Do you make money with your steel???

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 31 Dec 2003 12:08 pm

Yes. But I didn't quit my day job :>)

Drew

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Jack Dougherty · Post by **Jack Dougherty** » 31 Dec 2003 4:20 pm

Been a lot of places....met a lot of beautiful girls.
Sounds like a song.....I always made money....but never a living!!! But I'm still at it....and I'm not quitting...

JD

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There is no such thing as too many steels!!

Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 1 Jan 2004 12:42 pm

I don't need to make money playing. I have a printing press. LOL Just kidding. I work with a six piece band. We have a sound man,roadies(kids),lights and a buss and driver. I make anywhere from $100 to $500 plus sometimes a tamale and a taco. Local bars around here pay $50-$60 a man. Conventions and weddings do better plus you generally get fed good and free beer.I mean tuning fluid. We are lucky to have very large dance halls all over Texas although we have lost a few mostly due to MADD. People in Texas and Oklahoma love to dance.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 1 Jan 2004 12:53 pm

The only ones who make the BIG money are those whose name is on the side of the bus!

www.genejones.com <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 01 January 2004 at 12:54 PM.]</p></FONT>

Reggie Duncan · Post by **Reggie Duncan** » 1 Jan 2004 4:57 pm

YEAH, BUT I'M GLAD MY WIFE WORKS!

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 1 Jan 2004 7:50 pm

$150-$300 per musician for a 1-2 hour gig. We just play fairs, concerts and festivals- no clubs or dance halls anymore.

HOWEVER, we have to travel and sometimes it's as far as 5-6 hours one way. If this is the case, we usually negotiate to get hotel rooms thrown in. I sometimes take my wife and make a mini-vacation out of these gigs... and the band guys are all old friends, so it's not unpleasant.

This is a great hobby, but it would be a lousy way to make a living. In my opinion, there's no hope of doing any better than breaking even, unless (as Gene says) your name's on the bus

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Rick McDuffie
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CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 2 Jan 2004 7:44 am

i make some $$$ Steelin' but not enough
here in France i can make between 100 € and 200 € a gig but i never get enough of "em to feed my family
(life in France is 30/40% more Xpensive than the US)
so by Monday i'm back to dry walls and electrics
Happy New Year !

Duane Noom · Post by **Duane Noom** » 3 Jan 2004 5:34 am

I make so much money that I can play as much as I want, buy strings and cables, CDs, picks and bars and in the end, it doesn't cost me a thing. I even have money left over for a cup of coffee.

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chas · Post by **chas** » 3 Jan 2004 11:37 am

i remember a few years back this topic comming up and someone asked why steel players only make 50 bucks a night and Herbie Wallace gave the best answer out of all of em when he said the reason you get 50 a night is cuz your willing to play for that..i spent a winter in branson a few yrs back to find that awesome players play for 50 a night in clubs that are full of ppl eatting expensive meals..they take in 3 grand cuz they have a band ppl can watch while they eat and then pay the band 250 bucks at the end of the night...its called taking advantage of ppl...i always wondered how many go see a show in branson and pay 30 bucks for a tickit thinking alot of that money is needed to pay the band of good musicians they listen to....they dont know that out of the 20k that show took in that the 5 poor slobs standing up there actually playing the music are only getting 75 bucks a piece....as herbie says though they are willing to do it so there ya have it

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 3 Jan 2004 12:06 pm

Many years ago, our band played in a club in the UK specialising in country music. We played to exactly 3 people. At the end of the night, the organiser came into our dressing room and offered the 4 of us the services of his middle-aged wife in lieu of the gig money. She was keen but we weren't and beat the hell out of there!

KB

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 3 Jan 2004 12:45 pm

See? Ken gets all the best gigs - that's why I moved to America!

RR

chas · Post by **chas** » 3 Jan 2004 1:54 pm

is the club still open and booking? phone number please?

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 4 Jan 2004 12:16 am

$20 on a bad night. $40 on a good night. Plus all you can drink, and sometimes all you can eat. I'm not quiting my day job anytime soon, probably never. The definition of amateur is "one who does it for the love of it." There are so many bands in Philly that some clubs book 3 or 4 a night. There are frequently more people in the bands and their entourages than there are paying customers.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 6 Jan 2004 7:48 pm

David.. $20-$40?? Thats a disgrace... The club owners should have trouble sleeping at night paying good musicians a paltry sum like that. I do realize though that for whatever reason,big city players seem to make peanuts compared to us guys out in the sticks. I used to live in NJ and some of my lowest paying gigs were in NYC... too many good players,too much to do for "nightlifers",too many places to go and things to see. I have always maintained that as far as payment to musicians is concerned, cities are a distant second to suburban and rural areas,but the best bands and players seem to come from urban areas,most likely due to a larger talent pool. Lots of second rate musicians up here in the sticks.. some real good ones too,just fewer and further between bob

Scott Appleton · Post by **Scott Appleton** » 6 Jan 2004 9:36 pm

Here is the rub .. everyone loves to play to exibit
thier hard earned talent and yet are willing to get paid the same ammount we were makeing in the
60's.. aint it a shame. All the new Musicians are
acutally playing for free hopeing thier Albums will
chart or star serch will grab em.. You have to have
incredible stamina to keep plugging away at the
honky tonks for never enough. I played every club
in the bay area and still have only my day job to thank for a single thing I own. Check out the latest
Album just out from An American Starlet " at starletsweb.com..... Keep on pick'in its better than itch'in.

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