Touring Musician | How I Make Money

[Music] alright back on the road finishing up this run with Dwight Yoakam doing the second set of three shows as usual I have no idea where we are I think we're somewhere in Virginia we're in Virginia so in today's video I wanted to talk about something that I've been thinking about for a while and haven't really covered on the channel but in the last tour vlog I put up a couple weeks ago people in the comments were asking and so I figured I would address it in today's video and that is how do I get paid how do musicians get paid how do you get paid when you're on the road and a touring band or in studio sessions what's the differences between being in an original band or being a hired gun so we're going to talk about that in today's video like my village in the street oh no this is kind of nice surely you should we have to park around the factory but we can go ahead and get her helmet okay made it to our stopping point for tonight Morgantown West Virginia next remembered as soon as we pulled in here that I've played here before with muddy magnolias back two years ago apparently so hotels like super haunted Kelly by the way cardi she died in a bathtub in 314 yeah but for real that's like 314 supposed to be the most haunted room so can't wait to go in it oh come on Fry no I did fry dude sure it's this one [Music] all right first show of this run Greensburg Pennsylvania nice another date of the green room [Music] all right strapped first soundcheck of this run sounds really good man yeah feels tight it was playing the tweed on this one I literally like turn all my pedals off it was yeah I'm telling you all you need to do yeah [Music] [Applause] well there you are speaking guys let's say we're yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] it's not Oh [Music] [Music] well it's the first time I've seen snow all year and it's in middle of March this is what happens here in Pennsylvania I know you guys tell me all right Troy Ohio Hobart Arena tonight found the Zamboni [Music] [Music] [Music] so I wanted to address this question of how I get paid this is kind of a important area that I don't think a lot of people really talk about all that much so most of what I do would be considered hired gun or work for hire situation you can think of it like a contractor I am a contractor who gets paid for a specific gig on a gig by gig basis on a set rate now one of the comments I saw in the last video that I did with Noah said that oh you split everything on tour and well sometimes is the case with certain bands especially if you're an original band or something like that that's not the case on this gig so in this case I don't split any of the money with Noah or Noah's management or booking agency or anything like that now there's pros and cons to that the pros are when we're in a situation like this as an opening band the band is not actually making that much money as an opener so someone in my position I have a guarantee per show rate that I'm gonna make no matter how much the artist does or doesn't bring in the flipside to that obviously is if and when Noah blows up and starts pulling down 25 35 $40,000 a show my set rate will probably go up but it will never get to the point where it matches the artist that you're playing for on top of that depending on the gig you might also make money on travel days and you'll also get a per diem or a per day payout and that's what you can use to buy food when you're on the road or you can save up your per diem you know eat cheap when you're on the road and I've heard of guys saving their per diem on a tour and then buying a really sweet piece of gear a new guitar or a cool amp or cool pedal or whatever but the reason that you want to be on these tours is for exposure by jumping on with an act like Dwight Yoakam we are now exposing Noah and Noah's music to thousands of fans every night haven't normally heard what we do so in the hopes that next time we come through this town and the other towns in this run we'll be able to fill up a smaller venue this is one thing I like to do sometimes before show is find a seat somewhere in the venue and just come and sit and hang out for a minute just by myself I love the dudes that I travel with I really do they're some of my best friends in the world but sometimes it is nice when you're in a van with somebody and you're surrounded by people literally 24 hours a day it is nice to kind of take 15 to 20 minutes to kind of break away and I use this time to kind of gather my thoughts thinking about the show think about what we're doing what we got to do is kind of Center myself I found that when I take time to actually do this I don't know I feel healthier I feel like I'm in a better place I feel like I play better I feel like I'm more focused on what's going on I mean we've got like two and a half hours before show time here so I've got some time to walk around chill out rest my ears a little bit and then put on a great show tonight [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so that was a pretty stressful load in and soundcheck I actually didn't end up filming any of it because we didn't have a whole lot of time and it's kind of a tighter stage tonight so soundcheck went okay we're all pretty tired we had a super early morning today so not playing well I think I sound that great but take a break get some food get some coffee and I think we'll have a good show tonight all right first night my sparkly jacket being pulled off dude you difficult at all whoo yeah [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Rhett Shull

Views: 323,357

Rating: 4.7924466 out of 5

Keywords: rhett shull live, rhett shull helix, touring musician lifestyle, touring musician vlog, touring musician tips, touring musician life, How musicians make money, how to make money, musician, day in the life of a touring musician, music business, noah guthrie, noah guthrie whipping post, rhett shull, backstage journal, tips for touring bands, helix live setup, helix live rig, Line 6 Helix

Id: ubrUyboNmto

Length: 14min 36sec (876 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2019