How Much Do You Really Make Playing Gigs In Nashville?

Alright YouTube, what's up guys, come back, another video, you guys have honestly been blowing up the last one, which has been just amazing, talking about moving to Nashville, what it's like to play in Nashville, um, this and That, hey, look at this today. I have this damn SE Silver Sky Man, these guitars are amazing. Today I am in a slightly different environment. I just have this little Blues Junior sitting behind me. A little more reverb than normal, you know, but this does it all. D you may love that little lick that H so wasting your time but this is amazing um I want to thank you guys for going crazy for me I don't know over 7,000 views on that video is a ton and there's a ton. of new subscribers, people seem to like the content, so I'm going to keep going.

I have so many different topics planned that I think I could talk about and it's

really

great to see someone. there is interested in some of this. I think it's easy living in Nashville, you're surrounded by so many people doing the same things that it's easy to forget that not everyone is present in all this or doing this all the time, so I hope to be a little window into that world for you and That brings me to the topic of this video. I want to talk about how

much

they

make

doing this, how it pays in Nashville, what they

make

from

gigs

, how do they make money um and what I want to do is go into what I've done in the past for all kinds of different

gigs

.

I'm not going to go into the details of what I do now with Blanco and it's different, um, but I've been here for eight years and I've made a lot of different money doing different types of gigs all over the place, so I'll give you kind of a window. What you might expect if you come here and you're starting to play, um, the different types of concerts, there are things that I know I haven't experienced, you know, just giving some of my insight, uh, man, what does it look like? , so I've been in Nashville I've been

playing

in a band called lanco for 8 years now which is a country country band um but for a long time I didn't do that and I was just the guitarist for Hired Gun so whoever called I answered the phone.

I would get a gig and that's usually what it looks like. I'll walk you through what the concert looks like and then, um, pay and stuff, so for a lot of the cover concerts and stuff that normally when Primero comes to town, that's what you're going to start off doing, it's just Hired Gun Broadway, um or I call it Broadway, but out of town, where you're still

playing

covers but you're traveling somewhere to go do what you want. I would do it on Broadway in Nashville, um, and I like, okay, what does that look like? I'll share with you some of my experiences, so they're usually recommended by a friend or someone they've met before, um, most of the time.

If this is the first time they've called you, you may be in a bind and they need a guitarist and they need one tomorrow. That's right, especially in the beginning and that's why networking is so important because you're going to get your gigs. um and keep your gigs through word of mouth and the connections you build and the people you meet here so what that call looks like and then we'll like how

much

money you make and I'll split multiple gigs. I've gone on to explain exactly how much I make doing it and give you a little look at, okay, this is what a normal musician would maybe make you out here playing gigs, so you get a call and like the first call I got.

The first gig I did in Nashville was acoustic it was three songs the songwriter sent me a demo and it was me playing acoustic she just sang um and a drummer on a was Kahone the Box you play whatever it's called um and I. I remember we got to the first rehearsal and I had the songs mapped out, so let's go back to my Nashville number system. I listened to it, sat down with the guitar and figured out what key it was in and then slowly, because I was terrible at it, then I figured out what the main progression was and they were all pretty simple, but I realized that charart came along, it became the first rehearsal for three songs, you know, and then I remember I came out of rehearsal and the artist said.

Well, as for payment, let's talk about payment and she said a hundred dollars would be fine. Now I came from playing music for a long time throughout high school and college and rarely made any money from it. I just did it because I loved it. I had my band down in college and stuff, um, so 100 bucks for three songs. I was impressed. I knew it was a paying gig, but I had no references. I thought maybe I'd be making like 20 bucks for three songs. I mean, I don't know. I know and I remember I showed up at the second rehearsal, um, which was when we got together right before the concert and went over the songs once and I asked the drummer.

I told him: friend, is it normal that they pay me so much? So I was so green and I remember the guy, uh, the guy made fun of me and said, "Well, how much do they pay you? Okay, it's rude, but I said, well, 100 dollars and he said, yeah, I remember who said he wouldn't do it." do it for less than that and I thought wow, okay, maybe my uh idea of ​​how much you should or shouldn't earn is wrong now. I will say looking back, that 100 bucks for three songs was good, definitely good, we had a rehearsal now the rehearsal was less than an hour, I mean, it's three songs, you know, you just go through them, um, but I was so green I was so glad we had a rehearsal because I was nervous about it.

