Where do musicians stand financially?

[Spacepants]

Guitar is something i really do love. i'd love to get into a band one day and make something out of myself, but you need to take things like these into consideration. How are musicians now financially?how much do these bands ACTUALLY get? lets say like an upcoming band like threat signal, compared to a bigger band like trivium and an even bigger band like avenged sevenfold. sorry if im in the wrong area on the forum, it seemed like the only place where this may be relevant.

 

[Kavnar]

Think there's something in those videos that touches briefly on the subject.

 

[ittoa666]

Unless you have a radio hit or two and you play large venues 100% of the time, you have no money basically. The music business just has no love for challenging, technical, or heavy music. I hate to be that guy, but it's the truth. It's a hard thing to make a lot of money doing.

 

[ralphy1976]

cover bands (good ones) get some $

my teacher is in 6 bands and plays every night, small gigs in "fashionable places" not a lot everytime, but little by little it adds up

but we are not talking about complicated stuff here!! soul / funk / light jazz / jazzy blues.. something to get the crowd going that's all.

 

[TreWatson]

I play occasionally at my mom's church and it pulls in a little bit of scratch

but honestly

financially, musicians are a step above the homeless.

 

[Steve08]

It depends on how big your band is, I will say that it's hard to be able to not have a job when off tour but bands like Veil of Maya are at that level right now so it's not impossible.

If you actually do professional services, ie. transcribing, producing/mixing/mastering/etc., session playing (live or studio) and songwriting/arranging then it's much easier to get a pretty nice amount of money. The hardest part about that is getting your foot in the door mostly.

 

[Joose]

It's about the love of playing music. If you happen to make good money doing it, it's just icing on the cake.

Since I was about 13, I've said I'd rather survive playing music, than live comfortably working in a cubical.

I do hope I make good money off it one day though. Maybe become known enough to produce others and shit.

 

[vampiregenocide]

I think it was a member of The Who that said 'Chosing to be a musician is choosing a life of near poverty for several years'. That's if you're lucky.

 

[mountainjam]

I think if you go into it with the attitude "you wont make any money" then you probably wont.
look at it like this. There are several self recorded and self promoted bands online that are selling albums. If you can sell 10,000 albums at $10 each, that's $100,000, plus shows and merch. Now that's def not close to making it big, but its far from homeless. Just my opinion...

 

[Chickenhawk]

financially, musicians are a step above the homeless.

If you're lucky.

The most money I've made is from cover bands gigging every single chance we got, or from a couple pop-shit bands I'd play bass for, and gig our asses off.

Even then it never was enough money to really do anything. Those bands paid for themselves (enough money to cover expenses to and from the show, a little pocket change for the band, and maybe enough after a few shows to fix a guitar/amp).

The most I've ever made was a country band in Texas, where I just played one show with. The band made $5000 for a 45 minute set. Since I was a hired hand for the show, I got $750, and not the equal split, but I won't bitch about making $750 for 45 minutes of three chord country songs

If you really want to make some dough playing music, sell out. Fuck, even Meshuggah have other jobs, and they're big as hell in the metal community.

 

[Kavnar]

If you really want to make some dough playing music, sell out.

Unfortunately, this is your answer.

 

[Skyblue]

Best idea would probably be get a nice, solid job, and work on your music as a side thing. you might be big enough to start gigging more one day, and then concentrate on music only, but starting with it as a job- definitely not a good idea.

 

[Cyntex]

In debt?

 

[wannabguitarist]

There are several self recorded and self promoted bands online that are selling albums. If you can sell 10,000 albums at $10 each, that's $100,000, plus shows and merch. Now that's def not close to making it big, but its far from homeless. Just my opinion...

Come on man, it's not that simple. You gotta factor in costs for gear, recording, marketing, touring, merch, distribution, housing, etc. ANd then that money has to be split up between all the members of the band. Time is a major factor too.

 

[Rick]

OP, here's a older thread that may help you in your answer.

 

[Rick]

I think if you go into it with the attitude "you wont make any money" then you probably wont.
look at it like this. There are several self recorded and self promoted bands online that are selling albums. If you can sell 10,000 albums at $10 each, that's $100,000, plus shows and merch. Now that's def not close to making it big, but its far from homeless. Just my opinion...

I'll bite on this one.

Okay, say there's 4 people in this band, that's $25,000 between the four of them. How much does recording of this album cost? How much does buying 10,000 CDs cost? How much does buying merch cost?

 

[Demiurge]

Music as a hobby has left me broke!

 

[pineappleman]

I think if you go into it with the attitude "you wont make any money" then you probably wont.
look at it like this. There are several self recorded and self promoted bands online that are selling albums. If you can sell 10,000 albums at $10 each, that's $100,000, plus shows and merch. Now that's def not close to making it big, but its far from homeless. Just my opinion...

