austindrummer1
Junior Member
I've followed Drummerworld for a long time now, and I have yet to hear anyone talk about Making Money as a Drummer.
Drum Heads, like myself, get caught up in: the groove, rudiments, Steve Gadd, the art of making music, jazz chops, Jeff Porcaro, drumheads, maple vs birch, Jim Gordon, tuning, muffling, Russ Kunkel, dealing with egocentric singers, mic placements, Steve Gadd again, and time. Never do I hear about playing music for a living, and how to do it.
Being an ex-session drummer in Austin, TX, I know 95% of the drummers here are paid per gig: sometimes for tips ($20 - $35), scale pay if you belong to a Musicians Union ($70 - $80), or if you play the reunion/cover band/being a jukebox circuit, a drummer can make ($100 - $300) per gig. Playing these types of gigs is a lot of fun, BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!
I'm talking about playing for a living; either being paid by royalties for sessions, or, going out on tour with an established artist. How does a drummer do this??
First, in my experience the 3 most important characteristics a person/drummer must have are: responsibility, dependability, and if you’re easy to work with. These characteristics are sometimes more important than your playing ability (Sounds like your applying for a job). Well, you are! If you want to play with players at the recording/touring level, a drummer MUST REMEMBER that at that level, everyone can play, everyone is great at their individual instruments, but what sets you apart from other players is what kind of person you are. Are you likeable or a complete turd! It doesn’t matter if you can play Late in the Evening or reverse-paradiddle-diddles. No artist will hire an extremely talented drummer that’s a jerk. Listen to interviews with Gadd, Porcaro, Kunkel, Gordon, they are the most easy going, cool cats, that artists love to hire again and again.
Now, onto money. There are 2 types of drummers: recording and touring.
RECORDING DRUMMERS
Typically, an artist will ask their producer to recommend musicians for an upcoming session. You must either know the artist who wants to work with you, or the producer who wants to do the same. Kissing either of these people’s asses is a good way to get the gig! A call is made to you (you must be easy to contact; do not change phone numbers!!). Then a meeting is called to hammer out how much money you want. This is entirely up to you how you charge yourself out. You can either do a lump sum amount (…I’ll do the whole session for $1,000.00 and royalties on sales…), or hourly (…I charge $ 100.00/per hour for my services plus a % of royalties), or a combination of the two. Remember drummers, that the royalty percentage a drummer gets is the lowest of the low. An established artist can get somewhere between 7 – 10% of royalties from the sale of his/her CD. That’s $ 7.00 - $ 10.00 for every $ 100.00 sold. Out of this, the artist must pay his band, producer, food, drinks, instrumentation, etc…An artist will usually pay their drummer a % of a penny, yes drummers a % of a penny!!
I will go into touring pay later.
Please, let me know if those professional drummers out there agree.
Drum Heads, like myself, get caught up in: the groove, rudiments, Steve Gadd, the art of making music, jazz chops, Jeff Porcaro, drumheads, maple vs birch, Jim Gordon, tuning, muffling, Russ Kunkel, dealing with egocentric singers, mic placements, Steve Gadd again, and time. Never do I hear about playing music for a living, and how to do it.
Being an ex-session drummer in Austin, TX, I know 95% of the drummers here are paid per gig: sometimes for tips ($20 - $35), scale pay if you belong to a Musicians Union ($70 - $80), or if you play the reunion/cover band/being a jukebox circuit, a drummer can make ($100 - $300) per gig. Playing these types of gigs is a lot of fun, BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!
I'm talking about playing for a living; either being paid by royalties for sessions, or, going out on tour with an established artist. How does a drummer do this??
First, in my experience the 3 most important characteristics a person/drummer must have are: responsibility, dependability, and if you’re easy to work with. These characteristics are sometimes more important than your playing ability (Sounds like your applying for a job). Well, you are! If you want to play with players at the recording/touring level, a drummer MUST REMEMBER that at that level, everyone can play, everyone is great at their individual instruments, but what sets you apart from other players is what kind of person you are. Are you likeable or a complete turd! It doesn’t matter if you can play Late in the Evening or reverse-paradiddle-diddles. No artist will hire an extremely talented drummer that’s a jerk. Listen to interviews with Gadd, Porcaro, Kunkel, Gordon, they are the most easy going, cool cats, that artists love to hire again and again.
Now, onto money. There are 2 types of drummers: recording and touring.
RECORDING DRUMMERS
Typically, an artist will ask their producer to recommend musicians for an upcoming session. You must either know the artist who wants to work with you, or the producer who wants to do the same. Kissing either of these people’s asses is a good way to get the gig! A call is made to you (you must be easy to contact; do not change phone numbers!!). Then a meeting is called to hammer out how much money you want. This is entirely up to you how you charge yourself out. You can either do a lump sum amount (…I’ll do the whole session for $1,000.00 and royalties on sales…), or hourly (…I charge $ 100.00/per hour for my services plus a % of royalties), or a combination of the two. Remember drummers, that the royalty percentage a drummer gets is the lowest of the low. An established artist can get somewhere between 7 – 10% of royalties from the sale of his/her CD. That’s $ 7.00 - $ 10.00 for every $ 100.00 sold. Out of this, the artist must pay his band, producer, food, drinks, instrumentation, etc…An artist will usually pay their drummer a % of a penny, yes drummers a % of a penny!!
I will go into touring pay later.
Please, let me know if those professional drummers out there agree.