Whoever said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” must not have read Jack Kerouac. In On The Road there’s a passage about a tenor saxophonist killing it in some sawdust saloon in San Fransisco. Reading about that energy, about how the crowd is riled up, egging him on to just blow until his head explodes, never fails to get my heart rate up. That kind of scene is the reason I want to play music. That’s how you write about music! It’s the raw connection the audience feels with the performer. Perhaps that’s how you’d dance about architecture, too.
The truth is, musicians have got to love performing their own music this much because everything else surrounding playing a show is a nightmare, and New York City just magnifies the problems. Everything from booking shows to hauling your gear on the subway to tiny stages, this town is not for the faint of heart. Of course, the thing that’ll suck the soul right out of you is booking your own gigs. The truth is, booking your own shows takes thick skin, patience, networking, confidence, and organization.
I’ve lived and played shows in and around four US cities: St. Louis, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Indianapolis, and now New York City. By far, New York is the biggest racket. In fact, smaller markets actually pay more. And to make sure we’re all on the same page, I’m writing about the gigs for musicians and bands that write their own, original music. The cover band, party band, wedding band, big band, etc. is a different gig altogether.
If you’re planning on moving to a city like New York or Los Angeles to “make it” with your band, please read this. I can honestly say everything I love and hate about playing music revolves around booking and performing shows in this town. I may make it sound like there is no hope for any of us, but keep in mind I do this every month, and in the end, it is definitely worth it. Just be prepared going in.
How much does it pay?
This is the first question everyone asks, and actually the reason I’m writing. The truth is, nothing. Until you can pack a bar, consider getting paid is a bonus. While there are many reasons for this, the big three are:
- Many venues just don’t pay.
- “Promoters.”
- You’ve got to pay the band.
Some venues pay, some don’t.
The supply of bands out weighs the demand, and so clubs can find plenty of free entertainment. I suppose there could someday be a Musician Revolution where we all unify and refuse to participate in this system for free. Enough is enough! But musicians as a group aren’t cut out for that sort of confrontational attitude, and there will always be the younger guys or weekend warriors that don’t care about money willing to play for free. This is kind of unfortunate, but it’s reality.
Of course, there are paying gigs out there, but they are more competitive. All that means is that if you can bring people to your show that will spend money at the bar, you’ll get to play there more. You also must keep in mind that just because it’s a big city doesn’t mean people will automatically be in that bar. In fact, most clubs with live music do not have many regulars. Instead, they rely on the bands to bring in the crowd.
There is also the option of a door charge or cover charge. If you feel like your fans will spend the money just to come in and see you play, then you are on your way to making some money. The only problem with a cover charge is that somebody has to collect it, and if the club is providing that person, they might get paid out of that charge. It’s not uncommon for a club to charge $5 at the door, keep the first 10 paid customers and give you $3 for every customer after that. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of this option. I’ll explain later.
“Promoters” that don’t promote.
In New York, I often see homeless people opening the door for people outside of Dunkin’ Donuts and asking for change. These are people that have no job, so they create their own, without really asking permission. Similarly, there are people who have created the job of scheduling bands to play 45 minute sets at various clubs, do nothing until the night of the show, where they show up and take money from you and your fans.
To summarize, there are some booking companies that use a “Pay-To-Play” scheme to make their money. The deal is you have to sell X number of tickets to your show ahead of time, and the night of the show you have to pay the promoter the total amount for all those tickets before you’re allowed to play. After that, whatever you get paid is at the discretion of this promoter. This would make sense if the promoters were creating flyers or posters, sending out email blasts, or doing anything to create buzz around their events, but they usually don’t do this. Actually, in my experience, they never do this.
This may sound similar to the cover charge explanation above, but it’s not. In the first scenario, part of the cover charge is paying an employee of the venue. In a pay-to-play scenario, your money is going to somebody that has nothing to do with the club, other than setting up these shows.
