Entertainment Center

First understand this one thing. As far as annual income goes, within the old paradigm musicians reach their full paying potential between five and eight years into their career. This is an average of all professional musicians at any given time. The maximum average of that income is less than eighty thousand dollars a year. Most never achieve that amount. However when you average in the player that is going full time, such as an orchestra musician, with all of the club musicians you reach a number close to that. You need to understand that the old paradigm is what we are trying to change.

The old paradigm said this: I will work in as many clubs as I can and barely make a living and hope that someone will discover me and I will make it as a performing artist. The clubs have not changed. I have been in this business for close to forty years and I can tell you that the amount of money you can make playing in clubs today is not much different from thirty years ago. As a matter of fact, it is almost identical. Why do you think this is? To go there you have to understand the club and why you should not be treating it as your bread and butter.


Clubs sell liquor and food for profit. Simple. But the dynamic of what is happening is something you need to understand on a level that will allow you to make the best of your club playing days. And yes, you need to play clubs. The owner of the club has a lot to pay for. He has all kinds of liabilities out on the line. The least of which is the amount of money he has invested in the products that he sells. They are commodities that are replaceable. The owner has overhead and expenses and he wants to make a profit. If he could make more money without a band, he would be going that route. That is just the way it is. What you need to understand is that when you are scheduled to play starting at eight o'clock a lot has transpired before you even walk in the door to set up.

The owner has arrived early to make sure the place is clean. He is tallying up the take from the night before. He always has a calculator running in his head. He is ahead on some nights and behind on others. He knows what he has to average to break even and he knows what it takes to make a profit. If everything goes good and according to schedule he is able to handle the evening. However this day he has one bartender on vacation, another he knows will no way make it on time, and a waitress who had a huge fight with her husband last night and is in no way going to be pleasant. He makes sure the stock is up to par and starts to call to make sure the whole shift is covered. He would love to be able to just leave it in the hands of a good manager but the last one stole him blind and he is having to shoot from the hip and does not want to see his investment go back to the bank. The ice machine seems to be broke and he needs to arrange for ice for the night and make sure he gets the dang thing fixed early next week.

He doesn't serve a complete menu but does offer sandwiches and stuff and it seems that in his bustle he forgot to get enough potatoes for the potato wedges that most of the crowd seems to love. He has an electrical outlet in the stage area that he should have had fixed this past week but did not and he wonders if the band will bring their own power strip. The last band did not and he gave them a power strip from the utility room in which he had the house music hooked up to and the strip seems to have walked off with the band. He goes to the utility room because he wants some music playing when the band is not and he notices that the music player is plugged in but the ice machine is not. How stupid can he be? No wonder the ice machine was not working. As he is trying to make a mental note to go and get a new power strip the waitress who is having problems at home calls and she is not going to make it tonight and may not come back to work at all. Seems her husband is accusing her of things she is not doing and does not want her to work at a bar anymore. While he is on the phone with her a kitchen employee comes up and tells him they are out of some kind of cleaner and he holds up one finger to say just a minute when the band has arrived and is setting up but has found that one outlet is not working and wants to know if they have an extra power strip.

And that is just the beginning. This is the guy you are dealing with. Most musicians show up, set up, play and have a good time regardless of the outcome of the evening. To most musicians it is all about them and their music. I am here to tell you it is not. It is entertainment. If there is no one to entertain guess what? It is about the club that has hired you making money and his customers having such an enjoyable time that they will return and tell others about the best club they have been to in a long time. This is what your job is about. It is not about the idea that you are an artist and that everyone is lucky to hear you and your band play your music.

I am not trying to be hard on you. It is just that it took me a long time to mature enough that I realized it was not all about me. And I am going to tell you the truth.

The club owner is not a bad guy. He just has a lot on his plate. He has been burned by so many bands that he wants you to prove him wrong when he starts off with the attitude that you are not in any way going to get the best of him. Your job is to make him money. You need to be prepared to the utmost for just that. The better you are with your business with the club owners the more gigs you will get and the more fans you will be able to build. That is what we are trying to do with the club experience. We are trying to build a fan base, not make a living playing in clubs. Now do not get me wrong. There are some big clubs in America that pay really good money. It is just that you are not going to be able to count on those all the time. If you are good enough to do so, then you have no problems. The majority of the bands have not reached that point with a fan base just yet.

So give the owner a break. Find ways to make his life easier. Remember clubs each have their own personality. You really do not run a club. If you are a manager or owner you just try to keep it from swarming on you. It is controlled chaos.