The Decline in Gigging Opportunities....

[dhadleyray]

Some of you guys are talking like you're looking down on some musicians that take those gigs, not from choice, but lack of opportunity. Not to mention acting somewhat cold hearted and unsympathetic. Are you guys really that cold to people in desperate situations? If you are in a dire financial situation, are you really gonna turn down any bread? Even "close" to nothing is better than nothing...

Are you really saying, "it's a business, if you're having a hard time you better act more business like?"

I believe in taking care of bizness, but I'm not THAT uncaring.. YET.

I guess nobody's walking in any footsteps around here...

[Dave Martin]

Originally Posted by dhadleyray

Some of you guys are talking like you're looking down on some musicians that take those gigs, not from choice, but lack of opportunity. Not to mention acting somewhat cold hearted and unsympathetic. Are you guys really that cold to people in desperate situations? If you are in a dire financial situation, are you really gonna turn down any bread? Even "close" to nothing is better than nothing...

Are you really saying, "it's a business, if you're having a hard time you better act more business like?"

I believe in taking care of bizness, but I'm not THAT uncaring.. YET.

I guess nobody's walking in any footsteps around here...

I'm one of the 'if they're payin', I'm playin'' contingent. Last night, I played an acoustic music gig (outdoors, in 50 degree weather), next week there are dates on the books for tuxedo clad Top 40, a country bar gig, and some sort of corporate gig where we're supposed to play blues for white people. I got called for those gigs because I take care of business. I turn down very little.

And I recommend that everyone else take everything they can get, too - and have the skills and technique to cover it all.

[Rudreax]

Obviously this is an old topic, but oh well.

Read through all 9 pages. As someone that's aspiring to go into it full-time, it makes a lot of sense. I have absolutely no intention of sticking to the bar scene and actually want to move out as soon as I can.

I'm going to see if I can remember to take all this to heart. So much to keep to here...

[Mike M.]

I'm from the outer Detroit area and I have a friend who's son is about 23 and is a self taught guitar player. He's good and plays in his own style. (Hard to describe). Writes his own songs, want's nothing to do with covers and is getting very saddend how he can't find other players who are interested in doing an original thing. He knew some players but my guess is that they all "looked around" and got out of music to pursue jobs in the real world.

Would a move to some place like Nashville be a smart move for a young player looking to forge his own identity? Seriously, I haven't actively played out in years and don't want to give him the wrong kind of advice. Don't want to tell him to consider something that's a bad idea. I know it's not my place but his parents and I go way back.

[Bonerific]

Originally Posted by Christopher

I think that in 10 years, the current crop of DJs, laptopists and Abelton/MPC button pushers will be complaining that they're being put out of business by AIs hooked up to 15th generation ipods that can sense the mood of the crowd and pump out perfect music to match it in real time.

SHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! before steve jobs hears you!!!cus then were all F'd!!

[D.M.N.]

Originally Posted by Mike M.

Would a move to some place like Nashville be a smart move for a young player looking to forge his own identity?

I would love to know this too. I'm about to head to college (not a music degree), and am trying to find good areas for live music. How is L.A. right now? Anyone know?



This is an interesting thread to read four years later. I'm not sure about anyone else, but this all pretty much still holds true as far as I can see. Declining amount of gigs, increase in digital-whatchamahoozits and DJs.

In my area though, there has been a bit of a revitalization over the past year and a half. I started playing with these two guys (30-40ish, way older than me) about 20 months ago, and there was literally NO ONE else playing in my area. No cover bands, nothing. Just a group of old blues dudes that have been playing the same songs for the past 10 years. They kind of had a monopoly on all the gigs that were available in the town, and weren't too keen on the idea of any new bands. My dad told me that nearly 20 years ago, when he first moved here, there were plenty of bands. You could go out most nights later in the week (wednesday onwards) and there'd be a live band. Then it all dried up. Just these old blues dudes. So we start playing, and of course the bars love having a good cover band come in and play, so we were getting friday-saturday engagements pretty regularly. Pretty soon after we started up, about 3 more bands started getting together and playing too, because all of a sudden there was a call for live bar bands. It was interesting to see, and it's quite nice to have live music available, at least definitely on weekends (not that I can go see it, since it's mostly in bars).

I'd like to hear other peoples input, especially some of the guys that posted in this thread nearly 5 years ago. Has anything changed?

[Roadkill]

So, somebody linked this in another thread so maybe time to poke them zombies with stick and see if they still wiggle ? I was there the day the drinkin' age went up in Massachusetts. The clubs were packed one week and 10% full the next. So I sat down and learned to play (I was stoopid back then LOL) and started gettin' $75 a night even then same as today . Once 75% of the clubs closed down, the rest did OK for a few years at least.

[Kmonk]

From 1980 to 1984 I was gigging 5 nights per week. The least we ever made on a weeknight was $500 and on a Friday and Saturday night we never played for less than a $1,000 per night. We usually made more. I was able to support myself very easily at that time. Rent was a couple of hundred dollars per month, I had a couple of cars, a motorcycle and was really enjoying myself. The band eventually broke up and things changed over time. I have been lucky that I am still been able to make good money playing but I don't know anyone who is gigging 5 nights per week anymore. Its much more difficult for a young band today than it was 25 or 30 years ago.

