Is live music on the way out?

[TinIndian]

Still going pretty strong in my neck of the woods - Central Florida. I hear Jax/St Augustine is pretty strong too.

 

[Calebmundy]

Unfortunately, I think there's something to this. Last year my band was hired to play at an all-state athletic party (i.e., a couple hundred too-cool-for-school high-school jocks) and it was the most unenjoyable gig ever. Kids completely disengaged, sitting there texting on their phones, hanging out at the snack bar, etc. Then we did some twitter searching a few days later and found out a few of them were actually tweeting about the "lame old band" WHILE we were playing. Unbelievable.

This year, my BL got a line on a high-school graduation party job (at the school) paying $4,000 and he turned it down... said no way in h*ll we're putting ourselves through that again, even at that price.

What kind of tunes does this band play?

 

[bluewine]

Most of the bands had small crowds and people would rather stand around talking and not pay attention to the bands. However, we had a massive crowd to watch fireworks for 20 minutes and then most of them left right afterward even though we had two really good bands for FREE after the fireworks.

Very true, we played our State fair 4 nights in a row this year and our crowd was nothing to brag about.

There are 30 stages with live bands happening every night at the fair, all genres and levels from local, regional and national.

The big national names had crowds, cheap trick, Reo, journey but all the other small stages had small crowds.

 

[jaywa]

If an area has lots of disposable income, that sure helps -- as long as you know who you're playing for and you've geared your material to satisfy that market segment. Sometimes even just one state can be all over the place wrt live music because some counties may thrive with high-income residents with plenty of cash to go out and have fun, while others choke with unemployment.

What's been buttering our bread the last two summers are small town street dances. These are once are year events that are often fundraisers (e.g. for the local fire department, school district or whatever). A $10 cover charge is pretty common and they draw people from all over the area for these things... assuming the weather is decent and the band is good. Almost without exception the crowds are very engaged and appreciative, the pay is several times more than we'd get on a bar gig and we get treated like rock stars cause it's literally about the only live music some of those folks get all year. Never having played these before I joined this band I was skeptical, but now they're my favorite venues to play. And we're going over so well at these places that they're hiring us back for the next year before we even get the trailer packed up.

 

[jaywa]

What kind of tunes does this band play?

We play 80% covers and 20% originals. Most of the covers and all the original are either classic or new country. The rest of our cover list is 80s standards, some Top 40 and a few oldies.

That high-school crowd was the first (and last) gig where my band actually bombed. This is a band that's booking over a year out right now based almost entirely on word of mouth and has never gotten less than a 5-star review on GigSalad. But for whatever reason, that particular gig and crowd was a really bad fit. They would have been a lot better off with a DJ...

I'm sure it also didn't help us that it was a high-school event, i.e. no alcohol.

 

[Calebmundy]

Yeah that seems like a song list that would be particularly bad for a high school crowd.

 

[bassbully]

Pretty much dead in my neck of the woods. There are small followings that are strong but they are small, those who follow the music do prefer it that way so I guess its all good.

 

[jaywa]

Yeah that seems like a song list that would be particularly bad for a high school crowd.

Funny thing is, I can pretty much assure that if those same kids had been at one of our street dance gigs they would have been way into our show. I know cause I've seen kdis just like them at many of our street dances and they're right up front getting into it (especially the girls).

Maybe our repertoire had something to do with it but I think it was even more the fact that it was opening night of the event, a lot of kids were a long ways from home, without their friends and so they were all fronting and trying to "out-cool" each other and the best way to do that was to ignore/slag the band.

 

[RoadRanger]

There are 30 stages with live bands happening every night at the fair, all genres and levels from local, regional and national. The big national names had crowds, cheap trick, Reo, journey but all the other small stages had small crowds.

Our "big" fair in Woodstock CT has two stages - I can't imagine how many folks you'd need attending for having 30 stages make sense . OTOH we don't have a state fairground but many smaller ones, maybe 15 miles apart or so. I think the big "E" up in West Springfield MA has only two also ?

 

[Big Brother]

I sincerely think that the reason the scene died is because live music is stuck in a 40 year rut and not only hasn't adapted, but resists all change with a fierce determination known as 'musical integrity.'

The audience kept on marching but live music stopped moving forward a long time ago.

I am certain a live music audience is out there, they were just been starved for so long that they moved on to other entertainment to fill the gap.

 

[Big Brother]

I think it is an opportunity more than a problem.

There is pent up demand, whoever discovers the formula for tapping into it will be the next Elvis. The stage is being set for another revolution imo.

 

[craig.p]

BB, what you said makes me wonder whether the live music scene is getting stovepiped to death. I mean the tastes people have have become so narrow and so deep, that if you don't play solely to that taste, people will walk out. Decades ago up here it used to be funk and rock. Now you need all 10 fingers to count the styles people want to see, and I often find those folks aren't that tolerant of other music forms. So I'm wondering if specialization is necessary to play in a particular room, but at the same time specialization limits the number of rooms you can play.

So you need to have a 300 song set list so you're ready for anything, or else (from a personal perspective) be in 4 different specialized bands, lol.

(This is all WRT the club scene. I know state-fair bands and gazebo bands have a lot more leeway.)

Anyway, can't defend any of this..... just thinking out loud.

 

[jaywa]

So you need to have a 300 song set list so you're ready for anything

Honestly, this is pretty much what it is.

