For all you gigging with your AX8's!

If you're making 10k a night you'd be making enough money to not care if 10k of equipment gets stolen.

If you're making $100-$500 that's altogether different. You're not making enough money to cover the liabilities.
if i made $10,000 a night at a gig i'd be bruno mars or lady gaga. your expectations for $1000 a gig regardless of the gear you bring is very unrealistic.

no one makes enough at one gig to cover all the quality gear they bring. also highly unrealistic. 10 gigs a week for a working musician is just enough on average for a living wage.

bring the gear you're comfortable with. that's all it comes down to. if you fear losing things, don't bring things. but the result will reflect on your performance.
 
if i made $10,000 a night at a gig i'd be bruno mars or lady gaga. your expectations for $1000 a gig regardless of the gear you bring is very unrealistic.

bring the gear you're comfortable with. that's all it comes down to. if you fear losing things, don't bring things. but the result will reflect on your performance.

For $100 a night I'd be comfortable bringing a $250 guitar and $100 amp. And as you know that would sound like sh*t. So it wouldn't be long until I wouldn't be hired anymore.

The industry is not making sense to me.

If I bring $6k of equipment with me and I gig once a week, don't I deserve to make even a $50k income a year?

That's the going starting rate for students fresh out of University here in Toronto.

Good thing I went to school, and got my grad degree, and can rely on my corporate income :)

Like I said if U2 can earn $1-5 Million a year, it should not be uncommon for musicians who bring 10k of equipment out to gigs to earn $100k a year.

Now does that make logical sense?

Wait a sec this is a creative industry. It defies logic. I forgot. :p
 
$1000 for 3 hours of work once a week? sign me up.
Apply for wedding gigs, they must be paying $2k a night plus tips if you’re experienced. Beats the bar scene I’d imagine.

That’s a 6 figure income.
My violin player friend does exactly that but he’s travels a lot too.
 
Apply for wedding gigs, they must be paying $2k a night plus tips if you’re experienced. Beats the bar scene I’d imagine.

That’s a 6 figure income.
My violin player friend does exactly that but he’s travels a lot too.
as i said before, private gigs are completely different than daily club gigs.

if you want to book a wedding for your first gig, you might make the money you want.

i've played many, many weddings. the pay is higher, but sometimes the experience is not worth it. it's their special night and they may ask some very unreasonable things from you to make it special.

i've had more gear wrecked by the audience at weddings vs bar gigs.
 
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Not trying to be a wet blanket, but you're not likely to get the high paying gigs until you get the experience and exposure from many $100-300 gigs. That's presuming that your gigs are well received and you develop a following and demand for your music.
 
Not trying to be a wise ass, but if you bring 10k of equipment with you wouldn't you need to hire a police officer or security guards to watch the stage and watch you transport your equipment to and from the show? Don't producers realize this? That all costs money. How are you making all that back?
 
Not trying to be a wise ass, but if you bring 10k of equipment with you wouldn't you need to hire a police officer or security guards to watch the stage and watch you transport your equipment to and from the show? Don't producers realize this? That all costs money. How are you making all that back?
i do multiple $100 gigs per week.
 
i do multiple $100 gigs per week.
Even if you do multiple $100 gigs a week say 5, $500 is basically the entry rate for a few hours a DAY to hire a police officer to watch over your equipment , the stage, possible violence, drunks, damage , theft of equipment etc. If you bring 10k of equipment it's worth it to hire a police officer. But you still haven't told me how you make all that back?
 
i pay annually for a discount.
Okay. It may seem like I'm playing devil's advocate but I'm just looking out for you. I was wondering what is stopping criminals from theft and hurting musicians who bring that kind of gear with them to dangerous nightclub environments. Glad to see you found a solution.
 
Okay. It may seem like I'm playing devil's advocate but I'm just looking out for you. I was wondering what is stopping criminals from theft and hurting musicians who bring that kind of gear with them to dangerous nightclub environments. Glad to see you found a solution.
my first step is to not play dangerous nightclub environments.
 
i'm friends with one of the biggest local groups here. at private gigs, they charge $10,000 for a full night with sound for their 5 piece band. they're so popular they might do 2 of these in a night, and do maybe 3 of those a week on average. but they've been playing music live for 40+ years, and many albums, have been on the radio, etc.

when they do the daily gigs at venues, they still make only $100 per head.

at venue gigs, you fit into their setup. for private gigs, you can usually charge whatever you want - and be accepted or denied - but sometimes you also need to fit into their setup and do exactly what they want for the money they're paying.

it's rare for someone just starting out to make anything close to that kind of money for private gigs.

you have to have a good sound, a good reputation, show up on time, be easy to work with and many other things. my song book is around 500 songs right now. on solo gigs i'll play around 50 a night with various requests i may or may not know. i try to have songs from various genres across all years of music. this kind of thing keeps me hired and on call for sitting in with others in the circuit that i know.

you can definitely get started with live gigs if you have a product that people want. but just starting, you won't be making the money a 40+ year live band is.
 
