How much do you charge?

It's not about setting a fixed price - it's about pricing for the market you play in.

In the late 70s I booked my band into our first gig at a big hotel lounge. The booker asked for our price, and I pumped up what we'd been getting at small bars by about 50%. His response? He blurted out "Wow, that's really reasonable!"

I kicked myself over that mistake for years. The hotel chain had a budget in mind, and I had no idea what it was - the fancy hotel made a lot more money in their lounge than the college bars with quarter beer nights. If I'd done my homework, we would have been much better paid.

Some gigs have fixed budgets and supply their own patrons (fundraisers, festivals, weddings, etc.). When you price for them, you want to do your best to figure out what their budget is - if you're high, you're not hired ("they're too expensive"), but if you're low you're also not hired! ("they're not a quality act")

Other gigs have open budgets, and count on you for patrons - like college bars. The more people you can bring, and the more they're willing to spend, the more money you can command. If you're starting out in that market, you don't know what you're worth yet... so find out! Play a gig for a percentage of the door or bar. You'll find out pretty quick - maybe you're figuring $280 is fair, but half the door comes to $500 - now you know you can pack the place. If half the door comes to $100, you wouldn't get a second gig at $280 anyway - so at least now you know what your real following is, and you have a chance to build it and keep playing there!

Other gigs are a mix of the two. My hotel experience was one of them - they had a band budget, but they were also counting on the band to raise their profits by keeping the patrons entertained and spending money. I was pricing based on a regular old off-night (if I remember right, it was a Thursday). If I'd known the hotel was having a convention that opened the next day - so their bar would have been full of salesmen blowing off steam after setting up their booths, and who would be drinking on company expense accounts - I would have had a much better picture.

In my defense, I was young and stupid... I still thought the value for them was our music :)

You didn't say how many people are in your band. And as NoteBoat said, the price can vary. I live in a fairly small town, we get anywhere from $300-500 per gig. Go into the bigger towns you can get more.

And NoteBoat is correct about drawing crowds, that is the name of the game. If you can pack a club with 300+ people, then you can ask $1000 (US) or more and they will be happy to pay it. I figured out years ago that you get about $5 a head. So, you play a small club and draw 50 people you get $250.

Getting folks to come out is a real artform in itself. I have seen a few little tricks that actually work. You can make little cards for your band showing the venue and date you play that advertises "no cover charge". You would be surprised how many folks show up just because they save a $5 cover when they have to pay everywhere else. Of course you arrange with the owner to let these people in free. He's gonna get that back with the first drink anyway.

I used to be friends with a band who would rent a bus when they played out of town. They would charge $10 for transportation to and from the gig, that would pay for the bus and driver. The ride was basically a party on wheels, everybody was torched by the time they reached the club. It really impresses a club owner when you pull up in a bus and 75 new patrons walk in ready to party. So sometimes you have to spend some money to make some money.

Of course, ask all your friends to come out. They will promise to come, but only a few will. :roll:

And never feel bad about getting paid to play music. Playing in a band is a lot of hard work, no different than your day job. You spend many hours practicing for which you do not get paid. Then the day of the gig you have to leave early, pack up all your gear, haul it over and set up, play for hours into the middle of the night, then pack it all up, drive home, and unpack all your gear again. Man, that is a lot of work! You deserve to be paid and you should be proud to be paid for your skill and effort. :wink:

When I had my first paying gig this summer, I asked a friend who's been performing for years what to charge. He told me that a DJ gets 400.00per night, so a live band should command just as much. if not more.