How much money do professional musicians make?

[Karen G]

We attended Rich Little's show last Saturday and got to wondering how much the guys in the band might make. There were three guys on horns, a drummer, maybe a guitarist (not sure if there was one), and a piano/keyboard guy who also seemed to be the director.

The show lasts about 80 minutes with Rich doing all his famous impersonations and also doing some singing impersonations--that's where the band comes in, along with an opening number and little tunes here and there. The show plays Thursday through Sunday every week and has been running a few months. The theater at the Golden Nugget seats about 600 and tickets run from $39-$75. (It's a really good show, by the way.)

Would a musician be able to support himself on just that gig or do they need to string together several jobs to make a living?

 

[DaveNV]

No way to truly know. It depends on how they've been hired.

They might be his own band - that travels with his act. In which case they'd certainly earn a decent living doing it, by being contracted players.

If they're local musicians (a house band) who are hired just to provide music for his show, hired by the club or management company, it would depend on whether they're in the musician's local union ("AFM" the American Federation of Musicians) or a non-union contract band. If being paid a straight hourly wage, the gig would probably pay them several hundred to a few thousand dollars a night, divided between the members of the band. If they have a great contract, they might earn more. If they're union members, it'd be whatever the going rate is for union scale musicians. Again, probably plenty to live on.

Depending on how many hours they need to be available every night of the week for his act, the musicians wouldn't necessarily be able to work other gigs. So they'd have to be able to support themselves on what he pays them.

Dave

 

[Fern Modena]

They'd be a house band. And most people in house bands here do other work as well, whether it is another full time job, a part time job, or industrial shows. The work on industrial shows (ie, conventions) is very lucrative for the best of them. We often hear of stars who are here midweek, and are not appearing anywhere that we know of. Often they are doing industrial work. Its easy...they don't have to plan, sell tickets, promote themselves, etc. All they have to do is sign a contract and show up.

One of the old time comedians used to call this work "Vegas F*** You Money," because if you got enough of this kind of work you could say that to anybody you wanted to.

Fern

 

[AwayWeGo]

Do You Know Your Timeshare's A Rip-Off? No -- But Hum A Few Bars & I'll Fake It.

Would a musician be able to support himself on just that gig

No.

or do they need to string together several jobs to make a living?

For sure.

Union musicians are supposed to be guaranteed a "union scale" pay rate, which governs actual per-gig rehearsal & performance time, not total yearly wages. Not all live entertainment performances are union gigs.

Our conservatories are graduating so many highly qualified instrumentalists that when the Pocatello (say) Symphony Orchestra announces a call for 1 new oboist (say), the oboe players are lined up all around the block waiting their turn on audition day -- & that might well be for just a 17-week concert season. And there are far fewer oboes per orchestra than violins, cellos, etc.

After the playing positions in the Big 5 symphony orchestras -- New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland -- some of the best & most sought after musician jobs (specially for wind instrument & percussion players) are with the top service bands in Washington DC -- Marine Band, Army Band, Navy Band, Air Force Band. The Coast Guard band is in New London CT, & there are a few other top service bands in other locations, e.g. USMA Band, West Point NY, & Army Field Band, Ft. Meade MD.

Civilian & military musicians alike are apt to augment their income via teaching, free-lancing, dealing in instruments, working as custom instrument technicians, etc. Many have day jobs in fields unrelated to music. Across from us once at 1 of those little tables in a timeshare sales room was a talented up & coming Orlando musician. Who'd a-thunk we'd meet a professional musician whose day job was selling full-freight timeshares for big bux?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
​

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Our conservatories are graduating so many highly qualified instrumentalists that when the Pocatello (say) Symphony Orchestra announces a call for 1 new oboist (say), the oboe players are lined up all around the block waiting their turn on audition day -- & that might well be for just a 17-week concert season. And there are far fewer oboes per orchestra than violins, cellos, etc.

Sounds a lot like ballet. Some years back we had some good friends with a talented daughter who wanted to get serious about ballet. The dad did some looking into it and put the kibosh on that real quickly.

In relaying the story to me he said she would have to leave public high school and instead attend a ballet school in San Franscisco where the academics were minimum and the dance training was maximum. Then she would have four or so years at a dance school, where she would get a degree in ballet. After that she realistically had about a 10% chance of landing a position with a ballet company. If she was one of the lucky ones who land a position with a company, she would now have the opportunity to put in grueling hours and meet demanding performance schedules for starvation wages. Then by the time she reached her late 20's she would probably have to leave dance because her feet, ankles, and/or knees would be shot, and she would live with pain in her lower extremities for the rest of her life. At that point she would need to take up a new career to make a living, but because she went to dance school for her entire education she wouldn't have any marketable skills.

He figured that the "lucky ballerinas" were probably the ones who didn't land a position in a dance company. So he wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of her doing ballet.

 

[Patri]

If she was one of the lucky ones who land a position with a company, she would now have the opportunity to put in grueling hours and meet demanding performance schedules for starvation wages.

And a starvation style of eating.
She had a smart dad.

 

[geekette]

I'm married to a musician, non-union. Without my paycheck, we would starve!! Of course, we're a tiny market compared to Vegas.

A good Vegas house band, I don't know. At least $200 per show per person but I'd think it'd be more like $500. Or more.

 

[dougp26364]

As the saying goes, it's a hard way to make an easy living.