General Music Chat

we ARE WORTH $50.00 a month!! LOL

...but a professional band wants to look professional. four guys in their twenties probably don't care if the lead player is 40 if he's great and can look the part. But they probably don't want fat balding old guys that can only play Skynard.

and its frustrating to go through auditioning a dozen guitar players when you could've judged them before hand much more quickly

If money is of no concern then you're a hobbyist and a professional player needs someone more dependable. There's a million good reasons to put something in your resume' if you're at BandMix, even if you aren't looking for a band.

I get you, to a point. As far as the looks thing, yeah, there are folks out there who want bandmates to have a certain look (sometimes regardless of their ability), but I don't go in for that myself. I'll take that fat old balding guy--IF he can play good jazz. Ability trumps all, in my book--this ain't a fashion show, and I'm not looking to pick up groupies.

I do have clips folks can listen to; if that doesn't give them enough to go on to set up a session (hence my question), I'm not sure what will. After all, if I gotta haul around the heaviest rig, the least they can do is take an hour or two and see how it sounds. In my book, the sound is the most important element.

I never said money is of "no concern"; getting paid to play is a good thing. What I object to is the notion that

...a musician must be a BUSINESS MAN first, a musician second.

Methinks Jook has it back-asswards. If you aren't a musician first--as far as I'm concerned, the music ALWAYS comes first--you won't need to worry about business; you won't be doing any (unless you manage the bands/musicians who DO put the music first). You can be a musician first & foremost and still make some decent money. Unless you wanna play jazz in Tampa.

...a guy/gal (w/ ability) has to be able to approach the business end.

Ok, I can roll w/ that to some extent. I know enough to avoid a manager, can negotiate fees, etc.--dunno much about the web publishing/sales that y'all have been talking about, but that's ok. Still, no matter how good folks are, they gotta be musicians first. Everything flows from that. Even the Eagles--a band notorious for putting business first--had a core of guys who were musicians first (Leadon, Felder, Walsh, Meisner). Without those guys, they would have been just another SoCal bar band backing up Linda Ronstadt. (Which would have been a good gig, really.)

If you wanna do some collab, sure. But you know my penchant for charts--once you train a seal, it's tough to go back. If you've got something that needs a piano track, send it along and I'll see what I can do.

Pay rates, even for cover bands, are very area-dependent. Places like Houston pay fairly well. Here, around Boston, there is a glut of bands so everyone ends up working for crappy pay. There are a few good venues that pay well, but they hire only the top local acts, too.
Interesting article:
https://reverb.com/news/should-musicians-play-for-free?_aid=tank

Well written. Although the post is from some time ago, just curious as to whether many members have had success connecting with musicians similar to the pet peeve posting??? I just reactivated my Bandmix account and I am leary about a full premium membership considering the first time I signed up, I received responses from those who were not within my preference or music genre type...or, those who did not reply. I live in South Jersey and do hope this is a positive avenue to network with some instrumentalists or a band that is interested in a vocalist with my vocal abilities.

Well written. Although the post is from some time ago, just curious as to whether many members have had success connecting with musicians similar to the pet peeve posting??? I just reactivated my Bandmix account and I am leary about a full premium membership considering the first time I signed up, I received responses from those who were not within my preference or music genre type...or, those who did not reply. I live in South Jersey and do hope this is a positive avenue to network with some instrumentalists or a band that is interested in a vocalist with my vocal abilities.

It's worth subbing for a month if you see other bands or other likely musicians in your area with up-to-date profiles so you can message them. 'Hide' your contact info in your profile so that non-premium members can search you out and find you.