Welcome to the first installment of a four part series that covers different aspects of occupying the revered / respected / feared / prestigious / avoided / hated / beloved / enviable / loathed, yet often coveted position of "The Bandleader!"

To start the series off in a good mood, I'll discuss some of the reasons why anyone would want the job of "bandleader" to begin with. Here are just some of the reasons you may want this job: you could... make more money; feel a sense of personal success; make more money; develop more music business contacts; make more money; develop a reputation as a responsible music professional; and, oh yeah, did I mention you could make more money?

#1 Reason: Making More Money

Alright, the main reason most people would try to position themselves as a bandleader would be to increase their lifestyle (i.e. increase their income). Bandleaders generally do, and should make more money than the other members in the band. Some of the standard rates leaders will charge will be five, ten, fifteen or twenty percent of the gross pay for the band. This is usually justified by the increased level of work and contribution the bandleader makes, above what the other band members contribute.

Here is a common example of how this could work:

• There's a five piece band (plus a booking agent)
• They have a gig that pays $3,000.00
• The agent takes a 15% commission of the gross ($450.00, leaving $2,550.00)
• The Leader takes a 10% commission of the gross ($300.00, leaving $2,250.00)
• Now the remaining $2,250.00 is split evenly between the five members, including the bandleader.
• So, from the gig that pays $3,000.00, the agent makes $450.00, each player makes $450.00 and the bandleader makes $750.00 ($450 as a player + $300 as the leader). Not bad, huh?

Now, to a player who has never been a bandleader, this may seem a little unfair, but believe me, there are reasons that a (good) bandleader deserves this money.

Time:

One of the main reasons is the amount of extra time the bandleader must invest in maintaining the working status of the band. To any professional, his/her time is valuable, and definitely should be paid for. For a bandleader, their time will be taken up by a lot of hours on the phone with people such as agents, club owners and band members. This can really take up a lot of the bandleaders day, especially if there is a snag in any of the gig's arrangements.

Expenses:

Although all band members will incur their own business expenses, there are often extra expenses that a bandleader will assume responsibility for. For example, back to the issue of phone calls... if your band travels, a lot of the calls to agents and club owners will be long distance. Between being on hold, waiting for an agent and faxing promo materials, etc, the costs can really add up fast. Promo materials, band pics, website maintenance, endless photocopying, envelops, postage, and gear transportation are just some of the other expenses that need to be covered. Often the leader is the one who takes care of all this.

Blood, Sweat, Tears & Headaches

Last, but certainly not least, one of the main reasons the bandleader deserves to be paid more is because, if you're the bandleader, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DEALS WITH ALL THE STRESS! This can really take a toll on someone, physically, mentally and emotionally. The leader of a band is the equivalent of the CEO of a large corporation. These people deal with much more stress and adversity than the rest of their employees. Gigs will fall through at the last minute, band members will quit with no notice, club owners will be unfair and demanding, agents will be unfair and demanding. The stress factor is no small matter, and the bandleader deserves much compensation for this aspect of the job.

Being an important reason for why many musicians become bandleaders, I wanted to devote this first article to the financial benefits. It can certainly be financially rewarding to be in charge, but as you can see, you don't get the money for doing nothing! Next month we'll move on to a few other reasons that "it's good to be da king!" (Mel Brooks - History of the world, Part I).