London Music Scene

[MysticMichael]

Londoners,

I'm planning to relocate to your fair city next year, and would like to get a very good idea of the music scene there, so I'll know what to expect well in advance of my arrival.

To give you a (cynic's eye) view of the typical gig experience here in New York, check out this Craig's List posting:

You know your gig in Manhattan sucked if...

• There's no pay because the gig is for "exposure." Meanwhile, the only people getting "exposed" to your music are your own friends, and the friends of the 4 other bands.
  
• Yeah, there are FOUR other bands.
  
• As you're trying to bring your gear into the club, the door is blocked by a bouncer who is dragging a guy out and throwing him on the sidewalk.
  
• You ask the bartender for a glass of water, and she says she needs to charge you...even though she knows you're "in the band."
  
• You tell everyone that your set will start at 9, but you actually go on at about 10:15.
  
• You have to cut out 2 of your songs to make sure all the bands get squeezed in. This leaves you with a set of 6 songs.
  
• As you're watching the band before yours, you have the thought that this might be the absolute worst thing you've ever seen or heard in real life. Then you remember that your own band is booked in the same club on the same night.
  
• There's no sound check so you spend the entire gig unable to hear anything, and trying to read the body language of your bandmates to know what is going on.
  
• A random guy offers the band $10 to play an impromptu version of a Nirvana song because he wants to hear it on his last day before going to prison.
  
• When the gig's over, you lug your gear back to the parking garage where you pay the attendant $15. Thanks to the guy going to prison, your net loss for the night was actually only $12.50.
  
• You have the horrible realization that this whole thing is no different than what you did 20 years ago as a teenager in your first band.
  
• The rest of the band says "Great show. Maybe we can play here again sometime."

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/muc/1370721532.html

So how does the live music scene in London compare/contrast? Do musicians typically get paid? Are you required to share the night with several other bands? Are the conditions and facilities generally reasonable & professional? Do the clubs and other venues generally supply quality backline gear and/or a competent sound engineer - or are you completely on your own?

Do tell...

MM

[jmattis]

I don't think that craigslist quote is very cynical at all. Sounds like a fairly typical Manhattan gig to me.

[bass12]

My one experience playing in N.Y.C. was pretty much as described in that Craig's List post (save for maybe the last four points).

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by MysticMiichael

Do musicians typically get paid? ... Are the conditions and facilities generally reasonable & professional? Do the clubs and other venues generally supply quality backline gear and/or a competent sound engineer... ?

I'd be rolling around on the floor laughing here if I wasn't so bitter and twisted about this.

I'm really sorry for being the bearer of bad tidings, but that Craigslist post describes the scene in London pretty much perfectly. The main difference I'd pick out is that in London, you'd lose more money, because £12-50 is more than $12-50.

[MysticMichael]

That's OK, Bill. Better to know now. At least I realize what I'll be getting myself into...

MM

[BassXgirl]

That CL post pretty much describes the scene in LA too, except for here they want you to pay to play. I've never had a prison bound "fan" requests, but we did once have a particularly BAD smelling, drunken homeless guy wonder in off the street and try to climb on the stage :/

Maybe this is typical of big cities in general where everyone and their grandma is a musician. The competition is fierce.

Sorry I've got nothing to offer you on London, but good luck to you. It's nice to see someone really planning out and strategically going after their goals.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by MysticMichael

That's OK, Bill. Better to know now. At least I realize what I'll be getting myself into...

MM

To be honest, it's a long time since I did much gigging down in London. But I can't imagine things have changed that much. Corporate entertainment can pay big money, but regular gigs for the bar and pub crowd of punters is often REALLY underpaid (read that as unpaid, pretty much) although it can be fun for other reasons. But the same old story applies; lots of bands, not enough gigs, general apathy and lack of interest in originality or the most basic aspects of a quality performance = not much money for musos.

I saw a guy last weekend here in Birmingham (England's "2nd city") spend over £30 on a round of maybe half a dozen cocktails at the bar, and while he was waiting for change he was whining to his mate about the fact that they'd had to pay £5 each to get in to see our 21 piece big band that is made up of some of the best players I've ever worked with. There were maybe 500-600 people in the place paying that cover and then drinking A LOT. The band got £500.

[chrisisnotevil]

I'm in Manchester, England's other "2nd" city. The CL post is pretty much perfect for describing playing around here too. There are some good DIY scenes knocking around but these tend to be centred around one particular genre of music and are quite hard to break into sometimes. From what I hear London is the same in that respect too.

[Musky]

Only to echo what everyone else has said really.

If you're playing originals don't expect to get paid - any money you do get won't do much more than cover your expenses. There are DIY promoters out there who tend to pay a bit more, but they're obviously totally reliant on getting enough people through the door. Which more often than not means your friends.

Most promotion is done out of house by guys who hire the venue for the night, so they're not getting any cut of the bar takings - it's quite common for them to only pay any cash at all after 20 people have mentioned your name on the door. It also means you can get very different nights at the same venue, so you're looking at contacting the promoter rather than the venue.

London audiences are also notoriously apathetic and of the 'so impress me' type. It's common for people to only hang about for their friend's band and not bother with any of the others on the bill.

Most places don't provide any backline.

There's probably a bunch of other things about playing London that are crap, but maybe I'm way to cynical.

[MysticMichael]

More thoughts/opinions/experiences?

MM

[guitfiddle0409]

Those kind of gigs are plentiful in Philly too. You almost have to want them badly enough in order to subject yourself to them however. When I smell the rat I usually vote no on those type of gigs.

Good luck in London. Too bad it's not 1969 all over again. You could headline the Marquee, get a contract, and tour the States!

[PJSShearer]

In London (or any of Britain's 2nd cities) the guy on his way to prison (or anywhere else for that matter) won't be offering money for you to play requests!!.