Bands and artists play to express their music, for fun, to entertain their audiences, to get the girls or guys…and, oh yeah – to get paid. Especially if you’re trying to make a career out of playing music. But how much?
Well, the amounts that bands and artists get paid are all over the place, from literally nothing when you’re playing at an open mic to astronomical sums if you’re a major star. Taylor Swift grossed an estimated 1.15 billion in 2024 from the Eras tour and album sales, with pre-tax earnings of $400 million.
But don’t let that outlier number give you a wrong impression – that playing music is the road to riches, although in rare cases, it can be.
The truth is: musicians get paid a lot less than you think they do.
Let me make it clear: this is not meant to be a definitive article on what you can expect to earn as a musician in a rock band. It’s more of a rough guide based on my experience and that of fellow musicians, as well as some research, but when looking online it’s difficult to find hard and fast up-to-date numbers. Also, this article covers the United States only, and pay rates can vary wildly by area. And like most of us, musicians can be reluctant to say what they earn, or…exaggerate.
I’m going to focus here on what you might make as a player in a rock band on a local, semi-pro or hired gun level. This isn’t a career guide to what you can earn, for example, as a high-school music teacher or a player in a symphony orchestra or pit band.
I’ll start from personal experience. I live on Long Island and the competition for gigs here is fierce. The halcyon Long Island club scene of the 1970s, where top bands like Twisted Sister, the Good Rats, and Crystal Ship could make thousands of dollars per week, doesn’t exist anymore, and pay rates for local gigs really haven’t gone up (yes, you read that correctly). COVID hurt the music scene, not just on LI but everywhere, and some venues have never recovered, or disappeared.
You have to fight to get a gig even in a crummy dive bar. There are more bands and musicians than you can keep track of, most playing on a local level (though Long Island has produced enough stars to warrant its own Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame).
With exceptions (everything I say here is going to have exceptions), unless you’re in a tribute band, which, along with wedding bands, seem to be the only ones around LI who are making real money, you’re looking at making about $150 to $400 for a bar gig, maybe $600.
Per band.
Not per person.
Solo and duo acts might get $50 to $200 to play in a bar or restaurant (and $200 might be stretching it). Library gigs, and events sponsored by a town Chamber of Commerce, like a booking at a summer music festival for example, can pay better, to around $600, maybe more. A couple of Long Island regional theaters, the kind that put on Broadway-type shows, pay the musicians $100 per performance.
The excellent Genesis tribute band Seconds Out doing a sound check at Sunset Park, Port Washington, New York, June 29, 2025. These kinds of gigs typically pay better than bar gigs.
Let’s go beyond LI for a look at the bigger picture, though these rates probably apply. For a lot of musicians I know, the rule of thumb is to not go out and play a gig for less than $100. One world-class musician (you would recognize the bands he’s played in) will not go out for less than $175 per local gig. When he tours it’s a different story, as he’s usually playing with a name act, and the pay is better and hotel, meals and other expenses will be covered. A friend who plays in upstate New York noted that local bands get $400 to $500 and that he earns between $75 and $100 for a jazz date.
You need to think about whether it’s worth it to drive to a gig, prepare for it, and schlep and set up and tear down your equipment, or not. If you’re a weekend warrior playing for fun in a dad band, maybe what the heck. If you’re a pro who makes their living for it, it’s a very real consideration as to whether a gig is worth taking or not once you factor in your time, the cost of gas and travel, and the wear and tear on your equipment, and yourself.
If your band is at the point where it has drawing power, there’s another option for getting paid: rather than a flat fee, you might be able work out an arrangement where rather than getting a set fee, you receive all or part of the proceeds from the door – the ticket sales – and the venue earns the proceeds from the bar, or some combination of the two. But you have to be pretty big to consider this.
