Jason Nelson has always loved playing music.

The 30-year-old, Hillsborough, New Jersey, native started playing piano and saxophone in elementary school and continued playing in various school bands through high school. While getting his degree in marketing at Rutgers University, Nelson started playing pop covers for his friends and fellow classmates at parties and even outside on campus.

"I would kind of just walk along the street and go up to random groups" and tell them to pick a song for him to cover on his sax. Drake's "Hotline Bling" was a popular choice around that time, for example. The response was incredibly positive.

In late 2018, a year and a half after he graduated and after he started a career in marketing at Barnes & Noble College, a friend asked Nelson if he would play piano during the cocktail hour at her sister's wedding in March 2019. The bride also wanted him to play saxophone as the couple walked down the staircase for their grand entrance.

Nelson had so much fun playing sax alongside the DJ, he ended up playing the entire reception as well — despite only getting paid for the cocktail hour and entrance song. "I just remember being up there with the bride, the groom, all the bridesmaids," he says, "playing along to pop songs and being like, 'wow, I can do this.'"

Nelson has since built a bustling career as a live performer, playing piano and saxophone at "an average of 80 events a year," he says, mostly weddings. In 2023 alone, he grossed more than $176,000.

Here's how he built his musical business.   

Live musicians are 'a really, really popular add-on'

Nelson doesn't remember when he learned that he could keep earning money as a musician after that first wedding, "but I realized that it was a really, really popular add-on in my New Jersey area for DJs to hire live musicians," he says.

And he decided to do whatever he could to keep getting hired. By fall 2019, after reaching out to local New Jersey DJ companies to let them know he was interested in playing events, he was "doing about two, sometimes three" events per weekend, he says.

"For weddings, I was getting anywhere from $300 to $500," typically for a four-hour reception and sometimes for the cocktail hour as well, he says.

Nelson hoped to quit his 9-to-5 job in marketing in March 2020. By then he was confident he could make the equivalent of his "around $50,000 salary with events," he says. When the pandemic hit, however, he decided to wait. He used the time to post more videos on social media and to find industry connections on apps like Clubhouse.

He quit his job in September 2020, and by the spring of 2021, "a lot of the mask mandates were lifted, and the event industry, especially the wedding industry, saw lot of DIY and rescheduling weddings," or weddings in unconventional spaces like backyards on top of typical venues, he says. "So I worked three-to-four events a weekend."

He no longer needed to rely on DJ companies to book events as well. "You play one wedding," he says, "and then, you know, 12 people within the next three years are getting married." And they remember him.

'I don't have set packages anymore'

These days, Nelson often does about two events per weekend. The majority are weddings but there are also bar or bat mitzvahs, 40th birthday parties, a boozy brunch or a nightclub.

Earnings vary, though, his price tag has gone up.

"I don't have set packages anymore," he says. "I hop on calls with every single client of mine or future client of mine, and I put together custom proposals based on exactly what they're looking for." For weddings he usually recommends couples book him for the whole four-hour reception, but they're able to choose whether he only comes out at specific moments or plays for a certain amount of time.

One recent event paid $3,622. Another paid $1,325. Prices reflect demand for his services (he often gets asked to play multiple weddings per weekend) and the quality and detail he brings to each event. He says he earns about $750 per hour.

His gigs have taken him all over the country and world. This past year alone he's been to "St. Martin, Aruba," he says. "I went up to Newport, Rhode Island, three times this year, Boston, Cape Cod. I'll be in Miami soon."

As he continues building his business, Nelson's goals are less about expanding his schedule and more about finding a work-life balance that lets him spend time with family and friends, especially as someone who works when most people are off.

His favorite weekends are the ones where "I have two weddings, 30, 45-minute drive" away in New Jersey, he says. He gets to spend the day on Saturday with his girlfriend, friends and family going out to brunch or going on a hike before playing a wedding at night. That's precious time for him.

Going forward he wants to continue to prioritize that, he says.

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