I suppose these third party promoters remove the headache of dealing with bands for club owners and managers. But since they’re able to make money off the pay-to-play deal, they do ZERO promoting themselves. Frankly, this whole scenario boggles my mind. I have never and will never participate in this sort of scam. The only attempted justification I’ve ever seen is that “if every band brings in their X number of people, then you will be playing to all of their fans as well!” In reality, the other bands and their fans will shuffle in and out during your set and not give a damn about your music.
Your drummer needs to do his laundry.
Unless your band acts as an equally balanced, well oiled machine and splits the $0 evenly, chances are you need to pay the people performing with you.
I’ve always had a policy of paying my band, even if it means I lose money. For a while, I lost money on every gig, but my band got better and better. Gradually, more people came to the shows and I started breaking even most of the time. Today, I usually make money, and sometimes enough to pay my band more than I guarantee.
Similarly, I’m a sideman from time to time and get paid something. I see things from both sides of the coin, and it’s all part of building good, professional relationships. Just pay your band. You’ll get yours if you stick with it.
So why do it?
Let’s face it, playing live is what being a musician is all about. This is how to connect with people. Find your fans. And you never know who might be in the audience, so each performance is an opportunity for bigger and better things. If you do things right and focus on making good music and playing well executed, engaging shows, the rest will happen. A great live performance in undeniable, and if you can get people excited about your music, you’ll find doors opening for you. You just can’t let everything else get you down.
I view gigs as a form of advertisement. I’m ok paying for that advertisement by not making a ton of money. That’s why I avoid adding a cover charge. Why give somebody an excuse to not walk through the door?
If you’re really good and play out regularly, but not so often you thin out your draw, you’ll start to make money. In New York, there are many venues that send a waitress or bartender around with a tip jar, and they’re persistent. If you bring people out to these venues and they’re digging your music, they’ll let you know. 100% of the tips go to the band, unlike a cover charge that is split with the venue. Eventually you will make money from your efforts. Not long after that, you could be getting booked in more prestigious venues or opening for bigger acts.
Make your life easier.
You know what they say about New York City–if you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere. Well, they don’t make it easy on you, that’s for sure. Here are some tips making this less painful:
Organize your contacts. I keep a spreadsheet with venues I’ve contacted, as well as an organized set of folders in my email inbox. This way I can quickly figure out who I’ve contacted, who has written back, and when it all happened. Also try to meet these folks in person. It always helps to put a name to a face.
Write professional emails. Starting with the subject line, clearly state who you are, and even name their venue. For example, I’d write something like “Booking Cameron Mizell / Jazz-Funk / Blue Note”. I shouldn’t need to explain why. The rest of your email should be to the point, use correct spelling and grammar, and hold a polite, professional tone. I recommend you spend some time writing an easily customized form email, so all the important stuff is consistent in every email you send out. Just be sure to put the contacts name and venue in the email so it doesn’t look too generic.
Follow up. Stay in contact with these people. If you’ve just played a show, write the booking agent in the days following just to say thanks, it was fun, let’s do it again. If you are still trying to book your first show but haven’t heard back from anybody, write again a couple weeks later. Forward your previous email with another note just explaining that you’re following up. Emails get lost, it’s nothing personal, so be politely persistent.
Never burn people. My rant on promoters that don’t promote is the only problem I really have with the whole booking game, and I never work with those people, so I could care less if they decide to black list me. Frankly, it’s their loss. However, everyone I DO work with is great. From the people who book the gig to the sound people, managers, bartenders, etc. As I learned working at venues, it’s very important to treat the staff with kindness. Thank them from the stage, at the end of your set.
Put yourself in their shoes. Let’s face it, this is the best thing to do in all areas of your life, but it’s especially helpful when you’re trying to book a gig. Imagine how many people like you are trying to get their band a gig? Imagine how many of them are terrible. Are you one of them? Would you want to get the emails you’re writing? Think about these things before you make your first impression, and it’ll make a difference to many of the bookers, talent buyers, managers, and owners.
Good luck!
Cameron Mizell
New York guitarist Cameron Mizell is involved in a wide variety of musical projects ranging from jazz to pop, avant-garde to singer/songwriter, bluegrass to indie rocktronica. He recently released his third album, Tributary, with his jazz/funk organ trio. Cameron's experiences as a musician and former record label employee give him a unique perspective on the musician industry, which he enjoys sharing on MusicianWages. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.
