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January 2004
Posts: 1225
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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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
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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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
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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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
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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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
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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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
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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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
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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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | It gets boring if y'swing at all the "easy" ones, Mark . . . . |
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Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5576
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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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 1126
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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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
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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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
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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Joined:
July 2003
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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Joined:
April 2006
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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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 2487
| 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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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 2793
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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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 1225
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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Joined:
November 2005
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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Joined:
May 2005
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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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 1225
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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Joined:
November 2005
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 ???
