How do I best support small bands?

[hardtop]

Being in an active touring band that plays clubs and theaters, I can tell you this: Buying merch from the band at a show is the only way we make real money. Obviously you have to go to the show to do that, so I guess step one is go to the show. But buying a ticket to a show is more of a long term investment, as most bands play on a guarantee and don't see any of the ticket sales directly. Going to the show increases the head count which could translate into a bigger guarantees next time they're through town or in other markets. Everyone who commented on draw is correct, the guarantee is directly tied to your door numbers. So long term: get your butt to a show and bring every friend you can. Short term: go to the merch table and pay in cash if you can. This isnt always about avoid taxes; most venues take merch cuts, and bands can keep a little more of their money if there isn't a record of an electronic transaction. For bands I like or albums I really love, I wait to buy the record until the band comes through town.
Live Nation venues take a brutal merch cut (AEG venues are not much better) but it's still the best chance the band has to make money. The percentage paid out on retail sales is measly, royalty rates are poor these days (and labels have ways of reducing them even further), and streaming is totally negligible for most bands. Buying an album digitally from bandcamp is also great, but picking up the physical copy and a hoodie at the show is the best way to support a band.

 

[Tnavis]

I'm basically repeating what everyone else is saying, but it's true. Go to shows. Buy merch. Spread the word on social media. There are some local bands I am huge fans of, and I wear their shirts at my shows all the time. We live in strange times; while it's possible to find out about bands all over the world, there's simply so much music out there that it's hard to get recognized. Wearing a shirt or hat or patch for band that isn't local is a great way to let other people know about them True story; I found out about the Irish thrash metal band Gama Bomb because I was at a completely unrelated metal show, and a guy had a Gama Bomb patch on his jacket. I wasn't familiar with the band, so I looked them up later and have become a huge fan.

But yeah.... spend money on things that directly help the band. Merch and gofundme/patreons/campaigns are the easiest way to support the bands you love. And if they are playing locally, go see the show. Drop a tip in the tip jar at the merch table. Find out if they're getting a cut of drink sales, and buy accordingly.

 

[bearfoot]

My #1 answer is buy physical CDs. Beyond that, or if music-collecting is not your thing, buy merch. Buy something.

Costs of CD production have not increased, they have gone down. So they are a high-profit item. If you like an original band, and they have a CD package put together - you will not find an online source for that music, at that quality (16-bit, 1k+ bps).

Many people are fine with low-quality, streamed mp3's, but for music-collecting, I still say CD is the de facto standard, and has not been replaced. An HD stream does retain an amazing amount of fidelity for what it is. But still, you can't stream HD quality music without dependence on services.

Yesterday I was listening to a CD of a now-defunct pipe and drum band that was called Teribus, at one time a staple of the renn faire scene. It's a very good, high quality recording of energetic, loud music. The CD does not exist online. The music does not exist on Youtube, does not come up in any search I have found.

This is but one of thousands of examples of music that can be found on CD, and does not exist online.

I'll give up my CD collecting when the 90's-2000's no longer exist in people's memories! (and a higher definition , physical medium standard replaces it at mass-market level....Japan just launched a new format, but I doubt it will catch on.....)

 

[Diamond_Dave]

A former coworker went the Virginia Tech. They would hire a local guy to play at some of their frat parties. He turned into something a little bigger. You’ve probably heard of him - Dave Matthews.

DMB played at my year-end dorm party at JMU in 1992.

 

[ambrosiajam]

rent a bus and take like 30 people to one of their shows in a nearby town lol

 

[JKos]

Besides live music is the best.

Hmm, I've heard some live music that I wish I could un-hear. Some bands are much better on the album than live.

If a band is getting 100% of the tip jar, I put money in it. It is the most direct way I can see to get them money. Buying merch still means lost money between me an them (and more stuff I probably don't need to buy).

- John

 

[brianrost]

Hmm, I've heard some live music that I wish I could un-hear. Some bands are much better on the album than live.

While that is true, I'm much less interested in those types of acts myself. I like seeing live music that blows away the studio recordings.

If a band is getting 100% of the tip jar, I put money in it. It is the most direct way I can see to get them money. Buying merch still means lost money between me an them

Depends on the merch. Even if the CDs are on a real label, artists get those at a discount so they get a good chunk of the money right away. If it's self pressed they get 100%. The only time the venue gets a piece of the merch money is at larger shows. At small clubs, they get 100%. At theaters, festivals, etc. the venue usually gets a percentage.