I even showed up to the gig with my The charts had lists on the floor to play three songs, but that was the first gig I got in Nashville, and that artist continued to pay me most of the time $50 a gig and I played with her in a Nashville, that's where the songwriters there's usually four songwriters, three four songwriters in a round, each person takes turns singing a song and goes around, you know, each person does a song and then starts again, each person does one song, you do it for an hour, so It was 50 dollars for a while, sometimes it was a little different, once we became best friends.

There were times when she would just take me out to eat after the concert and she would buy me a couple of beers or something. It was like my first experience, now you can't always expect that, so what's a more realistic payment? So I'll toe the line when I started my first gig after that was out of town, what I like to call out of town. Broadway, of course, and that's basically traveling to play a cover and we would play about three hours of music with at least one break most of the time with a break or we do a 60 minute set and a 90 minute set with one. come between something like that um and when I was traveling then um so when you travel and especially anytime in Nashville, I have never been responsible for getting there, getting gas of any kind or my accommodations.

I have never been responsible for that. and um the vast majority of the time you shouldn't be um the artist takes care of that but I had to pay for any food I wanted obviously drinks and at that level there's no catering or you know if you're lucky the bar will give you a meal and if you're

really

lucky, the bar will also give you a band tab and you can buy a couple of drinks, which is also another thing to try, you don't want to be the guy that runs out of bar bill, uh, but I got out , I did that and I remember the first time I did it.

They paid me $175 per gig two nights in a row in Virginia, and at the time it was incredible money. I was traveling from Nashville to Virginia I left Friday morning I played Friday night Saturday night I came back Sunday, so it's a time commitment, you know, and if you look at how much you're actually making per hour when you take into account all those hours, much less had never done it. I did a cover gig before and they called me for this gig on Wednesday. I had two days to learn approximately 45 songs. Now I've heard songs, but when you're new to Nashville, the first shows will be. the hardest because you may have listened to Friends in Low Places but haven't played Friends in Low Places.

You know, you might have heard of some damn prison or something, but never. I had never played any of that, so I had to do it. i spent a ton of time learning those songs stressing intensely for two days so worried i showed up to that concert so nervous no rehearsal showed up on a friday um in a walmart parking lot met the guys for the first time got in the car it wasn't even a pickup truck at the time, it was just a car with a trailer behind it and he drove to Virginia. The first time I played with them was a sound check, so I had my notes, I had some charts, and I did my best.

I could, and you know, I did well enough, it wasn't perfect, but if you extrapolated like 175 a night, for those two nights, that's a lot, with that $325, something like that bad at math, but if you broke down how I spent a lot of hours getting ready for that gig, the travel time there, um and stuff, you know, you're making a very small amount per hour, uh, and honestly, that's pretty typical, most of my friends right now wouldn't go out To the concert. way to go for less than probably $200 a gig and then usually when you get past that level you'll get a DM by DM, it might only be 20 bucks a day, but that'll buy you your food um and then a lot.

A lot of times what's more common than even getting compensated for food is getting a couple of free drinks, honestly, um, but that was like my first show in Nashville, no PDM, nothing, just $175 a show, um, we'd go out and I'd have a weekend where 'I like three shows in a row um and then you come back and at that time it was great, you know, it was good um I didn't have a lot of commitments here I didn't have any pets I was single, just you know it's okay, I can being away all weekend and making a little money and it was no big deal and I loved doing it, you know, I thought I was on top of the world, I was making enough to pay the rent every month, uh and they paid me, so that was my experience with the first paid job I had that was consistent, so I'll move forward a little bit.

I left that job after maybe three years. I did that for a while and the pay was the same. The whole time there was no advice about that gig either and that's what I'm about to get into, then I transitioned to the plan on Broadway in Nashville, now I did a lot of Broadway in Nashville for about nine months where I was doing it five days a week. week, um, and we. I had early times, so I was playing most of the time during opening hours, so the way it works in Nashville on Broadway is that there are pretty set times that most bars follow, so they're 10:00 a.m. m. to 2: p. m. 2 to six 6 to 10 10 to two those are the spaces of the day and I always played 10 to 2 from 10 a. m. to 2 p.m. m. which is honestly like the lowest level, so how much did you make when you were doing that?

