HOW CAN MUSICIANS QUIT THEIR DAY JOBS? (PHASE 3) - The most practical advice for your music career you'll hear this year!

3rd Phase: Have you ever been confused with what to charge for your gigs?

WHAT’S YOUR TIME WORTH TO YOU?

How much should I charge for my gig?
What is my time worth?

This is an interesting notion to come to grips with.

This article is continued from the first article. If you haven't yet read that PHASE 1 blog post please read that first click here

If you read Phase 1, but not Phase 2 please click here

What to charge

In the past, I would rarely think about what my hourly rate is when charging a fee to a venue or booker for my live music performance.
I’d just say something like, $AU400 to $AU1,000 (price depending upon type of gig) for a 3 hour block and leave it at that without calculating all the time involved (if that’s even possible).

So for example, I booked a remote regional gig for $660 and the gig lasted 3 hours (the standard 3 x 45 minute sets).

Many would think, “wow! That’s $220 per hour!”

Certainly, the venue thinks that way, but this particular gig was a 5-hour drive to reach.
Then, there’s the time bumping in and setting up the PA sound gear and my music gear (approximately 2 hours). Then there’s the time packing down and bumping out the gear up (approximately 2 hours).

3hr + 5hrs + 2hrs + 2hrs = 12 hours.
$660 ÷ 12 = $55 per hour.

And that’s not even counting fuel costs, PA hire costs and car hire costs, which get split between the other regional shows on that tour, so it's less than that, but it gives you a basic understanding of what I get paid per hour from that type of gig. If you have band members and a sound person to pay, then it's far less than that again, unless you adjust your set fee.

Each musician must know what their base hourly rate is so that they can know what to charge for shows.
But that fee must also be balanced by what value your show brings to the venue.

What's in it for the Venue?

The venue needs to know or trust that the fee you’re charging brings at least that much value + 10% or more to their establishment.

If you are charging that amount (say $660), but only 20 people are there for the night, who all buy about 4 x $8 drinks each, then the bar has only pulled in $640 for the night and still has to pay their bar and security staff from that.
The value is dismal, at best, and your fee, in that case, is unjustified for the venue.

In my case above, however, there were at least 250 people at the show, so the bar grossed at least $8000 (but this was in Australia where drinking rates are extremely high so each person would’ve been drinking 5 to 8 drinks each so that figure would be vastly higher, but best to be conservative with estimates) and that’s just from alcohol, but many of those patrons also had dinner and snacks throughout the evening (easily launching venue profits into the tens of thousands).
When viewed from this perspective, my measley $660 fee holds massive value to that venue and they are more than happy to pay it.

Perhaps in this instance it would be wiser for me to consider charging a door deal, but that largely depends on a few factors, especially for out of town shows where you might not have been before. Factors such as the reasons people go to that venue, whether the venue normally hosts free live music or door charge live music, what night of the week, how many people you actually can draw, etc.

When comparing that to some shiz-kicking labour job or working in retail for only $25 per hour, suddenly $55 per hour sounds friggin’ awesome for doing what you love most!

Do not EVER play for exposure at a venue

Seriously, are you a hobbyist or a professional?
Are you desperate?
If you’re 18 years old and need more experience and a chance to play in front of audiences, then sure, pay your dues and play some free shows for exposure, but if not, have some self-respect and respect for the live music industry you want to be a part of.
Don’t be desperate or you’ll be treated poorly and you’ll get nowhere.
Conversely, don’t be a Prima Donna either. Nobody owes you their attention.
If the venue can’t guarantee that you’ll be playing in front of hundreds of attentive punters, then don’t play for exposure. They’re taking you for a ride.
Festivals are a different kettle of fish. A free show at a decent sized festival can actually give you genuine exposure, but make sure you book some side gigs in the nearby area and you have someone handing out professional looking flyer bills to your shows with your website etc or you’ve squandered your exposure opportunity.
Remember, this is a business. Treat it like a business. Proper exposure only really occurs on fm radio, tv appearances, and festivals, and in my experience, most of those will actually pay you really handsomely to be there anyway or you wouldn’t even be selected.

How you value yourself is reflective of how venues will value you and how our society values music. If you wish for people to place more value on music in general, then you must place value on your own music too.

If you don't feel that you're good enough to charge enough, then you need to either get focused to get vastly better and make them an offer they can't refuse, or change your self-perception. (I will be writing a whole blog post on this topic)

I hope you got something from this phase of this series

Is there anything you'd specifically like to know about making a living from music and touring your music that you'd like me to write about? Please comment below.

Phase 4 is coming soon!

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