How much $ to expect from gigs?

[BlueStrat]

I just play my 15 original songs and 25 covers, do the whole night, and make $4-800 a night on a contract price, and all the product sales. Much easier. And more profitable.

[Miket156]

Musicians, if they are any good, are SUCKERS to pay to play. What bull{censored}. I know that's been going on the left coast for years, because club owners sell the musicians that they "might be discovered". Right. It may not be as long a shot on Long Beach as it would be elsewhere, but the club owners are getting free entertainment and laughing all the way to the bank. I'd sooner sit home and play to amuse myself.

 

Mike T.

[Zeromus-X]

 

We aim for ~£50/night. That's what, 25 people, you getting cut £2/person. You might not have any fans, but 5 people in a band must have 5 friends each...

 

 

If all you're expecting at a gig is 5 people in the band that have 5 friends each, throw a big ol' party and charge £5 a head at the door. Then you're making £5 per person instead of £2. That's £75 more than you'd have made playing the club. Spend £50 of that on beer for your friends and you're still £25 ahead, your friends saved a bunch of money, and you probably had more fun.

[The Zen Lunatic]

We're a new band, and our fanbase is therefore nil. We're now booking gigs in small clubs. How much $ can we expect? We'll probably be starting out playing weeknight gigs. We're in Seattle, if that matters. We play all orginals.

The Best way for an original band to get booked in a city that only wants covers, is to record a bunch of covers for your demo, then go out and play your originals.

[daddymack]

The Best way for an original band to get booked in a city that only wants covers, is to record a bunch of covers for your demo, then go out and play your originals.

 

But that is dishonest!

 

[Ethereal714]

 

Pay to play? You guys are crazy. You can play house parties and bars and stuff for free drinks before you should ever pay a venue for "the privilege". My all-originals trio started out playing our stuff at open mic nights at one bar. The manager thought we were great and keeps telling us to come back. After just two or three of those, we got invited to play at another place. Customers there were telling us about half dozen places that would pay to have us play.

 

 

This is really the only way to get the experience you need, and a great way to build an initial base of fans.

 

I have to comment on the "Pay to Play" deal. Some (most?) clubs doing the P2P, are just doing it to guarantee their nut. Those are generally a rip-off for young bands, but most of them are in it for the good time anyway. (who hasn't been there?) But there are also good clubs that do P2P as a wise business practice, and frankly, it can be a great deal. What can be wrong with playing a nice slot at a nice club with a great PA (that you don't have to load) and a competent (or even talented) sound engineer, and get away with just paying the engineer $100? If you're playing a club like this, and don't draw enough to pay the dude, do you really deserve to get paid? I mean really, if you're a salesman, and can't sell anything, how long is your boss going to keep paying for your desk and your coffee?

[Mike_Hawk]

Depends where you play.

 

If you play at a bar you normally make alittle off of each person at the door (if they charge at the door) or you make a % of what the bar did in drinks.

 

Sometimes the "pay to play" IE selling tickets you can make alot too.

 

It comes down to not sucking and having fans.

 

You have to start somewhere - I'd start playing at a 21+ place - your not gonna lose money that way at least.

 

What genre of music are you?

[awhisperofred]

It really depends on where you play and who you play with.

 

The seattle/tacoma area has a good, strong DIY ethic when it comes to shows for metal and hardcore bands, and you can expect to make some gas money back playing those kinds of shows. I've never played a real club in seattle though, just VFW halls and the like... I've heard the major venues aren't too friendly to my genre.

 

But i'm from california, what do I know :-p

[Scafeets]

One of the things that used to be prevalent that you don't see much any more are the bands that have a few sets of covers and one or two sets of originals. It not only provides money and crowd feedback; it helps you refine your performance chops to different audiences.

And not playing to your same 25 friends and the 50 people who came to hear the other two bands has its advantages. If you want to find out if your stuff is any good, play it for strangers right after you played a bona fide platinum hit.

I'm currently in two bands: One is a hi-dollar cover band that plays a few times a month. The other is a medium-dollar power trio led by a very talented singer-songwriter. To keep his chops up, he books us at bars where we play the crowd-pleasers he likes -- a lot of blues, ZZ Top, Hendrix, etc. When the vibe is right, he'll throw in a couple of originals, and they're generally well-received. I think we get a pass for playing an unfamiliar song when it's sandwiched between huge hits.

We've done a few gigs where it's all originals - usually a set along with a couple of other bands. They don't really seem to be paying any more attention to the bands than do the cover crowds. The difference for us? Well, besides the opportunity to play originals, it's the missing $100+ per man when we get when we do covers.

My advice to original bands? Instead of wasting your time and money on pay-to-play jerk-fests, spend the time recording your stuff, developing good promo materials and learning what it takes to make 250 people pay $5+ to see you. I don't know any new band that has more than 45 minutes worth of good original stuff anyway. So why not learn 30 songs that you like that happen to be crowd pleasers?

[Knottyhed]

 

This is really the only way to get the experience you need, and a great way to build an initial base of fans. I have to comment on the "Pay to Play" deal. Some (most?) clubs doing the P2P, are just doing it to guarantee their nut. Those are generally a rip-off for young bands, but most of them are in it for the good time anyway. (who hasn't been there?) But there are also good clubs that do P2P as a wise business practice, and frankly, it can be a great deal. What can be wrong with playing a nice slot at a nice club with a great PA (that you don't have to load) and a competent (or even talented) sound engineer, and get away with just paying the engineer $100? If you're playing a club like this, and don't draw enough to pay the dude, do you really deserve to get paid? I mean really, if you're a salesman, and can't sell anything, how long is your boss going to keep paying for your desk and your coffee?

 

 

Yup, I agree. The way i understand pay to play is that a club/promoter gives you a certain amount of tickets and you're expected to sell them for the club/promoter.

 

It makes business sense really, because the club/promoter can guarantee the bands will draw a certain number of people so they don't end up out of pocket... the only thing that sucks about the arrangement is that generally the bands don't get a share of any profits taken at the door/made from ticket sales. But that's not much different than playing for free.

 

At the end of the day if you want to play your own material and have no fan base you're just going to have to bend over and take it. Why should a club let you play if you aren't going to bring people through their door?

 

If you want to get paid, start a covers band. If you're doing it for fun or because you want to make it play originals, but (rightly or wrongly) don't expect the clubs to treat you with any respect until you can draw a crowd.