I mean honestly I see where you are coming from as far as musicians overcharging especially in church, but its sooooo many things you have to take into consideration before you knock somebody for what they are asking as far as payment. First off the size of the church. If the you talking about a 50 member church it would be unreasonable to ask for anything over $50 Dollars as a drummer. Now if you are the worship leader, MD, etc.you can ask and may get a little more because you do more. Now at larger churches you would "expect" a larger payment, but it doesn't always happen that way there is a such thing as a large disorganized church that doesn't have a budget for there musicians and believe it or not there is churches (big ones) that just don't believe in paying there musicians period. But in most cases the music director at larger churches that is responsible for evveryything are the ones that make that substantial amount and are on salary that make around 50k a year or even more, but for drummers unless you Calvin Rodgers or somebody your not making that much as a drummer in church for that matter the highest I've heard for a drummer was maybe 200-500. That's good! But you just so happen to be blessed if you are making that much as a drummer. I don't want to rain on anybody's parade but drummers come a dime a dozen. The value of a drummer is not as high as it is for a music director or worship leader etc. Some churches would rather let a child learn how to play then to pay you $100 a Sunday and go into debt. Sorry that's just the honest truth. This isn't the case with larger numbers, but the question is would you rather ask a church for your worth and risk not playing at all or will you be reasonable and work within there budget. Whats more important your gift or getting paid for your gift? I defiantly don't agree with that get a part-time job crap though. If you want to be a working musician full-time its possible, but realistically speaking you can't rely on the church to be your main source of income, you have to have several gigs outside of the church. You are only as limited as you allow yourself to be. As far as the church goes or any band, when someone asks you how much you charge it is 9 times out of 10 a trick question! Real talk. On a professional level that's not a legit question anyway because there are soo many variables. What do you need? What is your budget? How many rehearsals? Professionals that need musicians come in to the equation knowing what they want what they need and their means of spending. In other words they have a budget and most of the time "TELL YOU WHAT YOU ARE GETTING PAID." The more details the better, but if somebody just flat out asks you how much will you charge to play at their church and you say a number before you ask how big the church is or the budget you are clearly new to this. There is not a such thing as getting paid your worth so stop asking for it, real talk. People are full time musicians because they love what they do. All the great drummers and musicians we look up to aren't millionaires or making it rain, but they love what they do and are well off and successful. Nothing wrong with getting paid to play in church, but professionals don't overcharge as they aren't looking for a little church gig to pay the bills anyway. You get to a certain point in your career where gigs come to you not the other way around. I'm not there yet, but I'd rather get paid $25 dollars a Sunday and be "PLAYING" then asking for $100 and be sitting at home on Sundays or at somebody else church in the crowd. Its much bigger than us its a worship experience, its a team effort. When you guys first started playing in church did you want to get paid? NOOO. You didn't care. So what's the different just because you are wayy more busier on the drums now, and maybe a little better than you were at 8 you want to get paid? Or because you found out you can get paid now you want a piece? Grow up people. This is church, not a gig, when people stop looking at it that way this discussion will be null and void. God Bless LGM!
