Making $ playing drums

What exactly is a church gig? Is it a concert in a church, or part of a mass? I've played fundraisers and various events at churches, but the actual ceremonies are usually just organ right?

Also, prices are so regional. I had a few gigs in Kentucky, for $500 each. The other players down there said that $500 a week was enough to live on down there, and they had families to support. In the North East, $500 a week would let you rent out a closet (trust me I spent many years in a 12X13 apartment) , a crappy car, and you might be able to afford enough food to sustain yourself without foodstamps.
 
Seriously, making money playing drums? After all my expenses there is no profit to speak of. It's a love thing. Drums fund my musical life. There's no profit left over. Sticks, heads, gas, drum gear and drinks see to that. Not one complaint here.

There's much more efficient ways of making money than playing drums.
 
Seriously, making money playing drums? After all my expenses there is no profit to speak of. It's a love thing. Drums fund my musical life. There's no profit left over. Sticks, heads, gas, drum gear and drinks see to that. Not one complaint here.

There's much more efficient ways of making money than playing drums.
Yes!

Actually, I spend $90/month for my portion of our practice space. Throw in sticks, heads, the occasional cymbal or drum, and sum that over 30+ years of playing ... my "profit" is such a massively huge negative number, I don't even want to know what it is.

And I really don't care, cos yeah, it's a love thing.
 
I agree with Larry. Drums support my musical endeavors through enrichment. Simply playing in front of a crowd is enough for me. However, sticks, heads, etc. wear out and need to be replaced. These are, of course, not free. Here in Western New York, my bands typically get $250-$300 per show. Abut 50/person, so that'll cover sticks and such. But no bottom line profit to where I can do this full time.
 
In hindsight, I'm not sure I'd want to do drums full time. Only if I could make 6 figures...or somewhere near that range, by playing the music I like.

I kind of like the fact that I don't feel I play out quite enough. Means when I do play, I'm hungry for it.

Contrast that to music gluttony, I know I wouldn't want that. Too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing for me.

It's better for me personally to want more playing time than less... I guess that's what it boils down to.

Better for the other players too. I want to bring a certain smoldering fire to the stage.
 
Last year I was still in my MBA classes and I was asked to make a itemized spreadsheet for a finance class as part of an assignment. Since the subject was up to our own discretion I chose to itemize my drum expenses vs. income for 2014. Mind you many of the numbers were estimates as I have no idea how many sets of sticks and heads I go though in a month, but I assure you its a lot. Even though last year was fairly tame for gear buying (I bought a new snare and replaced a cymbal I cracked), we played 31 gigs, many out of state. Combine that with regular gear maintenance, practice space rental, recording a CD, initial investment into merch, festival booking fees and all the other shit that goes along with being in a band and playing the drums, I had a net output of around $6000 last year. If I had added in standard depreciation on drums, cymbals and my car, that number might double, but that's a subject for another day.

But what about income you might ask, well....that's where things get really sad. In 31 gigs last year we made around $3000 in actual performance money last year. Remember, we are an original band playing on multiple band bills in tiny clubs and bars. If we make $100 for a show we have done really well. We did that, plus some, at a number of gigs. Unfortunately we were not even close to that at many others. We also made around $1000 in merch sales, but most of that goes back into buying new shirts and we bought a banner, that was not cheap, with the profits. So in the end we all spit about $3000 during the year. Which barely covers the price of the CD we made and definitely doesn't cover the bar tabs we have run up. So the idea of making money playing the drums is not something I can even fathom at this point.

TL:DR - Drumming is expensive. I might just be the worst businessman on the planet.
 
When I was an instructor for guitar, I retrofitted an old 70's Avon tackle-cart that I sold strings, picks, cables, blank cassettes, and other staples out of. It was an extra $200-300 per month in a time where my rent was $325 and gasoline was $0.75 per gallon.

I've never seen another instructor do this.
 
I'm amazed at some of these responses; do most of you have other jobs besides drumming? I can't imagine making less than $50/hour on a gig... I know cost of living is high in the northeast, but how are people making ends meet on $50 for an entire gig?

I usually gig 4-5 times a week and usually clear $1500 per week. If I made less than $500 in a week, I'd be losing money... I understand that we all play the $100 each flat rate gigs sometimes, but it's not sustainable!
 
North West of England you're looking at £300 for a pub/club gig, to be spit between the band, then maybe £900 for a wedding.

Gigging is just an addition to my main income, so I can go out for that sort of money.
 
Here, most musicians have day jobs and only make $100 per night.

