Show Me the Money!
Score - DJ’s, 1 - Musicians, 0. Article written by Arny Bailey Back to Cover
Show me the money! A __________
phrase made famous by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire, seems to be the battle cry today amongst band leaders and musicians everywhere.
It’s no wonder. Back in the 1970’s there was a great band called “Presence” in the Southern California high school I attended. They had a young amazing guitarist named Bobby Masar who later became a very dear friend. They played many high school _
and church dances around the area and charged (and got) $1,200 per performance. With 5 in a band and someone to run sound, this translated to $200 smackers per performer and that was in 1970 bucks when a Toyota Corolla cost $3,748 brand spanking new (I recall the price because it was set to a jingle). In my school of 1,500 with about 1/3 of the student body attending the dances at $2 a pop (with an ASB card and $3 without), this generated enough to pay the band. With most of the band still in
Jerry Maguire - Show me the Money!!.
high school, their gig calendar was “club absent” but filled with church, school, and community dances…then came Disco and the DJ’s.
It’s tough to argue the economics of DJ vs. Band. DJ’s are typically one person, can provide a catalogue of thousands of songs and are generally accompanied by some pretty spectacular lighting and effects. With no intermittent breaks they can provide music from beginning to end and can do all this for $300. Schools, mine in particular, quickly caved to the disco pressure and in so doing pocketed about $800 per event - probably ear-marked for improvements to the teacher’s lounge. Churches followed suit and instead of youth focused events, dances became money-makers. Score - DJ’s, 1 - Musicians, 0.
The battle rages on and I’m sorry to say, Musicians are still losing the war. Live music venues are decreasing and school and church dances are virtually non-existent these days. Sure, I know of a smattering of church dances still going on these days but the DJ’s have _
all but locked those up. School dances? What’s a school dance? Drugs, violence and the cost of security and liability for these events have all but made these dinosaurs extinct. With school, church and community dances gone, Musicians are fighting tooth and nail for the remaining few clubs, festivals and corporate events/private parties.
As far as clubs are concerned, pay has not gone up in over 30 years. In __
fact, it has actually decreased. Small to medium size clubs generally pay the band 100% of the cover, which ranges from $3 to $7 per head, depending on the club and/or the act. Since Musicians are generally not known for their math prowess, we’ll just say $5. Even in clubs that pay a fixed price, it can generally be attributed to the size of the venue and expected attendance. Most clubs seem to range from $400 to $600 per night, with a few exceptions.
Sorry, more math. Let’s take the average night at a small local club where you get 100 x $5 or $500. Not a great night, but not the worst we’ve all encountered either. Now, it took 4 man-hours to set up all instrumentation and sound, 24 man hours for performance (5 musicians and one sound tech x 4 hours), and another 6 man hours to break down and travel. That’s 34 total man hours per show. At $500 divided by 34, that’s $14.70 per hour….and that doesn’t include rehearsals, promotional costs and other expenses. We’ve all stood at the end of a long night, starring at our palms wondering why we were doing this.
I was recently performing at Bo and Nina Cambern’s place, The Oxford in Snohomish, Washington. They are one of 3 clubs in the vicinity providing live music and the only club charging a cover. On a break while cooling off outside, I heard a potential customer, we’ll call him “X” balking at the cover and moving on to a different club nearby. “Interesting”, I thought. “A good beer costs $4 + $1 tip and yet $5
to see 5 guys on stage with 200 years of combined experience and about $15,000 worth of sound and lighting equipment play their hearts out for 4 hours…no way!” What’s wrong with this picture? Plenty.
Rather than simply be offended, let’s take X’s comment to mean exactly what it means. To X, a musical act simply isn’t worth the cost of a beer. (I know, I could assume that it was only because it was MY musical act, but because he hadn’t even seen or heard my band, I’ll assume he was referring to ANY local act - I feel better). Certainly, he was basing this on past experience and had obviously seen bands that weren’t worth a beer. That said, I am confident X had shelled out 10 to 20 times this to see the big name acts. The “value” of the local acts, at least for him, was just not there.
Of course, the responsibility here is on the musicians themselves. It’s important to simply do what you can to be worth the value of the cover or what the owner is paying you. These days it takes more than simply playing well. Like it or not, ____music is visual ever since MTV came along. You need to have a killer song selection, dress the part and perform well while entertaining the audience.
