It really stinks when….

[Geri O]

Your artist’s tour schedule hits social media.

The year is fully booked. Nearly every weekend. 2-4 night.

And the full band has only one night on the schedule. Everything else is solo or tag-teamed with another A-lister artist.

I’m really bummed. But whaddya do? I have contacts and other possibilities.

Or is it a sign to retire?….

We’ll just see….

 

[Zooberwerx]

Just climb on the ice floe and let the tide carry you out.

Something promising will come along when you least expect it.

Riis

 

[Oddly]

Doesn't sound like "Your Artist" to me.
If that was me, I'd be calling the other contacts.
Best of luck!

 

[pepj]

Oh, don't see that schedule as a positive on the whole.....if I understand it.

In general, I regard solo and duo work as filler, particularly outside of theatre gigs.

On the plus side, you can look at other opportunities but the minus sign is if you see the loss of gigs..and income as a bit of a last minute adjustment.

But yep, hopefully, you can embrace the enforced break if that is how it pans out.

 

[Jay Corwin]

It sounds like the full band arrangement is a side project for the artist, or they just want to make more money.

 

[JamesGrant]

What does 2-4 night mean? Sorry if being dumb!

 

[murphy]

Had it happen to me in band situations.
Singer had bigger plans for themselves and band was a tool in their ego box.

 

[Five or Six]

At least knowing where "you" stand gives you room to seek other venues?

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

If I understand the OP, out of the 2-4 nights on the road, the full band, (including them) only plays one night, but is still 'out'... as in not home. This also assumes that the full band is only paid for the one night, hence the bummed-ness. Or the band is paid as employees of the artist... you're just there, not necessarily playing but still on-duty. You go wherever the artist goes. I've done those too (looooong ago and faaaaaar away) but it paid pretty well. I can't imagine a year of it. A tour, or two, ye$.

 

[rolfplamperton]

Rather, it’s time for them to retire. Sounds like the artist is coming to grips that their career isn’t moving forward and they need the money. You can’t throw a rock without hitting one of these guys here where I live.

 

[pepj]

No one is carrying guys they would have to provide and pay for and have them stand around.
So 2 to 4 nights mean, to me...the artist is booked, but OP is not and the problem with that is the downtime because artist is not filling those gigs...he has them filled from his standpoint.

I would not be impressed if we had any sort of relationship and I find out on day one that my gigs I assumed would be out there, are now wiped out, with no discussion or notice.

 

[markjazzbassist]

Streaming has killed the tour industry, there have been many articles and topics here on TB about it. Previously a band/artist would make money off their album sales (vinyl/cassette/cd), the tour would make a little money or break even (or lose money but it was a loss leader). nowadays due to streaming (and medium/small artists making little/no money off it), the artists don't make any money so they HAVE to make it all via touring. So it's tiny/no crew, a band member is also the Tour manager, drummer doing merch after show, etc. just to cut costs so the artist can eek out money on tour. They'll cut band members, go "acoustic" or trio or rephrase it however just to clear more dough. The taylor swifts of the world are the outliers

 

[wombolombo]

Sucks for sure…but if you had to find out via social media what your touring plans are for the year your gig probably wasn’t as secure as you thought.

 

[bikeplate]

Next

 

[Wesley R]

I misread it. My interpretation was the full band had one gig for the next year. This would leave the OP open to seeking other activities.

 

[JazznFunk]

On the local level, more venues are apt to hire duos or trios than quartets these days. The same market factors affect larger tours. Sounds like economic factors are forcing the artist in question to do what they have to do to sustain themselves. Such is the mercurial existence as a sideman, unfortunately.

 

[Goatrope]

Next

Next asap.

The value of missed opportunities due to a blocked schedule vs the actual performance exposure is way out of whack.

There's no way I'm committing all my available gig time to a "hurry up and wait" scenario unless the pay for that little slice of a gig makes up for all the waiting. Even then, I'd likely bail out ASAP.

 

[roccobass]

My condolences. Sounds like it was a great situation. Sadly, it sounds like your artist is going in another direction without actually telling you he's going in another directions. That sucks, but not uncommon. Don't retire.
These ol' wheels keep on turning, as they say. You say you have other possibilites? Go for it.
Also, I think you might go crazy if you couldn't get out and play.

Been in something similar, but at least we got some "forewarning".

I was in a promising tribute band. A number of venues (good paying venues too) lined up and we started to book others, when the the BL, who was also the main driver and lead singer decided to just pull up roots moved to southern California and perform the tribute as a solo project. Well, that was two years work down the drain. Oh yeah the warning came in the form of a text too. Gotta love it.

Another pisser of the situation, was that I couldn't persuade the others to continue in some fashion since we already had the nucleus for something really good in place. That was the one thing I couldn't figure out. It's hard enough to find good players much less ones you got along with. At least I think we did?

All wasn't lost though. The drummer and I did eventually did hook for about a year and did a jazz rock /real book gig which lasted about a year. That went to dust though a couple of years ago.

 

[ole Jason]

You just have to find other people to fill dates with or get a day job. I have a number of friends still doing the touring/festival circuits and it sounds absolutely terrible nowadays. Very little money to be made and awful schedules abound.

 

[markjazzbassist]

On the local level, more venues are apt to hire duos or trios than quartets these days. The same market factors affect larger tours. Sounds like economic factors are forcing the artist in question to do what they have to do to sustain themselves. Such is the mercurial existence as a sideman, unfortunately.

locally this has been my experience as well. I am doing a lot of Trio gigs these days, many without a drummer (vocals, guitar, bass). The drummer seems to always be the first to get cut, so thankful i play bass.