@chris
@JoKeR III
@Habuman
@ChristThePhone

I wonder if people ran their own business they would make more money during private gigs?
Charge their own prices.
Consider the cost of security.
Consider the cost of transport.
Consider the cost of changing strings before each gig
Consider the immense cost of their time practicing 5x week for 6-8 hrs a day in preparation for a private gig every weekend.

Then charge accordingly.
Even if you get only 2 clients a month if your price is $1350-$2000 a gig (much less profit with all those deductions above) you still can make a decent part time income on the side.

Just some food for thought.

As for me I have 20 years as a musician, 12 years on YT recording and I'm creating a Performance Series of videos I'll be performing. That to me is a demo showing businesses what I can do as the way I record is the way I play. No Post-production editing.

True it doesn't show live clips from shows but it shows what I am capable of and how I sound in videos translates fairly smoothly to how I sound in real life. Perhaps even better live as you get to hear the sound over high quality PA or frfr redsound elis 8 speakers.

There are also other ways to perform. Anyone heard of Performing Live from your home via the Internet broadcasting to the world? It is a way to perform and get paid from your own bedroom. It's possible to make a fulltime income just performing this way. Not too many people know about it. There are many platforms that cater to this very method. All you need is a nice camera, and to perform to a certain quota you set to make a certain income. You can make more attaching yourself to an agency on these platforms. I may go this route. No need to leave my home to perform! No need to damage my equipment. No need for police officers to protect me. Low overhead. Great part time or full time cash. But you've got to be determined to perform when your asked to because if you don't meet your quota you don't get paid at all.
 
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There are also other ways to perform. Anyone heard of Performing Live from your home via the Internet broadcasting to the world? It is a way to perform and get paid from your own bedroom. It's possible to make a fulltime income just performing this way. Not too many people know about it. There are many platforms that cater to this very method. All you need is a nice camera, and to perform to a certain quota you set to make a certain income. You can make more attaching yourself to an agency on these platforms. I may go this route. No need to leave my home to perform! No need to damage my equipment. No need for police officers to protect me. Low overhead. Great part time or full time cash. But you've got to be determined to perform when you’re asked to because if you don't meet your quota you don't get paid at all.
Who pays you if you do this?
 
Who pays you if you do this?
The fans who are watching donate virtual gifts to you that can be cashed out for $$ when you hit a certain quota. Do some research on live performing platforms and agencies.
 
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Do some research on live streaming platforms.
Almost made me laugh out loud. Have you seen any of Chris' videos or streams? He may know a little about how they work.

The cost of your gear does not equate to proficiency, which will determine how successful you are and how much people are willing to pay to have you play.
 
Almost made me laugh out loud. Have you seen any of Chris' videos or streams? He may know a little about how they work.

The cost of your gear does not equate to proficiency, which will determine how successful you are and how much people are willing to pay to have you play.
Chris hasn’t shown me any of his work. I wish he would post a link.
 
Who told people all this nonsense that to perform at a wedding or private parties they have to perform for 3-5 hrs?

Does U2 perform for 3-5 hrs? They perform 15-20 songs for 2 hrs. Instead of learning 50 songs half heartedly, learn to MASTER 15-20 songs where you can play them without thinking at all even under high pressure environments, so your mental cortex is free to think of the BIG picture at hand.

At private events you're not just being hired to perform like a manual labour worker in the background you're there to AWE the crowd.

If you bring your A Game and perform some very EXCITING numbers you can AWE a crowd for 1.5 hrs on stage. Most people's attention span doesn't surpass that amount anyways. I'm talking about interacting with the audience as you perform as well.

Tell them your speeches and stories in between songs. Extend that 1.5 time of playing to 2 hrs or longer through your interactions with the crowd.

Make them feel you are a celebrity. Even if you are not behave like one. Have celebrity appeal. Charisma. Dress the part like a real celebrity whose made it. Get your hair done for the night. Make sure your shoes look new. Wear an outfit that doesn't scream a working musician, but rather a famous musician. Lots of specialty stores in Toronto that cater to ONLY musicians. Work out religiously. Think STAGECRAFT.

All those things go a long way to putting on a good show than just fading into the background playing nonstop where no one even knows you exist.

I bet for a private event like that it's possible to make 2 grand plus tips .. Even $800 in tips. Why not? If you don't communicate and vibe with the audience your tip jar will be empty.

Remember if you charge 2 grand people will think why is he charging 2 grand, he must be good, or maybe it will be a wicked show. And you may make 2 grand. If you charge $100-$500 for a private party you will never be paid $2 grand even if you're worth that.

It's hard to have self esteem as a musician. But do you think U2 only got rich because of their music? Hell no! They know how to put on a show! They are BETTER live than in the studio. Bono interacts with the audience. He vibes with them. The audience and the band feel like they are all ONE (pun intended).

You've got to OWN the performance! Know your music inside and out, but go the extra mile. Don't think of your work as a job, this is SHOW-BIZ!
 
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