How much does your band/solo act/duo/open mic etc make per night, per man.

[StratGuy22]

How big is the city you are in?

 

I get $100/night for open mic

$250/night to run sound for a full band, using my gear (some places include a meal), and $100/man/night playing in a cover band (sometimes more, depending on the gig)

 

10,000 person city, pretty small. I charge $300 to do sound in the next town on each side (45min drive either way) and $400/night + accomodation to do sound in the nearest big city (1,000,000)

[Bajazz]

1K

Soloact (guitar + vocals)

[musicmanmu]

 

1K Soloact (guitar + vocals)

 

 

Where the hell are you playing? I need to go there:love:

 

In my area, I make anywhere from $150 to $250 doing solo acoustic shows, depending on whether or not I must bring my own PA system (I use a very light system - two Peavey PR15s as mains, one 12" wedge monitor and a Yamaha EMX512sc powered mixer).

 

With my bands, we as a group make anywhere from $300 to $800 per night, depending on the venue and the occasion. But I rarely play a band gig for less than $300 for the group.

[gspointer]

90 bucks per man and free drinks.

[maxnew40]

Anywhere from $60 a man to about $150 a man for a 5 piece geezer band playing 60s and 70s stuff. The bars are the low end pay, the little town festivals and private parties are the higher paying gigs.

 

Max

[Yer Blues]

Two guys in the band I am with now won't play for less than $125 a man.

 

We currently have 3 gigs on the schedule over the next 3 months.

[jeff42]

Two guys in the band I am with now won't play for less than $125 a man. We currently have 3 gigs on the schedule over the next 3 months.

 

Got to let them know that different gigs pay different. yes, there is a minimum we will play for but every situation and every gig is different. If it is a great gig that will most likely lead to more great gigs and higher paying gigs we will take a cut... to a point. But it would be alot lower than $125 per man.

 

just my 42 cents. It all depends what the band plan is.

[Austincowbell]

Mashup band - $400-$1500 depending on the venue. More money is cool but being finished at midnight and getting two hours to ....make friends... is cool as well.

 

Original Band in which I play drums - $200 for one show and a mix of drink tickets and pizza for every other one.

 

Original Band in which I play guitar and sing - We've only done one last minute show but we are expecting about $1000 for our CD release party and the bulk of that will pay for the CD.

[Yer Blues]

Got to let them know that different gigs pay different. yes, there is a minimum we will play for but every situation and every gig is different. If it is a great gig that will most likely lead to more great gigs and higher paying gigs we will take a cut... to a point. But it would be alot lower than $125 per man. just my 42 cents. It all depends what the band plan is.

 

I agree with you, but it's not my band. It's a band I play with.

I have stated I don't see how we can expect anything more than the $300-$350 gigs:

 

-we don't rehearse

-we don't have a promo pack

-we don't have a known name

-we don't have a following

 

We had a stretch of 2-3 gigs per month for a few months, but it has dried up either due to them wanting us back or the guys not getting what they want. I'm not really looking to leave this situation because they are good guys and the gigs are very smooth from the "drama/ego" stand point. But, I've pretty much determined I need to look for something else in addition to this and now it's just a matter of me hitting the pavement.

[gspointer]

The most we have made is 1200 + rooms and food. Most of our gigs are in small town bars the capacity doesn't really allow for much more cash. There are bands that ask for more, but they seldom get gigs.

[Yer Blues]

You guys have gotten $1200 and $1500 PER man?? Nice work.

[Vito Corleone]

The most you can get for club gigs around here is $800-1000 per night. Which is about $150-200 for a five piece. (howz that for quick math at 7AM!)

 

I'm talking of the Reno/Tahoe area which is probably around 300,000 population.

 

Consequently, we focus primarily on the corporate/private party/wedding circuit where our minimum fee is $2500.

[gspointer]

You guys have gotten $1200 and $1500 PER man?? Nice work.

 

Oops, sorry, that should have read 275 per man. We all did get our own room though

[fireax]

My son's band gets $100. per person on their gigs.

Since they are all 17 they think this is the greatest thing in the world.

The soundguy (Me) get's a thank you from the guys.

and 0 compensation.

 

And I'm still doing it....LOL

 

Back in my gigging days (9 piece cover band) we averaged around $1000. for a nights work.

Sometimes more for nice corporate parties and weddings.

But we did eat well, and drank....enough

[Christhee68]

:idk:I know you only make what someone is willing to pay, but how is that you can charge more for certain venues than others? One of the bands that plays our club charges $1,500 for a 7 piece with their own sound man.

 

They told me they make $2,400 doing charity gigs. Why do they charge us less?

 

I suppose the reason is that we won't pay them $2,400.

[fireax]

:idk:I know you only make what someone is willing to pay, but how is that you can charge more for certain venues than others? One of the bands that plays our club charges $1,500 for a 7 piece with their own sound man. They told me they make $2,400 doing charity gigs. Why do they charge us less? I suppose the reason is that we won't pay them $2,400.

 

It could also be why some bands that charge for gigs will play bar gigs for free.

Which we did.

Because it was fun, a chance to try out new songs, and it also was a place for our fan base to see us, as they would not be invited into private parties or weddings.

[Vito Corleone]

I suppose the reason is that we won't pay them $2,400.

 

I suppose. The idea is to get the most you can out of every gig, and decide when the money you can get to so low that it's no longer worthwhile to do the gig.