Great, great post! And timely. My band has really started playing in New York City in earnest the last few months, with more shows on the way, and you definitely hit the nail on the head.
Bringing your own crowd is key, as we’ve predictably really only been invited back to the places where we made a good showing. That’s the nature of the business. And the most we’ve been paid in New York City thus far has been a $6 profit. That’ll buy you a bag of chips and an iced tea.
But I really think your best tips are “Follow Up” and “Never Burn People.” And they fit in any city. It’s amazing when, even if you don’t bring in as many people as the club would like, they’ll have you back if you were really nice to them.
Good stuff Cameron!
Man, I can’t say enough about that jazz club scene in On the Road. My only hope as an artist is to, just once, be able to create something as perfect and beautiful as that one chapter. I was a Kerouac fanatic for most of my college days and when music school was getting us down my friend and I used to dust off On the Road and read that chapter out loud.
This last spring I saw the Kerouac exhibit at the NY Public Library. They had a replica of the scroll – very interesting.
[...] For an interesting read on this subject, I recommend reading Cameron’s article, The Truth About Booking Shows for Musicians in New York City. [...]
In the DC metro area things are similarly structured. For an original rock band, the show opportunities basically come through “promoters,” direct contact with the venues, or national/regional “battle of the bands” competitions. All of which involve selling massive amounts of tickets and whoring out your friends for virtually no profit. We’ve gotten a few “play for free” opportunities at charity events when we don’t have to draw but it almost always amounts to them just wanting to use our PA for free and then we play a 30 minute set to a small, disinterested audience. We can get paid up $400 if we’re willing to demean ourselves for 3 hours and play “Sweet Home Alabama” in front of a bar crowd who couldn’t give two shits about original music.
The best gig we ever got was when we were given the chance to open for Armor for Sleep at American University. We got paid and had a few hundred college kids instantly interested in our music. Sales were huge for that night, though interest has waned despite our best efforts to keep those fans engaged. Still, it’s been one of our best shows to date. Those are the real opportunities to get our music out that we’re looking for these days.
[...] own music. Despite the advice of a handful of vocal music industry pundits, the money is not in touring or gigs. Licensing for TV & film can generate some income, but it’s much easier said than done. [...]
If your not getting paid much and perform in front of small crowds, why wouldn’t most startup bands just record their sets and promote like crazy on the internet. Sell your CD online and go for it. Maybe that is not the solution but it seems like it is time to find a solution using the available technology.
This article couldn’t be less helpful. You spend the majority of it convincing us that we shouldn’t expect to get paid. Ok, yeah, no shit. The question most musicians want to know is, HOW DO I GET THE GIG? The only answer you provide is, send emails…and make sure they are professional sounding. Great. That advice doesn’t help anyone. Emailing doesn’t work. It doesn’t get anyone’s attention. You should have spent the majority of this article explaining what exactly we can do to get a venue’s attention. You mention a face to face confrontation helps…ok is that it? What if the guy in charge doesn’t want to see you? Or what if they just say: send me an email!
I really think that no one knows the best way to get gigs in a big city. The only solution is to know someone who can help you out in some way, some contact on the inside. Period. There is nothing else to be said. so stop acting like you have something more helpful to say because you are just deceiving us all.
Person – this is a well written article by an experienced musician that gigs regularly in New York City. It sounds like you haven’t had as much luck, and my best advice to you would be to pay more attention to the information that you find from musicians like Cameron. Including this article.
If you’d like some advice specifically on finding gigs, please try these articles:
5 Ways to Find Musician Jobs
Top 10 Gigs You May Not Have Thought Of
How to Get a Job As a Pianist
Find Gigs on Craigslist Using Search & RSS Feeds
How To Find Gigs With Google Alerts
Getting Started As a Musician
The Next Level – Getting Started As a Musician, Part 2
How To Get a Cruise Ship Musician Job
Musician Jobs
If those don’t interest you, try these articles:
Booking a Gig: Basics
Swap a Gig
Lastly, if your emails to booking agents or contractors have any hint of the attitude you just showed in your anonymous comment, its likely that you will continue to have trouble booking gigs.
