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Author Topic: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?  (Read 63220 times)

Philly Q

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #60 on: May 24, 2012, 10:56:00 PM »
Fortunately we work on the principle that those who sing 'em get to choose 'em....

.....I do like to bash out Squeeze and Crowded House songs though and I also get to do one Beatle song.


I'm not particularly a fan of those bands, but I imagine they must be fun for you as a singer - because the basic melodies are extremely strong. 

The lyrics are probably good too (although I tend not to pay attention to lyrics!  :lol: )
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AndyR

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #61 on: May 25, 2012, 09:02:34 AM »
Yep, loved your post 38th...

As I was reading it, I was wondering about Sweet Home Alabama, and there it was! :lol: As a (strat-playing) guitarist, I kinda like it. Then a couple of years back I had a work colleague who had been a bassist. He loathed Lynyrd Skynyrd because of that song, and I suddenly realised how "appealing" it could be to the bassist in that song!! The guitarist gets nice variations on the verses/choruses/links, but down the bottom it's just 3 chords round and round for as long as the audience wants to yell the chorus (or the guitarists want to do bad impressions of southern rock solos).

And the "those who sing 'em" principle - brilliant.

If we were able to rehearse it, I would give someone else's preference a fair go - even to the extent of learning the lyrics. But if I couldn't do it justice I'd say so. Sometimes they'd got so into the groove or whatever that they'd think it sounded fine even with my naff vocals. Then I'd have to admit "oh I love playing it, I just can't sing it - why don't you give it a go?" That would usually shut them up :lol:. The few times they forced me to do one live anyway it had exactly the effect I imagined - audience switches off because the singer can't do a decent rendition. So they kind of learnt not to push their luck on a song the singer couldn't manage.

I always had the ultimate sanction at a gig though - "I don't know the lyrics..." :lol:. This got used mainly for songs that we hadn't rehearsed or ever played together before, though.

We'd discovered that if I knew a song well enough to sing it and lead the band through the verse/chorus/etc changes, and if most of us had heard it enough or it wasn't too complex (Crowded House ruled out here!), then we could actually play it in a gig without ever having played it together before. It was usually an audience request, and the audience would know that's what we were doing, so it was kind of us showing off...

But Mustang Sally specifically is a case in point for the "I don't know the lyrics" strategy - even today I could not tell you how the vocal starts or what the song structure is, I just know the hooks that the audience does, so I can't actually perform it without paying attention to a recording and a bit of private rehearsal first (and that's probably why we never played it :lol:)
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lindtro

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #62 on: October 07, 2014, 03:16:19 PM »
Our function band gets about £200 per head per gig (we're a 4-piece and this keeps it nicely under the £1000 mark which seems like cut-off for most private clients). We mostly do weddings  plus the odd birthday or corporate event. Recommend signing up to one of the bigger agencies like http://www.lastminutemusicians.com/ or http://www.functioncentral.co.uk/ as they seem to pull  a lot of traffic in and are always sending us offers.

Over the years we've gradually honed the set down to a set of songs that any crowd AND ourselves  actually really enjoy playing, so that we no longer leave every gig wanting to kill ourselves  :cheesy:

38thBeatle

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #63 on: October 07, 2014, 10:34:35 PM »
It seems that our experiences are very similar. Glad you enjoyed it Andy. We are a bit like old soldiers swapping war stories only its not about how many enemies we killed, it is about songs we murdered.

Two of the most bizarre requests I've had were:
1) do you do any Girls Aloud songs mate? ( and no he wasn't trying to be funny and witty- he seemingly thought that four middle aged blokes would play that stuff-sheesh)
2) have you got any records by (can't remember which artist he said). I replied that unffortunately I'd left my record collection at home and that I  didn't have any records with me. Oddly enough, I added, we are actually playing these instruments for real,. yes that right, we are really playing these songs as we have all spent a few minutes learning to play.

Thnaks for your post lindtro.

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CommonCourtesy

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #64 on: October 09, 2014, 02:57:31 PM »
I've done acoustic duo gigs for £100, £50 between the two of us, not done any function band stuff which can get more. I'm starting to see the appeal in covers bands as it is better money (not that we do it for money but we gotta earn a living) and being in originals bands for years and seeing little financial reward, its not a bad thing on a Friday/Saturday night to play some rock tunes for a wedding or just in a pub full of drunkards singing along!

There's no writing process involved, saving time. You can pretty much play the same tunes with any musicians so if anyone can't make a certain date you can arrange a dep pretty quickly and easily.

Your first practice could be just deciding on a setlist of 20 songs and rehearsing through them!
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 03:01:33 PM by CommonCourtesy »

JJretroTONEGOD

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #65 on: January 11, 2015, 05:14:18 PM »
I get paid £0  :afro:

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38thBeatle

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #66 on: January 12, 2015, 09:43:17 PM »
I had a gid on Saturday where we did it at a knock down price as a favour for someone. The punters, however, were extremely demanding- more so than at gigs where we charge a good fee. We ended up doing an extra 20 minutes. That doesn't sound like much but the last batch of songs were ones that I sing . I sing around 50% of the songs and I do 90% of the lead breaks and I always play with the attitude that this could be my last gig so lets make it a good one ( morbis perhaps but I lost a good buddy recently who was a day older than me and we'd been friends from the age of 5). A by product is that I play my very best and sing as well as I can. And yet, they were paying us peanuts and would have had us playing all night .