I was planning a four-piece band of 1 2 3 and was making $50 base pay per gig, which is not much, not much, $50. Those concerts last four hours without a break, now if you have to pee, I mean, you can run out and pee real quick, but there's no real break, so what happens with those concerts is on Broadway, especially when you work hard for tips . so I only made $50 base pay, they only guaranteed me 50 and there were a lot of days where I walked out with 56 bucks or something like that, but what we did and a lot of bands do here is 20 bucks for an application and if there's a group of people um it's 20 bucks or pent up now if there's three people in the room and they've been sitting listening to you listening to you and they ask you for a song and we can play it we're just going to play the song that I mean so there's no point in saying you have to give me 20 dollars, you know, you have to read the room a little bit, but where we would make money are the days when it was full and we were getting a ton of requests. and I would literally get off stage because I'm not a great singer and the singer would do a couple by himself and I would walk around with the tip bucket and go to every table or every person I could. at the bar and say what's up guys I'm here taking suggestions and requests for the band making 20 bucks for a request you know I had a little sheet music of some we knew we could play and then if they asked for a different one and we could play it , uh, we tried to make it and I promise you there were a lot of busted drains down there, um, but there was more money to be made there, so the best days I was leaving there were with $250, um, probably around.

Maybe it's 280 or something, those are the best days. Now I have friends who play on Broadway constantly and they do it at 6:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. time or the 10 p.m. time at 2: a.m. who make a lot more money, their base pays a little higher and I mean, I've heard stories of guys who constantly make 500 bucks a show to, I mean, I've heard crazy stories of people who make over a thousand a man a show and there are some people who do this here full time who just play on Broadway, sometimes they play several of those times a day with different bands and they make a very good living doing that, nowyou gotta Slug It Out And if you play two of those time slots, that's 8 hours of gameplay, eight hours, I mean, you know, if you do three of them, which some people will do, that's 12 hours of gameplay, um man, It's a lot of work and it's a lot of the same songs over and over again, you know, CU, we would have a set where, well, we play fried chicken at the beginning of the set and then within an hour someone pays 20 bucks to play it , okay, we'll play it again, then, right?

Before we left someone paid us 20 bucks again to play because those people weren't there when we played it before so we played it again so if you do it multiple times a day it can be tiring but you can. I know a lot of people who make a respectable living and make a living doing all of that. day and won't take road jobs because $200 without tips to go out of town and miss two days on Broadway, where they could make more $100 a gig, than they could on Broadway, just isn't worth leaving out. city ​​and that's why it also goes back to the other video where I talk about how to manage expectations, you have to decide what you want, you know, Broadway is a great way to just launch it and you can make a lot of money and, um, it's Isn't it uh, isn't it all the glory that you're not playing for tons of people all the time, I mean, even a full house on Broadway has maybe a couple hundred people, um, with the exception of a couple of bars, but you can make a very good living and if you love doing that then you can do it, you could have a normal full time job and then have a constant six to 10 slot, finish your normal job and come down and play six to 10 five nights a week.

Be making a lot of money between the two of you, that big money and you can play every day. You know what's wrong with that. I always wanted to play on big stages. I wanted to be in front of a lot of people. I wanted to be on a tour. bus and all that stuff that a lot of people want and at the beginning I sacrificed a lot of money on Broadway to take advantage of opportunities that would be artists' concerts on the road. Maybe original music for a lot less money, but for me I just enjoyed it.

More so, to each his own, you know, but that's a small look at Broadway and how much you can make. Now after that I started touring with an artist where we were constantly traveling, but playing all original music, original shows opens it up for slightly bigger acts, the shows were a little bigger, fuller, all original music, um, and this was my salary breakdown for that, um, this is where you start to get more into the mid-level, like I know a lot of guys that wouldn't. work for less than um, which I'm about to talk about now, so with that, um, I would make $250 per show, I would get $50 a day per DM, which is really rare, it was just a lucky case, $50 a day .

