I've never been paid for a show that I've played in Los Angeles. My money comes from selling merch.
I've played a bunch of shows in Phoenix and I think I've been paid for every one of them. Usually around $50, though one night I was one of the top billed acts and I got around $80 (not bad considering the money was split between eight artists / bands or so), plus an extra $50 or so from selling CDs. I also played a show there where I was a headliner and the guy running the venue gave me the majority of the door money (which wasn't much due to low turnout) and went to give one of the other bands a small percentage, but they told him to give it to me since I was from out of town, which I thought was awesome.

I don't mind not getting paid by venues if my travel costs are low or non existent, if I have a good time, and if I sell merch.

And Mike, I'll definitely take you up on that beer sometime, haha.

I've only been paid twice. One of those times was when I covered for a sickly Wizwars. I guess I got a cut from all the people that said they were coming to see him at the door, which is kinda shitty haha. Oh well, the booking guy was wise enough to get another chiptune fill so none of them were epic disappointed I don't think. Wizzy if you're reading this, I owe you a beer or somethin'.

Oh and get merch. If they like you, they will give you monies.

This is true. I guess we'd have to operationally define "big draw!"

I ran into this a bit with my primary band.  We started drawing very well locally, and every promoter in town wanted us to bring in a crowd for whatever random touring act they were trying to bring in.  We actually stopped doing shows like that because they were taking advantage of us. 

We have absolutely no problem throwing the lions share to a touring act, but nowadays we're very specific about who we play with, and its almost always bands we're friends with.  Just another incentive to make friends I guess

I think if there is enough money to pay for the trip of out towners, then pay the trip and the profit you split to everyone.

i understand the logic to what you're saying, but in my experience of setting up shows that hasn't been the case. but i think it depends on what we mean by "local band with a big draw". there's a big difference between a local band that can draw 50 people and a local band that can draw 250 people. with the show's i've done, i've dealt with more of the former. if we're talking about the latter, then i think your point is totally valid.

i think it depends a lot on how big of a show we're talking about. if there's enough money to go around, then i totally agree with you. but if it's a house show that makes 50 bucks, then i'm giving it all to the touring band.

I hesitate to say "should not get paid anything" for locals supporting touring acts, since that kind of thing is always subjective etc., but I agree that on principle it's often seen as customary that giving extra support to the touring act is just a cool thing to do. When I've organized shows, if there's money to go around, I try to ensure that the lion's share goes to out-of-towners; but I also try to make sure everyone involved gets something.

So if you're the touring band that comes in, you'll get the exposure by playing with the band with the big draw...AND the $$$? I think it should be like 60/40 with the 60 being the touring band. Otherwise, the local band with the big draw has no reason to play out other than to entertain the fans they already have so there's no real progression for them.

totally agree with this, should be a standard

"how much do you usually get paid for a show?"

every show is different. sometimes you "should" get paid and sometimes you "shouldn't". if you're the local band with the biggest draw on a show with no touring bands, then you should get something. if you're a local band on a show with smaller touring bands that don't have very big draws, then you should NOT get paid anything and all the money should go to the touring band. if you're a local band on a show with a really big touring band that has a really big draw, then you should get something.

"Do you take shows for free just to get publicity?"

i don't really like terms like "publicity" but essentially, yeah. if no one's ever heard of you, then you shouldn't expect someone would want to pay you to play a show for them. but also, don't just take whatever show you can. show some discretion and just play the good shows, where the other bands are good and where there will be a good crowd. if you play awful shows, i think the people there will just associate the awful feelings with you. play shows with good bands and if you don't get asked to play shows with good bands, then it's really easy to just book your own shows. i was playing all sorts of awful shows until i decided to start setting up shows for myself. the last three shows i've played have been with anamanaguchi, starscream, george and jonathan, zen albatross, and j. arthur keenes. inifinitely more fun and relatively easy to set up!

"How long is an average set? Thanks."

a lot of the time, the venue will let you know how long they want you to play. but i'd say that if you're not the main attraction, 30-40 minutes is about right. even if you've got decent songs but you play too long, people will get tired of it. you have to really like something to be able to listen to an hour of it in one sitting. i think 35 minutes feels like a nice full set but also doesn't feel annoyingly long.

For real. In an ideal world this shouldn't happen so much, but it does. oh well, progress!

Yeah, whoops, forgot about that. So, it is entirely possible that you will pay for free at a show with a cover charge.

Yes. One of the nice things about the chiptune community is that you can start out playing open mics and eventually get gigs (as long as there are chiptune events in your area). It's also a very small community so you can easily get in touch with people who are organizing gigs and can get you on lineups. The more typical music "scenes" are much more difficult. Unless you know the right people, or somehow manage to be some kind of indie blog darling with thousands of fans before your first show, you will most likely struggle to get that first show. Mine was a pay-to-play... I had to sell 10 tickets in advance just to get the spot. I ended up making a little money when all was said and done, but the venue wasn't willing to let me play without that $100 deposit up-front, and I had my work cut out for me trying to convince my friends to buy tickets from me in advance. Not fun.

also, pay to play events are very real as well. It all depends on what you view the costs/benefits of doing it in your area is, though. know the area and what the people do/don't like and exert accordingly (unless you just don't give a fuck, which is cool too)

This isn't always the case :\