No one can give you a guaranteed road map to getting a gig – someone is going to need to be into your music (or convinced that others are into it enough to buy tickets to see you). Then you’re still up against the bookings calendar and any number of other factors that are specific to the venue you’re targeting. What this article does is tell you the best way to approach venues, the best way to follow up and what to realistically expect to be paid for a show. If you send an unprofessional email filled with demands that no venue or promoter is going to meet, then you’re not going to get booked. If you aren’t professional when you follow up or you take to your soap box because someone hasn’t gotten back to you fast enough, you’re not going to get booked. This may sound obvious to some people, but if you spent a week booking gigs, you’d learn very quickly that this info is most definitely NOT understood across the board.
Sure, it’s true that booking shows, like lots of things in the music industry, comes down to who you know. To become someone who knows the right people, you’ve got to get out there and try to develop these relationships. This article tells you how to build bridges with the people who are in a position to help you without rubbing them the wrong way. After all, they have a lot of people demanding their attention. It’s extremely helpful information and an honest, realistic assessment of the world of show booking. That world may be a frustrating one, but this article tells the truth about it. There aren’t easy answers, and it doesn’t try to sell you one. I for one find that refreshing.
When I was out actively playing music professionally, my band went out and played for free for about 2 months locally. We basically played at all the jam session or open session nights letting the host band take a break for about 15-30 minutes depending on how long they let us play. The host bands love this since they still get paid the same and can relax for a few songs while my band showed different owners what we could do. Like I said this is playing for free but really helps you with a reputation and we sold as little as 1 cd or sometimes 20 cd’s in one night using this tactic.
Consider these play times as live auditions for a club owner and remember to keep a copy of your contracts or business cards handy the nights you play.
We ended up with some really nice repeating gigs that ended up making us decent money. Now I have a real job in the daytime but I play out on an average of 3 nights a week adding about 5-10k a year depending on venue and cd sales.
Solo Musicians:
I am a solely devoted to fingerstyle & classical SOLO guitar playing.
I decided to make money as a musician so i became a soloist. I fully intend to play in nice restaurants, bars as well as for weddings.
I live in harrisburg, pa (small city) and have been told a typical gig will $ 200.00 at the bare min– a wedding $ 300.00
My advice to all guitarists would be to lose your band and go solo! guitar players are a dime a dozen–it’s no wonder “bands” starve.
I intend on making a nice living in harrisburg, philadelphia, baltimore as a solo player.
i paid my dues learning some pretty tuff stuf. my payday is around the corner.
my best,
jim-jim
[...] For an interesting read on this subject, I recommend reading Cameron’s article, The Truth About Booking Shows for Musicians in New York City. [...]
[...] On his Ottawa Citizen jazz blog, Thriving On A Riff, author Peter Hum wrote an article about jazz musician wages called “The Wages of Swing.” That article is an excellent evaluation of the exact thing Dave Hahn and I had in mind when we started Musician Wages: Exactly how much (how little?) do musicians get paid? Hum quotes one of my articles about booking gigs in NYC. [...]
Recently I decided to “go solo”, but in a unique way. Finding it hard to form a band I decided to invest my money in a rig that allows me to combine live processed harmonies with backing tracks so that I can sing and play rythmn and solo guitar and sound like a full band. The only problem is it takes at least 15 minutes to set up my rig and another 15 minutes to break it down. Most venues in NYC seem to allow for only 30 to 45 minutes for a set. When I explained my set-up/break down time issue to a “booker” I was told that that I would get no more than the time allowed. Which means if I spend 30 minutes setting up and breaking down I’ll get how much? 15 or 20 minutes of actual performing time!
