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Playing for free as "good marketing"?

Is playing for free until the end of the year "good marketing"?

  • Total voters
    237
  • Poll closed .
#81
gidbass said:
Context: This is a bar band, and we are lucky, as a 4 piece, to get $80-$100 each when we play a gig. We play 12-15 times per year on average. I like the guys in the band, and we get along well together. The music is not my favorite, but is generally kind of fun to play depending on the crowd.

So, I have 2 of the "music, hang, or money" when evaluating my situation in a band although we make very little $$ one could argue I only have the hang...;)

So, just had a chat conversation with the guys in one of my bands, and once bars reopen they were all talking like we should consider playing for free (actually food and drink, but i don't count that as payment) for the rest of the year to help "give back" to the local bars as they they try to recover from whats going on in the world.

They think it's "good marketing" on our part, shows "we care", and a good way to differentiate ourselves from the other bands as once things reopen, there will be less places to play.

It just doesn't sit well with me, and I declined. While we don't make much money, it's more the principle.

I also told them they had my blessing to play for free with a sub if they desire to do so.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this? (sorry if this is a repeat thread)
Click to expand...

Preface:
As a rule, I do not play for free. In years gone by, we've done a couple fundraisers for people and organizations we have personal ties to. Otherwise, no dough? No show!

Comment:
Do you really think you'll be doing many live shows for the rest of this year? I don't. My band was booked all the way through 2020, our usual 50-60 gigs. As of March 6 of this year, all that stuff is blown up. In the event that we are able to play live again, we will definitely do some freebies. As posted elsewhere, there are few businesses that are less "essential" than dive bars! Frankly, I expect most will have closed their doors before we're able to get back in the game. So we are going to give the ones that remain a little TLC at first, because--unlike some people here, I'm guessing--we have never seen club owners as enemies. We like the people we deal with and they like us, and if they need a little help getting back on their feet, we'll be there for them, because without them, we have no work. It's not like they're Boeing, you know?
 
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#82
gidbass said:
Context: This is a bar band, and we are lucky, as a 4 piece, to get $80-$100 each when we play a gig. We play 12-15 times per year on average. I like the guys in the band, and we get along well together. The music is not my favorite, but is generally kind of fun to play depending on the crowd.

So, I have 2 of the "music, hang, or money" when evaluating my situation in a band although we make very little $$ one could argue I only have the hang...;)

So, just had a chat conversation with the guys in one of my bands, and once bars reopen they were all talking like we should consider playing for free (actually food and drink, but i don't count that as payment) for the rest of the year to help "give back" to the local bars as they they try to recover from whats going on in the world.

They think it's "good marketing" on our part, shows "we care", and a good way to differentiate ourselves from the other bands as once things reopen, there will be less places to play.

It just doesn't sit well with me, and I declined. While we don't make much money, it's more the principle.

I also told them they had my blessing to play for free with a sub if they desire to do so.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this? (sorry if this is a repeat thread)
Click to expand...


In general, I am opposed to playing for free unless it's for a benefit.

That said, these aren't normal times...Once things open up again I would "probably" consider playing in a venue for free and would look at it as kind of a charity event to help bars get people back in. But it would only be once.

I have a day job, so the 50-100 bucks from a bar gig isn't going to make or break me, but it's still 5-6 hours of my time being occupied, wear and tear on equipment, etc...
 
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#83
No...unless it's for a charity that we have personal ties with (which we do 2-3 a year). We don't play for "exposure" and really, in the grand scheme of things, don't get paid all that much ($75-100 per person per gig). We always tip out the bartender and waitress. But the establishments will still be charging for drinks and food. So, yeah, they will be making money and we, as musicians, should as well. I have missed my little extra cash and won't schlep my gear and spend my time playing music for free. AND I'm not really sure if there will be many gigs after all this is over. Just my 2¢
 
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#86
I can see it now, lift the mask and take a bite or a swig of your drink and then pull the mask back down. Until there is a vaccine, I'd expect number patronage to be way off. If it's not and the public throws caution to the wind, expect a second wave. Under those circumstances I for one, will continue to enjoy my retirement not in isolation, but away from crowds. Extrapolate from that what you will, but normal will be new.
 
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#87
Playing for free for "exposure" is a joke.

In 2018 I went to Memphis TN to compete in the International Blues challenge there. People come from all over the world to compete. Winning is not a guarantee of success but a good number of winners have gone on to successful careers playing blues.

To get there, you first compete for a local blues society. My band competed for the Granite State Blues Society in New Hampshire. The main reason we went was to try to get a gig at the club that hosted the event. We finally got our first gig there in January of this year, over two years later. Even without the pandemic it's doubtful we'd be going back since there was less than 20 people in the place, 6 of whom were folks from the Blues Society.

We did not expect to win the competition, but we were on last and I got this sinking feeling as each band came up to play that we were going to blow them all away. Oops.

