is band culture changing?

[bluewine]

From the responses and replys I have read from my threads, it seem like gigging is not much of a priority with many bands.

Outside of family or health reasons and lets keep this from a cover band perspective because it will go all over the place if we consider originals.


Are you and your band working enough in your opinion?

How often are you gigging during s month?

If you are unhappy with the amount of gigs your band books, is there anything that can be done to improve bookings?

Blue

 

[s_mcsleazy]

band culture is nearly dead. im sorry but thats the way it is.

me and my bandmates all have to work like hell so gigs are verry rare. were basicly down to 2 a year because we're all too busy working trying to survive. bands only play for fun nowadays, not money. its always been hard for bands to make money but considering now money is somthing no one has then its not viable to do so unless you enjoy it to the point your willing to make a loss and inconvence yourself by having to come home from work, pack all your gear into the boot of your car, drive to the venue, unpack your gear, soundcheck, wait for 2 hours to go on, play for half an hour, argue with the venue owner who said he would pay you £50 when he only gave you £20 wich wont even cover your petrol, pack all your gear up into your car, drive home, unpack your gear and then have to get up in 6 hours for work.

do i miss gigging? f*** yeah
is it viable to do for any other reason than fun? not really

its easyer to be a recording band

 

[TinIndian]

Everyone in my band has a day job so we don't have to gig all the time to make ends meet. We do play out, on average, 3 times a month and rarely do back to back nights. That is right where we want to be as a band, gig wise. That way it doesn't become all consuming. We get paid well for this area but we don't do it for the money per se. For us it is more about the fun aspect of it. I use most of what I make to support my gear and GAS expenses.

 

[Skygonzo]

band culture is nearly dead. im sorry but thats the way it is.

me and my bandmates all have to work like hell so gigs are verry rare. were basicly down to 2 a year because we're all too busy working trying to survive. bands only play for fun nowadays, not money. its always been hard for bands to make money but considering now money is somthing no one has then its not viable to do so unless you enjoy it to the point your willing to make a loss and inconvence yourself by having to come home from work, pack all your gear into the boot of your car, drive to the venue, unpack your gear, soundcheck, wait for 2 hours to go on, play for half an hour, argue with the venue owner who said he would pay you £50 when he only gave you £20 wich wont even cover your petrol, pack all your gear up into your car, drive home, unpack your gear and then have to get up in 6 hours for work.

do i miss gigging? f*** yeah
is it viable to do for any other reason than fun? not really

its easyer to be a recording band

Gloom and doom anybody? sheeeesh...this guy made me wanna kill myself for a second there LOL
I'm gigging at least 3 times a month with minimal issues. Bars are not paying what they used to but it's enough to make it worthwhile. The fact is that gigs are what you make of them.

 

[hrodbert696]

What do you mean by "band culture" exactly? Do you mean the priorities of the musicians, with people wanting to play out less, or do you mean the market for live music, with fewer audiences/venues for it?

It seems like most bands or projects I get involved with DO want to play out - but they vary in how much. Most seem content to say they want to play out maybe twice a month, if that. Some just want to jam and do open mics. But I do still find people who want to run the band more seriously, not rely on it to pay the bills but try to play often enough to make some side money at it.

 

[Joe Nerve]

From the responses and replys I have read from my threads, it seem like gigging is not much of a priority with many bands.

I'm confused. Cover bands who don't have gigging as a priority? I wouldn't even consider them coverbands. I'd call them hobbyists who get together to jam with their friends once in a while, and play gigs if they pop up. Perhaps you're finding the wrong peeps to play with. Or you need to restate exactly what you're saying. I'm not understanding.

 

[DBCrocky]

I don't understand the appeal of using TB for status seeking.

 

[chicharra9]

My band usually does 2 to 3 gigs a month, and we all have day jobs but the bajo sexto man
(we do norteño music), i get half the house income from this, i would love to dicth the day job, but the band would need to do 4 or 6 gigs a month to do that, and the singer is kinda lazy, sorry for the english, i´m not fluent yet!

