Re: Price check in Aisle 5
Actually, when you are subsidizing the cost of the event with your own pocketbook, you are devaluing the industry. When a band knows that they can hire your rig AND your labor for less cost than a dry rental of the same gear, that's not a good business plan. If the band is only making $400-$600 a night, maybe that band can't afford an engineer for the event.
Looking at your list of gear, you're bringing close to $15,000 worth of equipment to each gig. Just renting out that equipment list as dry rentals should fetch around $750.
What the band is making shouldn't affect the price of the service you offer. Do you think that they can walk into a music store and expect the most expensive instruments at discounted prices because they aren't making much at the gigs they are playing? No, they pay the price for the items they want. The difference is that when you are in a band, there is always the hope that your band becomes wildly popular, and money will start flowing. But the sound company has no chance of that happening in the future. If the band gets huge, they are most likely going to hire a higher end company.
Scale your gear properly to what the client is willing to pay, and you can actually make a profit. Heck, I rent out a pair of JBL Eons, speaker stands and a small mixer and 2 mics for $250 for the weekend on a pretty regular basis. All I have to do is make sure the gear is working when they return it, and re-wrap the cables. Total time investment is maybe a half hour per rental.
