Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
CRAZY perspective I got from a long-time DJ last night
- Thread starter two fingers
- Start date
Ah, gotcha. But on a side note, I think I see the writing on the wall for bar bands and I'm working on acoustic guitar to try to put together a duo. Probably just going through a phase.
That no matter what anyone says... I'm still right... even if everyone thinks I'm wrong.So ... the combined wisdom of TB ... the consensus is ...
I'm not following. What does a hiatus, OR how many people you've played for, have to do with anything I said?
Not directed at you, I thought he was talking to me. So, what's your band's name?
I could not possibly disagree more with this statement .
Music and and arts in general probably predate language. They are an enormous part of what a society is. They are the things that brought us (for good or ill) to being human. They give an identity to society.
How much money this is worth is the irrelevant part. Their worth to society is immeasurable
Hip Hop is selling more albums (well streams I guess), probably not a bad direction, but I don't think I can break into that scene.
I can appreciate that we all want to raise the level of live music, but awful bands want to play live just as you do and have every right to any gig they can dig up. It's not the bands that have to stay home, it's the venues that need to stop hiring these awful bands back.
Educating venues that you get what you pay for is near impossible. I've seen bars wind up hiring a cheap cook and the food becomes terrible. Then when people stop going, the bar owner stops the bands rather than hiring a new chef.
Rich Snyder thought I was asking to see his band. I was asking to see yours. I don't mean this as a challenge or questioning your ability. I'm truly interested.
One point that hasn't been brought up yet is that most of the bars that have bands (around here, anyway) ain't that big. They probably can't fit more than 70-80 people. I'm no business owner or anything, but I can't see a band making more that a few hundred.
I play mostly original music, but I have been in some hack cover bands that aspire to play bars. Usually someone quits before anything else.
I'm just interested in seeing how a band of your caliber does it.
If it helps I'll go first. Here's some vids of my hack original band.
Could be. I am a musician. And just the bass player to boot.
I stopped playing music in club-cover bands just for that reason. I was tired of playing covers over and over again just to play out. I think of music as an art form, not just a way to make money. I was to the point of dreading playing out as much as I dreaded my straight job
I still play out but only if it's fun and interesting and the music has not been beat into the ground. I guess at that point the money is not a worry to me, just my sanity.I have played for money because I needed it, lost straight job after 30 years
yeah that job I was dreading but, it was a fun gig, an Island Reggae band, we even played gigs in Hawaii for spring break. Those kinda things don't happen much. I was at the wrong place at the right time Now it's Art Noise, Reggae, Funk, or Jazz when I can find it. Otherwise it's the woodshed and, I'm alright wit dat
Even if you did mean it that way, it would be justified. If someone wants to go on and on about how they are better than most of their peers - technically, visually, and in terms of monetary value - you'd think step one would be to show off that heap of talent.
Yes - that's sort of tongue in cheek, but it sort of isn't. Growing up I was taught to 'act like you've been there before' and 'be humble', even if I was excelling at something. I was also taught that if I was going to run my mouth, I better have something damn good to back it up. I think the OP's slagging of others is more irritating than the insistence that they should quit undercutting this person's earnings, because the OP doesn't like it...
Hey, hey watch it kid! That's just how I dress, said the old retiree and I like my stroll along the boardwalkMy problem is with hack bands. My problem is with musicians who think that being on stage is some sort of birthright. No effort needed. No TALENT needed. No need to bother with dressing like something other than the landscaping crew or a retiree out for a stroll on the boardwalk. No need to actually get GOOD at playing, singing, harmonizing.
If you can play like a mix between BB King and Satriani, by all means, do it for next to nothing.
But if the ONLY reason you are up on stage is to fulfill some sort if ego trip and be the coolest guy in the room ..... all the while sucking horribly..... (I'll say it again) keep your butt in the garage where you belong.
Two Fingers... 21 pages.... I'm off to band practice... It has to stall ... my guess is 22 pages by the end of the night is it.
The real money in the music business is definitely in songwriting, period. If you can write a catchy melody and a few hooks you're in the right vein. If you can't figure out how to make it connect with an audience though it's still just masturbatory.
For quality bands (the ones who get that you play what the audience wants to hear/dance too, know to dress appropriately, know not to blow peoples ears out, know how to keep whoever is hiring them happy, know how to play their instruments AND how to do it in an ensemble setting etc) there is plenty of work and the money is still pretty decent. Maybe not make-a-living-at-it decent but enough to justify the time and expense put into it. Basically you just gotta have your $hit together. So many just simply don't have a clue...
Which if you're paying any attention at all should begin to give you a clue. As to what kind of music people frequenting that venue (at least) want to hear. Both from the bands playing there and what the DJ is playing as well. Take the hint.
Answered above.
There's another hint right there. Well stated.
No real answer, you can be replaced for little no cost. Truth be told, who goes out dancing anymore? What’s the latest steps? For that matter, have you tried to dance to anything uptempo written in the last 10 years without looking like an arobics class reject?
I will agree on one point, you better be adding a lot to the bottom line of the enterprise.
