Who gets paid

[4001]

At 120 bpm in a 4/4 count playing 1/4 notes, you are earning 0.17¢/note.
In an average song of three minutes, a whopping 60¢? I don’t know if that’s lucrative.

I meant my day job... I'm not in a band....

 

[fdeck]

Well, at one pint Mustang Sally was a well crafted original song But i understand your point.

One pint? I'd need at least 3 pints in me before playing Mustang Sally.

 

[Stumbo]

One pint? I'd need at least 3 pints in me before playing Mustang Sally.

Gotta wake me up to play that. JK

As long as people are dancing, I'm fine with it.

I guess my long-term memories are getting weaker as I get older.

 

[fdeck]

At 120 bpm in a 4/4 count playing 1/4 notes, you are earning 0.17¢/note.
In an average song of three minutes, a whopping 60¢? I don’t know if that’s lucrative.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself after reading another TB’er comment about how he calculates how much he gets paid per note on a gig. Now, it’s like hearing a song you can’t get out of your head. Every time I think about gigging my head starts trying to figure out rate/note.

The bass player gets paid for the notes that we don't play.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

You are getting paid market rates. That's what your value is, no more, no less. If you are concerned about money join a soul-sucking, pocket-filling cover band.

And there is something inherently wrong with playing music somebody actually wants to hear , and getting paid for it? Wow... of course the covers I’m playing are so old most of the people that enjoyed them back in the day are mostly dead....lol!!!

As for the OP, being honest, while over 50+ years as a professional bassist, I have done more than a few promotional gigs, but there wern’t many. All of the bands that I’ve worked with for more than a month, since the 60’s to today, have have paid decent money. If it looks like money is not forthcoming, I’m out of there.

 

[Wasnex]

And there is something inherently wrong with playing music somebody actually wants to hear , and getting paid for it? Wow... of course the covers I’m playing are so old most of the people that enjoyed them back in the day are mostly dead....lol!!!

As for the OP, being honest, while over 50+ years as a professional bassist, I have done more than a few promotional gigs, but there wern’t many. All of the bands that I’ve worked with for more than a month, since the 60’s to today, have have paid decent money. If it looks like money is not forthcoming, I’m out of there.

Nothing wrong with playing standards for the cash. Nothing wrong with being excited to play new music either. Chances are the OP will feel exactly like you do if he gigs for 50+ years. That's pretty much how I feel too. But I remember what it was like when performing was new and exciting and the money was not the most important thing...or even a thing at all. IMHO, if someone has a good day job, they should try to hold on to that feeling for as long as the can, cause when it's gone, it probably gone for good. When that happens, the OP will struggle with it for awhile, but ultimately he will either say, "show me the money," or he will stop gigging.

 

[lfmn16]

Nothing funny about being paid the market rate, but I thought the soul-sucking part should be funny, as opposed to insulting the folks who choose to make music that folks will pay musicians to play.

The problem is that it's hard to tell when someone is joking on the internet. Particularly when there are so many on TB who say things like that and are 100% serious.

 

[Bassmaticmatt]

Cool...I've already made $.6029 from Spotify in 3 years, so I am way ahead of the curve!

You Sir are killing it.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Nothing wrong with playing standards for the cash. Nothing wrong with being excited to play new music either. Chances are the OP will feel exactly like you do if he gigs for 50+ years. That's pretty much how I feel too. But I remember what it was like when performing was new and exciting and the money was not the most important thing...or even a thing at all. IMHO, if someone has a good day job, they should try to hold on to that feeling for as long as the can, cause when it's gone, it probably gone for good. When that happens, the OP will struggle with it for awhile, but ultimately he will either say, "show me the money," or he will stop gigging.

I’m not joking when I say at age 66, my musical career is picking up...most of what I’m playing today are 50 and 60 year old B sides and originals. The band is bringing 3 to 4K a gig and the rate surprisingly has been going up over the last year. Sound great, but being honest, we have a lot of mouths to feed off that.

Should be completing another CD from that project later this year. I just got a listen to some of my scratch tracks and scored a solid 80%. Yeah, got a little sloppy here and there. Shouldn’t take much to clean up thanks to modern technology.

I also work with an 8 piece corporate event/wedding band which will bring in $1500 a gig or so, but divided by 8, still not too shabby for a couple hours work. It’s local.

 

[Wasnex]

The problem is that it's hard to tell when someone is joking on the internet. Particularly when there are so many on TB who say things like that and are 100% serious.

I didn't think it was meant as a joke or to be insulting. I think it is a fairly honest observation that if you regularly play the same songs over and over again, it tends to become a bit of a grind, just like anything thing else that is done repetitively. Over the course of a few decades there are probably plenty of songs that fall into this category if you play in bands that only cover a few styles. A few years back, I took a trip to New Orleans and all the bands on Bourbon Street were playing pretty much the same songs. I quickly tired of hearing Pour Some Sugar on Me...thankfully I didn't have to play it.

 

[fdeck]

In my view, a vibrant music scene is likely to include musicians who are financially involved at a wide range of levels. There's a lot of music that "deserves" to be performed, but has no hope of becoming commercially viable. It could be experimental, esoteric, academic, historical, political, or even offensive. There are places to play, that can't realistically support commercial live music.

For maybe my first 20 years of playing out, I played every gig that I could cram into my schedule, and was quite strict about pay. Over the past several years, I've developed more of an interest in playing music that happens to have a much smaller audience. It's all good. One thing I learned during my commercial phase was how to keep gear and setup to a bare minimum, and that has helped me accept lower paying gigs with a lot less regret.