I mentioned that playing at open mics pays zero, so some musicians won't do them. On the other hand, they're places where you can just sign up and play, gain experience, pop in if you feel like playing that night, hang out with musician friends, or try out new material. The host of the open mic might make $50 or $100 and they (usually) have to bring the PA and organize the flow of the performers.
Before going any further, let’s talk about the subject of tips. They can be a significant source of income! Always put out a tip jar, unless it’s a wedding or corporate setting where it would be inappropriate. If you don’t, you are leaving money on the table, as people who make a lot more money than me like to say. I’ve played gigs where the band made between $200 and $300 in tips. A friend who lived in Nashville and has toured professionally said that when working in Broadway, the town’s main drag, the base pay can be as low as $10 - $15 per hour, but since it’s a party town, each musician can make a lot more in tips, maybe hundreds. I’ve also played gigs where the pay wasn’t much – like $25 for a duo for a farmers’ market (yes, that’s $12.50 each) – but the tips made it worthwhile.
Pro advice: always put some money in the tip jar to prime the pump before the gig. If people see an empty tip jar, they won’t feel compelled to put money in, but if they see some bills in there, they’ll think everyone else is doing it and be inclined to do the same.
Don't forget to leave out the tip jar, and put it where people can see it. Here's the scene before a duo gig at a private party, July 5, 2025. We got a lot of tips.
There’s one circumstance where I and the band members don’t mind not getting paid, and that’s for a charity event where the band is asked to donate their time. Often, these are professionally run and lots of people show up so it’s usually a good time, plus you have the satisfaction of knowing you’re contributing to a good cause.
Some charity gigs ask the performers to donate their time for a cause, like this food drive for Toys of Hope on September 28, 2024. Caity Van Essendelft is performing, one of the many there on behalf of OOMPA, the Organization of Open Mic Performing Arts.
Performers were not only happy but honored to donate their time for this one: the annual Harry Chapin tribute concert for Long Island Cares at the Harry Chapin Rainbow theater, Huntington, NY, July 27, 2025.
But don’t just think in terms of the amount of money you’ll get at the end of the night. Some venues offer free food and drinks, and as we know, dining out isn’t cheap. If you’re the support band to a major act, you’ll get to see them for free and probably meet them. And every gig offers valuable experience and training in the craft of playing, and the nitty-gritty experience of dealing with club owners, equipment, physical endurance, and entertaining an audience. Networking is a big part of getting gigs (as it is in so many other fields), and if someone sees you play and likes you at a gig, you might get hired for another, so it's good to be out there.
Some pro gigs require membership in the musician’s union, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). If you’re a session musician, play in a pit band on Broadway, do TV and film work and the like, you will be in the union. According to my online research, the average pay for AFM members as of July, 2025 is $21.56 per hour. Some specific pay examples: for a 3-hour recording session, the leader/contractor makes $976.58 (union scale) plus $137.60 for the pension fund. A side musician gets $488.29 plus $68.80. Musicians can get more for playing more than one instrument on a session.
Let’s talk about wedding bands, which don’t involve playing in a rock band per se, but they’re worth mentioning as wedding bands and corporate gigs can make you a lot more money than elsewhere. On Long Island, I doubt you can hire a wedding band for less than $10,000. (I’ve seen cheaper rates quoted for other locations.) Keep in mind that weddings involve a lot more than your average bar or club gig – you have to be a professional organization that factors in costs like liability insurance, equipment, lighting, rehearsal costs and maybe renting a rehearsal space (some pros expect and deserve to be paid for rehearsals, which can be around half of what you’d get paid for a show), marketing, office expenses and so on.
There may be additional musicians needed to play the cocktail hour, or “Here Comes the Bride” when she makes her entrance. You will be operating on an entirely pro level and need to have the proper clothes. This is why a friend of mine gets paid $700 per gig to be in a wedding band, and the bandleader gets a lot more.
