Ever felt guilty about getting paid for doing a gig?

Erberderber

Erberderber

Senior Member
I've just done a gig with my new band, our first one. We were on the bill with two other much more experienced bands. Unfortunately the occasion got the better of our frontman (who also plays guitar), and he made a load of mistakes, some of them real howlers. Wasn't like him at all, but it affected the rest of us and we ended up putting on a poor show.

At the end of the night, the venue owner hands me a wad of cash that I hadn't even been expecting to receive. We are hobbyists with full time jobs and we play for the sheer thrill of it. We put on a very short amateurish performance and got money for it. I can't help feeling a bit of a fraud and that we don't deserve it, especially as by looking at the number of people there, the place may not have broken even. I must say though that strangely enough, more people came to see us than the other bands. I feel sorry for them too.

Has anyone on here played a shocker and felt bad about being paid for it?
 
I've been there before. It helps me to think of it this way. The owner is paying you for your time, not necessarily the quality of your performance. It took time out of your day to perform, so you were reimbursed. He/she chose to offer it. Think of it as an incentive to do better next round. There's good and bad gigs, they all use the same number of hours to perform.
 
Oh well, sh*t happens, everybody can have a bad day. Guilt is a big weight. Maybe this event is just a call to get your band to improve through practice, so that everybody is 'gig-ready' next time.
 
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I've played some serious gigs that went 100% as planned in a high dollar venue and got $0 for it, so we're even. LOL!!!
 
If I read this correctly, what should really be happening is the guitarist should give up his part to the rest of the band :D
 
opentune said:
Oh well, sh*t happens, everybody can have a bad day. Guilt is a big weight. Maybe this event is just a call to get your band to improve through practice, so that everybody is 'gig-ready' next time.
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Exactly. Even if you guys are hobbyists, you should work on putting on the best performance possible.
 
Yes, we should treat this as a learning experience and do our best to make sure these cock-ups don't happen again. The other guys were delighted with the money, but it left me feeling uncomfortable.

I did get random (seemingly genuine) compliments from people though, which cheered me up a bit, including one from another drummer saying he thought my playing style resembled that of Larry Mullen. Never occurred to me before.
 
Erberderber said:
I've just done a gig with my new band, our first one. We were on the bill with two other much more experienced bands. Unfortunately the occasion got the better of our frontman (who also plays guitar), and he made a load of mistakes, some of them real howlers. Wasn't like him at all, but it affected the rest of us and we ended up putting on a poor show.

At the end of the night, the venue owner hands me a wad of cash that I hadn't even been expecting to receive. We are hobbyists with full time jobs and we play for the sheer thrill of it. We put on a very short amateurish performance and got money for it. I can't help feeling a bit of a fraud and that we don't deserve it, especially as by looking at the number of people there, the place may not have broken even. I must say though that strangely enough, more people came to see us than the other bands. I feel sorry for them too.

Has anyone on here played a shocker and felt bad about being paid for it?
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There's your answer right there.
 
Guilt is a useless emotion. Unless you really did something bad to deserve it.

Maybe the mistakes weren't as noticeable to the crowd as you think they were.

More people came out to see you guys....the owner gives you a wad of dough.

It's great that the owner is a straight up guy. Everything sounds in order here.

If you guys are fun or passionate or somehow entertaining to people, they give a big ole pass for human errors. Errors are probably the most entertaining part to the crowd, they get to see how everyone handles it...for better or worse.

Laughing it off for me is the only way to deal with clams. The audience sees that it's no big deal, just move on. It's gone. No takebacks.

How much did this guy give you lol.
 
Nah, don't feel guilty. Whether it went according to plan or not, you all did your best and since you say that it's not like your guitarist to make mistakes, it doesn't sound to me as if anybody was sloppy or ill-prepared - just unlucky or as you say, perhaps a bit overwhelmed.

If you'd really been that bad, the venue owner could easily have made some sort of snide remark as he handed over the cash, or indeed NOT handed over the cash.
 
You were paid because you provided a service. What was the service?
You made the others bands sound better. LOL


.
 
larryace said:
Maybe the mistakes weren't as noticeable to the crowd as you think they were.

.
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Well we had to stop a song after 30 seconds because it was a total train wreck and then wait for the guy to work out what he was supposed to play. It wasn't pretty.

But yes, you live and learn and we should put it behind us and move forward.
 
Yeah a couple of years ago our band was hired to play for a colleges party of some kind out in the quad. Hardly anybody was there and we played to virtually nobody. The lady who hired us couldn't of been nicer. And ironically this is one of our higher paying gigs. It may have paid several hundred each. I felt bad for her and embarrassed to be there. It just wasn't a fit.
 
Erberderber said:
Well we had to stop a song after 30 seconds because it was a total train wreck and then wait for the guy to work out what he was supposed to play. It wasn't pretty.

But yes, you live and learn and we should put it behind us and move forward.
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I saw a vid on youtube - can't find it back unfortunately - an open air concert by Chic, not your average amateur cover band but seasoned pros. Same thing happens: train wreck after 30 seconds, everything stops. They look at each other amazed how they could screw this up so badly and everyone starts laughing. "OK let's do this again" says the singer and they start over and play it perfectly. No yelling (not on stage at least ;)), no embarrassment, noone screaming to get their money back. If the band laughs, the audience will laugh and you can still be the greatest band in the world. If the band feels embarrassed the audience will be embarrasssed and it's all awkward.
 
On the occasions we, as a band, have felt guilty for any manner of reasons, we've handed the money back (or part thereof).
 
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I saw a band playing at a pub last Saturday night and they pretty much sucked. The drummer was constantly out of time and WAY loud and the guitarist played everything with loads of distortion... ouch!

They also played 25 - 30 minute sets with 30 minute breaks.

They did get paid, however
 
mmulcahy1 said:
I saw a band playing at a pub last Saturday night and they pretty much sucked. The drummer was constantly out of time and WAY loud and the guitarist played everything with loads of distortion... ouch!

They also played 25 - 30 minute sets with 30 minute breaks.

They did get paid, however
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It was really nice to meet you mate....
 
In all honesty even bad gigs that have been paid I haven't felt much guilt, ashamed yes (band performance/turnout...which can be mostly out of my control) but guilty no as the exchange of money is as a result of an agreement which meant we took the gig in the first place.

Plus I do enough gigs at a financial loss. A show where I earn something from it is a rare thing and I have bills to pay. Plus venues/promoters in the capital in the 'Rock/Indie' circuit will 99% of the time shortchange the bands if they can.

Guilt over payments no. Guilt over other things yes.
 
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