 

[Scooter09]

From the responses and replys I have read from my threads, it seem like gigging is not much of a priority with many bands.

Outside of family or health reasons and lets keep this from a cover band perspective because it will go all over the place if we consider originals.


Are you and your band working enough in your opinion?

How often are you gigging during s month?

If you are unhappy with the amount of gigs your band books, is there anything that can be done to improve bookings?

Blue

I'm in a cover band from South Louisiana. We just played our first gig on the 6th of this month. We are only allowed to play every other weekend due to our guitar player working a 7/7 schedule, but as of yesterday, we are booked up through the end of the year for every weekend we have available. Business is great down here! We are actually having to turn down gigs!

Almost Famous
Link Removed

 

[bluewine]

What do you mean by "band culture" exactly? Do you mean the priorities of the musicians, with people wanting to play out less, or do you mean the market for live music, with fewer audiences/venues for it?

It seems like most bands or projects I get involved with DO want to play out - but they vary in how much. Most seem content to say they want to play out maybe twice a month, if that. Some just want to jam and do open mics. But I do still find people who want to run the band more seriously, not rely on it to pay the bills but try to play often enough to make some side money at it.

Yes, the priorities of musicians, where they stand on gigging philosophically, emotionally, their personal need to gig, and their enthusiasm and drive.

Just from the first few replays I'm seeing and your confirming that band culture has changed.

I still have the "cheer leader" attitude towards gigging. I'm giving advice to buddies that are inactive that I thought gigging was a priority with them. Turns out it's not.

My band played 3 night last week and I would have preferred 4-5.

The money adds up and it's worth my while. I will be able to pay my quarterly property taxes from my earnings as a musician this month which is pretty cool.

Yes I work a full time job, but I'm single and with adult kids. Meaning I probably have more time for gigging than some.

 

[bluewine]

I'm confused. Cover bands who don't have gigging as a priority? I wouldn't even consider them coverbands. I'd call them hobbyists who get together to jam with their friends once in a while, and play gigs if they pop up. Perhaps you're finding the wrong peeps to play with. Or you need to restate exactly what you're saying. I'm not understanding.

No, I might be in the wrong band but I'm with the right people. We gig 2-3 times a week and even have 8 nights in a row booked at the end of the month.

My band is very excited about live performance and keeping the band booked.

It's strange to me, but there are cover bands that don't focus on bookings as much as you'd expect.

 

[bluewine]

I don't understand the appeal of using TB for status seeking.

I'm not sure I understand, care to elaborate?

I'm not sure I have any kind of status or how you seek it.

 

[troy mcclure]

There are certainly a lot of guys that get together to play for fun, hobbyists who are now have options later in life to enjoy their free time and money on gear. I think it is a product of the generation, these folks grew up in the rock era, and their kids are grown and they now have time for things they didn't. Some folks like the social aspect of it.

That being said, I play to be in front of people and get paid. I will never play in band again that wants to spend time rehearsing vs time gigging. I don't have to be friends with the other members of my band. I don't even like the drummer, I tolerate him because he is very good. We only communicate to tell each other about gigs or to pick a few new tunes to work on.
Every band is different, I do notice most cover bands do not stay together 12 months if they have not gotten over the hump of playing more than rehearsing, unless they are bottom feeders that take the low paying gigs.

 

[s_mcsleazy]

Gloom and doom anybody? sheeeesh...this guy made me wanna kill myself for a second there LOL
I'm gigging at least 3 times a month with minimal issues. Bars are not paying what they used to but it's enough to make it worthwhile. The fact is that gigs are what you make of them.

yeah, i do that to people. im a realist.

my point is other than for fun i know no one who can make alot of time for it. its sad but thats the way it is.

 

[troy mcclure]

To the OP's original questions:
My band gigs more than I want but I like the band, my goal is 6 gigs a month as I work weekends and would like 1 to myself, we play 8 - 12 gigs a month.

We are working towards better paying gigs by building a fan base and playing songs that will get us into higher paying venues (danceable music vs hard rock).