 

Obviously they decided that the $1,500 they get from your club is enough for that gig. They've either got nothing else going on that night and figure $1,500 is better than nothing, or they figure other things make it worthwhile, i.e. the exposure, the fun they have playing it, etc.

 

I certainly wouldn't expect them to turn DOWN a $2,400 gig simply because your club only pays them $1,500 though, would you?

[MDLMUSIC]

Most of my gigs pay around $100/man, but we'll work cheaper, even as low as $50/man if the factors are right (For example, free meals, close to home, charitable organization, etc.) I have played several gigs that paid more than $1000/man for a three hour gig, but those are usually few and far between, since I'm more of a weekend warrior musican than a full-time pro who's making a living at it.

 

A veteran musician once told me a long time ago that it is his policy to never turn down a paying gig, even if the pay is not quite as much as he might like, because you never know where it might lead. He's a jazz trumpeter who told me that once he took a gig that only paid $25, but because he was there he then got hired for a year-long house band gig playing 3 nights a week at $200/night.

 

Not saying it'll happen to everybody, but you never know.

[mineame]

 

Obviously you want to get the most you can get, but in my experience most of us don't even know what the going rate is. Moreover, a lot of times we're TRAVELLING to these gigs, which ADDS to the cost. Earlier this year I created a gig calculator that would help you calculate your COSTS for a gig. I was working with some friends who gigged a lot around the state and the gas prices were actually eating into their profit. Back to the getting what you can - obviously a wedding or corporate event is going to pay more than a bar, but you should still calculate your costs before quoting a price. My calculator helps with that. You can find it at: gigcalc.gehwokka.com If you find it useful I'd like to hear about it. If you do NOT find it useful I'd LOVE to hear about it. I've a couple of ideas to help bands define the intangibles that often surround gigs: charity events, free pizza, etc., and I'd love to hear about anyone's experience with this version of the calculator because I'm thinking of integrating some other 'stuff'... Thanks for letting me chime in here.... gehwokka

 

 

Pretty freaking cool stuff!

[maxnew40]

:idk:I know you only make what someone is willing to pay, but how is that you can charge more for certain venues than others? One of the bands that plays our club charges $1,500 for a 7 piece with their own sound man. They told me they make $2,400 doing charity gigs. Why do they charge us less? I suppose the reason is that we won't pay them $2,400.

 

Bar gigs are loss leader for a lot of bands. It gets them exposed to potential private gig customers. We have gotten most of our private gigs from people that have seen us perform for lower pay in a bar.

 

Max

[ChordGirl]

My personal general guidelines for the duo on the tiny to smallish dive bar scene: $75/man for a day gig or weeknight gig. On weekend nights, once in awhile it's $75/man for a 4 hour, drinks & meal included, PA provided. $100/man for dragging out the PA.

 

If we have to travel an hour or more, those rates increase drastically. A couple of months ago we played a noontime outdoor bar gig for two hours where we got $300 for the duet, PA provided. Our setup is a simple as it gets: 10 minutes to set up and tear down.

 

I charge $100 for a 4hr solo, $150 for a weekend solo. Many of the little venues will only pay $100 for a solo weekend act--some are less than that. I am not dragging that PA out on the weekend and setting it up by myself and playing for 4 hours for $100. That's not worth it personally to me. For me, playing solo is a lot more work and a lot less fun. I quit doing the open mics because they were based on a percentage, and the most I personally ever made doing it was $90. I've made much less than that doing it, too.

 

 

There are people technically much better than I am (as in, music schooled, teachers, etc. that do it for less than $50/man in small bars. (I know, because I cut their checks in one bar.) But, I they book the high-dollar corporate/wedding pro gigs a lot.

 

There are a ton of small bars with live music here. Around here, I could play 7 nights a week for an average of $40/man (Whoopdeedoo, right?). I used to play with an acoustic band that never ever practiced. We averaged about $50 a gig, rotating players according to their availabilty, and number of players according to the venue needs. We introduced all songs onstage, and passed around lead singing duties to whomever brought the song to the group. I was getting over 100 gigs/year in with them alone, while bartending 2-3 nights a week. At times, amazingly amatuer, but fun for a few years with no time invested outside of gigs. I learned a lot playing with them.

[jeff42]

 

:idk:I know you only make what someone is willing to pay, but how is that you can charge more for certain venues than others?

 

 

Some clubs pay more than others that's all.

[modulusman]

Bars where I live pay us $1200.00 for a weekend so for me that would be $150.00 a night. Most our jobs are one nighters that pay better. This year I have made from $300 to $675.00 a night.

[SpaceNorman]

Like most bands - for us, it all depends on the gig. Here's what's typical for me.

 

Bar gigs: $900 per night plus drinks (that's $150 per man for our 6 piece). We're pretty selective about our bar work - and usually work one or two rooms, close to home - and very much on our terms as far as scheduling goes. As somebody else mentioned - we view them as a good time - and an opportunity to showcase for the more lucrative private party jobs.

 

Private party work: Marketing Pricing - influenced by the nature of the event, our assessment of the "fun factor", our existing schedule, what relationship we may have with the client, our current schedule (how bad do we need the gig). We've gone as low as $900 for low key, close to home events for people we know - and as high as $3,000 for others. We usually end up somewhere in that $1,500 to $1,800 range.

[kurfu]

Typical classic rock/blues band - $400 per night *minimum* split 4 ways.