Gigging guys, whats the going rate

[blackba]

Have the rates really gone up in the last 20-30 years. I would be curious to know what guys were making per man 20 years ago. My guess is it was about the same as it is now....

 

[degenaro]

I've never met a club owner or agent who gave 2 shits how many people were in the band when it came time to get paid, so you'll have to think of the going rate as a "per band" rate and split the money up however you choose. A 6 piece band will generall get the same shitty pay that a 3 piece band gets.

In the Dallas area, if you're a solid cover band doing classic rock and playing the typical 3 sets you can slum around everywhere for $300-$400 per night (for the band). Once you're established you can play for $500-$700 (for the band) pretty easily. Getting into the $800+ range in clubs is tough around here, you've got to start doing private parties and corporate gigs to get better pay, although some of the agents I've worked with have got me $1000-$1500 club gigs before, but those aren't nearly as common as the $600 gigs we usually play.

Hecnce me mentioning how many folks where in the band for easy math...but yeah, the smaller you can keep it the better.
800 a night is rough!!!

 

[degenaro]

Have the rates really gone up in the last 20-30 years. I would be curious to know what guys were making per man 20 years ago. My guess is it was about the same as it is now....

Here in the Pacific North Wet they actually gone down. For most folks. Like I said the only thing that makes good money are the top drawing Country or Funk bands around here.

 

[SkyhighRocks]

Our price has gone up in the last few months. Our bare minimum per guy is now $200...but we haven't gone that low in awhile unless we absolutely need to for whatever reason. We turn down alot now because we only play for our price.

 

[dstroud]

I was making $100-$150 a night working in Indianapolis and playing 4-5 nights a week in a funk/blues/fusion band- that was sweet! Now I'm in L.A. doing all original rock and making $0.00

 

[degenaro]

Our price has gone up in the last few months. Our bare minimum per guy is now $200...but we haven't gone that low in awhile unless we absolutely need to for whatever reason. We turn down alot now because we only play for our price.

I was hoping you'd join in. How many shows do you guys do? The Country band averages out at 2 a week.

 

[degenaro]

I was making $100-$150 a night working in Indianapolis and playing 4-5 nights a week in a funk/blues/fusion band- that was sweet! Now I'm in L.A. doing all original rock and making $0.00

Sounds about right.

 

[SkyhighRocks]

Our price has gone up in the last few months. Our bare minimum per guy is now $200...but we haven't gone that low in awhile unless we absolutely need to for whatever reason. We turn down alot now because we only play for our price.

I was hoping you'd join in. How many shows do you guys do? The Country band averages out at 2 a week.

We do anywhere from 3-6 shows per month. We try not to play out too much because you get oversaturated in your area. That's not good for business. lol

 

[dstroud]

I was making $100-$150 a night working in Indianapolis and playing 4-5 nights a week in a funk/blues/fusion band- that was sweet! Now I'm in L.A. doing all original rock and making $0.00

Sounds about right.

I do actually play every 3rd Friday doing a rock/electronica gig that's pretty fun. It's a 3 hour gig at a cool restaurant - I make $25 and get free food - it's hard to beleive I actually get excited for that! I make some bucks doing guitar lessons - people charge insane amounts for lessons, like $50 an hour. That seems high considering I was mostly taught by older guys who showed me stuff for free - where did those guys go!

 

[mysticaxe]

I play originals. We're lucky to cover the bar tab...

 

[Stratboy151]

yeah we rotate between 4-5 bars a month, 3 of them we get 600$ and the other two we get 1200$, we are a 4 piece.

 

[Tnjpekar]

yeah we rotate between 4-5 bars a month, 3 of them we get 600$ and the other two we get 1200$, we are a 4 piece.

you guys still being handled?

 

[degenaro]

Our price has gone up in the last few months. Our bare minimum per guy is now $200...but we haven't gone that low in awhile unless we absolutely need to for whatever reason. We turn down alot now because we only play for our price.

I was hoping you'd join in. How many shows do you guys do? The Country band averages out at 2 a week.

We do anywhere from 3-6 shows per month. We try not to play out too much because you get oversaturated in your area. That's not good for business. lol

We're doing slightly more than that. How far a radius do you do? We've done about 100 miles each direction and are about to extent that to 250.

 

[degenaro]

I was making $100-$150 a night working in Indianapolis and playing 4-5 nights a week in a funk/blues/fusion band- that was sweet! Now I'm in L.A. doing all original rock and making $0.00

Sounds about right.

I do actually play every 3rd Friday doing a rock/electronica gig that's pretty fun. It's a 3 hour gig at a cool restaurant - I make $25 and get free food - it's hard to beleive I actually get excited for that! I make some bucks doing guitar lessons - people charge insane amounts for lessons, like $50 an hour. That seems high considering I was mostly taught by older guys who showed me stuff for free - where did those guys go!

Isn't LA grand...this is why I moved away from there in 94.

 

[SkyhighRocks]

I was hoping you'd join in. How many shows do you guys do? The Country band averages out at 2 a week.

We do anywhere from 3-6 shows per month. We try not to play out too much because you get oversaturated in your area. That's not good for business. lol

We're doing slightly more than that. How far a radius do you do? We've done about 100 miles each direction and are about to extent that to 250.

It's more than that for us I think...basically most of the shows are in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island...but we have shows coming up in Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire and just played NYC.

 

[degenaro]

It's more than that for us I think...basically most of the shows are in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island...but we have shows coming up in Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire and just played NYC.

Sheet...that's a lot of mileage. I can handle the out of town hang when we do Casinos or when I do my own stuff like the NYC hang. But for bars/clubs that would really bug me.

 

[Gainfreak]

yeah we rotate between 4-5 bars a month, 3 of them we get 600$ and the other two we get 1200$, we are a 4 piece.

You're welcome

 

[SkyhighRocks]

It's more than that for us I think...basically most of the shows are in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island...but we have shows coming up in Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire and just played NYC.

Sheet...that's a lot of mileage. I can handle the out of town hang when we do Casinos or when I do my own stuff like the NYC hang. But for bars/clubs that would really bug me.

yeah I hear ya, although the maine and NH gigs aren't bars. Maine is a 3500 seat arena and NH is a dinner and music thingy...people get like a 3 course meal and then watch us.

 

[degenaro]

It's more than that for us I think...basically most of the shows are in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island...but we have shows coming up in Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire and just played NYC.

Sheet...that's a lot of mileage. I can handle the out of town hang when we do Casinos or when I do my own stuff like the NYC hang. But for bars/clubs that would really bug me.

yeah I hear ya, although the maine and NH gigs aren't bars. Maine is a 3500 seat arena and NH is a dinner and music thingy...people get like a 3 course meal and then watch us.

The dinner and music thing sounds liek a Casino without gambling. My fave gigs are the opener hangs. Like my first gig with the Country band was the Kenny Chesney thing, which was 40K+ people.

 

[SkyhighRocks]

It's more than that for us I think...basically most of the shows are in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island...but we have shows coming up in Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire and just played NYC.

Sheet...that's a lot of mileage. I can handle the out of town hang when we do Casinos or when I do my own stuff like the NYC hang. But for bars/clubs that would really bug me.[/quote]

yeah I hear ya, although the maine and NH gigs aren't bars. Maine is a 3500 seat arena and NH is a dinner and music thingy...people get like a 3 course meal and then watch us. [/quote]
The dinner and music thing sounds liek a Casino without gambling. My fave gigs are the opener hangs. Like my first gig with the Country band was the Kenny Chesney thing, which was 40K+ people.[/quote]

I haven't done a national opener since my original band