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Is live music on the way out?
- Thread starter tonylevinkix
- Start date
True. And in this part of the country, a few less weekends than down South because of the shorter summer. But still, for what those events pay, if you can be doing 8 or 10 of those between Memorial Day and Labor Day you're doing pretty good. And then we've also been getting more wedding business too which tends to fill out not only the summer but up here anyway, the shoulder months of May and Sept-Oct.
Once the weather cools down, as a rule so does my band's schedule, though we do still manage one or two dates a month between private parties and the occasional bar gig.
Many people who open clubs/restaurants are more interested these days in sports bars and theme restaurants than attracting patrons for music entertainment. You would think that Hard Rock Cafes (a restaurant & bar chain that is solely based on a music theme) would have live musicians frequently. Most of their Cafes don't have any live music entertainment at all, some have a few acts a month, and the larger casino/hotels have bands and concerts. I have been in many Hard Rock Cafes that never have live music.
Agreed on the sports bar thing. It's a lot cheaper (and easier) to put in half a dozen flat panels and spend a few hundred bucks a month on DIRECTV, then it is to put in a stage, P.A., lights and spend a few hundred bucks a WEEK on bands.
Personally I despise most sports bars and especially the chain outfits (Buffalo Wild Wings, Chammps, etc.)... but there's one in a strip mall just a couple blocks from my house that pretty much gets it "right" and where I spend a fair amount of time during the football season.
Personally I despise most sports bars and especially the chain outfits (Buffalo Wild Wings, Chammps, etc.)... but there's one in a strip mall just a couple blocks from my house that pretty much gets it "right" and where I spend a fair amount of time during the football season.
Up until recently, many of the regional private animal clubs (Eagles, Moose, Elks), private social clubs (Firemen Clubs, Slovak, Slovenian, German, Swiss, Croatian, Polish, Bavarian, etc.), VFWs, American Legions, AmVets, and country clubs would have live bands and provide quite a lot of steady work. Even those venues have either cut back or stopped all bands because people won't go to their own private club and support live music. At some of these clubs, if the bar is in one room and the band is in the social hall, people will stay at the bar and not even listen or dance to the FREE band in the hall.
So far at least here, the American Legion, Moose Lodge and VFW have maintained regular, every-weekend schedules of live bands. In fact the American Legion is the biggest live room (capacity wise) currently operating in this area.
Those venues rarely draw the top acts (mostly due to pay that ranges from barely average to pretty poor), but on the right night you can still catch a decent second-tier local band at one of those places, usually for no cover and with drinks poured strong and cheap.
Those venues rarely draw the top acts (mostly due to pay that ranges from barely average to pretty poor), but on the right night you can still catch a decent second-tier local band at one of those places, usually for no cover and with drinks poured strong and cheap.
I found this website an interesting read: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
It is a review of the nightclub industry's history in America and future outlook. Regarding the sports bar point, this website seems to indicate that bar patronage was declining anyway and that the advent of the sports bat and other theme type bars actually gave the industry a bump (if perhaps only temporarily). That tells me that the existence or popularity of sports bars isn't really affecting live music venues all that much. All they have done is draw in people who had stopped going, or had never gone, to bars all that much anyway.
Lots of interesing stuff in that article, looks like much of it based on market research. Relative to a debate on another, similar, thread; I can't help but point out that these people seem to think that issues surrounding drinking and driving have negatively affected bar patronage.
You guys are still looking at this from the perspective of making money, I can respect that. But what I'm saying is are we looking at the demise of the musician? I'm not talking about a bunch guys who beat around on instruments and make a bunch of noise. I'm talking about true musicianship; from the Beatles to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, from Led Zep to Stone Temple Pilots and not seeing a whole lot of real musical talent out there any more.
There's a place in my market that's actually trying to be both. They have a bunch of big-screen TVs all tuned to different sporting events but then they also have an area with a nice big stage, decent light show and a good P.A.
I've played there twice, with two different bands. The first time was a New Years Eve gig with my former band and it was a blast. Packed wall to wall (probably 300-400 people)... the most fun gig I ever played with that band. The second time was my first gig with my current band and it was a total bust. Maybe a dozen people in the place and most of them were watching TV the whole time. $5 cover charge on a Thursday night (in a town where most places don't even charge cover on the weekends) didn't help turnout either. It was such a lame gig that my BL apologized to me afterward and promised me the band's future ones would be better (they were... much).
The place seems to be doing OK but has never really taken off like I think it could... it could be the split identity. It's like the people who want to see (and play) music don't want to be annoyed by all the TVs, and the people who go there to watch games find the band a distraction.
I have a good friend who has been playing the local scene for about 35 years and he has made comments very similar to this. He says that a lot of the bands that are in regular rotation at the clubs around here today wouldn't have even gotten in the door 20 years ago. And I kinda have to concur, based on the fact there's bands that were mainstays in this market 20, 25 years ago and they can get together after 5 (or 10) years off, do a week of rehearsals, come out and play a "reunion" gig and blow the doors off pretty much any band that's playing in this market every other weekend.
Musical talent is not really a part of the music industry anymore. Last talented new band I heard was back in the early 90's. May be some on the internet but I don't have the stamina to slog through the 99% BS to find anything good. Screaming idiots and pathetically boring wannabes is all I see anymore. There's a lot of decent background music for driving in your car out there, too.
Yeah I think there's a lot of variation by market.
In the town where I live, the American Legion is by far the biggest venue and pays the best of those types of places. The Moose Lodge and VFW are quite a bit smaller and from what I'm told by other muso's (having never played those places myself), they have some pretty significant volume restrictions and don't pay that well. It seems like those places and the local casinos pull bands from the same pool which probably makes sense based on their clientele.
Other towns, the American Legion post isn't much more than your basic storefront bar with maybe an attached "events room" that is rented out for special occasions and may (or may not) be where the bands set up.
In the town where I live, the American Legion is by far the biggest venue and pays the best of those types of places. The Moose Lodge and VFW are quite a bit smaller and from what I'm told by other muso's (having never played those places myself), they have some pretty significant volume restrictions and don't pay that well. It seems like those places and the local casinos pull bands from the same pool which probably makes sense based on their clientele.
Other towns, the American Legion post isn't much more than your basic storefront bar with maybe an attached "events room" that is rented out for special occasions and may (or may not) be where the bands set up.
I'd say that the quality has gone down. There are more bands now because there is more access to music (itunes) and it's easy to download a TAB then claim that you know the song. A lot of people don't get the ear training that they need and I believe that leads to shoddy musicianship. Gear is cheaper now that it was 20 years ago too so that is no longer a hurdle. This has led to an oversupply of bands, anyone notice how band pay hasn't changed in 30 years? My first gig 18 years ago paid the same as my gig last Friday.
Maybe I should leave the Lubbock area and come down there when I retire...After all, we've been furnishing you guys with musicians for FOREVER!!! LOL
Au contraire. It's thriving here too. I know that in some places around Australia, venues are having a hard time actually finding decent bands to play; on the other side of the coin, the not-so-good bands aren't getting gigs, and therefore think the scene has dried up.
I make quite good money myself playing in cover bands, I also get hired a lot to tour with known original acts. What I do notice, however, that when my own original band does a gig, we make not nearly as much, even though the crowd might be there.
I'm not trying to slight players who can't get gigs, but I find there are always places to play, even though there might not be much bread. Any venue owners with a take on this?
