Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

HI all, not looking for trouble here, but want to hear from currently GIGGING musicians regarding their success in making meaningful contact with worthwhile people here on BM

I'm in MD, been on this now for a few weeks, have reached out to quite a few people who have impressive profiles that match up with what each other is looking for.

My conclusion: Most of the people who sign up for BM in my area are wannabe's, and cloud-chasers. I literally offered a guy paying gigs site unseen and he couldn't even be bothered to reply back. Did I miss something in the news? Is there no more unemployment?

I welcome your thoughts and differences of opinion, but please stay civil
peace out
J

Most people who sign up here give up within a couple of weeks and never come back, so your communications are often ignored, missed.

Musicians are also quite flaky, even the active ones, and if they don't like what they see, or just aren't interested, will tend to just ignore the invite or communications.

Don't expect to find bandmates on bandmix- stick with craigslist, it's still unfortunately a much better option.

Don't assume that just because you have gigs to offer that people will jump at the opportunity.. gigging usually offers a little less than minimum wage when you factor in the total time to load, unload, setup, play, break down, load, unload again... factor in gas and gear maintenance and most of us are lucky to break even. Unless you are offering $500+ per man, you really aren't offering a well-paying job.

Kramerguy wrote:Most people who sign up here give up within a couple of weeks and never come back, so your communications are often ignored, missed.

Musicians are also quite flaky, even the active ones, and if they don't like what they see, or just aren't interested, will tend to just ignore the invite or communications.

Don't expect to find bandmates on bandmix- stick with craigslist, it's still unfortunately a much better option.

Don't assume that just because you have gigs to offer that people will jump at the opportunity.. gigging usually offers a little less than minimum wage when you factor in the total time to load, unload, setup, play, break down, load, unload again... factor in gas and gear maintenance and most of us are lucky to break even. Unless you are offering $500+ per man, you really aren't offering a well-paying job.

And that isn't even including the hours you spend rehearsing for the gig.

You don't even have any music posted on your profile. How are musicians to know if they want to gig with you or not if they don't know your taste in music or your skill level?

I love being a poser wannabee, thanks for the props!

Good Luck in your search!

When it comes down to it, all of us are posers... Some us actually just don't care what others say about it...



Just kidding...

As a rule of thumb, if one is on bandmix touting musical philosphies, etc. it generally means that they aren't too busy with a professional production schedule. (Has anybody ever seen Lady Gaga post something here?)

That said, you should post som music to grab the attention of other posers ,,,err,, musicans

You're not a poser or a wannabe John. These are people who never gig and usually aren't that talented. But not being a pro does not make you a poser. People confuse what "pro" means; it just means you get paid. We get paid but not enough to live on so we are amateurs. There are plenty of f*cked up pros (Keith Moon and John Bonham were pros).

Slacker G wrote:

Kramerguy wrote:Most people who sign up here give up within a couple of weeks and never come back, so your communications are often ignored, missed.

Musicians are also quite flaky, even the active ones, and if they don't like what they see, or just aren't interested, will tend to just ignore the invite or communications.

Don't expect to find bandmates on bandmix- stick with craigslist, it's still unfortunately a much better option.

Don't assume that just because you have gigs to offer that people will jump at the opportunity.. gigging usually offers a little less than minimum wage when you factor in the total time to load, unload, setup, play, break down, load, unload again... factor in gas and gear maintenance and most of us are lucky to break even. Unless you are offering $500+ per man, you really aren't offering a well-paying job.

And that isn't even including the hours you spend rehearsing for the gig.

You don't even have any music posted on your profile. How are musicians to know if they want to gig with you or not if they don't know your taste in music or your skill level?

Point taken, allow me to retort...
As a percussionist, mine is a position of support, I can support pretty much anything the singer/front person want to fly with.
I've covered everything from Pink - Eminem - J MRaz - Toby Keith - Adele - Led Zep - STP - Violent Femmes, etc, etc. It really does not matter to me what the music is, to me it's math put into motion.
FWIW - I do have a video sample up, and YES, I have nearly 1000 hr on stage.