I went to see a friend’s band play at a local club. They were amazing musicians. The music was killer….and the club was DEAD! No one was dancing, no one was watching the band, no one was clapping between songs. The truth is the “type” of music they were playing, although superbly __
executed, was simply wrong for a club. It was more suited for a festival. They won’t play there again.
Let’s move on to the festivals. I recently had lunch with David Harris of HTS Audio. In addition to providing sound for many large shows and festivals around the Seattle area, David also books many of these shows. I asked him about the current pay for musical acts and what could be done to increase the low rates. __
“Musicians are their worst enemies. I would love to pay the acts more but the event planners, which are usually cities, budget for their musical performances each year, well before the event. They know, since they got it for X last year, that they can get it for X this year. In truth, they’ll always be able to find bands that will play for very little to get the exposure the festivals provide.”
Festivals, particularly those that offer more acts (like the Bite of Seattle), generally pay the least but do provide an opportunity to perform and be seen. Additionally, you can make some money at these shows if you can offer swag for sale. CD’s, T-Shirts, and so on can turn an otherwise dreary income stream into a profitable outing. Of course, this takes some work and money up front to create but the costs can be quickly recovered.
Finally, there are private events. These include weddings, corporate product roll-outs and holiday parties, conventions and a few _____________
miscellaneous others. When you can get them, they generally pay very well. To be successful here, you need to be very polished and professional.
In considering the topic of fair pay and the why rates have not gone up in some time, I decided to contact the local Seattle Musicians Union 76-493. Josh Rawlings - Freelance Services Representative was quick to respond. “The minimum wage scale is designed to help professional musicians make a living. When we develop the wage scale (which is available in a pamphlet form at any local Musicians' Union office) we take cost of living, gas, mileage, food, and what other local cities such as Portland and Vancouver, BC are making for certain types of jobs (gigs).” Josh also added, “Minimum wages or scale is simply the minimum amount a musician should be accepting for a particular music related jobs. People accepting less then scale are hurting the ability for others to charge scale or more on certain jobs. This is because they're allowing the general public, club owners, etc. to ___
charge you whatever they think - not what the real value is.” Josh did note that the union was working for and in behalf of professional musicians and not trying to moderate what he refers to as a "hobbyist".
So, what’s the difference between a hobbyist and a professional if we’re all getting paid for playing? “It's tricky,” says Josh. “There's really no way for us to tell whether the musician is really a hobbyist or professional without an audition, demo CD, etc., but the Executive Board members (which are all professional musicians and members who have been appointed by the members) do review applicants and try to accept musicians who display their music is more than just a hobby. What it comes down to for me is this...if you're a really excellent, charismatic, smart in the business sort of musician - you won't be asking your self the question above - you'll be out there creating it - doing whatever it takes...this is the lifestyle, this is the time we live in, this just is. Presence and surrender can be 2 of the greatest motivators and teachers in your life.
We CAN make a living and be successful playing music it just depends on how you define "living" and "success." Define it for yourself and go out and get it!”
Personally, it comes down to this. If it’s not worth it, don’t spend your time doing it. For private events, I have set up specific guidelines for my bands performance pay…a “menu” of fees if you will. I give discounts for Monday through Thursday performances and increase my rates following Thanksgiving through New Years Eve. I stick to these rates simply because playing for less is simply aggravating. Yes, I adjust these for different factors such as festivals, clubs benefits and other recurring events but I try to stick to my guns as much as possible. Sure, in doing this I don’t get to play as much but playing less for more money, at least for me, is more rewarding.
The bottom line is that it’s time for festival rates and cover charges at clubs to go up and for bands to further develop their performances to be worth it. If both can happen, both sides will win. If neither happens, my guess is that we’ll see a lot of the better bands disappear in 2009. Of course, the garage bands out there will still be around and gladly accept the $5 cover. I wonder how that will be for club attendance. Economic reality….you get what you pay for.
Arny Bailey
MEET THE WRITER - ARNY BAILEY
President of In Form, Inc. Media Design and Chief Editor of Weekend Musician is a licensed architect practicing in the Pacific Northwest and weekend musician currently fronting ABOUT FACE, a classic rock cover band and The Grand Delusion a Tribute to the music of Styx and Journey.
