Pop/Rock Musicians

Even professionals with regular club dates have difficulty predicting how much money they will earn from one year to the next. And for those just starting out, many will earn nothing as they play clubs and events for free to establish themselves on the music scene. Their goal may be simply to get paying shows where they can earn enough money to cover their travel and promotion expenses. As groups become better known and can be relied on to draw an audience, they may be paid a percentage of a club's cover charge or drink receipts.

When playing for special occasions such as weddings, birthday parties, and bar mitzvahs, pop and rock groups can earn anything from a token amount, such as $25, to $1,000 or more once they have become well known in an area. While $1,000 might sound like a lot of money for a few hours of stage work, in reality the sum each musician gets will be much less. For example, if there are four members in the group, each will only receive $250—but this is before expenses and taxes. Once these have been figured in, each member may end up making less than $200. Now assume these musicians have fairly steady work and perform once almost every week for the year. At that rate, they would each be earning approximately $9,000 to $10,000 annually. Obviously this is not enough to live on, which is why so many musicians work at a second job.

Musicians who are able to come up with the "right" sound and make the right contacts in the industry may begin touring on a national level, increase their fan base, and sell recordings of their music. Those who are able to do this on a steady basis may have earnings in the $20,000 to $30,000 range. At the very top of the business, a few groups have earnings into the millions for one year. Even then, however, this money must be divided among the group members, backup singers, agents, and others.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in May 2019 musicians and singers earned an average of $30.39 per hour (or $63,211 annually). The lowest paid 10 percent earned $11.11 per hour ($23,109 annually) or less while the highest paid 10 percent earned $68.98 per hour ($167,856 a year) or more.

Most pop and rock musicians are freelancers, moving from one performance to the next and getting paid by various clients. Because of this, they have no employer that provides benefits such as health insurance and paid vacation time. Therefore these musicians must provide their own benefits.