Function band ! Can you actually make a living ?

[fiatcoupe432]

16 hours ago, Al Krow said:

To the OP: I think there's a romance to being a full time pro musician. But the reality I suspect is that it's often gruelling, bloody hard work, with anti-social hours. Albeit, if it's something we love, it can be some of the best gruelling bloody-hard work we ever spend our time doing.

Exactly this 👏 . I never said that being a full time musician it's easier than a 9 to 5 jobs . To me it would be definitely more rewarding, even if it means working out if hours or weekend etc. I spend 8 hours a day 9 to 5 wondering what it would be like to actually play music full time instead of sitting in front of a desk in meaningless job 

Edited July 7, 2023 by fiatcoupe432

[Lozz196]

In my last band I’d say we were semi-pro, it was a legit business and we used to do tours overseas etc. Those tours were hard work, great fun for sure but hard work, after the tours it was nice to get back to the day job for a bit of a rest.

[BigRedX]

Being able to make a living out of music is just like any other artistic/creative job. You have to accept (especially in the early days) that in order to make sufficient income you are going to have to take on the (much) less interesting work as well as the things you would really like to do. I've learnt from my creative business (graphic for print) that you get the work by say yes to pretty much everything, and doing exactly what you employer/client wants. You can't afford to turn anything down or have your own opinion until you have got to the point where you have so much interesting and exciting work that you can politely turn the less riveting stuff down and be able to recommend someone else for those jobs. Remember that you may always need to pick these back up again the in the future if the "good" work starts to dry up.

 

 

[diskwave]

Seeing as were just yapping a bit now. I'll always remember a summer season I had on the Isle of Wight in the 80's. Five nights a week and start at 6pm...yes 6pm! for the tiny tots...I can play the Birdie Song and Aga Doo standing on me ed, both hands stuck up me jacksie!, then finish the 'four set' evening with all the old usual Disco Favs....Aah the good ole days...(sort of..haha). 🤪  The point I'm making I suppose is as a professional musician you gotta take everything and anything that comes ur way.

[nilorius]

2 minutes ago, greavesbass said:

Seeing as were just yapping a bit now. I'll always remember a summer season I had on the Isle of Wight in the 80's. Five nights a week and start at 6pm...yes 6pm! for the tiny tots...I can play the Birdie Song and Aga Doo standing on me ed, both hands stuck up me jacksie!, then finish the 'four set' evening with all the old usual Disco Favs....Aah the good ole days...(sort of..haha). 🤪  The point I'm making I suppose is as a professional musician you gotta take everything and anything that comes ur way.

Sounds serious, let's break You free.

[Crusoe]

On 06/07/2023 at 14:35, acidbass said:

Here in Norn Iron, you could survive on function band playing but certainly not make what I would call a good living.  Functions here might pay £200 per gig, so after tax/fuel/misc expenses etc you would need to be playing 10 functions a month to pay the same as a minimum wage job would.  10 functions a month might be possible in Summer months and around Christmas but you will be doing virtually nothing in Jan/Feb/Nov etc.  Anyone I know who does this type of work always has something else on the side for bread and butter.

Yep, I think we paid somewhere in and around that for our wedding band nearly 15 years ago. My guitar tutor also plays in a band but teaches as the main job.

[LukeFRC]

@fiatcoupe432 - the overall tone seems to be "it's hard to make ends meet doing this" - I hope this is useful. I think you started another thread a while back about opportunities in music to get away from your job. A bad job can be soul destroying, but not all jobs are and even if the dream of full time bass player isn't going to be a full time role I hope you find something else enjoyable to do. 

I used to work on minimum wage in a cafe, and despite shift hours and low pay it was fun and enjoyable - I've worked in roles with better pay, but worse in every other way. My brother was seriously stressed in his role, and quit and ended up freelancing as a video editor and was a changed man (good money too) - sometimes a jump to something else that isn't the dream is worth it because it either makes you happier, or lets you work shifts and start working on the music income streams. 

[Steve Browning]

2 hours ago, greavesbass said:

Seeing as were just yapping a bit now. I'll always remember a summer season I had on the Isle of Wight in the 80's. Five nights a week and start at 6pm...yes 6pm! for the tiny tots...I can play the Birdie Song and Aga Doo standing on me ed, both hands stuck up me jacksie!, then finish the 'four set' evening with all the old usual Disco Favs....Aah the good ole days...(sort of..haha). 🤪  The point I'm making I suppose is as a professional musician you gotta take everything and anything that comes ur way.

 

Ah, The Birdie Song. I've told the story before of how I killed someone playing that. Portsmouth Radical Club 24/12/78.

[casapete]

2 hours ago, greavesbass said:

Seeing as were just yapping a bit now. I'll always remember a summer season I had on the Isle of Wight in the 80's. Five nights a week and start at 6pm...yes 6pm! for the tiny tots...I can play the Birdie Song and Aga Doo standing on me ed, both hands stuck up me jacksie!, then finish the 'four set' evening with all the old usual Disco Favs....Aah the good ole days...(sort of..haha). 🤪  The point I'm making I suppose is as a professional musician you gotta take everything and anything that comes ur way.

This ^^^^
I’ve done plenty of gigs in the past that I haven’t been particularly proud of, but it’s usually been a learning

curve of some sort or other, even if it’s just been gritting your teeth and taking the dosh. ( Also done a fair

few for not much dosh!) I consider my ‘dues to be paid’ now though, and only do the gigs I want to. As I head

towards semi - retirement this will definitely remain how I roll. 😊

 

[Woodinblack]

28 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

 

Ah, The Birdie Song. I've told the story before of how I killed someone playing that. Portsmouth Radical Club 24/12/78.

 

Its the way they would have wanted to go

[diskwave]

6 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

Ah, The Birdie Song. I've told the story before of how I killed someone playing that. Portsmouth Radical Club 24/12/78.

I think we're all ears. Do tell.

[Bluewine]

On 06/07/2023 at 11:00, Al Krow said:

 

I think maybe better to say it's "do-able but bloody hard!".  I'm aware of a couple of other BC'ers, other than @casapete, @spencer.b and @Bluewine from this thread, and a couple of bass players not on this forum (god forbid, haha!) who are managing to be "purely pro" bass players. A few of them are in successful function bands collectively making £60K to £80K PA and one was a session bass player who did 300+ gigs a year, but who's recently decided to get a 9 to 5. 

 

My lot should be getting a decent chunk of cash per head each this and next year from pub and function gigs with a fair wind, and our lead singer can double what she gets from the band with solo gigs, but she would be the only one managing to live off her music performance and then only just; the rest of us have other jobs/sources of income which are still our main income.

 

To the OP: I think there's a romanceAgreed to being a full time pro musician. But the reality I suspect is that it's often gruelling, bloody hard work, with anti-social hours. Albeit, if it's something we love, it can be some of the best gruelling bloody-hard work we ever spend our time doing.

 

 

 

Agreed, it's very hard. I'll go out and pick up $125.00  on a Thursday night, $200.00 Friday night and $150.00 on Saturday night. And if there's a nickel on the floor I'm picking that up too. Lol

 

Blue

[Mickeyboro]

14 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Its the way they would have wanted to go

So it’s true…life is cheap.😈

[Woodinblack]

12 hours ago, greavesbass said:

I think we're all ears. Do tell.

 

[Steve Browning]

15 hours ago, greavesbass said:

I think we're all ears. Do tell.

 

Yes. It's all in the link above. I'm dangerous, me.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Steve Browning