Jazz musicians: Guarantee vs. The door

farnellnewton · April 26th, 2012, 01:00 AM

How do you get payed for your club/restaurant engagements? Check out what I wrote and please leave a comment. Would love to hear your opinion on this topic. JAZZ MUSICIANS: GUARANTEE VS. THE DOOR

Jeff Smith · April 26th, 2012, 06:50 AM

Ultimately, a working musician is a small businessman, and you have to take full responsibility for creating some kind of demand for your product. Small time bar and restaurant gigs pay so little, that it's hard to imagine anyone taking them serious as a source of any real money. It's really just an opportunity to perform in public. There's more good musicians looking to play, than there are people or places to play for. Supply and demand.

To look at it from a business point of view, there are only two kinds of $erious gigs. The first is private functions. The function has an overall budget, they're usually not a profit driven affair, and the music is just another item of overhead that is accepted. These can pay very well, but you really have to deliver a specific product, generally not a lot of freedom in playing anything too adventurous. Great working hours.

The second serious gig is when you play great music that enough people want to hear bad enough to pay for. It's about filling up seats. This is kind of a no brainer. What would you like to make? What is your goal? Could you take personal responsibility for actually putting 50 people in a seat regularly at $8 a head to make $400? That's good attendance, but still peanuts for money. Change the numbers around to meet your expectations. The economics of this type of gig are very difficult to sustain week after week, but this is where most people want to be. If you can put people in seats, what venue of the correct size wouldn't want you? At this level you could probably stage and promote your own performances. If you're not at this level, being able to play personal music and get paid is tough. It's a rat race out there.

I tried to also respond on your website, but the open fields to leave a reply wouldn't accept text. I'm using google chrome as my browser.

farnellnewton · April 26th, 2012, 10:39 AM

Sorry about that Jeff I did fix it! The font was there but the font color was White!

thanks again!

April 26th, 2012, 01:00 AM	#1
farnellnewton Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 53	Jazz musicians: Guarantee vs. The door How do you get payed for your club/restaurant engagements? Check out what I wrote and please leave a comment. Would love to hear your opinion on this topic. JAZZ MUSICIANS: GUARANTEE VS. THE DOOR __________________ Farnell Newton Trumpeter, Composer, Arranger 503-997-2071 farnellnewton@yahoo.com http://www.farnellnewton.com http://www.twitter.com/bleekbeats

April 26th, 2012, 10:39 AM	#3
farnellnewton Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 53	Sorry about that Jeff I did fix it! The font was there but the font color was White! thanks again! __________________ Farnell Newton Trumpeter, Composer, Arranger 503-997-2071 farnellnewton@yahoo.com http://www.farnellnewton.com http://www.twitter.com/bleekbeats

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April 26th, 2012, 06:50 AM	#2
Jeff Smith musician Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: fringes of the jazz wasteland Posts: 1,452	Ultimately, a working musician is a small businessman, and you have to take full responsibility for creating some kind of demand for your product. Small time bar and restaurant gigs pay so little, that it's hard to imagine anyone taking them serious as a source of any real money. It's really just an opportunity to perform in public. There's more good musicians looking to play, than there are people or places to play for. Supply and demand. To look at it from a business point of view, there are only two kinds of $erious gigs. The first is private functions. The function has an overall budget, they're usually not a profit driven affair, and the music is just another item of overhead that is accepted. These can pay very well, but you really have to deliver a specific product, generally not a lot of freedom in playing anything too adventurous. Great working hours. The second serious gig is when you play great music that enough people want to hear bad enough to pay for. It's about filling up seats. This is kind of a no brainer. What would you like to make? What is your goal? Could you take personal responsibility for actually putting 50 people in a seat regularly at $8 a head to make $400? That's good attendance, but still peanuts for money. Change the numbers around to meet your expectations. The economics of this type of gig are very difficult to sustain week after week, but this is where most people want to be. If you can put people in seats, what venue of the correct size wouldn't want you? At this level you could probably stage and promote your own performances. If you're not at this level, being able to play personal music and get paid is tough. It's a rat race out there. I tried to also respond on your website, but the open fields to leave a reply wouldn't accept text. I'm using google chrome as my browser.