DM is a good space, my pay is very different now with Lanco, but even PDM still isn't $50 a day, so that was a one-off, and then we would make 150 per trial, so that was a good G, you know? You go out, you play three shows in the weekend, 250 a show every day, you leave, 50 dollars a day, and that gig would come with $100 for a full day of travel, so if we went out with that gig often, we would leave a complete concert. a day before and they would pay me $100 to be on tour that day, then 250 for the gig, you know, and then if we did three shows it would be 250 each weekend, plus once you get to that level, the whole world is different, you know, on Broadway.

They paid me Cold Hard Cash um when I did trips before they put me in come mode a lot um with that job I was like a 1099 employee um and every two weeks I would get a paycheck and that paycheck would have the money. about any work that we've done and that business did very well and still is, so there are a couple different levels to talk about now, there are levels beyond that, I have friends that I know have salaries, there are people that They just get paid per show, but they make a lot more per show with a bigger act and you know, this is the interesting thing, it's um, I think about this a lot, it's almost unfair, um, honestly, because as you get a gig more big, they pay you more for your services. your trips are better your trips are better you do less work now I get paid more and I don't have to set up my guitar or take it down when I finish the show with lanco I get off stage and I don't I don't come back on stage and sometimes I don't see my instruments again until we land on Nashville, if we're flying and if we're on the bus, I don't see it again until the next day at sound check and it's unfair in a sense that as you go up in those levels, your job is reduced to just playing the guitar and put on a great performance and I'm there just to play and you know there's constant catering now we have a rider at every show and a rider is in the Green Room there are certain snacks and alcohol that we've listed that are there for us , so I don't pay for any drinks, I don't have to pay for a lot of meals, um you know, and it's unfair in a way because before I made less money, I paid for all my food, I didn't get any drinks, I unloaded the trailer, I loaded the trailer, I helped to the drummer to install it, I mean, you know, and maybe. that's kind of paying your dues and stuff, but it's just some things to think about, you know, there's a lot of things that go into it and, you know, as you go up, you're going to get paid more per gig or if with a bigger act a long term they'll probably only give you one salary for the year because, let's say, let's say you're making $500 a show and that band is going to play 160 dates that year, you know, do the math, that's a lot of money, so from a standpoint of commercial view, the band is going to say, well, we'll give you a salary instead of paying you 200 thousand dollars this year, you know, so, a constant salary and those things really diversify, but at least at the initial level I wanted to give them give you a look at what payment looks like, the cold, hard numbers of what they took me home.

Here's another really important part of this and a part I almost forgot. to mention, now I'm thinking about it, man, uh, now my payment is different now I have direct deposit and taxes are deducted before when they paid me your taxes when I just received mode come when I receive cash on Broadway they don't deduct your taxes, you're just a contractor so you get the full amount and my first two years in Nashville really burned me out when it came time to say oh I have to do this thing called taxes and being like Oh wait I didn't save any money and you don't get your money back. , then you owe money because you've been earning untaxed income all year, so that's a really strong point if you're coming for the first time. down here to think, you know, pick a percentage and maybe out of every time you get paid, take it out and I know it's really hard to do, believe me, I know, but that's something that can really come back and bite you really bad, um and Yeah, man, honestly, it's the wild west.

I had to look for money before. I had to wait months to get paid. I have never, as far as I can remember, ever been paid. I've done free stuff before for friends or for certain things, yeah, okay, but I was never promised money and I never received it now. I've had a couple of cases where it was over a month before I got the money, which is uh. Terrible, but you know there are different types of gigs and you have to rush like I was talking about this in this last video, but I play with Lanco, we have something consistent, it's great, I love it, the other night I played. at Pucket here on Broadway, a little restaurant, people sitting and listening to you play and I made $50 for the gig and $50 for the rehearsal plus tips, which I think I made $36 in tips, so two Fridays ago I left. with 136 dollars I had to learn at least 20 songs for that I had a rehearsal, so you know, that's all to say that you really love doing this because you're going to have to put in the work and play a lot of gigs if you want to. to be able to pay rent let alone make a good living, and it's a little unfair that you have to work a lot harder at the lower levels, you have to work hard at all levels, but I like the type of work.

