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Author Topic: money and gigs  (Read 2616 times)

guitar_master_2334

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money and gigs
« on: 10 Jul 2008, 08:53 »

alright, so just wondering, but i got a $1000 debt to pay off, and after that i have to save up $3000 for a trip im taking next year.
i got two gigs lined up but dont know what to charge and i got my usual day job.
i desperately need money, soooo, any help on what to do?
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johnny5

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #1 on: 10 Jul 2008, 09:35 »

have you thrown a gig before? what did you charge previously? what do you think people would pay to see you play? realistically speaking, you would probably make more money working more hours at your day job or getting a second job if you can't really answer those questions.
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Thrillho

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #2 on: 10 Jul 2008, 12:38 »

They're asking you how much you want to charge? That's insane.

When I've been paid for gigs - and I don't usually, I gig for the fun of it - it's been just a ticket to see the people play, and then the artists and the sound man split the gate equally, the venue makes money off the drinks.
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DMart

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #3 on: 10 Jul 2008, 15:35 »

I've gigged a few times with my band, and a some venues have said if we want we can have a cover charge - but we have to find someone to sit at the door and take the money/stamp people's arms. We haven't charged at any gigs yet since we've just started out really (we've got our 4th gig next week). I think a lot of places around here (Melbourne) are pretty happy just to profit from the drinks that get sold during the gig.

As for what to charge - about $5-12 seems to be a reasonable around these parts for local performances, if the bands aren't all that popular. That's often for a lineup of 3 bands though. It all depends, as johnny5 said, on what you think people would pay to see you play. I'd also reccomend probably trying to make money elsewhere instead - there are probably much better and more efficient ways to make money (particularly when you're talking in the thousands) than charging at gigs.
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muffy

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #4 on: 10 Jul 2008, 19:13 »

Pretty much what these guys have said - when I've put on shows (in the UK, so you may have to translate the financial side of this) for a signed band on an indie label, the top fee we've ever been able to pay them is £150. When I'm doing local shows, it's more a case of getting the band recognised and ensuring that they have an audience who may come back and pay more to see them - the exposure counts for more than the fee - and for local acts, (even relatively well known names), £50 is pretty much the going rate - anything else the gig makes in profit goes back into getting beer/wine/food for the artists, printing up posters, door staff and transport.

Basically, gigging is not a high-profit venture. Even when The Killers played some of their earlier gigs (when they were getting huge and selling out pretty big venues) their fee was £400 - most of this would have gone on transport/accomodation and other expenses - it wasn't until they had millions of record sales behind them that they upped their fee to £10,000, but at that stage, most of that will be swallowed by a recording contract/management anyway.

It's a terrible thing to say, but if you're looking to make money out of music early on, session musician work/covers/private functions is the easiest way to do it - the only problem with these options is that it generally cripples all creative intention.

The best advice I can give is to ask for a reasonable fee - nothing too extortionate - that way, the promoters are more likely to book you again, and if you can pull a crowd (promote the hell out of it, bribe friends, anything) they may ask you back and increase what they pay you. Just bear in mind that a lot of promoters lose money on these nights too and don't have a huge amount of financial backing behind them. Getting a second job, offering to do door work/flyering/cloakroom work will probably get faster financial reward.

If you want to get into DJing, though...
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guitar_master_2334

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #5 on: 28 Jul 2008, 20:00 »

hmmm....
well yeah, thats what i told them (like $7, a person, i said)
but like one of ya'll said, theres another band playing with me and mine....
hmmm..
alright, thanks
as for my "day job", i got that and it 6.55 an hour and im working like 46 hours a week, so its all good...
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Johnny C

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #6 on: 28 Jul 2008, 21:17 »

Yeah you're not gonna pay off any debts with gigs. I had to give up door proceeds recently because the promoter took a bath on a show.

Don't charge more than $10, absolute max, if you can help it, and even then anything over about $7 is extortionate unless you know it'll be an absolute killer draw.
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king dan

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #7 on: 29 Jul 2008, 11:38 »

Don't charge more than $10, absolute max, if you can help it, and even then anything over about $7 is extortionate unless you know it'll be an absolute killer draw.

Yes. Nothing is worse than confidently making a huge cover charge and then playing to an audience of four. I usually ask for $5 (I guess that's £2.35 for Brits?)
cause it's easy for in terms of change eg. four people come in and hand over a twenty. Honestly though if you're not very well known (locally) shows are usually an expense even if you get paid. The only reasons I play out is because I love doing it (ok and it does increase sales on iTunes), but basically the only business function a show will do is help increase awareness of you/your group.
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ViolentDove

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #8 on: 29 Jul 2008, 17:12 »

... the promoter took a bath on a show.

Is this some kind of euphemism, or was the promoter actually taking a bath at the show?
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guitar_master_2334

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Re: money and gigs
« Reply #9 on: 29 Jul 2008, 20:41 »

alright, WAS the guy ACTUALLY taking a bath?
im really curious....
and yeah, the main reason i gig is to raise my [musical] popularity level...
so far i got a bunch of groupies, but nothing else....
no one likes me enoiugh to help set up my stuff, cept for this one guy i gig with every now and then...
we do metal improve at shows, and its fun
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