Friday, April 8, 2011

How musicians make money performing

I enjoy going to concerts, but I have to admit that once or twice I've gone to a small club to see a personal favorite and found that my personal favorite and I practically have the place to ourselves. You've got to wonder how, in that situation, anyone is making a living. Jacob Ganz talks about this over at NPR.org. 'Smaller venues – in an effort to compensate fairly – often poll audience members at the door, and pay each band on the bill the portion of the total receipts that corresponds to the number of fans who said they came to see that band play. For groups starting out in this situation, [band manager] Barger paints a lifestyle ruled by modest expectations. "I mean, if you're selling out every night, you're probably supporting yourself and you're able to quit your job," Barger says, "but you certainly have roommates, you're barely getting by, you're watching how many hotel rooms you get each night."' More...

(As just a mild aside, Harry Nilsson fans might hearing this might be reminded of "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song." Non-Harry fans might want to search this song out, and thus begin their journey to becoming Harry fans.)

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