Making the Big Bucks!
I met with some very nice people last night who are looking for a drummer to fill-in and maybe become a permanent player in their "classic rock" band. From previous posts, I've already expressed my feelings about "cr" projects. I've not only "been there, done that", but I haven't witnessed any changes in the "cr" environment here in the DFW area in the past 3 or 4 years. In fact, it appears things have gotten worse. More clubs have closed and those that are open or have re-opened seem to be paying bands less than they were 3 or 4 years ago.
Supply and demand is at work here in a big way. These guys--the ones I met with last night-- have 6 pieces in the band and have gigs booked for $300 or $400 per night. I don't know what pisses me off more. Clubs that won't pay a decent nights wage for a band or the bands that agree to play for--what amounts to poverty wages. In some cases they end up with bar tabs that cost them much more than they earn. But that's all part of the clubs ultimate plan.
Shall we break it down? Let's say I agreed to fill-in for the $400 gig. It's an obvious money losing proposition, even without a bar tab.
They rehearse 33 miles from my house (66 miles round trip). If I rehearsed with them 5 times, I would drive 330 miles. That's exactly the capacity of my fuel tank at $50 per tank. Now if I get my cut of $400 split 6 ways, I'm banking $66.67 for the evening. I presume the band will play for 3 hours, but every gig is a 9 or 10 hour day for me. I start packing the kit at 5:00 p.m., drive to the gig about 40 miles away, unpack, set-up, sound check, eat dinner, play the gig, tear-down, pack, load, drive home and arrive about 3:00 a.m. That's 10 hours. Having already spent $50 just to rehearse and probably another $10 on gas to get to the gig and home again, I'm clearing $6.67 for the evening. That, my friends is $.67 per hour (without factoring in what I spent on the meal).
Before you tell me that there are things you do for love and things you do for money. I get that. I understand that. I get and understand that I will unlikely recoup a fraction of what I spent on musical gear. That's part of the rub.
I have filed schedule C's on my tax return each of the past 4 years in order to realize a loss due to equipment purchases. A lot of people do that. My accountant tells me, however that you can only do that for four years before the I.R.S. expects to see a profit. If they don't see a profit, they can disallow the previous losses, call it a hobby instead of a job and re-calculate your tax liability for the past four years. I'm pretty sure I would owe more than $.67!
Is that "real" enough for you?
I don't have anything against any genre of music, but I am bound by common sense, principles and my accountant to execute a little intellegence about accepting gigging situations.
A few weeks ago, a band called me to sub for them at the last minute. No time to rehearse. I don't normally like to do this, but it make a lot of fiscal sense TO do it. Another $400 gig, but only four pieces this time and they're paying a sound guy $50. So I spend some time at home learning a few songs that I don't know and on gig night I drive over set up and play. Another $10 on gas and a $6 hamburger are my only expenses. My cut is $87.50, so I bank $71.50. I was able to cram in the gig in 9 hours instead of the normal 10, so now I'm making $7.94 an hour. Now we're talking about BIG BUCKS!
I think I'm beginning to understand why more musicians only do "sub" work!
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