Same here in the Phila and surrounding area including Southern NJ and Delaware. 100 bones a man. Sometimes 125 to 150, maybe twice a year. So many bands.

Of course there's exceptions, private functions, but this is what the vast majority of club/bar musicians make. It doesn't matter how good you are either lol.
 
I'm amazed at some of these responses; do most of you have other jobs besides drumming? I can't imagine making less than $50/hour on a gig... I know cost of living is high in the northeast, but how are people making ends meet on $50 for an entire gig?

I usually gig 4-5 times a week and usually clear $1500 per week. If I made less than $500 in a week, I'd be losing money... I understand that we all play the $100 each flat rate gigs sometimes, but it's not sustainable!

Dude, my guess is 90-95% of us on this forum do not derive our primary income from playing the drums. The responses in this thread alone are enough to confirm that.
 
The article sounds familiar to me though. He plays a church that gives him money. Finds a few paying students. Plays a couple paying gigs on the weekends. Even if it doesn't add up to $ 500 it might still add up to a nice pile of money.

I know a guy that plays nursing homes and they pay him. Nursing home gigs are short, about 1 hour. Easy gig.
 
Expenses always dictate what kind of money suffices as "a living." $500/week, while really just an example, is an okay income by most standards. $2000/mo - in cash - is like earning maybe $35,000 before taxes. Assuming you don't live in a city like L.A., NYC, etc, don't have a car payment, and don't support a family, you can enjoy a modest living, easily afford sticks, heads, and the occasional new cymbal, snare, or kit, and even put a little cash in the bank.

Example: Back in the day, 1977 to be exact, I made $140/wk cash playing 6 nights a week on a steady Holiday Inn gig. Now, that was not very good money even 38 years ago, yet I made a living just playing, and had money in the bank! My apartment in the L.A. area was maybe $125/mo, no roommate needed, and I had no other debts. If I'd had a car payment, a wife, credit card balance, etc, that income obviously wouldn't have come close to me surviving.

And there are players making $10,000/wk on tour, and that's still not enough to support their lifestyle!

It's all about managing expenses.

Bermuda
 
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I usually gig 4-5 times a week and usually clear $1500 per week.

FYI, that's very good money! Maybe I'll move to Boston... :)

Bermuda
 
Most gigs around here pay around $300. If I'm in my three piece band, it's $100 per man. My other five piece comes out to $60 a person. I don't know of any churches that pay musicians. Every church I've ever attended and played at has been volunteer only. I hate my day job and have thought about trying to play more and get some students. Students would be where most of the income would be. There is no live music on weekdays anywhere, so I could only play a couple of gigs each weekend. I would be lucky to make between $100 and $200 a week.
 
I used to make decent money playing. In fact, what I earned playing, covered 100% of all the gear purchases I made. Nowadays, (though depends on where you are), the decent paying gigs no longer exist. So that option is almost entirely off the table.
 
I'm pleased to see so many well informed responses! Lots of good points raised. Gig pay is probably regional, I've only lived on one place and I'm only referring to the going rate where I live. But I do feel that anything less than $100 for a gig is unreasonable.

To address a couple good points that were made:
A church gig is where a church hires you to perform every week as a member of their worship group. There is usually 3-4 songs as people are filing in, then service, and one song to conclude the service. Most churches have one rehearsal per week, but if you are professional enough, you will most likely just be there to help others learn the songs.

I didn't mean for my article to describe making a living playing drums, I ony intended to describe how to make $500 per week. Whether or not that is a living is determined by each individual.

Also, you are probably correct about there not being many cover gigs in certain cities. I happen to live near dallas, which is a major city with dozens of prominent cover bands and many more less prominent ones.

I also don't make any guarantees about the practicality of it. Here's the thing- we work our butts off for years refining our talent, and we create something of artistic merit for the enjoyment of others, and for that we deserve to be paid. My main goal for the article was to demonstrate that making money playing music is not a lofty, wishful thinking, "one day" kind of thing. It's a normal thing that thousands of people do every day. If you commit to a certain professionalism, and get out there and look, there is some money there.

Start small. Find a church that needs a drummer. Once you are making a little weekend money at that, go see some cover bands, and put yourself out there. Learn the songs, deliver a great performance and attitude, and you will be paid. Start with one student. You will learn volumes from teaching that first student.

I also didn't mention wedding gigs, which pay slightly better than some other gigs. Perhaps I'll write something on that for you guys.

Thanks so much for all the responses!

-LetsTalkDrums
....I'm Always Here
 
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