Further - if you break down most sources of employment -
How many companies pay you for your commute time?
How many companies pay your student loans?
How many companies pay you for work brought home?
get my point?

As others have said, don't expect replies back from people who have not visited their profile in weeks or months. A good way to judge whether you will get a reply is if they include contact information or links to their music/profiles on other sites.
Agreed that CL will get more replies (or ads from people worth checking out), but you still need to weed through the wannabes.

mdman wrote:HI all, not looking for trouble here, but want to hear from currently GIGGING musicians regarding their success in making meaningful contact with worthwhile people here on BM

everyone here is a "worthwhile person" but not everyone has the same goals.


When someone doesn't contact you back, isn't that all you need to know about them?


keep searching....seek and you will find.





.

Many of us are 'former' pros, part timers, amateurs and what have you.

As an amateur, I'm busily preparing for a recording date Tuesdays. It gets kind of mixed up. But I have no desire to go back to playing every cheesy gig some clown can dig up for me. (unless that clown can get me enough money to survive somewhere in the area where I'm surviving now)

It seems that unless you can grab a tour you are likely to be an amateur these days. The money alone makes it so.

you have to ask yourself if once you are weary of traveling, are you less of a musician?

My answer is a tentative yes. When I played all the time, I played better than I do now. There is simply no escaping that. Somebody like JimmyD who plays a good bit, will play better than someone who doesn't.

No matter the talent - part of it will always come down to dexterity.

If we describe 'pro' as doing it for a living that narrows it down right away to those who are a) good enough to gig regularly [many of us here], and b) willing to travel and live that life. [few of us - have to pay bills, kids etc]

Hope that helps

Talbot

jimmydanger wrote:You're not a poser or a wannabe John. These are people who never gig and usually aren't that talented. But not being a pro does not make you a poser. People confuse what "pro" means; it just means you get paid. We get paid but not enough to live on so we are amateurs. There are plenty of f*cked up pros (Keith Moon and John Bonham were pros).

And this from someone who is an occasional weekend warrior?

I built our band here . . . as for Craig's List . . . great for telling tweakers where your stuff is.

To me a pro is someone who isn't afraid to play in front of an audience, and does it regularly. The amount of times per year doesn't necessarily reflect their ability, but rather opportunity.

And a pro is someone who can keep up with other pros jamming. I've been pro since 1975 but still meet people that make me feel like an amateur.

yod wrote:To me a pro is someone who isn't afraid to play in front of an audience, and does it regularly. The amount of times per year doesn't necessarily reflect their ability, but rather opportunity.

And a pro is someone who can keep up with other pros jamming. I've been pro since 1975 but still meet people that make me feel like an amateur.

does this mean Jimmy Page is not a pro? Steely Dan went 14 years from 1980 to 1994 without playing live? does this mean they are not pros? ..

MikeTalbot wrote:Many of us are 'former' pros, part timers, amateurs and what have you.

As an amateur, I'm busily preparing for a recording date Tuesdays. It gets kind of mixed up. But I have no desire to go back to playing every cheesy gig some clown can dig up for me. (unless that clown can get me enough money to survive somewhere in the area where I'm surviving now)

It seems that unless you can grab a tour you are likely to be an amateur these days. The money alone makes it so.

you have to ask yourself if once you are weary of traveling, are you less of a musician?

My answer is a tentative yes. When I played all the time, I played better than I do now. There is simply no escaping that. Somebody like JimmyD who plays a good bit, will play better than someone who doesn't.

No matter the talent - part of it will always come down to dexterity.

If we describe 'pro' as doing it for a living that narrows it down right away to those who are a) good enough to gig regularly [many of us here], and b) willing to travel and live that life. [few of us - have to pay bills, kids etc]

Hope that helps

Talbot

Talbot
I would say u make the most sense of anyone who answered.
Truth is the road is brutal and with family all I seek nowadays are the best local gigs w the best local people
Didn't think I was asking that much but I've learned
Peace bro
Joe