On a bigger-name level: I would venture that when people go to concerts, they think the musicians are rolling in money and living enviable rock star lifestyles. Well, not always. If you’ve never seen the documentary Hired Gun I highly recommend it. It's both enlightening and sobering. My guy from Nashville noted that when touring pros play locally they get about $150. When they tour, their rate is $300 to $800 per gig, up to the arena level. Keep in mind that these people are basically freelancers and when the gig is over, their touring income goes to zero. On the other hand, in this rarefied strata the renumeration can be significant. A musician who is contracted to play exclusively for an artist at an arena level or above might see a salary of $60,000 to $120,000 per year. One guitarist got a gig with a mega-platinum-selling star at $250,000 per year.
I find myself trusting internet information less and less, but for the purpose of due diligence, I poked around online to see what various sources said. The gist of it was: for local bar and mid-tier gigs, $100 to $350 per person. Wedding and corporate gigs can bring $200 to $1,000. For national touring, $350 to $1,000-plus per week, and higher for established acts. Playing in a praise and worship band might get you $125 to $250 per service.
I found a website, Lambgoat, which had an article listing the fees charged by dozens of bands in 2024, derived from their analysis of information from booking agency Celebrity Talent International. Though Lambgoat says to take the list with a grain of salt, and these rates are for bands, not what individual members receive after expenses, it’s enlightening. Want to book Dream Theater? According to Lambgoat, It'll cost you at least $25,000. Hot August Night, a Neil Diamond tribute band? $9,500 or more. Joe Walsh? Start at $400,000. KISS? Over a million. I don't know who Mom Jeans are, but they get over $25,000. Maybe it's time for me to join a Grateful Dead tribute band; the Dark Star Orchestra pulls in more than $80,000 a gig. The Chantels can be had for $5,000-plus, not surprising since their biggest hit, "Maybe," happened almost 70 years ago.
Speaking of getting paid: how do you get your money? Bar and restaurant and other gigs are more informal, and the bands or performers usually paid in cash at the end of the performance. Well, hopefully you’ll get paid. Usually, it’s no problem, but sometimes the club owner will try to renege on you, claiming you didn’t draw as expected. This happened to me when I was a kid and there was nothing any of us could do. I’ve heard stories of people getting their money in ways that could make an episode of The Sopranos. But in my experience, difficulties are a rarity. If a venue stiffs a band, the word gets around. Quickly.
When playing festivals, libraries, and events that are run by some kind of organization, you’ll typically get a check. Regarding tips, try to set up a means where people can pay you via Venmo or some other form of electronic payment – a lot of people don’t carry much cash these days. Electronic bank transfer is a common form of payment for higher-level acts.
Some bands, especially once they get to a level where they make significant money, will insist on a written contract, giving them legal recourse should anything happen, and this protects both the band and the contractor. This is de rigueur for wedding bands.
It has to be said that if you’re a touring band playing original music, you may or may not make enough money to break even, especially if you’re trying to get established. Many bands struggle, travel out of vans and sleep on friends’ couches between gigs. Many if not most musicians have day jobs, or supplement their income with teaching, lessons, part time jobs or other endeavors.
And, as distasteful as I find it, this article would not be complete without mentioning the subject of pay for play, where musicians and bands actually pay a venue to get a gig. This is done for “exposure” or to “showcase” the band. Is it exploitation or a way to jump start a career? I’ll never do it (and realistically at this stage in my career I’m not in a position to have to), but to each his own.
There’s another option for making money as a performer which doesn’t involve gigging at all, and that’s busking – playing in a park or town square or public place for tips. I know people who make surprisingly decent amounts of money doing this. The downside is that it may not be legal in any given area and your performance time may be limited by the local authorities.
When all is said and done, the money you’ll be earning will probably not be on your mind once you hit the stage. Playing gigs can be a blast, and I wish everyone could experience the rush what it’s like to play in front of people and make music when you’re cooking on all burners. You can’t put a price on that.
Header image courtesy of Pexels.com/Kaboompics.com.