We have a lot more good gigs than bad as far as connecting with the crowd but sometimes it takes a set or so to do that. Since our BL calls songs on the fly based on the room we're able to adapt pretty quickly (vs. sticking to a setlist that may or may not be "working")... but still on certain gigs it feels like we're just throwing stuff against the wall (genre wise) till we find what sticks. And then there's nights we'll pull a request out of our azz and it goes over better than any song we've been playing every show for the last two years. You just never know till you get into it.

 

[denhou1974]

Live cover music is thriving here in Houston but it seems that most of the audiences are in the 30-50 year age bracket.

I can think of a few reasons why:

1. Live music is overexposed and is no longer a novelty. Think of how many 'American Idol' or other 'Who wants to be a Rockstar' shows are on TV now. Think of how many bands play their concerts on TV. 20 years ago you'd never get to see a band performing their entire set on TV.

2. The music industry is in the can right now and probably will be for a long time. Labels can't sell records anymore and aren't willing to invest 100's of thousands of dollars to record an entire album. Why? Because people will just download the song for free or will download the 1 song that they like from iTunes [for $1.99]. So, the live music you hear is old material. Something actually worth listening to in most cases.

3. Economy. Younger people don't have money. Older people do. Older people don't want to hear 'One Direction'. They want the stuff they listened to when they were young.

4. For the younger folks going to see a band is no big deal because everyone they know is in a band or plays an instrument. Gone are the days of saving up all summer to buy a guitar. Mom and Dad have already bought their kids anything they want.

5. Younger people have more entertainment options than they did in the past.

 

[craig.p]

Yes to all!

And...

6. The options for "socialization" are an order of magnitude more diverse than they were in the pre-smartphone, pre-txt, pre-IM, pre-email world. Before, all you had was dumb phones, USPS letters, and clubs/bars.

 

[Big Brother]

If I can use a parable...

To save money in college I used to buy Top Ramen by the case and had some every day. It was good enough at first, a reasonable approximation of a bowl of noodles. But after relying too much on it, I literally got to the point that I couldn't force it down if I had to. My body rejected it and I had to look for something else to fill the cupboards with.

I see modern live music as a pantry full of Top Ramen. You have beef flavor, you have chicken, if you pay a little extra you can find some with little dried veggies. But it's all still Top Ramen with a different flavor and after 50 years people are starting to reject it. They can't help it.

But they have to eat and there is nothing else to eat. Just Top Ramen. So they tear the pantry looking for a flavor they haven't found before they realize that is all there is, 4 flavors of Top Ramen, and they are stuck with choosing the one they are the least tired of or that they haven't tasted in awhile.

You can mix a couple of flavors but that always tastes weird after a couple of times. So you hold your nose and just eat whatever you can most tolerate.

The pantry needs something new to eat and people will love you forever for giving it to them.

 

[hrodbert696]

First of all, are we talking live cover bands or live original acts?

Not sure that I buy that it's a generational thing. My teens LOVE going to concerts and their friends are always facebooking them to ask if we'll let them go to see band so-and-so in Hampton Beach or Boston or Portland or Manchester. And it's not the Bieber/Gaga/Rihanna thing either, it's Kasabian and the Black Keys and Furthur and the All American Rejects. They don't pick up on bands from the radio so much as from buzz from their friends over social media and go check them out when they tour by here (that's how they picked up on Kasabian, who are practically unknown here - someone from the UK recommended them on an internet forum).

I don't believe in blaming the audience for disinterest in what we do. It's for the band to put themselves out there and find their audience and create a show that people want to see. Otherwise you're in the position of an educator or museum docent or something, treating your audience as students who must be made to appreciate what you think is important, rather than being an entertainer who connects with them.

 

[tonylevinkix]

Okay so I'm reading this and the answer (as in real estate) is depends on location #1 and #2 is flexibility and talent but so far the need of the consumer (or $$) has determined the number of musicians or bands, simple math I agree. But a musician is a musician whether the market exists or not. Around here I'm finding that the musician is becoming extinct. Do they migrate? Do they find something else to take up their time (Wii or Rockband)? Do they loose interest because everyone else has? What happened to playing music just as a form art or self-expression or fun?

 

[Stevewd]

Live cover music may be just about dead in Australia but in Dallas Tx it is thriving.
Good music played well always has a following. And in 2012 there are so many classic rock bands and artists that are either long gone due to band break up or the artists deaths that it's impossible to hear much of the music of the 60's and 70's live without it happening locally. Many rock fans consider those decades to be the years that defined the rock genre with innovations in musical equipment, recording technology, and near genius song writing. Local bands are keeping the music alive and it's a win-win situation for the better bands and the fans. For the fans it doesn't involve exorbitant ticket prices and parking fees. Yes, there is the occasional iconic concert that comes to town and there will be those who pay out the big bucks to see the shows, and yes those shows do cost a lot of money to execute. But once you remove the classic rock acts that are still out there on the road from the list, there are quite a lot that will never see a concert stage again. Those are the ones that keep the cover bands busy and keep the music alive for everyone who comes out to enjoy it. In many ways it's not unlike hearing a symphony play music that was written 300 years ago. Artists pass on but the music lives on through the hands of the musicians that continue to play it.

Really? Country is doing good. But classic rock? What clubs do you go to 'cause I wanna go!

 

[RoadRanger]

I often find those folks aren't that tolerant of other music forms.

The iPod has given folks an easy way to avoid exposure to anything except their favorite sub-sub-genre. So I say we blame the iPod for the present narrowness of folk's tastes .