General Music Chat

You can whine all you want, but I think you would be better trying to build a fan base that will support you.

yet another add on done by the new bottom line club owners; You never needed a "following" to play the better clubs in the past. You had to be "good enough" to play their venue. THEY had the following. The good clubs were packed no matter who was playing. You had to go audition and convince the owner that you were a quality act that would entertain HIS crowd!
Now they want you to do their work AND yours to make THEM money.
Bullshit I say!


Salute!

A lot of the advice that "Amateurs" and "Start up" bands get are.."Get exposure" Get yourself out there. Do anything you can to pursue you goal. Take any gig to help build your experience. Those young bands take that advice AND now here we have the people that have offered that advice whine and complain about it.
When I was younger and loved to play for the sheer passion of it, I would play anywhere I could regardless if I got paid. Yes as I got older I expected to get some sort of compensation for my time. Ive played parties, fairs and events,some as a favor, some for the fun of it...Well, the chow and beer didnt hurt. The way I see it, if you are a "Professional" and really as good as you think you are, there will be places that pay for you to play,if not maybe your not as much a "Professional" as one might think...

i can't speak for anyone else but i've never told ANYONE to go out there and play for free at bars, festivals, what have you. so i WILL gripe about musicians who dilute the amount of paying gigs that are (or aren't) avail to working pros.

"The way I see it, if you are a "Professional" and really as good as you think you are, there will be places that pay for you to play,if not maybe your not as much a "Professional" as one might think..."

sure, there ARE still places to play for pay. problem is... it's the same pay as it was 25 yrs ago! and the number of places available to get a fair wage has seriously decreased. and it will continue to decrease as long as a cheaper product is available. even if the cheaper product is (musically) inferior.

as stated above... how much talent a musician possesses isn't the be all, deciding, and important factor we would like it to be. if it was ....amateurs playing freebies wouldn't be an issue.

it doesn't matter to too many places if i'm the best gtrst that ever picked up an axe.....what matters to most of them is how much they have to spend.

No disrespect but I have to chuckle when I hear ( read ) terms like 'musically inferior' ETC.
AC/DC - Miley Ray Cyrus
( and everywhere in between )
Musically inferior and filthy rich from it.

You got to make stuff happen.
Unless your an insider.
The business has changed.
Adapt and overcome, or parish.

Since I was 17, my mantra has been "when I want exposure I go stand in the sun"

But let's admit there are sometimes legitimate reasons to play for PROMOTION, like when a band is first starting out and wants to try their show locally with no pressure. Or maybe a national conference where you can network with buyers. Or in a high profile situation that will net many more gigs, like a packed night at a club in front of a national band, or a TV show, or radio program, or even a house party where it will be fun and there will be influential people.

Once I had an established band in Dallas but we were asked to play an "audition" for a restaurant/bar. I agreed to give them enough to make a decision and we booked it.

After one set, I went to the owner and asked what dates were available. When it became obvious that this was their way of getting free bands, I thought it was time to demand a little respect.

I nicely told him that I had to pay the musicians (even if he didn't) based on an hourly scale and we had auditioned enough, so it would a discount rate of $x for us to finish the night. Well, they didn't want us tearing down while people were in the restaurant so they agreed to pay. They also knew we were serious professionals and we played there several more times.

The point is that playing for free "can" be advantageous if you agree (upfront) to something more tangible after you've done that well.


Otherwise, let the amateurs do it. It marks them as amateurs and don't think the other club owners aren't watching. Playing that gig will ensure that you make nothing anywhere else.