Almost two years ago, I put out a Google Form to my audience of active live musicians in Austin, Texas. The goal was to collect data on how much musicians were getting paid and to share that data with the contributors anonymously.

The project was a hit with some. But it also was met with a lot of criticism online. More on that later. Much of it was actually very valid and helpful.

I collected about 100 form submissions and shared the data with contributors on a webpage. The project went offline to make room for the current version of HireMusicians.com. Ever since then I have gotten asked when the project is coming back.

In fact, I don’t remember anything that I have done in the music space that has been in more demand. So I knew I had to bring it back. But I wanted to bring it back with improvements.

That day has come. The new and improved Musician Earnings Database is online. Musicians can now report their earnings and benefit from seeing data about how much other musicians have earned at various music venues around Austin.

Click here to view the database (contributors only)

Click here to contribute!

What Is the Musician Earnings Database?

The Musician Earnings Database is a collection of data about how much musicians earn from their musician services. Each contribution provides information on how much a musician earned at one gig.

That data is then anonymized, verified, and aggregated for viewing.

Which Data Is Available on the Musician Earnings Database?

As of today, March 9th, 2026, the data collected is specifically for live music gigs. If you are a contributor, you can see the data here.

The complete data of each contribution is not displayed to preserve anonymity. Instead, you can see stats for each venue. Those stats include:

Only contributors have access to the Musician Earnings Database.

How To Contribute

If you are a live musician in Austin, Texas and you have played a gig in the past year, you are qualified to contribute.

You can visit the contribution page to fill out the form. The form asks you to provide your total earnings, ensemble size, set duration, and a few more stats.

Your performer name and performance date will also be collected but never shared. They are only collected for verification purposes.

Once you fill it out, your submission will be reviewed. Once the authenticity of your review has been verified, it will be included in the database and you will gain access. You can expect an email with a link to the database once you are granted access.

How Does the Musician Earnings Database Benefit the Community?

The initial motivation for the Musician Earnings Database was transparency and accountability in the live musician marketplace. Here are a few of the things that will make you want to tell your friends about it.

1. Follow the Money. Some places pay much more than others. Some venues are well known and everyone wants to play there. Others pay more to attract talent. Being able to see who is paying the most allows you to go where the money is.

2. Accountability for Venues. Venues who pay unfairly can be easily identified and avoided. Musicians can anonymously report on them without worrying about being blacklisted.

3. Set Revenue Expectations. A live musician is a business. It helps to know what you’re getting yourself into so that you can plan accordingly. Without a tool like this, you’re in the dark as a musician trying to figure out how the numbers will add up.

Drawing revenue expectations from the database is not an exact science. Every venue and every musician is different. But having some numbers to go off of provides you with a point of reference.

Criticisms of the Musician Earnings Database

When I launched the initial Google Form to collect earnings data, there was some push-back. I thought much of it was valid and I used it to develop the current version of the Musician Earnings Database. These were the two main points.

1. Every Venue and Musician Is Different. Multiple people commented about how this tool will not give other musicians an accurate earnings expectations for a given venue. Effectively because there are so many variables. Bands are not paid equally, it depends on their draw. Sometimes musicians are paid based on door revenue or bar sales. Sometimes they get tips, other times not. There are a lot of different ways musicians are paid and it is just not something you can predict based on some other band’s experience.

As a response, I removed any data points I had about how the musicians were paid.

The first version asked how much you earned from tips and how much you earned as a guarantee, etc. It asked for a full breakdown. Now it is simplified. The form collects total earnings from the gig no matter what the source was.

This way, it is more about “how much you can earn” rather than “how much the venue pays.” Those are two very different things and what really matters at the end of the day is what you take home.

Over time, as the reports pile up and there are a lot of data points for each venue, the number will be more accurate.

Showing both the median and mean earnings per gig also helps database viewers get a better picture of the variance in the data.

2. It’s the Promoter Not the Venue. In the first version of form, I collected ratings for the venue like overall rating and communication rating. Well, many times, it is the promoter who is in charge of communication and even paying the musicians.

As a response, I changed the form from a “venue review” to a “database contribution” about how much was earned. I removed all ratings and written review boxes.

The total earnings could still be affected somewhat by the promoter involved, but the budget comes from the venue and the venue’s earning potential at the end of the day.

Holding bad promoters accountable would have to be a job for another project.

By John Filippone