Would you play a gig for twenty-five cents?

[rodak]

About 35 years ago (back in my actively gigging days), I was playing in Top-40 cover bands, but was offered a chance to play a short, one-time gig with a jazz/funk band. After talking about the gig for a bit (on the phone), I asked the fellow how much it would pay. He said it would be "about twenty five cents a night". I was used to my share of a gig being in the neighborhood of $30-$50, so I was naturally taken aback. I replied, something to the effect of "you must be kidding - I couldn't do it for so little". He replied that he might be able to get me as much as thirty-five cents, but that would be about it. I politely declined, and that was the end of it. Some time later, I heard that he was using some sort of "band lingo" and that "twenty-five cents" actually meant $25.

Is that true? Have any of you heard of this way of referring to payment as "cents" instead of "dollars"? Is it peculiar to a particular genre or style of music?

 

[Stumbo]

Not me.

 

[buldog5151bass]

no, but drugs. And jazz cats are strange.

Ya know...

 

[bassdude51]

If I could take that .25 cents and buy a beer.................yes!

 

[bass12]

I've heard "a buck fitty" for $150 and "a bill" for $100 so I guess that's kind of the same thing.

 

[12BitSlab]

I played a boatload of gigs during that timeframe and I never heard 25 cents = $25. The usual rate back then for Top 40 bands was anywhere from $35 - $55 per night.

 

[DirtDog]

25 cents to me means 25 100's (cent = 100 of something). So that was a $2,500 gig you missed out on!

 

[RickyT]

I've played for less......

 

[Clark Dark]

you coulda just asked

 

[Capt.Obvious]

Strange that he didn't clarify after hearing your exasperation. Maybe it was just 25 cents.

Maybe hiring your band counts as charity and he just needed it on the books for the refund?

 

[GrooverMcTube]

...so the guy asks the girl if she'll do the gig for 25 cents?

She indignantly asks: "What kind of a girl do you think I am?"

He says: "We've already determined that, we're just haggling over the price..."

Or so the old joke goes

 

[dtripoli]

Quarters, ducats, two bits, clams, sawbacks, fins, a dime, and so on.
Heard it called all kinds of things by musicians and druggies...not that I'm saying the two are equal.
No matter what it's called it all spends the same.

Just make sure they are not paying you with these:

 

[bolophonic]

As a dude in the punk scene for 30+ years, I have played plenty of shows for 25 cents.

 

[rodak]

you coulda just asked

Well, yeah, except I when I was talking to the guy, I genuinely thought he was offering me 25 cents to do the gig - I was flabbergasted, and just expressed incredulity, saying I just really couldn't work for such a small amount. It never occurred to me to ask: "Do you mean 25 cents, as in 25 pennies, or are you offering me $25?" When I was told later by someone else what he really meant, I just felt stupid and naive. I don't think I had any contact info for the guy, so I couldn't go back and say "sorry I was so thick - NOW I know what you meant!"

But I've wondered about that ever since, if it were common practice, or limited to a small segment of the industry. From what you guys have been posting, it sounds like it's not too common, but not unheard of, either. I appreciate all the responses!

 

[rodak]

As a dude in the punk scene for 30+ years, I have played plenty of shows for 25 cents.

HA! I know what you mean. A band I was with once spent $50 to rent a dance hall, and took in $20 at the door. I think that was the low point.

 

[rodak]

Strange that he didn't clarify after hearing your exasperation. Maybe it was just 25 cents.

Maybe hiring your band counts as charity and he just needed it on the books for the refund?

Yeah, I wondered about that, too. I guess he was puzzled, too, that someone would be so snobby as to refuse $25-$35 for a single gig. (It was about hiring just me, not my whole band). I can't even recall how the guy got in touch with me.

 

[BrewsterRooster]

I played a gig three weekends ago at a nice new venue down in GA, and it was my understanding that we each had a bar and food allowance. I came to discover that was not the case at the end of the night. I was too tired and indifferent to squabble, so I just settled up and considered it a lesson learned.

After covering appetizers, my dinner and a couple beers, my GF's dinner and her three watermelon margarita thingies, the few refreshments I bought for a buddy and his wife, and the tip, I probably did clear about 25 cents. So my tentative answer to your question is yes.

However, I have never heard a dollar referred to as a cent. That term typically means "penny." A dollar is a buck, a smacker, or a samolean.

 

[Biggbass]

I've never heard of that...sounds pretty silly.
but even still, $25 bucks isn't very much motivation to load the gear
and make the drive.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I've never heard of that...sounds pretty silly.
but even still, $25 bucks isn't very much motivation to load the gear
and make the drive.

35 years ago it was about what you'd expect. Consider that TODAY - $50 a head is normal for *four* sets of classic rock work.

And no - I won't do it either. Been there, done that, changed the channel.

 

[Jefff]

In Chicago it has been 100.00 a night....since at least 1985.

Apparently musicians are exempt for inflation.