Members Inearthed Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 I play metal also. Depends on the venue, I've found. Bars usually pay a lot more than clubs. We've never played out of state. My main band was paid $140 and $120 respectively for our last two bar gigs. At our last two club endeavours $60 and $85 respectively. Some venues pay nothing (and nothing is worse than showing up and finding out you're not getting paid). Others are terrible and basically rip you off. We played a show at a certain club a few years back that is now under new management and they shafted every band that played that night. 150+ people came through the door with a $7 cover charge and 3 of the 4 bands that played got a wonderful parting gift of $5! The last band to play recieved the grand prize of $15! The last gig I played with a band I just joined, I think we made $45. Some shows I've played on with touring bands, we usually take a smaller pay out (if anything) to help support them on tour. Usually most of the money we get paid is from merch sales. We finally hit the point that we (well I) have been paid back for all the CD duplication costs. If you're playing originals, worst part of all is all that money pretty much goes right back into the band in the form of paying for recording, CD production, merch, gas for travel. I always wondered why so many people reacted so negatively to the coverband folk, and then I started hearing about the amount that they made and I realized why so many musicians are bitter about it. Doesn't bother me though, totally different crowds As an added bit of humor... This dude on a local scene board posted something like this... "I have played death metal for 15 years I do not know what 'money' or 'groupies' are" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shredhead666 Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 Originally posted by Sun Ra Thats why my township insists that I provide free water Nothin says party like bi raver girls gettin their freak on with one another. Water my ass! Get this bitch some Pepto Bismol!**obscure Space Balls reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t-rave Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 whatever our merch can bring us in.. tonight I'll be playing at a cool venue opening for a national act and losing money..especially with gas prices.... good thing this is just a hobby! Played covers in college and made great bank though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cobrahead1030 Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 Originally posted by Terje ...Too many too good bands are willing to play for free, or almost for free... that is by far, the most intelligent thing i've heard you say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sertivide-grazy Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 bars and clubs in our area do not pay bands since so many bands are willing to play for free. The clubs/bars here generally have a "tip the band" policy. Bands work for tips.bar owner: "hmmm. This band wants to play for free. And that band wants $100. hmmmmm. what band should get the gig. Let me think. hmmmmmm. hmmmmmmmmmm. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cobrahead1030 Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 some nights we get paid nothingsome nights we pull in as much as $200we probably AVERAGE about $80/show there some nights we sell no merch at allsome nights we sell as much as $150+ worthwe probably AVERAGE about $50/show therewe're doing metal originals...we do hometown headlining shows, out of town support shows, and sometimes open for bigger bands (like shadows fall ) locally; of course for a show like that we don't get paid, you can either play for free and have the opporitunity to play for (and hopefully win over a few of) 800 shadows fall fans...or play the next friday night, hoping you draw 75+ people, and get paid...of course you're lucky if you get a chance to play with a national act like that once a year, friday night shows you can score once a monthwe play for a cut of the door, never really get garuntees anywhere...there are usually atleast 3 other bands on the bill with us, that usually get paid as wellwe're big on promoting each show, so we'll generally spend $30-50 on flyers, posters, etc. then it's another $25 to rent a uhual trailer to carry or gear in...when you figure gas into the equation, it's usually costing us $70-100 just to show up...then you add in the cost of having to eat out a few times that day, etc. that's another $15/person x 5 = $75 so you may as well say it costs us around $160 usually to play a show there are very few local metal bands who can make money on a regular basis, we knew what we were getting ourselves into when broke onto the scene a few years ago tho...{censored}'s tough, and that's just how it isi have had plenty of groupies come my way tho...but they always come around when i'm in a relationship, where the hell was the female attention when i was single?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members killshot Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 Originally posted by t-rave whatever our merch can bring us in..tonight I'll be playing at a cool venue opening for a national act and losing money..especially with gas prices....good thing this is just a hobby!Played covers in college and made great bank though Damn dude.. if I wasn't busy tonight, I would be there!! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 I'm seeing a theme here. Metal doesn't pay. We do classic and new rock covers. The minimum we'll play for is $400. We can make up to $1500 at parties and private events. It really depends where we're playing. Pay is enough to acquire a nice collection of equipmet but not enough to quit the day job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Robotechnology Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 The most my band has made on a gig is $250. And the least of course... $0. Style is original, I'll call it melodic rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FLYING V 83 Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 We get $400 for most gigs, $500 for parties and once we did a "door only" gig and got $750! But $400 is our average. That's covers and we have our own pa & lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danyeo Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 In my last cover band we made good money. I would say we averaged $1100-$1200. We played usually every Thursday-Saturday. Lots of the weekend gigs payed $1500 and we sometimes made more than that. Wed and Thursday gigs were usually around $800. We played in the NJ cover scene and we had managment so every gig was a contract. And we had gigs in the summer playing every Wed on LBI and every Thursday one summer at another spot. On New Years we made $2500-$3000 which actually isn't that much compared to what some other cover bands make around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dughaze Posted September 1, 2005 Members Share Posted September 1, 2005 Originally posted by danyeo In my last cover band we made good money. I would say we averaged $1100-$1200. We played usually every Thursday-Saturday. Lots of the weekend gigs payed $1500 and we sometimes made more than that. Wed and Thursday gigs were usually around $800. We played in the NJ cover scene and we had managment so every gig was a contract. And we had gigs in the summer playing every Wed on LBI and every Thursday one summer at another spot. On New Years we made $2500-$3000 which actually isn't that much compared to what some other cover bands make around here. Man, you were playing a lot. Did it get old sometimes playing that often? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.