Uhh.. I don't know what bands you are talking about, but the only semi-almost-kinda-quasi-big self-promoted unsigned band I know of is Painted in Exile, and I am 99.99% sure they have not sold anywhere near 10,000 albums, much less at $10 each. Not to mention there are actual EXPENSES to being in a band and recording your own music. There was a mini-discussion about this topic on the "Alex's guitars got stolen" thread too. And here's something more in depth from the guitarist/singer of the band Oh, Sleeper (a band SIGNED to Solid State Records, the same label as Sky Eats Airplane):

Why Mid-Level Bands Cannot Make Money.
by Shane Tecumseh Blay on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 3:35pm
Hey Everyone,

For the past 5 years my brothers in Oh, Sleeper and myself have sacrificed our lives, our time, relationships, birthdays, holidays, health(haha) to travel around and play shows for our fans. Not to say that isn't been a fun ride!

I would just like to bring a few things to our fans attention:

I would like to show you guys an average day in finances for a "mid-level" band like us. Im going to breakdown the average monetary in and outs of a day on tour.

On tour bands have two ways to make money. Guaranties, and Merchandise.

On tour bands have big bills. The biggest are: Managers, Booking agent, Merch Rates, Merch bills, Food, and of course.. the Gas bill.

Our last headliner tour was an east coast run with 3 other bands. The average guaranty per band was 300$ per band, and around 300$ in merch. This was the average for all 4 bands, for the entire tour.

So we have a 600$ gross income per night. Now lets break this down.

Merchandise is bough, printed, and shipped on the bands dollar. We print most our shirts on American Apparel. They obviously offer the best fitting shirts, and kids are smart about looking good now days. They wont sell unless you have slim fitting, soft shirts. The demand for better quality shirts from bands is higher in last few years.

American Apparel shirts are very pricey to print. usually $7.50 a shirt. More for v-necks, 3/4 sleeve shirts, etc.

We sell our shirts for 15$ at our shows, UNLESS we are on tour with a headliner that demands we price match them.

SO $15 - $7.50 = $7.50. So half is profit. So out of the 300$ the band made in merch, they owe 150$ to the printer.

BUT HOLD ON! Merch rates!

Most nice venues have merch rates, we have seen them be as high 32% gross. Usually they are 25%.

-----

So out of the initial $300 in merch the band made. 25% goes to venue. Thats $75.

$300(gross) - $150(merch cost) - $75(merch venue rate) = $75 (Net profit for the band.)

BUT the breakdown doesnt stop there. If the band has a manager, he takes 15% of Net profit of merch.

SO MERCH TOTAL PER NIGHT:

$75 X .15 = $11.25

$75 - $11.15 = $63.75( TOTAL Net profit in merch for the band.)

--------

Guaranties:

The breakdown in deductions from this money is: 15% to Manager, 10% to booking agent.

$300(gross guaranty) - $45(managers cut 15%) - $30(booking agents cut 10%) = $225

Average Gas bill is around $150. some days way better some days way worse. We have done 17 hour drives..leaveing show and showing up to next one right before we play...many times. Those are a bit more expensive. Most west coast tours we do the average gas bill is around 200-250...but ill use 150 for this example.

$225(guaranty after manage and agent deductions) - $150(gas bill) = $75

We have 6 people on tour, our 5 Guys, and our merch guy "The maze". We give everyone $10 bucks a day to eat on. (This isnt enough when your 6 4 and 200lbs like micah and i by the way)

6 people x $10 = $60

$75 - $60 = $15

$15 Total net profit in Guaranties.

-------

$63.75(Net merch) + $15(Net guaranty) =

$78.75 for the band for the night. out of $600 gross.

if you divide that 6 ways its $13.12 a day per band member.

-------

This doesnt include hotel costs. which are usually 50-60 bucks. Most bands dont get hotels or shower to save money to pay for phone bills.

This does not include Tires/Van payment/Oil changes/Van upkeep registration bla bla/Trailer tires/Gear/etc.

This doesnt include taxes. This doesnt include ROAD TOLLS. Which in the northeast can add up to 20-40bucks a day.

Thanks for reading.

MERCH RATES HAVE TO GO.
STOP STEALING OUR CDs PLEASE.
WE DONT MAKE MONEY WHEN YOU BUY IT FROM STORES, COME TO SHOWS.
WE DONT MAKE MONEY FROM LABELS.
BUY MERCH FROM US AT SHOWS IF YOU LIKE WHAT WERE DOING.


thanks for reading.

shane

Bottom line = non-huge "heavy" bands are broke as shit.

 

[Xaios]

I play occasionally at my mom's church and it pulls in a little bit of scratch

but honestly

financially, musicians are a step above the homeless.

You get money for playing at a church?

I've been playing at churches for 8 years and I've never gotten a dime.

 

[wannabguitarist]

Very sad and correct information
Bottom line = non-huge "heavy" bands are broke as shit.

This is very sad and true