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Location: Michigan | I know this will vairy quite a bit but is there some common ground on what a local entertainer would charge for a weekend night of a 4 hour gig?
How about what a 5 peice band might charge?
I know that there are a ton of you guys in bands and just single entertainers on this page from all over the world so how about sharing what you charge and what area that you play in. Years ago 1976-1980 the local bands in Detroit that I knew got about $200.00 to $300.00 a night on the weekends in clubs.
Hey Lanaki what is the going rate in Hawaii
Hey Popcritic how about Kaki? Does she have a set rate for her performances?
Hey OFCers share some info on this.GWB |
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Location: Nashville TN. | I varies quite a bit.
Solo not hauling a pa and traveling far I normally
want $100 per set for a small bar.
If its a coffee shop 1/2 that. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | A friend of mine has 5 piece cover band.
They have a following.
They get $1200 a night you supply lights and pa |
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Location: NJ | pitcher of beer and the door
and if you don't fill the place you owe for the bartender and waitress |
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Location: ms | Most clubs along the coast pay about $200.00 a night for a solo act plus $50.00 bar or food tab. If your lucky or good enough you can match that with tips. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Do the streets , No bosses , No hassle , No steady Income ..!!..( I`ve got a job ) , Clubs is 260 dollars a deal at minimum ..Period !!!
Vic |
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Location: Tychy, Poland | clubs - $150 absolute minimum for a 3 member band, but usually it goes around $250.
Weddings (8h of playing) - $1500 for 4 member band. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Originally posted by LBJ:
Weddings (8h of playing) - $1500 for 4 member band. ----------------------------------------------
..And the First-born named after you I suppose..
Vic
...Under the Bed : Unnazeebad...Hmmmm... :D |
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Location: big island | i usually play in a trio. $100 for the first hour per bandmember and $75 each additional hour per bandmember. we average three hours per gig. if we supply the sound equipment it's an additional $150 per gig and lights, an additional $100 per gig. we supply sound equipment and lights 85% of the time. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Originally posted by lanaki:
and lights, an additional $100 per gig. we supply sound equipment and lights 85% of the time. Ow ,come on Randi , Mag -lights do n`t cost that much
:)
Vic |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | As I remember "in the old days"...
Free beer, and alittle bit more than the price of the Ryder rental van.
But they supplied the lights and PA... and you knew everyone at the bar.
You weren't planning on making a living doing this, were you?
The biggest scam was/is "The Battle of the Bands" format....
You get paid nuthin', you buy your own beer, you play for 12 weekends in a row,
And if you WIN! You get $200, some T-shirts and 8 hours at a local recording studio! (Y'know... the one in the industrial park next to Public Storage where you practice anyway)... :cool: |
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Location: big island | Originally posted by HumblePie aka Solid Top:
Ow ,come on Randi , Mag -lights do n`t cost that much
:)
Vic that ain't how much we charge, vic. that's how much they offer us! ( and it's R-A-N-D-Y, please. "randi" is the feminine form, which i ain't!) |
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Location: Pringle ,PA | thanks wannabe for starting this thread., i was pondering the same question now about two weeks. Just curious, not quite there yet, but wanted a general idea... thanks to all! |
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Location: N.E. Pa | My 5 piece covers band- $1,800-2,000 for a 4 hr wedding. Picnics, etc. $800-1,000 for 4 hrs. Clubs, around $500 plus free drinks for 4 hrs.
My acoustic duo on weeknights- $200 plus drinks. I guess both acts kinda follow a loose $100 a man rule, except the premium for the wedding band/tuxedo thing. We're probably still a bit on the cheap side, but we work alot. |
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Location: Michigan | 57'Strat, ( W-A-N-N-A-B-E-E ) is the correct spelling
Your version is the feminine form "
Which I Ain't " :D :D GWB
Hi :D RANDI :D in Hawaii |
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Location: NJ | I usually get $150-200/4 hours (which usually consists of two 2-hour sets), solo.
