"Shawn" wrote in message
om...

I disagree. No we're not perfect and we have a lot of work to do
getting to know our pa as well as our own individual instruments but
we played that gig Friday night for $500.00 for the band, performed
well enough that the agent was impressed and booked us for other gigs
(regardless of sound issues), we had the dance floor and the room we
were in full the entire night...

You were robbed, the Cool River here in Dallas pays $1500 for a 4 hour
gig, and we're far from the highest paid band in the rotation (we're not
even a horn band). However, we do play $500 gigs too, and we carry our own
PA to them. At $500, after 10% to the band fund and taxes, 10% to the
manager (plus 10% to an agent if one booked the gig), that's only about $60
per person (there are 6 of us), and that's hardly enough to cover gas, my
bar tab, and Whataburger on the way home.

You need a manager (even if it's an unpaid friend or band member) who
can spend some time checking out what other bands make in these venues and
get you fairly compensated. Many musicians say they'll never use a manager
or agents because they don't want someone taking part of their money, but do
the math. Right now you're making $500 total. With a manager with a bit of
business sense you could be playing the very same gig for double or more
than what you are making now, so even after the manager and agent take their
cut, you would still be getting more money per band member than you are now.
As long as your cut goes up, do you really care how much an agent or manager
are taking off the top? We both hired a manager and started using agents,
and our pay has steadily increased and our venues have gotten steadily
better and better. In the past few months we've opened for several has-been
bands (The Georgia Satallites last month) for good sized crowds and
significantly better pay than the bars we were playing this time last year.

The Cool River here is also what I would call "swanky", and we don't get
booked there regularly because they're usually looking for 70's disco, which
we don't do. They draw a high-class crowd with lots of money to spend, and
can afford to pay bands well. If you can book in those venues your pay
should reflect it. Find someone you trust to do their homework and not rob
you blind, and pay him a cut to do the legwork.

ryanm