Elektron-Users

Who's making any amount of money doing LivePA, and how? Being on a multi-artist bill at a local event or small festival, paid club dates, paid private parties? (I do not DJ and don't plan to - working strictly on LivePA)

If you're getting paid to play house/frat/whatever parties, what kind of money? Two, three hundred U.S. dollars? Or fifty bucks and all the beer you want? If you play a decent club, are you paying them to let you do it?

Is there any real money for playing something like Volt or DEMF, or is it just enough to cover travel and a room?

Let's suppose you've spent a lot of time making several tracks, good stuff that you're happy with and want to promote. Do you put them on Beatport, Juno, wherever, and hope that a few actively working DJ's buy it?

If you pitch it to a label and they accept it for distribution, how many might they sell? Fifty? Four? Of course it would depend in no small part on how well-known your music becomes.

I've been listening to samples at Hardwax, and there is some interesting and different stuff there. Some of what they have is hard for me to imagine any DJ wanting to buy and play in a set, but I'm not involved in any live/club culture that would appreciate the stuff so I really can't say. Whatever the case, there's some pretty way-out stuff they're pushing.

I'm just putting these thoughts out there. I'm aware of the odds, but I'd like to hear from anyone who's actually made some money somehow.

Most of the big festival bookings are reliant on having a booking agent or at least being on a label that has some recognition. Payment varies drastically. Sometimes it's just flights and accoms if you are a smaller act, up to many thousands if you are known.

Smaller gigs, well, that can go from 0 to a few hundred, usually no more than 500.

It really must be said that electronic music is primarily a scene of likeminded people doing things independently, so it must be stressed that being a part of this "thing" and having friends doing things like running labels, throwing events really is a must unless you are known for your productions and are sought after.

It really doesn't help being an outsider.

Also you would want to know what your audience is. More experimental stuff will not get booked at "parties," but there are outlets for that kind of thing.

Releases at this point are really purely promotional unless you sell a few thousand or more, which is pretty rare.

My last two vinyl releases sold out very quickly. We're talking 300 and 500 each. Those profits simply go back to the label to continue operating and releasing. It has however led to DJ gigs.

If you run your own label you would see these profits, but it would be best to put it into more releases.

I'm right now working out my first (potential) live PA set in LA right now. The factor I'm weighing is:

1. Will payment be enough to cover flight and extra baggage costs of flying the hardcase to LA and still come out on top?

If not, well then I'll be DJing and saving the live set for another time.

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Though i know alot less then then guy above me i'd say if you've done a city or two or a country or three then sometimes educating is enough, that being said you'd wish for atleast a few hundred in pocket including the two way sleep n trav. But try not uncut others that are equal deserving. After you do that you will have negitive friends and instabadkarma. I lived out in Asia spinning for a local dub/rock bar and it was pretty tight i only got about $35ish a night but when rent was $100 and everything was mad cheap it was legit enough. When i tried to out reach to other countries and or cities the most i go paid was about $300 not including the $20ish hotel and the $30 round trip fare :-/ so u kno it had it's ups and downs believe me i would travel to differents countries with my gear not knowing the language of have any contacts but i just wanted to play music and party; most of the time i got girls food beer and smiles all around. And i was a terrible dj... Thats why im shifting to live PA...u h funer

Realistically, unless you are a pretty big name with a good following, you're not going to be making lots of money from playing out. Like the others said above me, most of the time when you're starting out it's working with other people just to get gigs and be happy about it.

A couple hundred for college or house parties? Ha! Usually you're lucky to get free beer and meet some girls (or guys) at the end of the night.

Even for some of the larger outdoor festivals I play, usually it's free entry, and maybe some money to cover gas and expenses.

In my experience long running club nights pay the best, but those are of course the hardest gigs to get. Best advice I can give is don't approach it from a standpoint of how much money will you make initially, do it because you're having fun. It takes a long time to get to the point where what you make from a gig will pay for all the expenses of getting to gigs and getting the right gear to do it right.

Just my $.02

I don't know anybody.. so gigging is effectivly out of my range..
but what i heard of all kinds of musical friends.. doesnt matter if its techno, blues, or rock-an-roll..
they all have to gig everyday if they want to put food on the table.. so we are talking about 100$ or less for all of them..

selling music, well in the last 5 years i made less then 10euro's selling songs..
and in adverts that go with my clippies, less then 50$ .. (and thats ALL video sites combined)

just for your info.. it cost me about 5 pound to make a clippie (materials used and such)

so i agree with all others... do it for somesort of passion or the fun of it.. if you start out doing this thinking you be dr dre/timbaland/tiesto/underworld rich.. you might be dissapointed..
and like the others said.. if you dont have a network or dont know how to network.. your boned..