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Permalink Reply by Greg Hopkins on January 23, 2011 at 9:02pm

you might want to check out the union fee schedules. find them HERE

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Permalink Reply by MArc-Alan Barnette on January 26, 2011 at 11:13pm

Jared,

 

It depends on how much you want to pay to play. LOL!

It is very different depending on your abilities and your reputation. Many people here are doing favors for friends, songwriters, etc. so there is quite a bit of FREE work going on. People have to start at the very bottom.

Casual gigs can start as low as $25-$35 per night up until Union rates of a couple hundred.

 

The clubs downtown like Tootsies, Legends, etc. are around $25 per person, plus what is made in tips. A good operator working the tip jar can help the band leave with a couple hundred bucks per person. But for every musician playing down there, there are a few hundred waiting in line to play.

 

That is what must be remembered. There is an enormous supply of people. There are aproximately 50,000 musicians, writers, artists, publishers, etc.with more coming in every day. The colleges graduate thousands each quarter.

 

In the studios you nearly have to wait for someone to die before getting a shot.This unfortunately really happened recently with a friend/drummer I have worked with on my own sessions. Brian Barnett, drummer for Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson, and Hank Jr. one day a couple months ago, didn't show up on a session.  No one could contact him. We had to use an intern who happened to play drums. A bit later we found out Brian had gone to the Emergency room and a few days later, died. Very sad, but true.

 

You kind of have to dig in and see where your career takes you. I would suggest spending time in writers clubs and befriend writers that might be the up and coming artists of tomorrow. Keeping your prices affordable today might prove a long term career move tomorrow.

 

MAB

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Permalink Reply by Jared Greece on January 27, 2011 at 10:13am

Thank you both for your input. MAB, that sounds like a good plan. I've played gigs and have basically recieved gas money for it, and I was cool with that.(With gas prices being what they are I got paid rather well,lol!!)

Any more ideas/help would be great. Thank you very much.

Jared

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Permalink Reply by Jared Greece on February 1, 2011 at 7:32am

(FYI, you can edit your comments after the fact to correct typo's, just as I corrected your typo above. - BT)

 

Played, I meant paid. Got to love typo's.

Jared Greece said:

Thank you both for your input. MAB, that sounds like a good plan. I've played gigs and have basically recieved gas money for it, and I was cool with that.(With gas prices being what they are I got played rather well,lol!!)

Any more ideas/help would be great. Thank you very much.

Jared

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Permalink Reply by Tim Lowry on February 8, 2011 at 7:51pm

Hey Jared.  You can always find someone who will work for very little, but you need to know what you need in terms of playing ability.  Most of the musicians I know, even the very good ones, will do a demo session for a couple of hundred bucks.

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