Cover band rockers won't back down...
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 3:06 pmhttp://live.wsj.com/video/cover-band-ro ... 96B05F62F0
OAKLAND, N.J.—Rock 'n' roll is here to stay, Danny & the Juniors sang more than half a century ago. Rockers on the bar-band circuit aren't so sure.
Bar-band gigs started getting less reliable about a decade ago, when the music business wobbled and club owners hurt by recession reduced their budgets, industry experts say. Tighter drinking-and-driving laws and costly licensing fees haven't helped.
Sterling Howard, 67, owner of Musician's Contact, a referral service, has helped rockers get gigs for 40 years, and he has never seen it so bad. Young men don't go to bars as much in the hopes of meeting women, he says, while some people prefer open-mics or even silence to a loud band playing Bad Company tunes.
"People are watching their own drunken friends, which is maybe more entertaining," Mr. Howard says.
By Mr. Howard's estimate, Top-40 cover-band gigs have declined 80% in the past 15 years. Unemployment among musicians broadly is up sharply: to 9% last year from 5% in 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts says, based on government data.
Nor is pay keeping pace with the times, artists and booking agents say. A band making $400 or so a gig in the 1980s doesn't make much more now. Inflation has eroded pay.
Some cover rockers make good money, especially those willing to live on cruise ships or play in tribute bands impersonating rock stars.
OAKLAND, N.J.—Rock 'n' roll is here to stay, Danny & the Juniors sang more than half a century ago. Rockers on the bar-band circuit aren't so sure.
Bar-band gigs started getting less reliable about a decade ago, when the music business wobbled and club owners hurt by recession reduced their budgets, industry experts say. Tighter drinking-and-driving laws and costly licensing fees haven't helped.
Sterling Howard, 67, owner of Musician's Contact, a referral service, has helped rockers get gigs for 40 years, and he has never seen it so bad. Young men don't go to bars as much in the hopes of meeting women, he says, while some people prefer open-mics or even silence to a loud band playing Bad Company tunes.
"People are watching their own drunken friends, which is maybe more entertaining," Mr. Howard says.
By Mr. Howard's estimate, Top-40 cover-band gigs have declined 80% in the past 15 years. Unemployment among musicians broadly is up sharply: to 9% last year from 5% in 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts says, based on government data.
Nor is pay keeping pace with the times, artists and booking agents say. A band making $400 or so a gig in the 1980s doesn't make much more now. Inflation has eroded pay.
Some cover rockers make good money, especially those willing to live on cruise ships or play in tribute bands impersonating rock stars.
