It's an unfortunate reality that there are very, very few venues remaining
in the D.C. area that have live music in any form, but such are the
economics of club ownership. Tim K's cost analysis is spot-on, and local
bluegrass musicians have approximately zero leverage in negotiating what
should be a fair price for their group's performance from the few clubs that
are still hiring full bands. When I used to make a full-time "living"
playing in a bluegrass band (back when dinosaurs still walked the earth),
the highest paying gigs were almost always a one-time, private and/or
sponsor-underwritten event (wedding receptions, frat parties, college shows,
corporate functions and the occasional "special moment" soiree for the
uber-wealthy), and these types of gigs would actually pay a decent
amount...I believe the most we ever made for a single gig was $1,000, and
that required doing 5 full sets at a millionaire's birthday party in a
country club way up high in the mountains of North Carolina. One type of
venue to consider are "house concerts", where the owners of a private home
will advertise a "party with live bluegrass music", ask their attending
"friends" for a $10 - $15 "donation", and then give all of the money
collected to the performers.
I enjoy playing bluegrass music, and I really enjoy playing in a bluegrass
band, and I really, really enjoy playing in a bluegrass band in a club
filled with patrons, but I do not anticipate a return to those "thrilling
days of yesteryear", when there were dozens of venues in this region that
had live bluegrass music as a regular part of their business. That was then,
this is now, and every day above ground is a good one.
I don't know if this is a true story, but supposedly Ricky Skaggs once asked
Vince Gill why he no longer worked as a bluegrass musician, and Vince
replied "I love playing bluegrass, but I always had a dream of someday
making enough money to buy a house."
I don't play clubs (saloons, bars) anymore because of that.
I find that bluegrass is more lucrative at vineyards, private parties, and special events. Playing in a saloon from 9-1 for $60 is not my idea of fun.
Remember the Birchmere? Remember how much bluegrass they USED to have.
They cut way back when bluegrass Artists were not drawing the people.
Even the Seldom Scene is only there once in a while.....
Bill
On 4/2/2013 2:54 PM, Tim Kruzic wrote:
Good comments by Bill and Lissy. I think what a lot of musicians fail to consider are the economics of running a venue. Look at someplace like the Friendly Inn or the Tiffany Tavern. They make money on food and drinks. For them to make $500 to pay the band, they need to make a PROFIT of $10 from 50 customers. Doesn't sound to hard does it? The Friendly only seated about 40 people. On a good night with music, I bet they rarely made a profit of $1,000. There were a lot of nights where there were only 20 people there. The venue owner/operator has to average out those tough nights with the good nights. Venue owners typically don't care whether the music is good or not; their concern is whether the music positively projects the image of their establishment and makes money for them. Gisela (The Friendly Inn) and Ted/Nancy (Tiffany Tavern) were a bit unique in that they came to appreciate bluegrass music and musicians and stuck with bluegrass through the years. To most other owners, it's simply a business proposition. And given the size of their establishment, the amount of money their patrons are willing to spend, whether a cover charge works for them or not all are the basic economic issues that they evaluate to determine how much they can pay a band. If you owned one of these establishments, would you want to go to the extra work and expense if it was only a break even proposition for those nights?
I wish those venues could pay more, but I understand their business calculations. That's one of the reasons Blue Daze did not go out of our way to play "club" type venues other than the Friendly Inn.
Tim Kruzic
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