Gary, those are low rates...We are getting better rates here...mostly South Jersey..has the largest work venues..

Our Band gets $600- $1,200 for a 4 hour gig...depending if it is a multi night (steady) or a one nighter..We are a trio..

Solo acts get $250- $400 a night..

The bad thing for me..travel 3 or 4 hours on the road...

Senior venues, I have been getting $125-$150 for an hour with an average driving time of 1 hour total (both ways)..

House piano gigs have been averaging a solo pianist $350 for 3 hours..on customer's piano..

Fran, the rates are much better in the Washington, DC clubs, but that would translate to a 4 hour round trip drive, which I no longer am willing to undertake in the nation's most congested traffic and one of the most dangerous cities.

Even where you perform, the hourly rate is much better at the NH circuit, and the drive time is far less, thus increasing the bottom line even more. In my case, I have several locations within 10 minutes drive time, most less than 5 miles from home. And, within the next few months, at least 3 more will be opening, again within less than 5 miles of home.

The best deal, it seems, is the NH/assisted living/retirement community circuit. The jobs are steady, the drive time is much less, and the hourly rate is highest. Now that's a great combination, especially when coupled with the other benefits.

Gary

It National Nursing Home Week....
Whew it never ends this week...$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I guess my point here would be, there are ways to make a really good living ($100,000.00, plus annually) by playing smarter, not necessarily better.


I wouldn't normally touch a $150.00 three hour job,...BUT if that three hour job landed a client who would spend $100,000.00 plus annually for multiple years, HELL YES!

Luckily, I get the high visibility jobs and work hard to turn them into day work for my company.

In a perfect world, I would not choose to play a single. Music is best for me when played with other musicians.

But this is what works for me. While music is a vital part of my life, it isn't everything. As far as work is concerned, I like writing copy and film production every bit as much. And the great thing about film is there are requirements for audio, and I have the advantage there, at least in this market.

Advice? Look beyond the nursing homes, bars and local restaurants. There are all kinds of great paying projects out there, if you just put your mind (and skills) to it!

And today, in most creative fields, it's easy to find satisfying, good paying projects outside your hometown (all around the world, actually).

I'm currently working on films for companies in Australia, Italy and India. My biggest client in the US is outside of Atlanta. I never see the clients, and the bills are paid via wire transfer.

The downside is, in large part, I've "sold out". Instead of working my ass off to perfect my craft, I went at it in reverse. I looked at what generates the reliable returns and concentrate on being able to do that...whatever it is.

I'm not proud of that.

Russ

Russ we ALL have to sell out to make a living in some way. Years ago I used to play in a band fulltime opening for major acts like INXS and The Divynyls. The problem was we weren't making much money. But when we rehearsed we would take our breaks at the local cafe and drink coffee and play video games. At the time I was teaching myself how to program a computer and realized I could make those video games. Back then music was my living and video games were my hobby. I switched them and made video games my living and playing music my hobby. So we all sell out in some way. But as long as we continue to play music the sacrifice is worth it. Making a good living is the bottom line.

Russ...you might not be "proud of that," but I thought it was brilliant. A great recipe for "re-inventing" yourself for practical reasons.

You reminded me of something very important that happened to me. Around 1995 I became a disc jockey doing live music as a sideline for the next 15 years. Up until then, being a "purist" I fought against the growing trend for years....insisting to everyone AND myself that I'm not going to compromise myself. That I was a musician.......period!

Then someone said to me: "Don't you realize that if you "pay the bills" as a disc jockey, it free's you up to play live. Additionally, you can pick and choose your live jobs and play the music you enjoy playing.

That's just what I did.....studying DJ-ing the same way I studied music. The interesting thing was I became a better musician by becoming a better DJ!

So maybe "what generates the reliable returns" is also what helps you to grow in different ways!

That's a great post you did......I got a lot out of it!

One of the things about considering a lifetime in music is, you have to be flexible. That's a whole lifetime you are talking about, in a society that in almost any other industry, a lifetime means radical change. How many businesses are unchanged over a 40-50 year span?

Expecting to be able to do what you enjoyed in your youth, or mid years as you get older, and music changes, tastes change, social life changes is simply unrealistic. The way to survive it all is to not get tied to styles, or forms of presentation. The bottom line is, if making music nowadays doesn't excite you any more, how much of your love of the job is tied to doing what you did as a younger man (or woman!), and how much is tied to making MUSIC? Music changes. It has always changed, always will, and anyone that goes in expecting things to stay the same simply hasn't really learned the lessons of history.

Diki,

You forgot about the wages - they haven't changed much during the past 50 years for the musician/entertainers.

Gary

DIKI......you are, without a doubt, the "wisest" of all the "wise oracles." You couldn't have laid this out more clearly!
You need to hang a shingle outside your door that says: "MUSIC DOCTOR"