General Music Chat

LOL... Just got off the phone with this young college kid who does the footwork for a promoter of a venue here in town.. She had posted an ad soliciting musicians...but gave no detail. When I spoke to her, she told me:

1) Looking for Folk and Indie musicians to come and jam at the venue on a specified date.
2) Any musician that wants to get in on it, will have to sell a quota of tickets for the event.
3) OR...in lieu of tickets if they want to feature themselves, they can pay the venue 50 bucks...

SO, I asked her...Okay...whats in it for the musicians? She answered, saying it would be good exposure for them. (She qualified this by saying that the assumption was they were newbies). No mention of paying the musicians anything...not even beer...

I then asked her of she was aware of the open mics that her venue holds...every month. (Brief silence on the other end of the line...)
I then told her that I seriously doubt that she would have a lot of luck convincing the newbies to go through this trouble, if they can do open mic for free and draw the crowd that way... (Score 1 for the exploited newbies).

Then... I suggested , if you want to draw money in, why bother with newbies...Pay the nickle and get some real bands in there, who will draw in the business. (And pay them)


WHat do you guys think...was the advice wrong?

No, not wrong, but wrong target. She was just doing what her boss told her to do, without a clue on the reasonableness of it. Will the promoter listen to her? Probably not.

Open mic audiences are usually musicians -at least in my neck of the woods, and held on weekdays when attendance is usually low, to help fill seats. If she's talking about a weekend gig, or an advertised performance date, then I could see where she's coming from.

What's the quota though? And what's the door? That is a lot of foot-work for no-names. I can pull maybe 1 out of every 50 friends/acquaintances I know on a weeknight, and I doubt many people would want to pay a cover charge for no-names. Weeknights are just not good for us working class folk

resonableness - Ha Ha thats a good one. Sounds like sumptin I'ld say.[/b]

Ok think about this....


They are planning to "pay" according to how many audience members you bring, in the form of tickets.


So how is that exposure since you brought all of them????


When I want exposure, I go stand in the sun for hours.

Ok think about this....


They are planning to "pay" according to how many audience members you bring, in the form of tickets.


So how is that exposure since you brought all of them????


When I want exposure, I go stand in the sun for hours.

OOOHHH you RED NECK you.

Hey Glen, how's Gwen?


I remember when this ticket scam baloney started in California and came to Texas in the mid 80s.

This is what KILLED live music. When good bands have no hope of finding places to play where their work can be rewarded, there will be no more new bands...and we end up with a glut of bad music.

She's Good. When you coming back up this way?
How's the new house?

Any way hope things are good for you!!!!!!!

Hey Glen, how's Gwen?


I remember when this ticket scam baloney started in California and came to Texas in the mid 80s.

This is what KILLED live music. When good bands have no hope of finding places to play where their work can be rewarded, there will be no more new bands...and we end up with a glut of bad music.

Exactly, I tried to explain that the Biz model this guy was using might barely work in Los Angeles, but doesn't stand a chance in Chuco town...

...PaperDog you were far too kind to the idiot. Musicians play music and promoters sell tickets. What Yod says is correct about California. What a load of wank. By virtue of who they are and what they do ... playing on stage ... musicians new and seasoned get plenty of "exposure". Is this the beginning of a MusoPonzi Scheme ??? Ta

Whatever happened to a venue promoting itself?????


The successful bars are the ones whom everyone knows would have a good band playing on a consistent basis. The audience is there every week because they know it is going to be good, even if they had never heard of this week's band. The pay is rarely great, but it is at least an admission that the band is worth something.

When the clubs in Dallas started making bands sell tickets, it became about who had the most bar-aged friends locally and the bands who had decent music (but didn't go to a local college) couldn't keep playing.

Those bars all shut down rather quickly.

I've seen some of those 'you sell the tickets so you can play' around here, too. School kids might go for it, specially if they're funded by their parents.

LOL

I'd rather go buy a years supply of enzite ...

Me too George. If I knew what enzite was...

I've heard of this selling tickets for the right to play - if you are eighteen and have a little following of hs kids that might be ok. But for real bands with real gear it is an absolute crock of crap.

Talbot

just tell them you want at least $200.00 for 4 hours of live music w/ 4ea. 10 minute breaks included..