You only get gigs by working at it, bugging the crap out of the clubs for gigs. The smart owners book you based on where else you play. Most are too busy or too lazy to seek new bands. We have gotten 2 new places play by the bar staff seeing us at another venue and telling their owners.

 

[bluewine]

To the OP's original questions:
My band gigs more than I want but I like the band, my goal is 6 gigs a month as I work weekends and would like 1 to myself, we play 8 - 12 gigs a month.

We are working towards better paying gigs by building a fan base and playing songs that will get us into higher paying venues (danceable music vs hard rock).

You only get gigs by working at it, bugging the crap out of the clubs for gigs. The smart owners book you based on where else you play. Most are too busy or too lazy to seek new bands. We have gotten 2 new places play by the bar staff seeing us at another venue and telling their owners.

Nice plan, we are busy trying to determine if we can ad any casino business to our metric.

 

[El Beardo]

It's strange to me, but there are cover bands that don't focus on bookings as much as you'd expect.

That is very strange. IME a "coverband" that doesn't play out tends to be a group of beginning players learning songs for garage sessions. When I was in a coverband I wanted to play out as much as possible. The only reason I did it was for extra cash.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

I'm confused. Cover bands who don't have gigging as a priority? I wouldn't even consider them coverbands. I'd call them hobbyists who get together to jam with their friends once in a while, and play gigs if they pop up. Perhaps you're finding the wrong peeps to play with. Or you need to restate exactly what you're saying. I'm not understanding.

+ 1

To the OP, I've seen sooooo many clubs and bars in the Houston area close down because people just don't have the money, or desire to spend their money, on live music and going out on the weekends like they used to. Many clubs seem to give up because it's just too hard to stay afloat and provide the entertainment they want to for the public while being fair to the artist. I've been told by some old gents I call mentors that the same thing happened in the 70's-80's and we came out just fine. The people that can appreciate/enjoy live music will keep on enjoying it and the people who are satisfied with an ipod hooked up to a PA will keep preferring that. If/when the economy in the US picks up, I'm sure live music will pick up as well.

 

[dbd1963]

The band I'm in now gigs once every other month. :/

I like the other guys in the band, but no, that is not enough for me. You guys who are gigging 3 times a week are where I want to be!

In the DC area it seems like everyone is in more than one band, so I guess that's how you solve that problem. I'm looking for another band to up my gig rate.

 

[Muttleybass]

Not to get all gloom & doomy, but around here McSleazy isn't far off. We find it almost impossible to get into new venues. We're fortunate to be gigging twice a month and fall is looking a bit grim at the moment.

Here in Vancouver and the surrounding area, there`s maybe 20 venues left that have bands. Yet there`s literally thousands of bands fighting over those venues. Most of the bands SUCK and have literally ruined it for anyone the club owner`s don`t know. Venues have become loyal to the bands they know and trust. Now what you have is about 10 bands getting all the work. Most of these bands consist of guys that have a name and have played with big name acts, or are at least established. So, if you`re an unknown, the club owners will refuse to book you unless they see you, but won`t come out and see you. You need to prove you can fill their bar, but they refuse to take the chance on you.

Another thing is that lot of great venues have been mismanaged into the ground and bands were the first thing to cut back on. We simply cannot compete with a DJ in a lot of cases. We lost a regular gig at a local venue that quit having live music so I had a chat with the manager. He said that with a DJ, people will line up out the door and the bar can make $15,000 a night. Sure, people get drunk and there`s hassles, but a band will typically bring in only about $5000 a night. Even if the bar has to pay out $1,000 for a smashed urinal, or whatever other damage, the bottom line is the DJ wins.

Getting gigs is a constant battle. A lot of it is luck and timing. If it wasn`t for the fact we manage to get just enough paying gigs to scratch our collective itch, I`d give up my (somewhat) unknown band and try to find something more established. Fortunately, we are slowly gaining a reputation and hopefully soon we`ll work our way into the ranks of the elite. It`s only been 2 years.