This is a fascinating subject. Please forgive the long-winded post, but I just don't think I can make it any shorter.
In my specific situation, the money-making has become better, with caveats. Back in the "good ol' days", which for the sake of this post was pre-2019, I was in a band that averaged 6-8 jobs per month. Some of those gigs were weddings, private parties, or corporate events. At those events, we typically earned somewhere between $300-$600 per man, per gig. 2 or 3 of those gigs, mixed with 4-6 "regular" bar gigs, rounded out my income stream fairly well, along with a few students and occasional recording sessions. Unfortunately, the band broke up at the end of 2019.
The singer in that band had been supplementing the full band jobs with quite a few solo acoustic gigs at restaurants and other small venues. Once the band had broken up, I was left with nothing to do (and no income). I begged the singer (literally begged him) to come play percussion on some of his solo gigs. He mentioned that he wouldn't be able to pay me, as these were not nearly as lucrative gigs as the larger corporate gigs and private events we had done with the full band. I told him that I didn't care, because all I'd be doing otherwise would be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs, and getting a chance to play (even for free) was better than that. He reluctantly agreed, and I played a few gigs with him.
During those few gigs, he began to see the value of having live percussion on his solo gigs, as venues and patrons were responding with overwhelmingly positive reviews and requests for this new duo outfit. Around that time, he decided to switch back to keyboards after many years of playing acoustic guitar exclusively. At that point, with him on keys and being able to put basic bass lines in with his left hand, the sound of the duo started to fill out. Although he wasn't paying me a set amount for these first few duo gigs, he was splitting tips with me. Tips at these gigs were usually pretty lucrative, so at least I was getting gas, meal and some spending money from them. Again, I wasn't sitting at home twiddling my thumbs, so it was better than nothing, but I was still going in the hole pretty bad every month.
After probably 5 of those gigs, he told me he couldn't in good faith keep working me for free, so he started paying me. We played only a few gigs where he was paying me before COVID hit, and the gigs completely dried up for at least 6 months. I was very fortunate to receive government pandemic financial assistance at that time and was able to pay my bills using that money. That financial help basically saved 2020 for me and I never, ever take that assistance for granted.
Once we were able to start playing again, which was a bit sooner than most (Bakersfield is a red island in a blue ocean - I'll leave it at that), we kicked the duo outfit back off and haven't slowed down since. With all the regulations imposed on establishments by the pandemic, full band gigs seemed like a thing of the past. Fortunately for us, the duo format fit right in to the new model most of the venues adopted. A side note on that: The venues we played changed drastically from pre-COVID. Gone were the bar gigs that kept us out till 1:00 or 2:00 am. In were the wine bars and restaurants with outdoor patios. Gigs were now only a couple of hours instead of 4 hour marathons and we were getting done by 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 at the latest now.
A typical month for us now is anywhere from 10 gigs in a slow month to 15 in a good month. Like others have posted, the smaller gigs often lead to the right people hearing us, which lead to higher paying gigs. We're back doing corporate events, private parties and other higher dollar gigs where someone has seen our duo at a restaurant or a wine bar, taken a video and sent it to a friend, who contacts us for booking the big stuff. Most of the time, even the larger events still want just the duo, but we have some trusted players we can use if a venue or event requests a full band.
In summary, I'm doing better now than I ever have, but it all looks different now than it used to. I'm often not bringing a full drum kit to gigs. In fact, 90+% of my work is done on a 3-piece kit (kick, snare, floor) with hats and one other cymbal. Since a lot of the places we play hear with their eyes, I have grown accustomed to playing tiny drums and using brushes or rods the majority of the time. My kick drum in that 90+% of my work is a little 10"deep X 20" diameter drum that just isn't as intimidating looking as a larger bass drum. I'm no longer teaching, as I just got burned out on it. Recording work isn't very lucrative at the moment, although it does make up a small percentage of my income. Most of the income, though, is from in-the-trenches, down and dirty giggin', and I wouldn't want it any other way.
The best part of this whole journey for me is that my duo partner and I have become best buddies. We were friendly to each other when we were in the full band, but now the relationship has grown into something much more meaningful, which is another part of this I'm truly grateful for.
Sorry for the novela. Hopefully I haven't bored y'all to death.
