Well, back in the day, I was in several working bands. Most of those were weekend warrior bands. One of them was a full time working band. We didn't cut prices to try to get gigs, in fact we went in the other direction. Yeah we did a number of cheap or free gigs on Wed nights when we were getting started, to get in the door of clubs that had big paydays and only booked the top bands. One "free audition" we played was at a club that booked only the regional level bands. The deal was we played one set and if he liked us, he'd book us, if not we went home with nothing. At the end of the set, the place was packed and the crowd was having a good time. The manager told us we'd get several bookings and if we wanted to, we could play another set and he'd pay us the door take. We looked at the crowd and said heck yes. It was a good payday for a "free audition" on a Wednesday night.

We were a 3 piece band and were charging the same thing as bands with 5 and 6 members in the same clubs. We got it too. In addition to that, we were also the highest paid band in the military club system at the time. Our 3 piece band was making bigger paychecks than bands with twice the members on stage. One reason.... we were the favored band by the club managers and the audience reaction was always outstanding. We could load in and out in short order, something the managers liked at closing time, we started on time and kept our breaks to the contracted limits, and we were flexible in our dealings with the clubs.

We had many clubs balk at our asking price for a weekend. They'd counter with something like..... our best band only gets $X.00 for the weekend. Sometimes we could reach a deal and other times not. Often we'd play the first weekend at or closer to their comfort zone price.... one time. We played one of our first gigs as a band, at a club we had booked as a 4 piece band. Our singer/guitarist never showed up. We played the gig as a 3 piece band and brought the house down. The manager tried to short us based on math. We stood firm and he paid the full price. We re-booked that gig and played there several more times with no issues over money.

We were all full time musicians. We played normally 4 to 6 nights a week. Weeknights were generally less money but weekends were full price. We did pretty good. I was the booking agent and stayed busy keeping our band working. The drummer and bass player handled the PR stuff and collecting the money at the gigs. We all had our specialty.

Times have changed. Yep... I have "musical event dates" come across my FB page all the time.... singer playing at a seafood restaurant.... singer playing at a pizza joint..... I know that's not a high paying gig.... probably $50 and a meal.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
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