[bluesblaster]

Way tuffer DUI laws $$$$$$$$$$
The Economy
Hip Hop

The living breathing musician is not as relevant in the digital age.

Its a bummer I know, so take what gigs you can still get.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by bluesblaster

Way tuffer DUI laws $$$$$$$$$$
The Economy
Hip Hop

The living breathing musician is not as relevant in the digital age.

Its a bummer I know, so take what gigs you can still get.

I know guys that won't go out to see bands in bars for fear of getting dui.

Blue

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by bluewine

I know guys that won't go out to see bands in bars for fear of getting dui.

... and most of them bands take a serious amount of alcohol consumption to make you think they are worth listening to LOL.

[bluesblaster]

In the early 70's the drinking age was 19 or 20 in some states and that brought alot more kids into the bars that wanted to hear rock n roll played live. In my town there were quite a few very accomplished bands, something to aspire to for a budding musician/bass player like myself. There were lots of night clubs, bars and ballrooms. The booking agencys were making a fortune, they had huge rosters of groups. I recently ran into one of the big promoters from back in those days, he's still in the game but only handles corporate and private affairs these days.

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by bluesblaster

In the early 70's the drinking age was 19 or 20 in some states.

18 in Massachusetts and most surrounding states.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by bluesblaster

In the early 70's the drinking age was 19 or 20 in some states.

18 in Jersey

Blue

[bluesblaster]

I believe it was 18 here as well (MN), I dont think it lasted more than a year or two then it was pushed back up to 19 or 20 again

[Roadkill]

I remember before that the age was 18 in Rhode Island so kids used to drive down there. Part of the rationale to lower it in Massachusetts was that so many kids were driving long distances drunk it was safer to have them drink locally . The age was lowered the year before I turned 18 I think so I never did the RI runs. Missed the 'nam draft by one year too . I was already over 21 when it went back up - most places were pretty casual about it. We had an underage singer in our band and we used to bring a stocked cooler right in to the gigs and were never hassled that I remember.

[pklima]

Things have definitely declined in Poland over the past 10 years, and drinking age has always been 18. Even the business for wedding bands isn't what it used to be.

Lowering the drinking age would probably help, but I doubt it would fix everything. Besides, how many people 18-20 are into the kind of music most TBers want to play, anyway?

[Roadkill]

The big problem is getting people home safe (and un-arrested ) after a night out at the clubs. Most US cities shut down there mass transit systems before the clubs close .

[Snarf]

I'm glad this thread got necro'd. I remember it from a few years back, I was a green music school student then.

Graduated school in 2009, in NYC now since April, been living off of cruise ship savings for the past nine months, while plugging some of the holes with a $50/week church gig, $100/month in rehearsals for another group (gigs pay $25+share of door split, would not be playing for them if rehearsals didn't pay), bagpipe gigs like weddings and funerals (winter is sloooow, but when I'm playing it's $150 minimum, sometimes get $200), just starting an 80's tribute gig for ~$150 a pop probably about 4 times a month, and soon to start my first student since moving to the city.

So compared to where I started, I'm actually close to paying my bills and am happy about that. Kind of missing the $5000 it cost me to rehearse, record, and duplicate my album, but whatever. (Was a bit of a rude shock seeing my stuff on Spotify available for $0.007 per access.)

Oh, and 90% of my work is off Craigslist. At first, EVERYTHING was for free, just trying to meet as many musicians as possible, whether or not they made a living off music. Have met some very interesting (good and bad) people that way.

Berklee should have had a class called: It's Hard Out There, Bring A Helmet.

I would LOVE to see a union that had some actual pull in clubs, get the crappy kid bands off the stages, kill off hipster rock for good, and squelch the weekend warriors. Also, I would like to see smoking allowed in clubs again, because as soon as a set break comes up, the whole audience leaves for a smoke and never bothers with the effort of walking back in the door.

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by Snarf

Kind of missing the $5000 it cost me to rehearse, record, and duplicate my album, but whatever. (Was a bit of a rude shock seeing my stuff on Spotify available for $0.007 per access.)

Berklee should have had a class called: It's Hard Out There, Bring A Helmet.

Or a class called "There ain't no money in producing jazz albums" .

I would LOVE to see a union that had some actual pull in clubs, get the crappy kid bands off the stages

Hey, if that's good enough for the club owners and patrons why should a union have any say over it?

kill off hipster rock for good

Music school jazz and hipster rock ain't all that different in popularity

and squelch the weekend warriors.

Well now, all us WW are gonna make an extra effort to steal your gigs for sure

Also, I would like to see smoking allowed in clubs again, because as soon as a set break comes up, the whole audience leaves for a smoke and never bothers with the effort of walking back in the door.

Maybe it's the music ? If I was you I'd add some Modest Mouse to your set lists .