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[Mark Scrivener]

Got a call today from a guy looking for sound for his band. Living in the most restrictive county in the most restrictive state, it has been quite a while since anyone called about live sound....

So the band apparently plays 4-5 gigs a month and wants a dedicated sound guy. Gigs are spread out over a pretty large area - so probably 1-2 hours driving each direction for many of these gigs. He claims he has 5-6 guys who bring their own gear and only charge $175/gig. I told him $350 was my minimum to show up, and that's if I don't bring any gear. He understood but here was the interesting part.....

He claims the venues have cut their pay to bands in half since before the pandemic and everyone is getting squeezed. Not surprising, and I told him good luck and no thanks. Fortunately my guitar students put enough dough in my pocket that I don't have to play this game. I really feel for all you that do.

[Steve Litcher]

It's almost funny, isn't it?

A friend of mine in our area plays in a band, and I know several venue owners/operators in our area as well. During the pandemic the locals were crying for live music - "I need live music!" "I can't live without seeing live music!" "Why can't we just have some live music?!" Facebook/social media was full of cries for *any* type of live music during the entire pandemic... And the venue owners were trying to get bands as best they could during the thick of things...

Now that things are opening up, my friends with bands are saying that the venues are paying really poorly AND people are howling at the idea of *maybe* having to pay a $5-$10 cover for an afternoon/evening of music.

Go figure. Folks "need" live music to live, but only if it's free?

[Yoel Klein]

It's almost funny, isn't it?

A friend of mine in our area plays in a band, and I know several venue owners/operators in our area as well. During the pandemic the locals were crying for live music - "I need live music!" "I can't live without seeing live music!" "Why can't we just have some live music?!" Facebook/social media was full of cries for *any* type of live music during the entire pandemic... And the venue owners were trying to get bands as best they could during the thick of things...

Now that things are opening up, my friends with bands are saying that the venues are paying really poorly AND people are howling at the idea of *maybe* having to pay a $5-$10 cover for an afternoon/evening of music.

Go figure. Folks "need" live music to live, but only if it's free?

The pandemic gave new meaning to value and labor.
People who can pay their bills are not paying, etc etc etc.
the pandemic song became the new normal to get everything free.

[Bill Hornibrook]

He claims the venues have cut their pay to bands in half since before the pandemic and everyone is getting squeezed

If you were actually considering working for these guys, I'd ask him to prove it - with contracts or pay receipts. It's not happening in my area - not what I'm picking up anyway. Business has been really good since reopening. I've raised my prices (club level DJ and karaoke) and no one is batting an eye.

[John L Nobile]

If he's got 5 or 6 guys that'll do it for less than peanuts, why is he calling you too? I call BS. He's just trying to get you to lowball yourself.

[Jay Marr]

I live outside of Boston.
As soon as they announced bars were opening, my phone was ringing off the hook with people needing bands.
Did our first full band gig 2 weeks ago and it was insane.  Felt like spring break or something.
Kids are dying to get out and drink their wheels off....so be prepared for chaos if/when you step into a bar/club.

After 15 months of nothing, playing loud music again was absolutely awesome.
The crowd is also VERY engaged and receptive to the bands.
I think they actually missed us...

The one thing that did NOT change (which I was expecting) was the pay.  I actually expected some bars/clubs to offer less pay, due to their lack of income over the past year.  But the demand for live music (and maybe a lot of bands not being ready, thus less supply) has kept the pay the same.  Happy about that.

[Rick Powell]

We have literally had to turn down thousands of dollars of work because we couldn't be in two places at the same time. It went from very limited and socially distanced events to "everyone needs a band on 2 weeks notice" in a hurry.

[Steve-White]

If you were actually considering working for these guys, I'd ask him to prove it - with contracts or pay receipts. It's not happening in my area - not what I'm picking up anyway. Business has been really good since reopening. I've raised my prices (club level DJ and karaoke) and no one is batting an eye.

Exactly, my bullshit alarm went off.

[Tim McCulloch]

For the most part my shop is already priced out of the bar band market so I can't say what's happening in it, but otherwise we haven't seen any significant downward pressure from existing clients.

The biggest challenge is staffing.  We've still got most of the staff we had 18 months ago but many of them also free lance, take local IA work, or also work for other production shops.  Previously it was uncommon for *all* the various employers to have shows at the same time but now... if we could each have 2 clones of ourselves we might be able to take all the work coming up.

There's no pool to draw from, either.  We lost a year and a half of "up and coming" new folks.  We'll all be working harder.

[duane massey]

Can't speak about sound gigs, as I retired from that a long time back. Clubs and venues are definitely back again, but more than a few are gone for good. Lots of gigs, but more for solos or duos, and these actually pay better than they did. Full bands (4+) are working. and don't seem to be paid less than before, but there are not as many gigs now. Houston and surrounding areas.