 

[lfmn16]

I didn't think it was meant as a joke or to be insulting. I think it is a fairly honest observation that if you regularly play the same songs over and over again, it tends to become a bit of a grind, just like anything thing else that is done repetitively. Over the course of a few decades there are probably plenty of songs that fall into this category if you play in bands that only cover a few styles. A few years back, I took a trip to New Orleans and all the bands on Bourbon Street were playing pretty much the same songs. I quickly tired of hearing Pour Some Sugar on Me...thankfully I didn't have to play it.

It's not the song that's soul sucking, it's the band. You're sick of a song? Go back to the original recording and play it right. Try to play it better than everyone else. What's sucking your soul is standing on stage with 4 other musicians going through the motions, looking and acting like you're all at the checkout line at 7-11.

 

[Dr_Benway]

A thousand pardons in advance, but threads like these always leave me with the burning question... At what point do you stop calling yourself an "originals band?" And what's the most humorous use of the term that you've heard?

I always crack up when someone tells me that they've been writing "originals."

 

[bearfoot]

Look for better gigs? Those 45-min, on/off gigs SUCK. IME. I'd rather play a free concert in the park, than play one of those grinder gigs. If its not about the money, why not take another route?

I also think its quite oppressive to have other band members coerce charity out of your meager earnings towards touring bands. If you like them, buy their merch with your own money.

If charity is what your band is all about, you should be united on it, and you can do better than throwing $100 at random touring bands. You can fundraise for local causes, etc.

I think your band is shortsighted however, because how many of those touring bands will throw one of you $100 in your hour of need? Can you honestly say you are set for life? Your family is as well?

Again, if its not about the money, that doesn't mean throwing it away. Is there no greater need out there than another random band? How about the child cancer fund? (extreme example but you get the point)

 

[SLIV]

I also think its quite oppressive to have other band members coerce charity out of your meager earnings towards touring bands. If you like them, buy their merch with your own money.

If charity is what your band is all about, you should be united on it, and you can do better than throwing $100 at random touring bands. You can fundraise for local causes, etc.

I think your band is shortsighted however, because how many of those touring bands will throw one of you $100 in your hour of need? Can you honestly say you are set for life? Your family is as well?

Again, if its not about the money, that doesn't mean throwing it away. Is there no greater need out there than another random band? How about the child cancer fund? (extreme example but you get the point)

I know this might be hard to understand but original music works best when bands are connected via a local or regional scene or a shared genre or community. Bands give because they actually get more back. $40 isn't much to give when equals a show and a place to stay when you're on tour yourself. Stronger together.

 

[lfmn16]

Well, at one pint Mustang Sally was a well crafted original song But i understand your point.

It still is. People are just too lazy to put any effort into it.

 

[bearfoot]

I know this might be hard to understand but original music works best when bands are connected via a local or regional scene or a shared genre or community. Bands give because they actually get more back. $40 isn't much to give when equals a show and a place to stay when you're on tour yourself. Stronger together.

No need to be condescending. Nothing you said is hard to understand. I've been on grass roots tours before, and I understand networking well enough to know one does not have to give up one's meager pay to find more gigs or a place to stay.
I don't mind helping out another band. I've done tons of free work over the years, recorded live shows and run sound, all for free. But they're not getting my money.
And it seems to me that if a local or regional scene does form in to a clique where bands are expected to give up their pay to others, those that resist will be ostracized unfairly.

 

[fjbass78]

One pint? I'd need at least 3 pints in me before playing Mustang Sally.

You're right! I can't argue with that.

 

[Wasnex]

It's not the song that's soul sucking, it's the band. You're sick of a song? Go back to the original recording and play it right. Try to play it better than everyone else. What's sucking your soul is standing on stage with 4 other musicians going through the motions, looking and acting like you're all at the checkout line at 7-11.

No, really it's the song. As a military musician I played a record lift and also various high quality arrangements of Greenwoods, "God Bless the USA" ad nauseam. Even the audience eventually seemed to get tired of hearing it, but they still went through the motions of standing. I played this song with many musicians and we played it well. We were simply burned out on the song.

 

[GBBSbassist]

I guess it depends on how you look at it...playing the same 12 angst ridden songs that all sound the same week after week would suck more soul out of me than playing 40 cover songs, many of them written by some of the best musicians and bands of all time.

But, each to their own...

I think he meant that end part in jest, mainly because that's the reasoning a lot of people will throw out for not wanting to play in cover bands. In my experiences, most of the people in successful cover/tribute bands will tell you that getting paid makes playing almost anything fun, certainly not soul-sucking. As mentioned, playing your finely crafted originals to four people in a dive bar is very soul-sucking.

This situation angers me more than you can imagine. They are saying, We won't pay the touring bands enough, so please give them your portion." It's SOP for blood-sucking promoters. And we freely participate in their sucking of our lifeblood.

Personally, I feel your entire story outlines a very tragic scenario for the entire music scene everywhere. Your wife is kind of right, but it's not you that aren't valuing your music, it's that everyone everywhere doesn't value music. Living in the current day of free - to - 99 cent downloaded music has killed us. The new generation feels music should be free (they seem to think everything should be free). Yet the worst music imaginable (turn on the radio) makes billionaires out of idiots.

I play originals, don't expect any pay at all, but will be damned if I pass along any of my heard-earned pennies to the so-called touring acts. Their manager should have taken better care of them. My band has needs, too, be it studio time or just pizza and beer.

Listen to Porcupine Tree's Sound of Muzak... it expresses my feelings precisely.

I think it's more along the lines of "we're probably not going to pay any of you that much unless you absolutely pack the house to the gills". Also, I wouldn't expect a booker/promoter to pay a band more simply because they're coming from further away. That's not exactly fair to the local acts. The touring band accepted the terms for the gig.

Also, we're most likely talking dive bar shows with 3-4 band bills all playing originals. Most of these guys aren't at the level where a manager is necessary or even sensible.

Good song btw.