That's in a bar/restaurant situation.
PrivateParties/Affairs would be more . . . |
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Location: Scotland | Usually more than they can afford and way less than we need. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | $50 to $100/hour for solo work in the corner of an art gallery where they provide nothing but AC through a wall outlet. Double that amount for weddings where everybody is happy and they expect to pay you more to play the bride's favorite songs. If her mom cries, expect another $50 for a tip. |
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Location: NJ | I usually make it painfully clear to the venue owner/manager that they're only "paying" me to haul all my sh!t in/out of the venue.
The four hours of "playing" in-between is free . . . |
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Location: south east Michigan | I like that approach Cliff! |
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Location: NJ | It's really just a way of "covering my ass" when some drunk f@cktard comes up with the attitude that I'm being "paid" to play the lame request that HE/SHE wants t'hear (and I don't wanna' play) . . . |
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| Known as "The Freebird Rule". |
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Location: NJ | Ed Zachary. |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | I had a guy at a gig last month who was sitting at a table with about 6 or 7 people who kept coming up and making requests. As it turned out, the guy had very similar taste in music to my own, so I knew / liked just about everything he wanted to hear, so I did my best to play everything. On the way out he dropped a $20.00 bill into the tip jar. Sometimes it pays to be nice (but not most of the time ... : ) |
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Location: Utah | Wages haven't improved any since the late 70's. After inflation, that's like a 50% pay cut! But then what profession hasn't seen such a pay cut?
Around here, it's about the same as others have quoted. Pretty measly if you're trying to make a living. |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | I think that if you stay in the $150.00 to $200.00 range, you can avoid most of the "you need to bring a following" crap. I feel like my job is to entertain the people who are there, hopefully keep them there, and maybe get them back next time. Most of the time, when I'm asked how many people I can bring in, my answer is "I can't guarantee any". It's probably cost me some gigs, but it's an honest answer. Now, if you can bring in a following, you should be getting more money.
The thing that drives me nuts are the places that don't promote the fact that they have live music. The don't even put up a sign, let alone put it on a website or a mailing list. Even when people do want to come back to see you, they don't know when you'll be there. I hand out business cards and have a website, but that only goes so far. |
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Location: south east Michigan | I'd like to try doing a real gig sometime. This dispite the unfortunate incident at O'Kanes. But O'Kanes was a solo attempt and I (we / Brian & I) are much more practiced as a duo. A few times in January we were able to play some full 50 minute sets at a marina bar. We recorded one of those sets and were pleased enough with the results to say that we pulled it off without embarassement.
I'd be glad to do a couple for free just for the experience. And if in the end I could make enough in 12 months to cover an OFC trip or two I'd be very happy. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Nobody has convinced me to quit my day job. You guys do an awful lot of work for very little monetary appreciation. I'm still thinking about doing the nursing home gig, but even they might boo me off the "stage".
I agree with Brad that it would be nice to cover some of the "expenses" though. |
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Location: NJ | ". . You guys do an awful lot of work for very little monetary appreciation . ."
That's why they call it "playing" . . . |
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Location: south east Michigan | With once a week practices' over the last 3 years Brian & I are already putting in the "work". It would be nice to put it to some use. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You're slipping, Cliff. I expected something about me getting paid for "practicing" law.
I was serious about the under-appreciated comment, though. I don't do the bar scene much anymore, but there seems to be a bunch of talent out there that doesn't get paid for it.
Then there are a bunch of rich rappers. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Walking from the Frisky Mermaid over to O'Kanes, (a well traveled path those few days), I'd see a guy playing on the open patio part of some other bar. Not to toot my own Award Winning Singer / Songwriter Horn, but I know darn well that Brian & I could have done better than that guy. |
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Location: NJ | It gets boring if y'swing at all the "easy" ones, Mark . . . . |
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Location: big island | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
...I don't do the bar scene much anymore... didn't you have to pass the bar to practice law? |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Round here you are looking at something like $500 per night for a Friday or Saturday, and maybe $900 for both.