 

[Omega Monkey]

The 3 biggest ways are going to shows, buying CDs (at the shows, or otherwise directly from the band), and spreading the word about the band to anyone who will listen.

It's not uncommon for CDs at shows to be 15 or even 20 bucks (usually for more established artists or more rare albums). So if the wholesale on the CDs is like 3-5 bucks, you just put about 10-17 directly in their pockets (minus whatever the cut the venue might be trying to get, but that's not always the case). Now, if you the whole show was only 12 bucks and that's split between 3 or 4 bands plus the venue, how much do you think "your" band is getting from that if 50 people show up? So if you buy a CD or 2, you just GREATLY increased the money they're getting from you, plus you have both the ephemeral experience of the show and the enduring token of the CD to listen to and enjoy. If you feel inclined you could buy some other merch as well. I saw a smaller but upcoming band called Bent Knee a couple years ago. The ticket was maybe $15 (somehow split between 3 bands, venue, etc...), so if they were getting $5 a head off that they were lucky. But I bought the 3 CDs they had available and a shirt. I would have bought their newest album that was about to be released but somehow they didn't have it, and as I haven't seen them since, I still haven't gotten around to it. It was coming out the same week I think, or maybe within the next 2-4 weeks.

And yeah, a lot of smaller bands are either not going to be everywhere on streaming services, or they are likely to disappear from them someday in the future. Having a hard copy is a safeguard against that.

And then spreading the word. There's so much stuff out there, and so much crap, that a direct recommendation from a trusted friend can often go a long way that no amount of sponsored fb ads could ever do.

Going to the shows is kind of the foundation for all that. First of all, the draw thing that has been mentioned is a big part of it. Firstly, so they can say to venues they're trying to book, "hey, we are likely to bring 100 people", that gives them a certain level of clout, allows them to play nicer/bigger venues, get a bigger cut, etc... But then also, it's nice for the band to actually play a packed, enthusiastic crowd rather than 10 people who rolled in off the street to see what's going on.

One thing I really try to advocate in this area is a return to "tiered" bills too. So you have a fairly established "headlining" band, a somewhat established support band, and then a fairly new opening band. When done right, theoretically everyone wins. The established band gets a few new people who came to support the opening and support bands, the opening and support bands get to play for the larger crowds of the established band. And hopefully between the 3 of them, you have a compelling show. And it becomes more of an "event" which gets more people out in the first place. As opposed to 3 random bands that no one has heard of, so they each bring their 10 friends and family members, none of whom watch the other no name bands typically, and besides the venue making a few bucks on drinks, no one is really fulfilled.

 

[Son of Wobble]

.Japan just launched a new format, but I doubt it will catch on.....)

Great post.
As to the new Japanese format, presumably you mean MQA?
Below is a long but interesting and thorough video on the format. The author gives a thumbs-up, but
the prices for the gear that can decode the discs are at present so high ($2-10K)
that the format is definitely no threat in the general marketplace.

.
Incidentally, this video is fun for the authors attempts to play his MQA discs with a cheaper
workaround, and it becomes a huge problem-solving task such that it makes streaming straight from Youtube
look very attractive.

 

[bearfoot]

Techmoan is among my go-to channels for when I am burned out on the daily grind.
I agree that for a mild, possibly moderate upgrade from CD, MQA makes no sense. 24-bit/96khz DVD audio would be, I'd think, the go-to choice if something like that carved a niche. No special encoding needed.

But I think what is going to happen is, internet speed will keep increasing. 1080p streams sound almost as good as CDs to me, and now 4k streaming is appearing. So I think we are reaching a point where streaming at or above CD quality is becoming normal.

But there will always be no beating having a disc for any situation where relying on a 3rd party's bitrate is a question.
For most home users, that is relatively rare for cable IME, but at work, with a huge sprawling wi-fi system throughout a concrete building - yeah, movie day has been ruined more than once by relying on streaming. I will have 2 separate screens with decent home audio setups going tomorrow. Will be bringing in "across the universe" and "ladysmith black mambazo live" as backup DVDs[/QUOTE]