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I've been curious lately, I'd like to ask those of you who've done a few live shows; how much do you usually get paid for a show? Do you take shows for free just to get publicity? How long is an average set? Thanks.

Last edited by Zef (Feb 9, 2011 3:57 pm)

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I do shows for free and to get paid.  Usually for free. When money is involved most i made was around 200 bucks, usually get around 50 or less.  Usually play from 30-mins to an hour.  An hour is a maximum though.

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I play for money. I play for free. I play for food. I play for sex. I play to play. I enjoy playing live be it chip music or not. Average set is 45 min. Don't worry about it.

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Brazil

Also, depends on where you're playing, they might tell you how much time you have to perform.

I played for free and I played for money (and free food on backstage), but it doesn't matter.

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Canada

A lot of people play for free, because its so fun to do.
Hell, people go out of their way to find places that aren't actual venues to play for free(like the Stre3tz). It's to get people interested, and for the fun/lolz.

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Liverpool, UK

Generally, artists will get a share of whatever door money is there at the end of the night - as well as a place to kip, and being carted around from train station etc. A few headline artists will get a bit extra (this is pre-arranged though)

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Never got paid for the occasional chip performance.

For the non-chip shows, my cut was usually only around 100-200 bucks.

Last edited by an0va (Feb 9, 2011 4:41 pm)

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London, Ontario

i play for free m8
not a big enough electronic scene here for anyone to profit

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London

Most of the gigs I play are for free. There's one venue I'm a regular at so I get a cut of ticket sales, but not a lot. Enough for a few drinks. To me it's all about fun and getting your name around. You'll usually have to play quite a few shit gigs before getting anywhere.

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Westfield, NJ

I would play for free if it made sense. Remember that you can always sell merchandise regardless of what the show is. When it comes to playing for pay, you usually only make money if there's at least a minimum number of people coming through the door (in past cases for me, I don't make money on the first 10 people). It also requires a cover. So one of the benefits of playing for free is that no one has to pay cover, and in that case you might reach more people.

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Decktonic wrote:

So one of the benefits of playing for free is that no one has to pay cover.

This isn't always the case :\

Last edited by an0va (Feb 9, 2011 5:11 pm)

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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)

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Westfield, NJ
an0va wrote:
Decktonic wrote:

So one of the benefits of playing for free is that no one has to pay cover.

This isn't always the case :\

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

an0va wrote:

also, pay to play events are very real as well.

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.

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Decktonic wrote:
an0va wrote:

This isn't always the case :\

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

an0va wrote:

also, pay to play events are very real as well.

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.


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

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rochester, ny

"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.

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nickmaynard wrote:

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.

totally agree with this, should be a standard