Hope this helps: I play with one other person. Between us we play about 20 different instruments and we both sing. We do a big variety of styles, mostly centered around old country music (like stringband stuff) to swing and blues and whatever we feel like really. The variety increases the kinds of jobs we can get. We have a good, though not huge, sound system that could fill a thousand seat room if necessary, but we've seldom had to handle that. So, to the point, if we play in a restaurant or a club or a bar, we get $250 a night (three fifty-minute sets) or $450 for two consecutive nights. We do private parties, mostly for well-to-do clients who just want to have live music as an expensive decoration. For a party with the sound system, $350 for three fifty-minute sets, $300 without the sound system. We do a lot of weddings, for which we get $300 for just the wedding or $350 for the wedding and the reception. For a sit-down show (in an auditorium), we expect to get at least $500, depending on the size of the place and what the event is. Of course we play for free a lot, when it's for a charity event or for a friend's wedding or something like that. For other kinds of jobs, like visiting artist shows in a school, we pretty much stick to the $100 per person rule. Neither of us depends on music for a living anymore (there were times when I couldn't have gotten by without it), but my feeling is that if somebody is going to be making money even partly because of my music, then I should get paid for it. Plus, when you think about it, a good musician is one of the most highly-skilled workers anyone will ever have to hire, not to mention the thousands of dollars worth of equipment you bring with you to do the job. (Try renting a machine worth that much and see how much it costs for a day). I hope this does not sound mercenary, but after much consideration and checking around my prices are very reasonable.

Chet W.