[Brian Jojade]

Standard mileage rate according to the IRS is 56 cents per mile, which typically represents the true average cost of driving.  Now, that's generally for passenger vehicles. Larger vans may end up costing even more than that, but it's an easy rough number to work with for budgeting purposes.  If the jobs are 2 hours away, at 60 miles per hour, you're traveling 120 miles one way, or 240 miles round trip.  That means just the empty vehicle getting there and back has a COST of $134.40.  That's not including ANY labor involved.  Even at minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, that's $29 windshield time.  So now your minimum cost to get there and back is $163.40.  There is absofreakinglutely NO way that $175 is a viable amount for that.

Your quote of $350, just to show up is still not that great either for that job 2 hours away. After you factor in the mileage, that leaves you with a net pay of $186.60. 4 hours in the car, 1 hour setup, 4 hour show and 1 hour strike means you're putting in a 10 hour day minimum.  That's only $18.60/hr, assuming no expenses (and not counting taxes).  That's crap pay for specialized work.

[Mike Monte]

Got a call today from a guy looking for sound for his band. Living in the most restrictive county in the most restrictive state, it has been quite a while since anyone called about live sound....

So the band apparently plays 4-5 gigs a month and wants a dedicated sound guy. Gigs are spread out over a pretty large area - so probably 1-2 hours driving each direction for many of these gigs. He claims he has 5-6 guys who bring their own gear and only charge $175/gig. I told him $350 was my minimum to show up, and that's if I don't bring any gear. He understood but here was the interesting part.....

He claims the venues have cut their pay to bands in half since before the pandemic and everyone is getting squeezed. Not surprising, and I told him good luck and no thanks. Fortunately my guitar students put enough dough in my pocket that I don't have to play this game. I really feel for all you that do.

Let's see: two hour commute to-the-gig, arrive two hours early to set up, four hour gig, one hour to break-down / load out, two hour drive back...that's 11 hours....for $175.....and also provide the gear.......

It sounds like this band is "kicking tires" shopping around for the lowest price - it's business.

I, for one, will not take a sound gig for less than what it would cost me to find a replacement.....  Things out of my control could happen....  If I'm dumb enough to take a low-ball gig I'll have to eat a more expensive engineer's fee to get it covered.

A good friend of mine (who is an outstanding engineer) techs a (local) band that pays him $225 cash.  The band unloads his truck, puts everything in place, runs their own mic cables.  He wires-up the rest of the rig and it's up'n running in short order.  At the end of the night the band members load everything out and pack the truck.  He never breaks a sweat.

Would I do it for that $......probably not....  He says that it is a good diversion from all of the local theater work that he does...

 

 

[Steve-White]

^^^ Many times it's load truck too, and unload at the other end, no way that would come in under a full 12 hour day.

[Mark Scrivener]

Your quote of $350, just to show up is still not that great either for that job 2 hours away. After you factor in the mileage, that leaves you with a net pay of $186.60. 4 hours in the car, 1 hour setup, 4 hour show and 1 hour strike means you're putting in a 10 hour day minimum.  That's only $18.60/hr, assuming no expenses (and not counting taxes).  That's crap pay for specialized work.

Agreed. $350 is my minimum to show up in the local area and just twist knobs.....no load in or strike. And that assumes it is a short show.


But good to hear others are seeing a robust market. I've been more focused on my guitar students and I'm doing fine, so I only take the gigs (playing or sound) that I want to do....which typically means some combination of nice place, nice people, great music, and great pay. In my experience, bar band gigs almost always fail every one of those categories.

[Mike Monte]

But good to hear others are seeing a robust market. I've been more focused on my guitar students and I'm doing fine, so I only take the gigs (playing or sound) that I want to do....

You sound a bit like me when I was 22 through 30 years old; 40 (yes forty) private students per week, gigging most every weekend..... but I was also a full-time public school music teacher....

Back then (in the 80's) there was no direct deposit of my school pay so the joke in my school was that the secretary always had to remind me to pick up my check.....I paid my expenses from my lessons/gigging, thus all of my school pay went into savings...
I was rolling in $ (although I was busy) at that time....it was an excellent musicians' life. 

btw: The music/gigging back then (in my area: Boston/Cape Cod) was swing, jazz, dixieland, horn bands, ballroom....fun stuff to play (except for ballroom zzzzzzz).
   

[Mark Scrivener]

You sound a bit like me when I was 22 through 30 years old; 40 (yes forty) private students per week, gigging most every weekend..... but I was also a full-time public school music teacher....

Back then (in the 80's) there was no direct deposit of my school pay so the joke in my school was that the secretary always had to remind me to pick up my check.....I paid my expenses from my lessons/gigging, thus all of my school pay went into savings...
I was rolling in $ (although I was busy) at that time....it was an excellent musicians' life. 

btw: The music/gigging back then (in my area: Boston/Cape Cod) was swing, jazz, dixieland, horn bands, ballroom....fun stuff to play (except for ballroom zzzzzzz).
 

wow! 40 private students plus full-time public school music! Yikes! Yeah, one would def have to be in their 20's or early 30's for that. I'm mid/late 50's.....about 30 private students (mostly 1 hour per week), but I make a short drive to one of the highest priced zip codes in the country and teach in home lessons, so the rate is absurd compared to what I could get anywhere else. Teaching pays the bills and the rest is to keep me entertained and challenged.

[ProSoundWeb Community]