Wanna Be A Rock Star? You Might Make More As A Roadie…

I was doing a little research for my first novel in NINE years, and one of the main characters is a roadie so I thought I better check what a tech guy makes in 2015. I was surprised to discover they often make more than the musicians in a band. I found an article in the Wall Street Journal via Ultimate Guitar (WSJ have it behind a wall) (Ultimate Guitar? “was started on October 9th, 1998 by Eugeny Naidenov (aka zappp) – a student of economic faculty of Kaliningrad State University, Russia”) about how the roadie business is thriving in 2015, which makes sense since touring is mammoth with the bottom fallen out of the recorded music business.

Let’s cut and paste courtesy Mr. Zappp:

“I know musicians who play on the road who make less money than the tech guys I know,” reads the quote from Jimmy Davis, the stage manager of country star Hank Williams Jr.

And speaking of that quote, you might remember that Devin Townsend has recently revealed that he earns about $60,000 per year.

The article further reveals some neat data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, noting that an average roadie, or a sound engineering technician, makes $57,000 per year, not taking into account all the self-employed folks.

More stats – “front of house” live-sound engineers, a.k.a. the people who control what concertgoers hear, earn at least $60,000 a year, and can reach up to $120,000. Furthermore, road managers can earn $125,000 or more while tour coordinators fetch a hefty amount of $175,000.

And now meet the king of roadies, Mr. Tom Weber, a 57-year-old technician who began his career after filling on for an absent KISS roadie 40 years ago.

Kentucky-based Mr. Weber now makes quite an impressive figure of $200,000 per year and is one of the most demanded individuals of his profession. He maintained guitars for Van Halen, The Cult, Poison, Nine Inch Nails, as well as country stars Lyle Lovett and Reba McEntire.”

“The report further indicates that the number of full-time songwriters in Nashville is down 80% since 2000, while wages of recording session musicians in LA have shrunk as much as 70% over a similar period of time. It is widely known that record sales are heavily down as well, about 60% down since 1994, to be precise.

But with the constant increase of not only tours, but concert festivals, the technician team is pretty safe. Their jobs can’t be performed by robots or relocated to China providing some decently lucrative opportunities.

“Employment opportunities in the live-music industry have never been better,” says Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni. “While record-company jobs have nearly disappeared, road- and tech-production-crew gigs continue to grow.”

So bulk up on your carbs and off you go into the roadie business.