No tip jar, still getting tips

no talent

Senior Member
last night my 3 piece instrumental band played at this upscale inn. we play there once a week and are well liked. its one of those gigs however that we are not really the focus of peoples evening there, the food, wine and company is the main draw, so when people applaud it really means a lot to us. last night during a song, a guy approached us and mouthed "where is the tip jar" and put down 20 bucks on the amp. that 20 meant so much to us, its such positive reinforcement from a total stranger. my rock band doesn't get tips ever, but this band has gotten tips, one night there totaling 165 bucks! we also get paid so we are not playing for tips. hahaha I had a point when I started typing but now I feel like this is a rambling mess!
 
That is awesome :) I get tips all the time from my neighbors... like "stop that shit at 2am or we will burn your house down".. they are such kidders :)
 
Sometimes at an open gig or open mic, we charge 5 dollars in tip if they want us to play something inane that happens to be their favorite song. Stairway is a 10 dollar tip, though. Mustang sally is not on the menu.
 
Sometimes at an open gig or open mic, we charge 5 dollars in tip if they want us to play something inane that happens to be their favorite song. Stairway is a 10 dollar tip, though. Mustang sally is not on the menu.

My band got a $50 for Free Bird. Was it worth it? I dunno.
 
That is awesome :) I get tips all the time from my neighbors... like "stop that shit at 2am or we will burn your house down".. they are such kidders :)

Hahahaha! I'm so SURE they're kidding ;)
 
My band got a $50 for Free Bird. Was it worth it? I dunno.

Best we've managed was 15 for free bird. Pooled 5 dollars each between 3 audience members to get us to play it.

My favorite part of that is that there is a juke box on the wall directly to the left of me that charges 1 dollar for 2 songs. Disabled of course while we play, so the laws of supply and demand come into play.
 
Yep, that's how it works. I always put out a tip jar unless it's a private party.
 
I'd say that most groups that I play with put out tip jars unless you're at a private function (charity, wedding, et cetera).

You just want to make sure the club doesn't use the tip jar against you. I played at a place in NYC a few weeks ago and the club owner subtracted tips out of what he owed us, which was pretty lame. He was going to pay us $600, but we made about $120 in tips, so he just gave us $480 to even it out...
 
last night my 3 piece instrumental band played at this upscale inn. we play there once a week and are well liked. its one of those gigs however that we are not really the focus of peoples evening there, the food, wine and company is the main draw, so when people applaud it really means a lot to us. last night during a song, a guy approached us and mouthed "where is the tip jar" and put down 20 bucks on the amp. that 20 meant so much to us, its such positive reinforcement from a total stranger. my rock band doesn't get tips ever, but this band has gotten tips, one night there totaling 165 bucks! we also get paid so we are not playing for tips. hahaha I had a point when I started typing but now I feel like this is a rambling mess!

That's special is that.

We occasionally get tips from the audience such as "it's in 4/4 time you amateurs".
 
My band got a $50 for Free Bird. Was it worth it? I dunno.

Best we've managed was 15 for free bird. Pooled 5 dollars each between 3 audience members to get us to play it.


Would like to see your set lists, i'll bet there's songs more boring to play than Free Bird.





That's special is that.

We occasionally get tips from the audience such as "it's in 4/4 time you amateurs".


... and what about that famous request- "Will you please stop playing and go home".
 
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