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Justify Playing For Free
- Thread starter bluewine
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Can I just say its ironic that the two guys who play for a paycheck and claim to do so to "support the music scene" can't even pony up $20 for a supporting membership to a website which is a huge support to the music scene?
You're making valid points, and I'm sorry for turning this into a back-and-forth, but I feel like I need to clarify.
I agree that getting a crowd is up to the bar. It's up to them to be a cool place to hang out. However, building a fan base is my responsibility, and I can't do that unless I play out. If I'd be playing for free in the studio anyway, why not play out for free and try to put my music out? I'd much rather be trying to get fans to dance to my music than eating frozen pizza with the drummer in my basement. While we're writing yet another original song that no one may ever hear, Mustang Sally and the Brown Eyed Girls are playing the same three sets of covers that every other band in town is playing for the weekend.
I'm all for supporting the local music scene by charging a fair rate, but I'm not opposed to playing some free shows and building a following to show the bar that I'm worth it. Once established, it's a lot easier to split a bill with another local band and help them out too. Trust me, I've done it. Lots.
But to re-establish my original answer - if I have the choice of not getting paid for rocking out in the basement, and not getting paid in front of a crowd, obviously I'm going to try to get some exposure. If, at the end of the set, somebody comes up and says "hey, I really liked the music," that's payment enough. That's what I'm in it for - to make the music I want to make, and have people like it.
And where my opinion comes from is that you guys aren't aware of the less popular music scenes, where if you didn't play for free, you'd be sitting in a bar listening to the radio play and be paying for those beers instead of earning them.
I'll agree with you on that - those are two of my chief motivations for doing what I do with music. and both valid.
+1, I see this alot, where the headliner gets paid, and any bands they get to play with them are "playing for free" but if the headliner draws a crowd and the supporting bands gain some fans, they didn't just play for free, did they? They played to be put in an environment where fans of similar music are exposed to them.
But if a headlining band with a paid gig can't find any supporting bands, they may have to forfeit the gig entirely. And if the headliner earned their place as the headliner, who's to say they have to split their $500 take with 2 other bands?
You do have a very valid point. Those of us where the music scene is weak, or live in small towns where the following isn't going to bring in hundreds at the door, it can be much harder to get a paying gig due to the fact that there aren't enough venues. In my area, there are many places that will give you $4 of the $5 dollar door charge. About the only way to get good paying gigs is to play festivals, fairs and weddings, but it's hard to get into that area without being known.
Im not trying to be a knowitall in any way but I don't think you guys are getting it... what you're experiencing is what happens AFTER too many bands adopt this play for free mindset. Your music scene is living (or dying) proof of what happens when bands lower their expectations from venues.
Also... imo free shows are probably one of the WORST ways to get exposure for a band. Try this...ask some random people (preferably girls) when the last time they saw a really good band....then ask them what the name of the band was.
The way to get a following has about 10% to do with your playing and about 90% to do with how you interact with people.
The most popular bands in my area even arent the best bands around... FAR from it. They're the ones that have made the most friends.
It sounds rather absurd, but if there isn't a union for national, city, or local musicians, there should be. Clubs are going to love it if they can get something for free, just like any business would, but they are screwing over the people providing a service to them that they cannot supply by themselves.
Some people just want to play music, some people want to make a living off of it. People playing for free probably don't want to use music as a living. I DO want to make a living off my music, but I have a day job. Once I can support myself on my music, I will gladly quit that day job
Some people just want to play music, some people want to make a living off of it. People playing for free probably don't want to use music as a living. I DO want to make a living off my music, but I have a day job. Once I can support myself on my music, I will gladly quit that day job
I'll agree with you there. And sorry if I accused you of acting like a know-it-all, but to add to what you said (and I have to keep dragging up stories of my old metal band because that was the one where demanding cash = not playing), everyone in the local metal scene knew our band, and at our peak we were probably the most popular of the ragtag bunch. That being said, we were one of the least professional bands (really alot of internal band conflicts) but more than that, the no pay/no rules aspect meant we got to "live" the music scene without having to respect anyone's demands. We had tons of fans because we'd party with our fans, before and after the show. Everyone knew our singer because by the time our set came, he'd usually be wasted and falling into the drumset or off the stage (luckily scream metal vocals aren't that difficult drunk vs. sober.) Kids bought pot from the one guitarist. The scene in the area was poor, but liked to drink and smoke. We likewise were a poor band who did the same. The bands with too much business sense didn't play, because when they demanded cash to play with us, we laughed at them, after all we were organizing a gig that no one was getting paid more than 1 pitcher per band member. "Organizing" a gig was calling some bands to see if they wanted to play... a no show was no big deal, and overbooking was likewise not a problem, because the bar was just happy to have us there. The girls who showed up were the musicians' girlfriends and their friends who always had a look on their face of "when can I get out of here?"
But it was a damn memorable year, where I met a ton of cool people, played a ton of cool places, saw alot of crazy stuff go down, and improved greatly as a musician. I no longer play the thrashy death metal stuff, but the skills I picked up apply to a much tighter technique now. And the band management skills from dealing with unemployed deadbeats really helped as well.
So in my mind, it was 1 year of playing part time "for free", but what I got out of it was alot of enjoyment, alot of friends, alot of experience (both playing and managing), etc.
Now I'm more on your side, I feel I'm a more experienced musician and tailor my music to be more accessible, and also expect compensation for my efforts. But unless your riding on other band's coattails its really hard to make a dent as a new band without doing a few freebies, if nothing else to get video/audio footage and pictures of packed audiences for building your promo kit.
If this board dropped all the ads and relied completely on donations to support it I would be happy to donate far more than $20. My traffic is valuable to this board and so is yours. Ive worked in internet marketing for quite some time and I know how valuable our content is to this board and what kind of money they're making from advertising.
Nothing at all against the admins or any contributing members, but I come here to post socially and have absolutely no reservations not monetarily contributing to a board that has a significant amount of traffic and profitable advertising. I'd say the same thing about Facebook. If I were advertising some sort of service on here, or even if used the BST sections Id expect to pay and would be more than happy to.
I know thats not a popular opinion, but its my principle fwiw.
Yep, you also get to sell stuff in the classifieds and build up a feedback rating! Dunno how much gear swappage you do, watch out its addicting.
Maybe bands should also be sponsored by advertisers, beer companies, the medical industry, car companies, Pizza chains, contraception business....
tuckomf said:
I think, cause I don't know where you're band is out of. It will take a lot more than doing shows, free or not to build a following for an originals band.
I was in what I thought were 2 really good originals bands. We tried everything to build a base and we failed.
I switched to playing in an established cover band and as a musician, I'm much happier now
I cant find their sponsors, who was it???
And I'd LOVE to wear silly Nascar jackets full of ads and crap as a replacement for charging people for music. You still get yours, the audience gets theirs, everyone's happy. And normally I hate advertisements.
Reason it wouldnt work is, even though cable TV has commercials, you still pay a monthly subscription. Shouldnt it be one or the other? Thats why I refuse to pay for cable
You've pinpointed exactly why I havent monetarily contributed to this board as of yet.
Once I want to take advantage of the extra services that a donating membership would grant me I will be more than happy to contribute. Until then, the thousands of words of content ive posted (that are being indexed by google ((which significantly raises TB's SERP value)) , pumping alexa rankings, overall increasing this board's monetary value and traffic) is enough contribution to let me sleep ok at night lol.
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