Promoting "competing" bands

[groooooove]

if you view them as competition your doing it wrong.

there is not a limited number of gigs. it may seem that way when you are struggling. but, if your band is slammin, and people will come to see you (there for you are profitable), competition does not exist the way it would in most other buisinesses. they are your colleagues, not your competition.

 

[SpyderX]

The big picture is that especially right now, what is needed more than anything else are people that want to spend their free time and money by going out and supporting live music. Period.

Supporting other acts helps promote live music in general which is good for the entire community.

This. +1000

 

[Kro]

This may not be how it is in you music scene, but it sure is heck is and has been for the 17 years I have been playing NJ. I mentioned in a post once that 20 something clubs we had played at since putting this band together have turn to dust.

I just wanted to say that as a fellow New Jerseyan, I feel your pain, I really do. Almost all serious gigs that I've done in the past forever were in Philly and NYC because the majority of NJ venues with few exceptions have evaporated.

I actually have a gig this weekend in NJ that's in cooperation with a local studio that has a rock band program for pre-teens. It might take time, but we'll rebuild the NJ scene one kid at a time if we have to.

 

[40Hz]

Your guitarist is being a jerkweasel about it if there ever was one.

If you're a professional you always have nothing but a good word to say (or remain silent if not) about "the competition."

The only acceptable way to "compete" with another band is when you take the stage. The rest of the time, be polite and considerate. Music makers are a small community. Today's so-called rival can be your future band or the main act your current band will one day be opening for. Don't burn bridges or fail to make friends and allies. Nobody succeeds in music purely by their own efforts.

Tell your guitarist to grow up and show some class..

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I agree with what you are saying, but reading into the ( you should go check them out sometime) is sending the people you have work hard to support you off to see another band, now if it was wording like this ( you should go out to see them sometime when you aren't coming to see us and a LOL) at the end I would have been less critical. We don't always play locally and we are lucky enough to have built a following that follows us around, but why open yourself up to having them stay local to see another band, when clubs are counting on you to bring people. This may not be how it is in your music scene, but it sure is heck is and has been for the 17 years I have been playing North Jersey. I mentioned in a post once that 20 something clubs we had played at since putting this band together have turn to dust. and many no longer have live bands they have DJ's or Dart contests, so if you have something that is still working because of your followers it is detrimental to send them off to see another band when you need their support to keep the train on the tracks. And before you South Jersey guys chime in you have a built in crowd damn near every weekend and too boot venues in North Jersey lose any "built in crowd" to the shore, so that really puts the pressure on us to pack the house.

I seem unable to convince you that our business model works well. Hey, I tried!

I hear you about clubs either disappearing or changing to DJs and darts. I'm playing tonight at one of those places. The owner used to have live music six nights a week. Now ours is the only band he still books--because we make money for him. Also, realize that our BL makes money by supporting bands that charge less than we do. She's their agent, and she gets a cut. The "charge less that we do" part is critical to understanding how this all works. The guys (they are all guys) who run those bands don't know anything about marketing themselves. I think part of the reason they show up at our gigs is that they want to show our BL that they're grateful for the work she gets them. I should add that there is one club we play regularly that as of January this year refused to book bands that did not promote themselves. Which was basically all of them, except for us.

Again: This is not about talent, or chops, or set list choices. It's about running the band as a business, doing the things that will bring people to the joints we play in.

 

[Korladis]

The OP's guitarist's attitude is [sadly] common and is a lot of the reason that Pandora and Spotify (Muzak for millennials) are supplanting live music. Streaming services don't spout bile about each other the way small-minded players do. If you promote the whole scene, including other venues, other bands and even other styles of music, the scene grows and there are more gigs for all. Blow only your own horn and you stifle it. Together with everyone else, you lose.

Last night I was at a weeknight show at a local venue. The crowd was mostly millennials. So can we skip the generational bashing, please?

Your guitarist is being a jerkweasel about it if there ever was one.

If you're a professional you always have nothing but a good word to say (or remain silent if not) about "the competition."

The only acceptable way to "compete" with another band is when you take the stage. The rest of the time, be polite and considerate. Music makers are a small community. Today's so-called rival can be your future band or the main act your current band will one day be opening for. Don't burn bridges or fail to make friends and allies. Nobody succeeds in music purely by their own efforts.

Tell your guitarist to grow up and show some class..

Also the music scene is small. If you're the kind of person who talks smack and views everyone else as the enemy, word gets around.

 

[40Hz]

Also the music scene is small. If you're the kind of person who talks smack and views everyone else as the enemy, word gets around.

This. Nobody likes an SOB.

 

[Kmonk]

Nothing wrong with promoting other bands. Every band I have been has always had the philosophy that bands should help each other. You never know when a band has to cancel and you might get the call to replace them. You might also find other places to play.

 

[wizerd]

I live just outside of Podunk and local bands all scramble to play in the same crappy bars. Still, I think it's good to give a shout out to another band. It's good sportsmanship and who knows, you might be playing with them next month.

