless if there's a signed contract or not. None of us had the time to pursue a $200 claim in court. These days I jam with a couple buddies now and again and laugh anytime anyone suggests 'playing out'. I tell them if you can't guarantee me a minimum of $200 in my pocket at the end of the night, I'm not moving my gear.

Not so funny story, we finished playing a bar one night and after packing our gear up the cops roll up and tell us the owner called and said there was a group of guys loitering in the parking lot. We explained we were a band and just finished playing and packing our gear and we wanted to head back inside to watch the other bands and have some drinks. They didn't want to hear it, just told us we needed to leave so we did. The Hayloft. What a hole. Place closed down a few weeks later and opened back up as a dueling piano bar for a minute. I hate the Detroit music scene, if it's isn't play for free, then it's pay to play. No thanks.

 

[Paulabass]

Playing free- Yes to 3-4 legit charity events per year. That's just part doing our part.
Playing free for exposure? Bite me! Can I bash out a song for you? Sure. Pay me.

 

[mike o]

Normally $75 to 100 per person. Show can be three or four hours. Same rate. Will make double that for a big holiday gig. It barely covers my expenses overall. I still feel like a winner though! Nothing better than playing live.

 

[fishdreams]

There is around here (NYC) for bars/small rooms IME a basic (as in acceptable minimum to qualify as a paid gig) side person fee of $75,- which may include one rehearsal/run through. I think that fee has been the same for decades.

I see a much more side person-based gig economy, with everyone playing in multiple loose groups, rather than bands as financially independent and personnel-wise closed units.

Consequently, while musicians may perform for less, they are (again ime) more easily put off by multiple rehearsals, which no one has time for. If you as a BL need like 5 rehearsals to get whatever music you are doing to sound acceptable, you definitely will have to pay more than that $75,- for 1 show.