I got to thinking that maybe I should think about doing something different. I've been meaning to record a whole bunch of original songs that I've accumulated over the years ( and is likely to happen in the near future) and I did a solo spot last week and got a great reaction from a pub full of people that I don't know. I didn't get paid a penny but it was very satisfying. Comparing it to Saturday night makes me wonder why. Having said that, I enjoy about 90% of the gigs I play so I shouldn't let that one influence me too much.

Apologies, I didn't set out to post so long with my musings that are on no importance to anyone when it comes down to it.
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gwEm

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #67 on: January 13, 2015, 09:10:06 AM »
I had a gid on Saturday where we did it at a knock down price as a favour for someone. The punters, however, were extremely demanding- more so than at gigs where we charge a good fee. We ended up doing an extra 20 minutes. That doesn't sound like much but the last batch of songs were ones that I sing . I sing around 50% of the songs and I do 90% of the lead breaks and I always play with the attitude that this could be my last gig so lets make it a good one ( morbis perhaps but I lost a good buddy recently who was a day older than me and we'd been friends from the age of 5). A by product is that I play my very best and sing as well as I can. And yet, they were paying us peanuts and would have had us playing all night .

I got to thinking that maybe I should think about doing something different. I've been meaning to record a whole bunch of original songs that I've accumulated over the years ( and is likely to happen in the near future) and I did a solo spot last week and got a great reaction from a pub full of people that I don't know. I didn't get paid a penny but it was very satisfying. Comparing it to Saturday night makes me wonder why. Having said that, I enjoy about 90% of the gigs I play so I shouldn't let that one influence me too much.

Apologies, I didn't set out to post so long with my musings that are on no importance to anyone when it comes down to it.

Well, its very important to think about these things. Music is supposed to be fun and an art form. I have the same opinion a play each show like its the last too.. You just never know what comes up.

I think you should definitely record those solo songs and put effort into promoting that for a while.

I reckon that with all the free music around these days the effort we all put as musicians in not properly valued by punters. Thats no reason to stop doing it of course, but it is reason to look for extra ways to keep ourselves happy.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2015, 09:11:53 AM by gwEm »
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CommonCourtesy

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #68 on: January 13, 2015, 08:18:00 PM »
I had a gid on Saturday where we did it at a knock down price as a favour for someone. The punters, however, were extremely demanding- more so than at gigs where we charge a good fee. We ended up doing an extra 20 minutes. That doesn't sound like much but the last batch of songs were ones that I sing . I sing around 50% of the songs and I do 90% of the lead breaks and I always play with the attitude that this could be my last gig so lets make it a good one ( morbis perhaps but I lost a good buddy recently who was a day older than me and we'd been friends from the age of 5). A by product is that I play my very best and sing as well as I can. And yet, they were paying us peanuts and would have had us playing all night .

I got to thinking that maybe I should think about doing something different. I've been meaning to record a whole bunch of original songs that I've accumulated over the years ( and is likely to happen in the near future) and I did a solo spot last week and got a great reaction from a pub full of people that I don't know. I didn't get paid a penny but it was very satisfying. Comparing it to Saturday night makes me wonder why. Having said that, I enjoy about 90% of the gigs I play so I shouldn't let that one influence me too much.

Apologies, I didn't set out to post so long with my musings that are on no importance to anyone when it comes down to it.

Funny you should say this, I've been pondering going the opposite way, from an originals band playing for free and having to pour loads of money into recording and tours, to get now't back to playing in covers bands and having a good laugh on a Friday night. I've spent the majority of my guitaring career playing originals stuff getting little return. Now I'm not saying I am doing this for the fame and money but at some stage in life you want to be able to pay your rent, bills and get food on the table. Alongside tutoring it could be a good little earner provider the gigs keep coming in.

As previously mentioned music being available for free and lack of numbers at originals gigs these days makes you think to yourself "why am I doing this?" But that's not me denying I don't enjoy being on stage playing in a rock band with my 4 friends and being proud to be up there. Maybe I'm getting a bit blurry visioned by £££ signs....

38thBeatle

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #69 on: January 13, 2015, 10:30:52 PM »
Yeah maybe I should just chill a bit and do both cover gigs and solos and get the best of both. At one point we did a few of mine in the band and they always went down well but we do go out as a covers band so I guess we should stick to that. I  do love  playing my own songs though- life is so confusing sometimes!
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CommonCourtesy

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #70 on: January 14, 2015, 08:25:34 PM »
I wish I could find time to do both! Its just the more and more it goes on the more appeal covers band and making regular money becomes. I think I will stick with the originals for a few yet but it does come to a point where it drains your finances and not get much back. I have invested so much money in my rig, its there to be played!

Dave Sloven

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Re: Gigs - how much do yet get paid ?
« Reply #71 on: April 24, 2015, 12:44:03 PM »
Most of the time it's nothing.

Usually there's some interstate or overseas band that soaks up all the money.

Once we got $50 for playing a metal show and another time I organized a show and each band got $2 per punter, which worked out to $80 for each band.

The money goes into the kitty for the next recording session.

Lucky punk bands don't need good recording quality because the gigs don't pay!

We're not a cover band though, even if we did do a cover of Poison Idea's 'God Not God' for a couple of shows.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2015, 12:45:50 PM by Agent Orange »
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