For solo acts & bandleaders who gig for money

The bar isn't paying you to play music.

It's paying you to sell the next round. Players who get that quote higher, get rebooked, and stop losing gigs to the $100 guy. Thriving Musicians is the business course music school skipped, built as games you play with your own act: you make the call, you see what it costs or earns you, and you walk away with a plan you'll use this Friday.

Your first lesson is on me. Pick any one. About 20 minutes. No card.

▶ Pick your free lessonTake the Gig Pay Checkup
31 lessons you play, not watchGig Ledger app + 8 gig toolsOne price. Yours to keep.
YOUR ACT HERE

Type your act's name. Turn your sound up.

How every lesson works

Call it. Play it. Build yours.

Same rhythm every time, about 20 minutes, on your phone between sets.

1
Call it.

Every lesson opens on a night that's about to cost you money. Before anything else, you make the call: what's going wrong here, and why does it matter?

No lecture first. Your gut, on the record.
2
Play it.

Then you play it as your own act, with your players' names. Judgment calls where the right answer depends on the details, and you see what each one would have cost.

The business words show up after you've already made the call.
3
Build yours.

You finish by building the real thing with your own numbers: your rate card, your season plan, your scripts. It lands in your Gig Business Binder.

By lesson 31, the binder is your whole business on paper.
The Gig Pay Checkup · 2 minutes

Where is your gig money leaking?

Your numbers, then six real calls from the bar and the booking inbox. Every answer is something working players do. You get a score, your leak in dollars, and the fixes I'd make first.

You

Solo, or do you lead a band?

Your numbers

About how many bar or restaurant gigs do you play a month?

4
Your numbers

What do you usually get paid for one?

$150
0
Your result

Your calls, graded, and your fixes

Unlock your fixes

How I'd play each call, your top fixes, the exact words to say, and the free lesson that teaches them. Where should I send them?

Five units · 31 lessons

Thirty-one lessons you play, not watch.

Not a video course. You play each one as your own act: your name, your players' names, your act in neon. Every call is a judgment call, and the right one depends on the details. Then you see what happened, and what would have happened.

Unit 1 · The Business of the Gig

Calls that make you thinkEvery option is something a real player does. The same move is right at a bar and wrong at a private party. You have to read the room.
A checklist after every lessonBuilt from your answers: your numbers, your set, your scripts, your backup plan. Download it or print it for the gig bag.
Your skills carry overEach lesson unlocks a skill and adds to your gig fund. Replay any game until you hit the top rank.
The original Thriving Musicians logo: a rocker with his hand in the air

The original Thriving Musicians logo. That's Rockstar.

Why this exists

I played to an empty room for months.

I was the entertainer on a major cruise line, and I blamed everybody: the cruise director, the sound, the passengers. Down the hall, a piano bar player I'll call Rockstar had a packed house every night. He was the top seller of bar revenue on the whole line. One night he sat down in front of me.

"Why are you even here?"
"To play music."
"No... WHY are you here?"

"What does that bar do??!"

That question changed how I play every gig. The free lesson is that night, and you get to answer him yourself.

▶ Answer Rockstar

I'm James Grande, a working musician and a high school business teacher. jamesgrande.com

Five units · 31 lessons · every tool

Play one free. Then pick one of two.

Pick any one lesson free

The whole game, your act's name in lights, and your after-lesson checklist. See if it earns its keep before you spend a dollar.

▶ Pick your free lesson

Both tiers are one time. No subscription, no community to keep up with, nothing to cancel.

Start here
$29Unit 1 · The Business of the Gig
  • All 8 Unit 1 lessons: who pays, your number, the season, the lead hunt, your promise, your rep, paying your players, show day
  • A personalized checklist after every lesson, saved to your Gig Business Binder
  • The Booking Email Pack: email + walk-in + follow-up, nine emails and a payment nudge
Everything
$179The whole course + every tool
  • All 31 lessons across 5 units: the gig, getting booked, the money, leading the act, the long game
  • The Gig Ledger app: gigs, expenses and miles on your phone, CSV for your tax pro
  • The gig tools: Invoice Maker, Setlist Maker, Booking Email Pack, Pricing Guide + Rate Calculator
  • The Write-Off Kit: itemized receipt + the one-page records list for your tax pro
  • The Booking Calendar: when to pitch every kind of gig, exported to your phone
  • The Senior Living Gig Kit: a steady daytime lane, from the set to the tracker
  • The Solo Act Starter: 30 days from cover band to your first solo date
  • Your Gig Business Binder: every checklist you build, printable as one document
  • A completion certificate when you earn all 31 skills

For working musicians, business education like this may be deductible. IRS Publication 970, chapter 11. You get an itemized receipt and a one-page Write-Off Kit to hand your tax pro.

Not tax advice.

Questions
Who is this for?

Solo acts and bandleaders: the person who books the gig, sets the price and hires the players. If you play on your own, it's for you. If you lead a band and pay the players, it's for you too. Every lesson works either way, with your own crew's names.

How long does a lesson take?

About 20 minutes. Play it once, then replay it until you hit the top rank.

Do I need to know business stuff?

No. Every lesson is a night, a month, a season or a booking you play through. The business words show up after you've already made the call.

Is the legal and tax stuff advice?

No. Lessons on money, taxes, contracts, insurance and investing give general information only. Ask a pro in your state about your own setup.

Which lesson is free?

Any one you pick. Open the hub, tap the one you want, and play the whole game, including your after-lesson checklist. Most people start with 1.1, "Why Are You Here?", or 1.2, "Know Your Number".

Is it a subscription?

No. Both tiers are a one-time price. Lessons and tools added to your tier later come with it.

Can I write it off?

Maybe. For working musicians, business education like this may be deductible (IRS Publication 970, chapter 11). You get an itemized receipt and the Write-Off Kit to hand your tax pro. They make the call. Not tax advice.

Do the tools need an account?

No. Each tool is a page that works on your phone, prints clean, and saves what you type on your device only.

▶ Free lessonPricing