Recently a facebook friend, Curtis Gurule, asked a question on his status update about who and when should those who book gigs take a percentage of the fee for their troubles.  It prompted me to write a reply and I thought an interesting enough question to pose it here along with my response to Curtis’ status.

Here’s what I wrote to Curtis:

1. If it’s a pick-up band that’s playing for guaranteed $ the leader should take a fee if he/she wants and offer a specific amount to each player to take or leave. On those gigs the sidemen shouldn’t even ask what the total fee was or who got how much $.
2. If it’s a regular band there should be some agreement among the band members about how those things are handled. You’re right – you need to talk about it and come to an agreement that is totally in the open.
3. If it’s a gig playing for the door it is going to depend on a bunch of other items such as; a) is there a leader or is it a standing group, b) how much promo was put into the gig and who put it in, c) are there any extra possibilities of income such as merchandise or CDs, etc.

In the end, there is no one correct answer but a little conversation will almost always take care of business and let the music-making proceed without the money vibe getting in the way.

What do you think?  How do you handle these situations or how do you like them to be handled?  Can you think of other mitigating factors?