GZsound Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 I was cleaning out some boxes yesterday and came upon a gig list from 1966. It had where we played, the dates and how much I got paid. We were a five piece band and we paid our manager 25% off the top. The average for one night was $45 each. That means the band got $300 a night to play in local clubs. I got paid $225 to play for the Teen Age Fair at the colosseum, and $175 for a one hour gig opening for Sonny and Cher at the same place. (I seem to remember an audience figure of 8,000)..but hey, it was the 60's. Keeping in mind that gas was 24.9, rent was $130 a month for my house and a loaf of bread was 20 cents, that equates to getting at least a thousand dollars a night to play a local club gig today. My band now is happy if we can get $500-600 a night for a club, and most pay $350 a night. That's the same money we got 37 years ago!! Any of you think maybe the musicians themselves have been willing to play for peanuts and kept the money down? I know a lot of bands that will play for free and hope they sell some CD's to make a buck. We even have a place in town that charges the bands to play..and they get all the bands they can eat. The musicians union around here was a complete joke in the 70's (and now) and I don't know any local bands that belong anymore. Double contracts (one that had the real pay and one inflated that went to the union for work dues) were common and the bands were the ones getting chumped. The union did nothing for the local bands except collect dues. We left town in the mid 70's and were working in Alaska to make some money. The union sent me a statement that I owed them over a thousand dollars in work dues for the non-union Alaska gig.. Some local Alaska musicians union member ratted on us. Go figger.. Mark G. "A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs "I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotown Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 [quote]I know a lot of bands that will play for free and hope they sell some CD's to make a buck.[/quote]There used to be a name for that kind of band: Scab. Jotown:) "It's all good: Except when it's Great" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 I definitely agree. Boy, I've said that over and over...how come the nightly wage for a musician hasn't changed in 25 years or more? Pisses me off. I think one thing, though, is the constant downsizing that's happened. Back in the 30s and 40s...bands had like 10 or more people...swing bands, etc. Of course there were little dance combos too, but, then the dance combos took over. A bandleader can make more money if he fires his horn section and just keeps guitar, bass, drums, and maybe keys. So was the way with rock and roll, too..until some jerk figured out that by going to a club by himself and spinning records, he could ask the club owner for the same money, or nearly the same money that he'd get if he were bringing his 3 or 4 other cronies in, and keep the difference. And club owners figured that out too, so they could hire cheaper and cheaper DJs. So, now, when a band goes in, and a club owner's used to paying what his cheapest DJ will take, why should he pay more for a band...PARTICULARLY when the crowd seems to like what the DJ plays more. "DANCE" music (UGH...boom diddy boom diddy boom diddy boom diddy). People don't appreciate live music anymore. Club owners don't appreciate live music anymore. Yeah...it sucks. Most folks don't care what they dance to, as long as it goes "boom diddy boom diddy" etc. over and over, and has some cheap synth track. Add that to the fact that musicians prostitute themselves...and whaddya get? Low wages. Oh, a couple of other things factor into the equation. For awhile in some states in the 70s, the legal drinking age was 18. Then they raised it back to 21. The club owners took a hit with smaller crowds. Live music took a hit because tastes in live bands went from more rock and roll to more stuff that appealed to an older audience. Since a lot of the over-21 crowd were married, they weren't hitting the clubs as much, so that three year span of unmarried people hitting the clubs hit hard. Add tougher drunk driving laws and increased enforcement...a lot of the folks were afraid to go to the clubs, because come closing time, the cops would be perched in the gas station across from the bar...just waiting like wolf spiders. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathtoallwhoopposeme Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 IT's pretty bad...I usually get around 4 bills a night for a 3 piece band. On the weekends it's an even deal so I split it evenly with the guys I play with but on Thursday nights i make $175 and the guys make a little over $100...My bass player says he's been making 100 a night for well over 20 years. Basically musician pay has never gone up and in most cases, actually gone down when you factor in inflation etc....Pretty sad. Sean Michael Mormelo www.seanmmormelo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joegerardi Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 It's a vicious cycle. It truly is. This situation was what prompted me to stop playing out 6 years ago, and I haven't missed it. Club owners neither give a shit about you, nor your music. They're interested in one thing: Money. Your job is not to play good music, your job is to fill the place so that he sells liquor. Fundamentally it breaks down to this: What makes guys go to a particular bar? Girls. What makes girls go to a particular bar? Either the band better be a really cute bunch of guys, or they better play the music the girls want to hear. I don't care if you're playing Barry Manilow and The Captain and Tennille tunes- if you fill the place up, and the patrons are buying booze, then you're gonna get booked back into the joint. In 1983 my band was getting $1800.00 night. I don't remember why, but the bottom fell out of the market, and we were reduced to $600.00 night. Over the next 4 years, we worked that back up to $1500.00. Bottom falls out again, were down to $400.00. This time, we're only able to get back up to $1000.00/night. When the bust hit again in '96, it was enough for me. We had our own (large) PA and lights, so our expenses were minimal: 15% to the agent, $35.00\week for the truck rental (The Lead Singer's Father-in-Law owned a Ford Truck dealership) $25-50 for gas, and $10\gig PA fund to cover anything blowing. We thought of scaling down, but I had had it by that time, and called it quits. And it will never change. Remember, a DJ gets $200.00\night, which is cheaper than a band, plays the EXACT songs the ladies want to hear, which gets them in the bar, which gets the guys in the bar, who buy the ladies drinks, with the hopes that they will get drunk and agree to bang the guys, which makes the owner happy. Plus, he gets to keep the $300.00 or so difference he would have had to pay for live music. Glad I'm out of it. ..Joe Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nawor Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 At a venue near me I was asked to mix a band about two weeks back. It was a walk-in ten minutes from home and I was told ONE set. I decided to be kind and only charge $50 dollars. When I get to the gig I find they want me for TWO sets and the 9.30PM start time was now 11PM. Don't worry... "We'll make it up to you!" I'm told. In the meantime another band appeared due on at the 9.30PM timeslot. BAND: "Oh you must be the sound guy?" ME: "Er...No I'm the sound guy for the band on after you" BAND: "But the manager here told us there was going to be a sound guy here to mix us." ME: "Whose paying?!!" BAND: "What do you mean who's paying?" ME: "I'm only here to mix the other band. I don't work for the owner OR mananger. Anyway the upshot was that the guitarist in this band was the managers nephew and they weren't even booked to play that night! That's why the other guys were pushed back to a 11PM time slot. (Smell a rat here!!) I told my guys that I was leaving and I'd be back at 10.45PM. I left and came back later. Mixed them and left. The next day I was told... "We were going to give you $50 but we decided that $20 was fair and can you mix us again next week?" ME: "Well I would really like to but I'm afraid Im going to be very busy for the forseeable future as I have to change the paper in the bottom of the cutlery drawer AFTER I've changed the batteries in the musical toilet roll holder!" ;) Don't call me... I'll call you! "WARNING!" - this artificial fruit juice may contain traces of REAL FRUIT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Damn Mark, you're right. I've played in bands that made $200/night back in the early 80's, and we're STILL making essentially that much. I've taken it for granted years ago that I'd never recoup my instrument costs (we play only every other weekend) but what I try to do is think of it this way: if I were a golfer I'd spend about the same amount of money and get [i]nothing[/i] in return; as a musician I get paid a little bit, have a lot more fun than a golf game would provide, and maybe even have the cute checkout gal at the grocery store squeal, "You guys are great!" I'm glad I don't do it for a living, I just look at it as a somewhat-self-supporting hobby. :( Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GZsound Posted March 17, 2003 Author Share Posted March 17, 2003 Well, we are in the process of putting together a show band to get to the next level of bucks. We have a couple casual bands around here that get up to $5,000 a night for the big corporate parties and we are going after that market. I'm either going to get paid for my 44 years of playing or just stick to my studio work and stay home.. Mark G. "A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs "I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prague Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Part of it is when bands WILL play for nothing just for exposure. So we tend to cut each others' throats. I orignally did the booking agent thing. We had to audtion for them and they took care of the rest. They would only hire good bands, though. The other side of the coin is the bands. I see so many bands that are unrehearsed, standing around between songs, tuning all night long, feedback, starting late, etc. When I find out they are playing for peanuts, I'm not surprised. Many bands still can't sound good. Many bands I see are set up exactly like I was in 1975. Same gear. I guess if you can sell that "vintage" sound. I think bands can sound better, but they don't seem to have advanced the use of the available equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 8 Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Paostby, you are right on target! I see bands knocking DJ's all the time and I'm like; 'gimme a break'! Most bands sound like absolute crap! DJ's however, are turning just playing recordings into a new artform! It's not surprising they do so well. Guitar rock is great, but the live music scene is choked with it! 'Weekend Warriors' have done quite a bit to keep wages low, and give live music a bad rap. The thing is that they don't really seem to care either... But that's enough bitching... What's the solution? I'm asking, cause I don't know... :confused: What Super 8 Hear my stuff here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 Just another "me too" post. My cover band in 2003 makes exactly what my cover band in 1985 made. Quite non-hilariously, it's often in the same clubs we played back then, and the same a-hole manager paying us (or "forgetting" to unless we nicely remind him). - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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