Off to Memphis we go, telling ourselves maybe we'll get one or two connections there that will help us get more gigs. Brought CDs and business cards to pass around to everyone we met and glad-handed as much as possible.

Number of connections we made that helped us get more gigs: 0

Number of new venues we got into because we won the NH contest and went to Memphis: 1 (maybe)

Increase in pay we got because we won the NH contest and went to Memphis: 0

My cost to travel to Memphis: $2000+ (huge tax write off)
 
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#90
Playing for free as "good marketing"?

oh heck … in these times the paying gigs are gone, the free gigs are gone, and even the pay to play gigs are gone ...

all we have left is to get a camera and make an mp4 from your basement and put it on youtube.

A lot of bars may go out of business …

I don't put my hope in a vaccine … there are too many problems with vaccines

live music right now is dead and what form will it take when it comes back?
 
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#91
I could see playing for a couple of drink tickets, some food, and tips when and if we are going to be in a position where that is even possible.
Seems that a lot of you think bars will roar back real quickly, but I think that there will be severe occupancy restrictions for at least the rest of the year. I (luckily) still have a full time job, so it's never been about the 80$ plus tips. I would ask the bar if we could set up a live stream with links for tip donations as well.
 
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#92
For benefit shows, yes free, no problem. Regular gig, no, but it certainly doesn't hurt to be flexible if they are having issues getting people back in. The exception is if I had a venue that had booked us regularly before all of this, and you want to show how thankful you are, maybe offer a free show for the next booking and get one one on the books after that.
 
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#93
Instead of getting paid, get an equivalent bar / food tab that is cumulative. That is, you don't have to use it the night you are playing but you can come in at some other time and use it, and if you don't use it up it keeps growing like money in the bank. I would add on 20% just for "courtesy". You are saving them out of pocket, so they should kick in 20% more because you are doing them a favor, and because the drinks and food do not actually cost them what they are selling them for. And get it in writing, so they don't up and deny it later on.

My old band's other way of handling this was contract for charity but the band must have a business entity. Essentially, you donate your band's services in exchange for a tax deduction. We had one guy in the band who was semi rich so he became the "Business" and the contract was written to him as band leader and he took the deduction, which he divided and paid the band members out of his pocket. Amazing though, how some body, club, etc. gets balky when you pull out a contract.. .
 
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#94
We have long term relationships with most of the venues where we play. Some are never going to re-open after the lockdown. The ones that do re-open will be hurting. We will play SOME free gigs to help the venues get going again by bringing our followers out. If we don't help get local live music venues back on their feet, there will be very few places left open to play. It's not marketing, so much as supporting the business relationships with the venues.

That said, none of the band members make a living from music, so we are in a good position to do this. Different story for musicians that depend on the income to make a living. A lot of our good friends do make a living as musicians. We would accept taking a longer hiatus in order to allow these musicians first shot at the paying gigs when things recover. We also plan on putting out a tip jar and donating the proceeds to the musicians that need it.
 
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#95
gidbass said:
Context: This is a bar band, and we are lucky, as a 4 piece, to get $80-$100 each when we play a gig. We play 12-15 times per year on average. I like the guys in the band, and we get along well together. The music is not my favorite, but is generally kind of fun to play depending on the crowd.

So, I have 2 of the "music, hang, or money" when evaluating my situation in a band although we make very little $$ one could argue I only have the hang...;)

So, just had a chat conversation with the guys in one of my bands, and once bars reopen they were all talking like we should consider playing for free (actually food and drink, but i don't count that as payment) for the rest of the year to help "give back" to the local bars as they they try to recover from whats going on in the world.

They think it's "good marketing" on our part, shows "we care", and a good way to differentiate ourselves from the other bands as once things reopen, there will be less places to play.

It just doesn't sit well with me, and I declined. While we don't make much money, it's more the principle.

I also told them they had my blessing to play for free with a sub if they desire to do so.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this? (sorry if this is a repeat thread)
Click to expand...
I agree with you 100%:thumbsup:
 
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#96
Leo Thunder said:
Kids pay to play. Adults get paid for doing things others want.
Click to expand...
I've paid to play but only because we'd been asked to play a fundraiser for a cause I regularly give to. Since i was at the fundraiser anyway...
As for kids paying to play, do you honestly believe the ego driving the majority of bush league players desire for all eyes on me is limited to kids? If so, you should get out more.
 
#97
fhm555 said:
I've paid to play but only because we'd been asked to play a fundraiser for a cause I regularly give to. Since i was at the fundraiser anyway...
As for kids paying to play, do you honestly believe the ego driving the majority of bush league players desire for all eyes on me is limited to kids? If so, you should get out more.
Click to expand...
Fundraiser and pay-to-play are, IMHO, distinctly separate situations- however, You may be saying that and I misunderstood.
 
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