The solution is simple: write at least an hours worth of original music that people actually want to hear and would pay to see live. I guarantee you you’ll get booked over a cover band or tribute band. Sounds like people in your area aren’t writing enough good songs.
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If only...
One doesn't just conjure up a following. It's not a matter of how many people listen to your work. It's a matter of WHO listens to your work. Getting access to those ears is no simple thing in practice, though it may seem easy in theory.
I see both sides, but for me, I do not love playing covers.
My older band plays infrequently but we can put 75-100 people in a room to listen to our originals. At our last gig, which was at a club new to us, we added 4 covers and the biggest complaint we had was "I wish you did not waste my time with the covers."
My new band is playing 20 originals and 2-4 covers in a night. We are playing tiny rooms. If we do it right, people will start bringing friends and we will have to move to larger rooms.
I do not have disgust for people who play in cover bands like many seem to. My standard come back when someone starts slagging on someone in a cover band is "At least they are playing music. They could be wasting time playing golf."
My older band plays infrequently but we can put 75-100 people in a room to listen to our originals. At our last gig, which was at a club new to us, we added 4 covers and the biggest complaint we had was "I wish you did not waste my time with the covers."
My new band is playing 20 originals and 2-4 covers in a night. We are playing tiny rooms. If we do it right, people will start bringing friends and we will have to move to larger rooms.
I do not have disgust for people who play in cover bands like many seem to. My standard come back when someone starts slagging on someone in a cover band is "At least they are playing music. They could be wasting time playing golf."
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I think this is really true. Everyone should do what makes them happy. To each their own.
Those are fair points. But I’d argue that it’s easier now more than ever. Royal Blood was out less than a year before they “made it”. And look at how many careers have been launched via YouTube. I’m not saying every great original act WILL make it. I’m just saying that most aren’t great to begin with. I feel like that’s a fair statement to make... not just in music, but also sports, fine art, acting, etc.
I have done this for a well known local artist... I was just a fill in guy, so it did not feel to me like I was part of an original band, but since we were playing all of his original material, it did not really feel like I was in a cover band. I was backing the dude that wrote the songs and I had a blast!
What a strange definition of creativity. In a recorded song, only the songwriter is creative? Not the musicians, producer, engineer, or mixer? A screenwriter is creative but the actors and director are not? The architect who designs a building is creative, but the engineer who restores the foundation a hundred years later is not?
This shall conclude the musical portion of our show. And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I neglected to mention the musicians creating the song with the writer. Of course they’re creating the music during the recording process.
What I’m referring to is cover bands learning a song and regurgitating it every night.
It’s not a bad thing. Money can be made. I do it, and have been doing it for a long time—that’s how I know it’s somewhat of a dead end street.
“Today's jazz musicians are too mathematical and wonkish, he says. Jazz clubs are half empty, only frequented by other musicians who appreciate each other's showmanship. Listeners need music degrees to understand what they're playing. The music has become rigid. Improvisation is mostly over-rehearsed regurgitation. I'm often asked the question, 'Jazz is so unpopular, why do you think that is?' And the answer is simple: “the musicians suck," he says with typical subtlety.”
Branford Marsalis
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainmen...k-says-branford-marsalis-20190312-p513h2.html
I never said you couldn’t make money playing covers.
I make money playing covers, and have for a long time.
I’m taking about the creative aspect of writing your own music.
Playing covers is not creating, it’s regurgitating.
Your words......
This is what I responded to. My area is bustling with cover bands. Tons of them. Some bands in existence for 30+years. As for the creative side of things....I typically add a bit of my own flavor to the music I cover so I am 'creating' and covering at the same time. I'm happy playing covers. Wouldn't have it any other way.
And yet, you say you DO play and make money playing covers and have been so for a long time. I'm confused!
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the chances of truly "making it" as an original band or artist - sustained fame. serious money. widespread name recognition and respect -- it's one in 100,000,000. Especially the way music is now. Even bands you've heard of with gold records go broke. If that's why you're in it, that's not a good reason. You're more likely to win Powerball. yes, "it happens", but it's so rare that it shouldn't even be put into the equation. There's almost no money in music any longer due to a variety of factors. if you are to play it, do it for the joy, a modest income perhaps, and personal satisfaction. There are no Rolling Stones or Beatles any longer.
as one website noted:
"According to data from the music event website Songkick, of the 7,000 bands that headlined a small venue (less than 700 capacity) in the NYC area in 2013, less than half even played another show from 2014 to October of 2016. Of the bands that did play again, only 400 of them headlined a show at a venue with a capacity greater than 700 people. But only 21 out of the 7,000 bands reached the level of “making it”: headlining a show of over 3,000 capacity."
but if you want to make a decent income on the side for years and years? be in a very good, well thought out and managed cover band. There is money in it for decades. in my city, the most popular cover band has been around for something like 25 years (a couple of changes in the lineup, but the two main guys are the same). They do it as a full time job and have a nice big following. I doubt they have huge 401K's (which is why I got a regular job when i was 22 and only have done music as a side project), but they are making it in a shrinking and difficult market which is awash in a sea of various bands trying to knock them off their pedestal
as one website noted:
"According to data from the music event website Songkick, of the 7,000 bands that headlined a small venue (less than 700 capacity) in the NYC area in 2013, less than half even played another show from 2014 to October of 2016. Of the bands that did play again, only 400 of them headlined a show at a venue with a capacity greater than 700 people. But only 21 out of the 7,000 bands reached the level of “making it”: headlining a show of over 3,000 capacity."
but if you want to make a decent income on the side for years and years? be in a very good, well thought out and managed cover band. There is money in it for decades. in my city, the most popular cover band has been around for something like 25 years (a couple of changes in the lineup, but the two main guys are the same). They do it as a full time job and have a nice big following. I doubt they have huge 401K's (which is why I got a regular job when i was 22 and only have done music as a side project), but they are making it in a shrinking and difficult market which is awash in a sea of various bands trying to knock them off their pedestal
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+1
It's like saying brain surgery is easy; just open up the skull, take out the bad piece and sew it back up. See how simple??
If you can't make music playing someone else's song, that's your shortcoming, not the song's.
Beautifully put!If you can't make music playing someone else's song, that's your shortcoming, not the song's.