Hi Cameron –
Just wanted to say a sincere ‘thanks’ for taking the time to share your tips with other musicians. There’s a lot of great advice contained in this post, and I can certainly vouch for the efficacy of sending professional and polite emails, always being courteous, and taking care of the musicians in your band. I managed to go from college graduation to being a full-time musician (making a comfortable living) in just a couple years by doing my best to follow the rules you’ve outlined above. And yes, it seems as though the gigs in smaller cities help to financially cover those you play for free in places like Chicago, LA and NYC. When I do a tour I just make sure that I have enough paying gigs in the not-quite-so-large cities to offset the expenses of those few where I’m just playing for the door, a percentage, merch, etc.
Keep up the great work and writing!
Cameron,
Oh how true this is! As a musician in the New York scene you have to strike a delicate balance with promoters. You also have to be clear to yourself what you expect from a venue. I have 3 requirements when approaching a venue or dealing with bookers.
1. Is the venue known and designed to have live music (good sound, an allotted space, run listings)
2. Do they have a website and will they link to yours?
3. Is there potential for walk in crowd or overlapping bands? (you want to grow, not bring the same 20 fans to all your shows)
thanks again!
Devlin
Hi, I am a promoter as well as a musician. My promotions company allows bands who have had trouble booking shows in the area a chance to play through our reputation. So, I wouldn’t distrust all promotions companies to do a bad job, flyers and posters are usually part of the contract and a good way to make sure they promote is to give them a lower percentage of the profits and not an upfront fee. Thanks, Tom.
So how many gigs a year do you play? Whats the average buck per gig ? Im between a rock and hard place right now and would be apreciative of the info. I make a hundred bucks a night 2 nights a week, Its no longer worth my time at 44 yrs old to play in a cover band. Its not just money but personal growth as a musican. Thanks.
Heath, there’s no easy answer for you here. For the last few years I’ve played between 50-100 gigs, doing all kinds of music.
This article is really about booking an original band, so for example, my own band (a jazz trio) plays in NYC bars and clubs no more than once a month. After I pay my bandmates, I usually make about $50 plus CD sales. Some gigs bring in much more, other times I’m still paying my band out of my pocket.
I also make money every month from online sales–iTunes, Bandcamp, etc. That income, plus the gig income, is a decent chunk of change, but not enough to live on.
Along with my own band, I’m a regular in five other original bands and pick up one-off gigs here and there. Some of the gigs are more musically fulfilling than others, but all of them offer challenges and help me grow as a musician. They also support me financially. Each gig varies greatly, but my base rate is $50/rehearsal, $100/gig, plus additional work like recording or arranging charts.
Everyone I know that plays in cover bands makes about $100 for bar gigs but much more for weddings and corporate events. In NYC, there’s bigger budgets for that kind of stuff, so for some guys, cover gigs are their bread and butter.
Great article – full of really useful tips and advice. Really appreciate you taking the time to help others out who are in a similar position and you can share advice on what you’ve learnt. Thanks!
Could anyone perhaps please give me a list of any suitable venues where I could start playing my music in New York? I would describe my music as jazz/alternative/pop/rock. A bit of a mixture really! I have tried Googling venues in New York but I’m totally lost. I would go and visit New York myself but I’m moving there in November from the UK so I can’t really pop over before then.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Tim
Instead of looking directly for venues, I recommend finding similar artists in NYC and look at their upcoming shows. That’s still how I find new places to play around here.
[...] At his loaded-with-info website musicianwages.com, Brooklyn guitarist Cameron Mizell makes clear here that if it’s rough all over for musicians trying to bring original tunes to the people, [...]
I want to start a new club. I have no experience in the biz. Would aim for the college crowd. I have a small building about 2,900 sq. ft. four bedrooms on 2nd floor – i would like to give room to a permanent booking agent – and also an individual with heavy music experience to live in and run the music operation. I am keeping a room for myself – thought 1 or 2 rooms for the booked act. First floor is a possible coffee/donut operation. Music venue would be another building. The building enumerated above needs heavy carpentry, etc. is there a booking agent – that can do repairs to this building and share in future possibilities? A person should not give up day job for this – is out west. I should mention – my residence would not be more than 6 months a year.