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#235584 - 06/09/08 06:19 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
zuki Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/20/02
Posts: 4716
Sheesh everyone - let me repeat: I play 1 to 2 gigs per month at a reduced rate. These are next door and the same day to accommodate my schedule and give poorer facilities the chance for quality entertainment. The other 50+ I make as much as the high priced players. Get off your high horses please.
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#235585 - 06/09/08 08:22 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14182
Loc: NW Florida
That's not a high horse, Zuki... That's a WORKHORSE
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#235586 - 06/09/08 09:18 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
Lucky2Bhere Offline
Member

Registered: 03/04/06
Posts: 533
Zuki,

You don’t need to apologize for anything. If you went out for $5 even, that’s no one’s concern but your own.

You wrote:

“The folks there deserve music as much as anyone.”
“Look at it this way. I know some who work all day (GC, etc) for $8 hr - $64 a day? I count my blessings every time I turn on the keyboard folks. Life is short.”
“There is nothing more gratifying than blessing people - no matter what the cost.”
“I will continue ALWAYS to play for $50 if it is my calling.”

The remarks of a true humanitarian!

Hammer wrote:

“but those folks are about my most appreciative crowd. They appreciate anything being done for them.”

Good for you, hammer!

Gas prices:

Keybplayer thinks that “somebody has to take a hit and it shouldn’t be you” ….and….”you are a service being rendered to the public.”

Sorry, Keybplayer, but that and $1 will take you two blocks on the subway!

Uncle Dave says: “This gas BS is going to change many people's thinking.” He’s absolutely correct and Donny is living in some kind of a dream world. Sure, people are still living the high life…on credit cards! When they max out sometime this year, you’re going to see the changes that Uncle Dave talks about. Stand behind some shoppers in any retail store or supermarket. See how many people you see paying with cash. I’ve noted sales as little as $5 being paid by plastic.

Yes, Donny, “people waste money all day long on what THEY LIKE.” But, they will waste money only as long as they have it. By the end of this year, our current recession will almost guarantee that no one has it! Then you will see what Uncle Dave is predicting.

Chas writes about the “damage to the industry” by charging low prices. Chas, the industry couldn’t be more damaged than what it is, relative to what it used to be. Have you not noticed elementary players who were laid off from their day jobs and are now playing in various venues the instrument they stopped playing 30 years ago…and doing it for peanuts…and putting the better players out of work over economics? Or the local high school amateur choral club getting experience in the nursing homes working for nothing? Or the AD’s who just want to fill a slot with a “body” and has no demands reference quality of performance?

Now, you folks who advocate raising their prices to pay for gas. Are you joking? Do you really think AD’s care what you have to pay for gas? Do you think they’re even going to take the time to listen to your drama. And…..do you really think the service that we render is not the first to be retired in hard times?

Further, it’s not about what you charge, it’s about what THEY can afford. And it’s also about...you can be replaced with a monkey (courtesy of your local organ grinder) and a tuna fish sandwich and no one would even notice!. “Quality” and “professional” do NOT cut it anymore and you can‘t bank on this for leverage like in the old days.

As for bars and restaurants, I learned early on the simple formula of how much to ask for. You ask for as much money as you’re drawing in. If the owner could make almost the same $’s as when you’re not there, you become dispensable. If there’s a severe shortage in the night’s receipts when you’re not playing, then you’re sitting in the driver’s seat. No magical formula, just common sense.

I never went out for $50, but if it was offered to me and it was convenient, of course I’d do it. I see it like this. I’m not doing anything anyway, the $50 will be gravy money for a tank of gas or a good dinner, but, most important…..I will be spreading joy and taking a group of people out of the harshness of their situations for a happy and vibrant musical hour! To see what it means to these folks cannot be put into words for any amount of money!

Lucky

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#235587 - 06/09/08 09:46 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
zuki Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/20/02
Posts: 4716
Thanks Lucky - well said
_________________________
Live: Korg PA4X/Zed 6FX/EV Everse 8s/Senn 935/K&M stand

Studio: Korg PA4X/Yamaha DGX670/Yamaha PSR SX900/Boss BR900CD/Tascam DP24SD/MTM Iloud/Senn 935/K&M stand/Shure SM57/Sony C80 (2)/Blue Encore 300

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#235588 - 06/10/08 05:01 AM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
Uncle Dave Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 12800
Loc: Penn Yan, NY
Wow.
I was going to add to my comment, but Lucky covered it all!
Excellent recap!
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No longer monitoring this forum. Please visit www.daveboydmusic.com for contact info

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#235589 - 06/10/08 06:16 AM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703

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#235590 - 06/10/08 12:30 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
captain Russ Online   content
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7285
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
It's interesting to me that compensation and talent are sometimes not that closely related.

Around here, restaurants pay about 30% of what corporate and upscale private jobs pay.

Even in the photography business, I used to struggle to get someone to pay $100.00 for a print that cost me about $20.00 to produce. Then, I learned that corporate photography, which, within reason, takes no more ability and is much less enjoyable, pays $2400.00 a day.

I'm no better a player when I play my $500.00 plus jobs for a horse farm than someone who plays a nursing home for $50.00. And, if I could work steadily as a B-3 player in a hardcore jazz club, I'd do it for $50.00 in a minute.

My "sell out" years ago" involved locating the source for the best pay (be it art, graphics, music, photography...whatever) and doing that. And that is something I'm not very proud of.

"Sell out" Russ

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#235591 - 06/10/08 12:41 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
captain Russ Online   content
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7285
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
I charge $50.00 an hour travel time for anything out of the city. For right now, that covers the gas and a little for the drive-time.
Only have 2 or three of these a month.

R.

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#235592 - 06/10/08 02:26 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
Beakybird Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/27/01
Posts: 2227
$50/hr is very low, but it doesn't mean that Zuki is a sellout.

I support my family doing this, and the bottom line is important.

I have one NH 7.5 miles away that I do for $100 for 55 minutes. They hire me every single Monday morning. I just raised the rate $5 yesterday to $105. I've been doing this place for about 9 years, and I have been bumping up the price to keep up with inflation. I will probably ask for another $5 next March.

I have another NH 15 minutes away that I go to one morning a month for $100. I play for an Alzheimer's unit where they would never have music unless it was cheap. They have me there three afternoons a year, and I charge $150. Plus I get $300 for a 1.5 hr Xmas party.

I feel bad that I am locked into a lot of contracts that I negotiated last year. I'm going to be spending at least $1000 more on gas just for my car. Plus I pay for my wife's gas.

Plus everything else is going up! We're a family of three, and our last Sam's Club grocery bill was over $200! My health insurance went up 13%.

I am definitely raising rates. You have to. I probably cannot even afford to raise them enough to absorb all of the inflationary pressures going on. All I can do is be more discriminating about long distance gigs, and to target higher paying venues.

To those folks in Europe who pay $10 a gallon for gas. That sucks, but you also get free medical, cheap universities, and paid maternity leave and longer vacations. I feel blessed to be here in the good old USA, but some of the perks you Western Europeans get make me jealous.

Beakybird

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#235593 - 06/10/08 02:35 PM Re: Price Increases for your Gigs
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Beaky raise with caution.....it definitly can backfire in your face in the long run & you can lose more jobs then you raise
There are many other creative ways to increase your income musically.
Think about it.

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-10-2008).]

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