[Dixielandjazz] PAY SCALES - How to make more money

Fri Apr 6 09:46:38 PDT 2007

Steve Said: 
Take Elazar's gig at $25 a man. He got it from busking. It probably doesn't
hurt the music market. There may not be a union visible there. OK, he
created that gig and under the above scenario, he is right to do the gig
because he is building the reputation of his band and its music. Lots of us
got started that way.

The trick is to market successfully from there . . . by building audience
and appearance fees at similar rates. Like by this time next year, he should
at least have doubled, if not quadrupled both his audience and his fee.

If he is then still working/busking for $25, he isn't doing it right.
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Five minutes ago I booked a Thursday happy hour for almost four times the rate per man than they pay other bands.  How does that happen especially since the two of us play with those other bands on the same circuit.  I don't mind playing for less with the other bands because I just walk in play and walk out.  

This particular place pleads poverty with the other band leaders.

This is the fifth gig I have booked off of two pieces of advertising one of which booked 2 additional gigs and another has discussed four more gigs.  The first is a mailer that I sent out about two weeks ago and the second is my web site.  The lady filled out my booking form and I got an automatic e-mail with all the info on it.  She found my website because of the mailer then the web site sold her.  Advertising people will tell you that 7 contracts with only 85 pieces of mail is a phenomenal return.  Direct mailers work on less than 1/2% return.

That's how.

Several years ago I started using a computer as the background three instruments and hiring horn players.  This solved the problem of trying to hire rhythm players.  Piano players are the biggest problem here.  They know it and charge accordingly.  The second and most important challenge was to make more money more often and still stay in the ball park and be competitive.  The fact is I get Saturday night prices for an hour on Thursday afternoon.  In turn I pay more than some guys are getting for Saturday night and I make more than bands are willing to pay me for Saturday Night for ONE HOUR gigs.   It's a win, win, win, win, situation.

Early on I was worried that the musicians would turn up their noses at what I was doing.  Some obviously do but some really good people don't.  I am able to hire the best players around.  Among professional musicians money talks.  By the way it takes a better than average musician to play with a computer and sound good.  Rhythm section players don't like this much.

Just an aside I know two musicians who are premier in OKOM who are scared to death of and refuse to book a job.

Music is a product.  Business goes to great pains and spends millions each year on uniform products.  A uniform product is the key.  I hate to say it but musicians are anything but a uniform product.  DJ's on the other hand are a very uniform product.  Who is taking most of the music dollars home?  The uniform or non uniform?

By combining the sides of the triangle, Art, uniformity and price, I think I have found a product that can sell.

Selling is another key.  I fitted in the conversation before we started talking price the $70 that I paid last night to fill my tank thus sublimely showing the lady that everything is expensive today.

Then again is it art?  Which came first the Kenny or the G?  For those of you who play for the art or how good it feels to play or for the complements you get then you get what you get.  About ten thousand people have come up and told me how much they liked my playing.  I wish they all had given me a quarter instead.  It's nice but doesn't pay the bills.

I have opened up a whole world that did not exist for me either as a band leader or as a side man.  A sax player just can't go out and do a single and he must always work with at least a trio which is great if you specialize in dinner music.

I enjoy playing with a group much more than I like playing with a computer.  I enjoy a nice restaurant more than I enjoy McDonald Hamburgers too but I still buy more fast food than I buy good restaurant fare.  Most people never see the inside of a great restaurant and that's why McDonalds is still raking in the bucks as fast as they can do it.  Is there a lesson here?

I advertise - I have a web site - I am providing a uniform product at a lower cost -   and it's working.  At the same time I offer other choices and I become an agent if they want something else.  Since I worked for so many bands I know the leaders and about how much they charge and can negotiate with them and for them if I have a customer.  

As a horn player I have always been at the mercy of other musicians and leaders and am easily replaceable if I don't like it.  The computer has turned everything upside down.  With good equipment and good programs some hard work and some talent others in other situations can make it work too.

If anyone wants to see any of my flyers or advertising materials I would be glad to send it off list.  Or you can go to www.thelarryshow.com   The website is a work in progress.  I will be upgrading the sound clips and the site in general but this is my first experience with website construction.  I didn't know anything about web sites until I took a $60 course at a local college and gave it a shot.

I have learned how to write advertising copy, do graphics, make websites, taken courses, learned music programming, became proficient in digital photography and Photoshop all to sell the product which is ME.   I sell myself with absolutely no humility at all.

The real truth is am I the best musician in town? NO.  Am I doing super cool things?  NO.  Do I have a great voice? NO.  Are there better bands available? Lots of them.  Is my website or advertising better than the big guys? NO.  Today the Larryshow makes more money than all the other bands that I work for pay me in a year with a lot less work.

It's show biz guys.  It's advertising and reasonably priced product in a nice package.

My only regret is that these tools didn't exist 30 years ago.
Larry Walton
St. Louis