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From Amateur to
Pro
A Five-Part Series by Craver
Part 3: Types of Gigs
Outside of playing in your living room, there are
four primary types of gigs that you can choose from, bars, parties,
weddings and coffee houses. All
have their pros and cons.
Coffee Houses:
These venues are long on
satisfaction, but short on dough. Typically,
a coffee house owner will "allow" acoustic acts to perform on their
stage. The normal pay is a
tab for some coffee and pie. If
you have a CD to sell, that is where you can generate some decent
income. Some venues are very well known for music.
Customers come there to be enlightened by music.
You can play your originals and "get heard".
Bars/Restaurants
: These venues are in
business to make money. Sometimes
they have a built-in crowd and your job is to entertain them.
Most of the time, bars & restaurants are looking for an act
with a "draw". This
means that they do not care if you are a "star", if you fail
to bring in enough people to warrant the pay you get, you are out.
The general rule is 80% covers and 20% originals.
You can expect to earn $50 - $100 per band member.
If you go solo, the pay is better.
Play requests and watch your tips soar.
Parties:
Private parties are a lot of
fun. Most people come there
to have a good time. Your play list will be all covers. I
call it the, "Brown-Eyed Margarita" set, meaning, learn "Brown-Eyed Girl" and
"Margaritaville", or else.
You can look for at least $100 per band member.
The only tips usually come from the person that’s writing the
check.
Weddings:
In terms of pay-scale, this is
the "Holy Grail" of gigs. You’ll
have to be on your game to get these.
Weddings demand lots of "dance music".
There is stress with this kind of gig.
People do not like it when the band sucks at their wedding.
No mistakes. Show up
early and be professional. Look
for $1,000.00 and up for these babies.
There are a lot of options for
"playing-out"
professionally. These four
are the most common. Give
them all a try and see which you like the best.
Remember, you are the entertainment, so entertain!
Check
out the other articles in this series:
Part 1: Get
Your Head On Straight
Part
2: Equipment
Part 4: Selling Yourself
Part 5: Solo, Duo or Band?
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