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How To Get A Properly Paid Gig

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Type of gig
Private ‘corporate’ gigs usually pay more than, for example, a night in a local pub. Weddings and other similar functions are also usually more lucrative.

Repertoire
A not very well known ‘cover’ band can expect to be offered more than an original band of equivalent profile.

Date and/or time
New Year’s Eve is the classic potential high paying time, this is mostly due to simple supply and demand. The expectations of musicians regarding this date are, however, often inflated beyond reality. It used to be the case that very late night gigs tended to attract higher fees, this is less so now.

The two factors that most influence the ‘going rate’ are profitability and responsibility. If the gig stands to make a lot of money then a promoter is more prepared (notice I have said ‘more prepared’ and not ‘always prepared’) to pay at a higher rate, this is profitability influencing the rate.

If there is a lot riding on the success of a gig then a promoter will be prepared to pay more for the right act to ensure that the gig goes off well. The classic example of this is a wedding since the bride and groom expect it to be a once in a lifetime event (regardless of the current divorce statistics). This is a big responsibility and it is vital that a band understands this. Nothing will destroy your act’s reputation faster than a gig where you fail to do the job well. This applies not only to your actual playing but your organisation, manners, flexibility and so on and so on. The customer is always right and when they pay well they are even more right!

Now that we understand that the ‘going rate’ is not just a ‘one size fits all’ concept we come to the big question: How do I find out what the going rate is? The answer is intelligence gathering. You need to go out and talk to lots of people to get a feel for what is being paid. Don’t limit yourself to your immediate circle of musos, try to expand your sources in the same way that we discussed way back in part 2 of this series. Don’t be afraid to contact lots of agents, venues and bookers and simply ask what they are prepared to pay for the sort of gigs you are looking for, the worst you will get is a knock back and the best is very useful intelligence.

One final word of warning, in the immortal words of Gregory House MD: ‘Everybody lies!’ People will overstate what they pay or are paid to give the impression that they are a ‘bigger deal’ than they actually are. Conversely, many will understate the same figure to place themselves in the ‘poor me’ basket. Evaluate the evidence you gather as objectively as possible, look for believable patterns and do the maths, particularly regarding venue capacity and door charge, to see if a claim is likely.

More next time.

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Resolutions and Royalties

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So this year’s resolution is going to be to write a Christmas song by Easter time – to give myself plenty of time to record it and then market the hell out of it in time for Christmas. The only thing of course will be getting in the mood when it’s the season to eat chocolate as opposed to be jolly. Not that chocolate can’t make a woman very jolly indeed.

The main problem with Christmas of course is that we are all terribly cynical about it until about two weeks before it kicks in and then somehow, those christmas hormones take over leaving us just enough time for a mad scramble to buy all those last-minute pressies and save the economy.

So how do you artificially get those hormones to kick in when all that’s left of those feel-good carols is an overdue credit card bill? A non-seasonal Christmas carol risks being about a woman hounded by a debt-collector who goes mad during a post Easter sale of out-of-date eggs and goes into a chocolate induced coma. Not quite ‘Deck the Halls’, more like ‘Climb the Walls’.

As you can see, despite it only being January, the Christmas glow is already wearing thin and so perhaps that is why we see so few new Christmas tunes appearing on the charts or could it be because it’s just a whole lot easier for the labels to re-hash the classics and keep their back-catalogue viable?

Either way, perhaps I’ll stick to the classic new years resolutions for this year – you know the ones, lose some weight (well I just had a baby so that should help – there goes nine pounds right there), quit smoking (done – I could never afford them in the first place), get out of debt (Christmas 2009 here I come) and of course, the muso’s favourite – spend more time playing music. Well at least there’s one vaguely attractive option in there. But don’t worry – there’s still one more option if none of these appeal – the old ‘not to make a New Year’s Resolution ever again’ resolution – a personal favourite.

Happy Musical New Year,
Megan Albany
Editor

MEGAN ALBANY

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