The real money is in private parties. |
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Location: NJ | Are you talking $500 for a solo act??
We USED t'get $400-500, . . but that was for a 4-pc. band . . .
Private Parties are okay, and CAN be lucrative, but they CAN bring their own particular breed of "headaches" with them . . |
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Location: Nashville TN. | Originally posted by FlySig:
Wages haven't improved any since the late 70's. After inflation, that's like a 50% pay cut! But then what profession hasn't seen such a pay cut?
Around here, it's about the same as others have quoted. Pretty measly if you're trying to make a living. rise in the drinking age
More DUI inforcement
Smoking Bans
Lower attendence
DJ and Kariochi (spell)
give alternatives
all suppress prices. |
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Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | I don't know about anyone else but with rising fuel prices I turned smaller gigs that were more than 50 miles away. Back 03 I was doing 2 to 4 shows a week.
Now its that much in a month.
I been doing open mic to keep stage skill from rusting |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Originally posted by lanaki:
Vic that ain't how much we charge, that's how much they offer us! ( and it's R-A-N-D-Y, please. "randi" is the feminine form, which i ain't!)
RANDY it is...
Vic
...anything I can Rightly do Right.. |
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| Interesting, I do not do 4 hours solo. That is a lot....I am a whimp I guess. I applaude the 2 hour sets as well. I do three 50 minute sets and that is $150 if the bar takes a bad hit and they have a no show crowd I give the bar a break and take $100. To be honest Cliff I think I can do 4 hours of music but I forget stuff if I don't play it a lot and some of the music I get sick of doing gets rusty real fast It would be a stretch for me.... I have 50 songs or so I do most nights. I used to know, pretty well, about 40 more but I just don't have the memeory or the disciple to practice all the time like I should. In my defense some of my stuff is pretty hard to do. I think anyway.
I have an aquaintance up here named Mitch Frasier, believe it or not he has been doing a solo act for 30 years as his living. I rmember him from back when I was in bands. He was making more then than he does now. He knows somewhere around 800 songs. I swear he is a human MP3. I am in awe of that kind of memory. 800 is staggering to me.
Randy |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | On one Jim Croce DVD I seem to recall his wife saying he had a repertoire of something like 10,000 songs. Many different genres. |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | I have a pretty large repertoire that I can play well enough to do at a gig. Now, if I were only to count the ones that I feel that I really play well, the number goes down quite a bit. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by cliff:
Are you talking $500 for a solo act??
We USED t'get $400-500, . . but that was for a 4-pc. band . . .
Private Parties are okay, and CAN be lucrative, but they CAN bring their own particular breed of "headaches" with them . . No, that's for a band...with your own PA and lights. |
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Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | Originally posted by John B:
I had a guy at a gig last month who was sitting at a table with about 6 or 7 people who kept coming up and making requests. it pays to be nice (but not most of the time ... : ) Once I was playing a solo in a restaurant, and a damn motorcycle gang came in. I figured I was dead. One of them came up to me and asked for anything by Frank Sinatra. So I did "The Lady is a Tramp" and "One For My Baby" They gave me forty bucks and let me keep my life. |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | I've found bikers to be the nicest people that I've played for. I booked a gig a few years ago (site unseen, through my website) that turned out to be a biker bar. I was sweating bullets when I arrived to see dozens of bikes and some scary looking characters outside. It turned out to be a great gig and the people were incredibly cool, and yes, they were very good tippers also. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | We used to play in a pretty biker-ish dive bar over in Council Bluffs. You'd never find a nicer bunch of regulars anywhere.
Too bad the place went "all country" with their new ownership. |
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WHAT IS THE GOING RATE $$$ FOR A NIGHTLY ENTERTAINER IN A LOCAL BAR/CLUB ???