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Cover Band Rules
- Thread starter MrBruce
- Start date
Where, may I ask, is that?
Back in the 90's here in Chi we'd be playing a set sometimes and the club manager would run up on stage and warn us that ASCAP or whoever is now in the house. Some of the bars had better connections - they'd know when the agent was coming and tell us before our set ....
Way back in the day ('70's - early 80's) I was a full time musician in the Chicago area. Mostly did clubs, casuals and some session work. I was a member of AFM 10-208. When you played outside the city it hardly ever seemed to matter, but if you did a downtown hotel gig, a convention gig or a session at one of the few studios right in the city, you had an even chance of being asked to show your card. I dropped my membership when I left for California in 1987.
As far as BMI fees go, I have not seen much of it here in CA myself except for a very odd situation at a fairly popular coffee shop that regularly had music a few years ago. After a few years of regular music, all of a sudden the owner stopped having live music and he told everyone it was because BMI had come after him for the venue fee and he could not justify it. Geez, a coffee shop!
I also worked with an artist (American Idol contestant) who mostly did his own material but really loved Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton and included a few of their tunes on his set list. He told me that he had paid for performance rights directly to those two artists.
Everyone used to belong to the musicians union. When people complain about how little they make from music, it’s people who won’t pay performance royalties and people stealing songs on the internet (started with Napster), instead of buying that are the reasons for it.
With replies like these, it makes me wonder how any originals band ever succeeded.
But I get it, nobody likes to do the hard work and it's easier to play other people's songs...
Good luck with your hard-working originals project, I'm all for original music but don't knock the fact that bars want to make money.
I think there is more to it. The music industry was slow to meet the demands of the consumer. You could get music for free on Napster or your favorite bootleg site or you could go to the store and buy a CD for $20 that had two good songs and the rest was filler. For a long time there really wasn't a legal way to conveniently purchase music.
That was certainly part of it. But, people had been buying albums, instead of singles for thirty years, before you could start stealing it on the internet. People liked to listen to the whole album, all the way through. Then, people started filling the rest of album tracks with garbage, with only one good song that people actually wanted. So certain parts of the industry did us all in by doing that. The nail in the coffin was free peer to peer stealing.
I often tell people, whatever job they do, do just start giving the product or service away free from now on. Then they see the comparison.
The flip side is that other jobs don't have that continual revenue from something you do once. I write some code that is the basis of an ordering system for a company and I get paid for that 20 hours that worked. I understand that there are IP laws in play, but that doesn't change public sentiment.
No, it's egregious. Sell albums and tour all you want. Sell tickets. But don't bust my balls for playing living on a prayer in a stupid bar in some dippoopie town in middle America. Firmly in the "who cares" category along with "counterfeit guitars."
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
People forget that musicians are in the entertainment business. You aren't paid to be on stage to satisfy your ego. It's so people in the audience can hear what they want. You don't want to do that? Rent your own stage.
You are right. Public sentiment being that they don’t want to pay for something, means they get the kind of music business we have now. One where musicians and clubs can’t earn a living. It didn’t used to be this way. There will eventually be a new way to make money with live musicians.
ha! I remember Old Chicago. I lived in Downers Grove for a while and it was out west of there somewhere.
Royalties are royalties. Even original music is supposed to be paid for if it's been published. His point was that his fees would never actually put any money into the pockets of the acts he booked, so why should he pay so someone else would get the money. Venues (at least back then) were not expected to keep detailed playlists of what music was performed, so everything paid out to writers was a guesstimate, which benefits popular songwriters.
Several advantages to being AFM Union. Back in the"80's that in case of a disagreement between the band and the employer. the case is litigated din New Jersey most clubs don't want to travel to NJ to fight their case. I was Union from 1964 until about 1990 and then got my "Gold" card - lifetime member after 25 years; don't pay dues anymore but still active in the union. I was business agent for our local in Northern Illinois - we were quite lenient and allowed out of towners to get a "Travelling" permit. The BA in Peoria, however was quite tough - strong union town; you better have had a contract and card. check their site for other advantages Home - American Federation of Musicians
Hers a cover band rule: Contrary to TB opinion, if you play lead guitar in a AC/DC cover band, you gotta wear shorts.
LOL....it's not individual artists, but the companies who are supposed to keep track of Royalties for them. Such as BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. They do send folks around to "ambush" venues who are not licensed with whatever one is looking at them.