It's just different, you know, like I said, I get paid a lot more now for like concentrating on my instrument, concentrating on making a great performance, having a clear head, being up there, playing great, looking great, sounding great, you know everything. all these things, um, but before you know it, I've been in many cases where we were 20 minutes late to the concert, we drove 11 hours that day to get to Nebraska, I prepared, I'm helping the drummer. I get up real quick, I turn on the fastest, most horrible sound check you've ever heard while the bar has people in it and you say go play for three hours, okay here we go, so, you know, you mean?

Are there different types of levels? and stuff, but it's a lot of fun and, you know, some people were asking how much I should win. I got a message from one of you asking like I have a son that he is looking for. moving to Nashville and that's just one factor in saying how realistic it is that I have to support my child, I have to feed my child and stuff, what can I, you know, and um, the route for that could be from the beginning, full time. Broadway, go down to Broadway, you're going to make more money, you're at home, you're not traveling, you're playing concerts all day and you're not going to play for 5,000 people, but you're making a very good living. doing what you love with a big band with loud guitar 20 minutes from home 10 minutes from home you know you can't beat that so there's a lot of opportunities here, a lot of opportunities for all kinds of work and if I could say one thing, it's just you know you have to hustle, I still have to hustle now, um, I haven't made it, you know, uh, but I love the position I'm in, I've been hustling for a long time, um, playing and you know, in the Al principle, you may have to accept gigs that, um, you don't like, in fact, let me touch on this last point before I end the video, um, in Nashville there is something like what the musicians say, um, and there are three factors for any gig and you have to have at least two of these factors to make it worth your time and energy.

So what is it? Either good people, good music or good pay, and the general rule is that you want to have two of those. at a gig, so maybe it's um, it could be any combination of that, maybe it's good people and great pay, but you don't like music at all, maybe it's good music, great people, terrible pay, is it? Do you do it because it satisfies you? I know those are three things you can use to analyze a situation and when you first get here they'll call you for things you know nothing about other than payment and then you'll get a set list but you don't know the people and you have to take a lot of gigs you're not going to have two of those things all the time, but once you start getting involved and you start being a little more selective and they call you more and you have to say no to certain things cu certain things conflict.

You know it's a big three way thing to uh, I don't know, kind of guide you if you're going to do it right. It's good music, good people. or good money and if you somehow get the jackpot you will have all three um and that's possible I promise so anyway I'll tell you what's been so great the influx of people on this channel and uh I've really enjoyed it reading all your guys' comments. I'm trying to answer them and stuff. I'm not used to having so many likes, especially on YouTube, like the first one on Tik Tok, everyone is on their phones, but on YouTube I think a lot of people are. on your computer, so the comments are longer and much more in-depth, which I enjoy, but it takes more time to try and give a genuine response to all of them, but I can't thank you enough.

I am very excited about this channel. Tomorrow I'm heading to Tempe, Arizona to play with Lanco and I think I'm going to try to make a little low production quality Vlog video, just grab my phone. I'm going to show you guys what it is. day on the road flying to Tempe we fly out tomorrow I'll play tomorrow night I fly back Sunday morning um just documenting that little series and what it's like so I've got some other cool teaching stuff planned I think I've got some good ones like sitting down, interview the planned things and then just talk more about what life is like, give them a peek behind the curtain, like in the production style or all that, like Tom Bukac's home school and things like just throw up this.

I can't play as him and I don't have any of the credits that he does, but the goal is to show you from that raw perspective to someone who is maybe a little bit closer to where you are, because let's face it, none of us. I'm going to be Tom, of course, but I love his channel, apparently a lot of people do anyway. If you enjoy the video, press Subscribe. I'm so excited that my goal for the end of the year was to reach 300 subscribers and at the time of filming this, I'm on my way to almost 500, which is amazing, I'm already over it, so maybe the goal for the end of this year be a th um.

I love to do this. I have been a part of this community for so long. I watch a lot of the content, so it's really exciting to be likeout to throw my hat in here and just like I don't know I'll share my experiences so you guys know there are no cuts or edits now the little Vlog video will have something. obviously um but yeah so tell me what you think if you enjoyed it hit subscribe. I'm not going to say, press the bell because no one rings the bell, one guy said he pressed the bell and I appreciate that person, but uh man, I hope you guys have a great day until next peace.