 

[rtslinger]

I seem unable to convince you that our business model works well. Hey, I tried!

I hear you about clubs either disappearing or changing to DJs and darts. I'm playing tonight at one of those places. The owner used to have live music six nights a week. Now ours is the only band he still books--because we make money for him. Also, realize that our BL makes money by supporting bands that charge less than we do. She's their agent, and she gets a cut. The "charge less that we do" part is critical to understanding how this all works. The guys (they are all guys) who run those bands don't know anything about marketing themselves. I think part of the reason they show up at our gigs is that they want to show our BL that they're grateful for the work she gets them. I should add that there is one club we play regularly that as of January this year refused to book bands that did not promote themselves. Which was basically all of them, except for us.

Again: This is not about talent, or chops, or set list choices. It's about running the band as a business, doing the things that will bring people to the joints we play in.

Bunk I get your business model and why it works for you., but as you mention at the end "It's about running the band as a business, doing the things that will bring people to the joints we play in." Think of it like this you have restaurant your goal is to pack the place and make money one of your waiters gets up and announces that the food across the street was really good you should go check it out sometime, does that help your business by sending your people across the street. LOL

 

[Gougedeye]

Now our guitarist had a bit of a rant about promoting the “opposition”.

This still happens? 30 years ago, that was the mentality in my little slice of the world. It caused a lot of hard feelings, unfortunately. I've never seen music as a competition. So, we now go out of our way to support each other. We have played multiple shows with our "competition." We try, when we have a night off to go see other bands. And now we make it a practice to mention to the crowd, "Member of so and so band are in the audience tonight. Check them out when you get a chance." It makes things so much more pleasant!

 

[Korladis]

Bunk I get your business model and why it works for you., but as you mention at the end "It's about running the band as a business, doing the things that will bring people to the joints we play in." Think of it like this you have restaurant your goal is to pack the place and make money one of your waiters gets up and announces that the food across the street was really good you should go check it out sometime, does that help your business by sending your people across the street. LOL

The music scene isn't a restaurant.

 

[Plutonium244]

Ideally, bands in a community support each other. For the most part that's what I see happening, and always have. I'd call it insecure to worry about saying something good about another band... and the more open you are, and the more positive you are about other bands and musicians, the better you look, IMO. The mechanic that says "so and so is good, or if you're looking for someone closer to you try such-and-such place" is a guy I am going to have trust and confidence in. He knows he'll have enough work because he's good, and doesn't need to steer people.

And, you can get cross-promotion from them. I have many friends in many bands, and we even get each other gigs sometimes. When they put a facebook notice up for a gig, I "like" it... even if we're playing that night too ( as long as I do actually like their music). It's a good place to be. I am not insecure about my playing so I have no problem lauding someone else, whether they are better, not as good, or equal, as long as I like what they're doing. Same for bands. It's a community of artists, and artists have atraditionally stuck by each other and supported each other, be it poets, writers, painters, musicians. They are people very much like you.

 

[Richland123]

I have ended up in bands with musicians I was competing against in the past. Our regional music scene is not huge and I have known the majority of players for many years to the point where I know them, have played with them, have jammed with them, have filled in with them, or are good friends with them.

 

[Roland GR 88]

Think of it like this you have restaurant your goal is to pack the place and make money one of your waiters gets up and announces that the food across the street was really good you should go check it out sometime, does that help your business by sending your people across the street. LOL

Unless the BL wrote his Facebook post while serving drinks at a competing bar I don't think anyone should be butt-hurt over this.

 

[gln1955]

That guitariat seems to think the real world music scene is like American Idol, where everyone is judged until only one is standing and everyone else is kicked to the curb. That's not my experience.

 

[honeyiscool]

Also the music scene is small. If you're the kind of person who talks smack and views everyone else as the enemy, word gets around.

So true. I just kind of realized this about one of my colleagues yesterday, that he talks smack. And given how much he and I disagree about when it comes to music, I kind of now assume he talks smack about my band, or that if I don’t distance myself from that, I will be associated with that. Kind of don’t feel like working with him again, and I’ve worked with him plenty in the past.

 

[two fingers]

Scenes don’t change in response to anything musicians do or don’t do. The live music scene in your locale is dependent upon clubowners, audiences, and economics. So all things being equal, I’d rather be in a supportive environment with fellow musicians, than one of conflict and rivalry.

Bravo India November Golf Oscar.

 

[JimmyM]

The day anyone in my band tells me what I can put on Facebook is the day I quit. I don't tell them, they don't tell me, and that's just the way it is.

 

[bassmanrocke]

It seems that more often then not other musicians are the largest part of the audience these days. So many people simply go to dj shows or karaoke, or trivia nights. It really is getting to the point where if we don't support each other there won't be any body going to shows at all.

This might be even more important for cover bands than original acts. Most areas have a local originals circle that maintains and supports itself. Cover bands need to move away from the competition attitude in order to maintain followings.