Real Musicians don't make money.

[Joe Ty]

Didn't Kermit just get fired?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Yeah, the Hensons said he became bitter. Kermit is still in business, but the guy who did the character is toast.
I wonder if they were really basing their opinion off all the memes of Kermit on FB

 

[B-line]

Hey, I wanna talk about "The Fight Club" aspect here...

Now, I play Casinos and Corporate events where anything and anybody "untowards" will be shut down/thrown out IMMEDIATLEY! by Security... Gamble, Drink, but don't even start up.

In the good ole / bad ole days tho, I played (some) Bars that were ROUGH, rough I tell ya! (Insert Rodney Dangerfield joke here...)

I saw fights galore; one of the most dramatic was a Girl-Fight! Whooo, that was serious.

Now in most cases, guys just drunkenly swung down on each other, sometimes comically actually, until they were separated and asked to leave. I mean truly, unless one is a trained martial artist or knows how to box, pretty sad really.

One shining incident was at a place where the lone Bouncer/Security was a 5'4"" Chinese guy, very cool I remember and totally serene.

You guessed it- One day (3) Bikers acted out, he told them to cool down, they swung a beer bottle at him, and he proceeded to dismantle all 3 of them a la Bruce Lee.
I really wish I had that on video, it was epic.

Me, I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover!

I've had inebriated so-and-so's say stupid stuff at gigs, hit on my Vocalist-GF in a crude manner, etc.

Words- so what? Unless they are from someone I respect, they sound like "Whhhaaaaa-bla--bla" to me.

 

[ZenG]

Almost got into a fist fight on Saturday. I had a punter tell me I wasn’t real musician because I had a day job. He was the real deal because music was his passion, he’d just travelled the country playing drums and never got paid for one gig.

He wore this like a badge of honour. He was proud of the fact he never accepted a cent for performing. He was actually offended, to the point of aggression, when he realised we were being paid to play the “lame cover songs” that his girlfriend had been dancing to all night.

The fellow just couldn’t accept that someone could enjoy playing different styles of music, or you know need money to pay a mortgage.

It’s been a long while since I’ve felt that close to a fight, but this guy was ready punch-on just to prove he was a more passionate musician.

Other than that It was an outstanding gig at a beach-side pub.

A lot of idiots don't make money either. Which is apparently what the punter is.

 

[Johnny Crab]

Met a bassist with a long time country artist.
He said: "<Name removed> has been very good to us but I own a construction company to get my real money. I can make any player a millionaire. Just give me 2 million dollars and about 6 months. 1 million will be spent and only 1 million will be left".

 

[Engineer_Josh]

Seem like a spot for my favorite bass joke by way of baseball great John Kruk.......some thing along the lines of "good thing I'm a bass player and not a musician, nothing wrong with bass players collecting a paycheck."

 

[Medford Bassman]

Almost got into a fist fight on Saturday. I had a punter tell me I wasn’t real musician because I had a day job. He was the real deal because music was his passion, he’d just travelled the country playing drums and never got paid for one gig.

He wore this like a badge of honour. He was proud of the fact he never accepted a cent for performing. He was actually offended, to the point of aggression, when he realised we were being paid to play the “lame cover songs” that his girlfriend had been dancing to all night.

The fellow just couldn’t accept that someone could enjoy playing different styles of music, or you know need money to pay a mortgage.

It’s been a long while since I’ve felt that close to a fight, but this guy was ready punch-on just to prove he was a more passionate musician.

Other than that It was an outstanding gig at a beach-side pub.

Let me sum it up for you, that guy is an idiot

 

[Ox Boris]

I had a punter tell me I wasn’t real musician because I had a day job.

"Music doesn't take me all day, mate."
"I might not be real, but I'm efficient."

This reminds me of an anecdote about Marlon Brando and Sir John Gielgud. Brando was due to play a scene where his character had spent a night in a cell after a drunken binge. Brando, arrived on the scene, hungover having spent the night drinking and being hurled into a cell. Once the scene was over, he was lying, crumpled on a cot, lamenting his profession and its effect on his body. Gielgud said, "Why don't you try acting, dear boy, it's so much easier."

It might not have been Brando or Gielgud, but you get the idea.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I can make any player a millionaire. Just give me 2 million dollars and about 6 months. 1 million will be spent and only 1 million will be left".

How to be a millionaire in Thailand:

Arrive with at least two million!

 

[Wisebass]

Hi bigboy

It was an outstanding gig at a beach-side pub

...good to hear that

Almost got into a fist fight

sorry you missed a fight but ya know mate...

"you can't allways get what you want" (just a lame cover )

greetings

may the bass be with you

Wise(b)ass

 

[Benjamin Mason]

Almost got into a fist fight on Saturday. I had a punter tell me I wasn’t real musician because I had a day job. He was the real deal because music was his passion, he’d just travelled the country playing drums and never got paid for one gig.

He wore this like a badge of honour. He was proud of the fact he never accepted a cent for performing. He was actually offended, to the point of aggression, when he realised we were being paid to play the “lame cover songs” that his girlfriend had been dancing to all night.

The fellow just couldn’t accept that someone could enjoy playing different styles of music, or you know need money to pay a mortgage.

It’s been a long while since I’ve felt that close to a fight, but this guy was ready punch-on just to prove he was a more passionate musician.

Other than that It was an outstanding gig at a beach-side pub.

First off, you are a real musician, and I have heard many of these same things said to me. I am a freelance musician, but I also have an acting job at a haunted house/Escape room. I have had past friends say to me that they couldn't stand playing covers in bars. The fact is that most of them can't play a wide variety of musical styles, and they are just covering their own insecurities. I have played with many great pro quality musicians who have day jobs. The only thing I don't like is when those musicians play for free, then that effects pay throughout the industry. Just wanted to throw some encouragement out there man, any guy taking requests in a bar has my respect, it's not easy to do and people get rude. Keep on trucking!

 

[RustyAxe]

It's curious how many people will go to extremes to "prove" that they are somehow "more" (whatever) than the next guy. Ignore the jerk.

 

[PauFerro]

As a long time business guy, the guy making this claim in the OP epitomizes the pure artist mindset that is unrealistic, temperamental, and almost fascist in claiming the universality of his position.

I call these people artist types -- they get animated about a certain position -- here are the ones I've heard in this camp.

1. Real musicians only play jazz -- everyone else is inferior.
2. If you don't play an instrument of at least such and such a scale, you're not a real bass player
3. If you play covers you're not a real musician.
4. If you claim you have a leg up on on upright bass due to decades of electric bass playing, you're not a real musician.
5. If your music is commercial, then you're not a musician.

The root of this is that at some point, the person decided they were better than other people because of some achievement they had. And when they make comments like this, my thought is that music has tainted their personality rather than enobling it. In other words, from a character perspective, music has made them worse off than if they hadn't any experience with music at all.

 

[Ellery]

As a long time business guy, the guy making this claim in the OP epitomizes the pure artist mindset that is unrealistic, temperamental, and almost fascist in claiming the universality of his position.

I call these people artist types -- they get animated about a certain position -- here are the ones I've heard in this camp.

1. Real musicians only play jazz -- everyone else is inferior.
2. If you don't play an instrument of at least such and such a scale, you're not a real bass player
3. If you play covers you're not a real musician.
4. If you claim you have a leg up on on upright bass due to decades of electric bass playing, you're not a real musician.
5. If your music is commercial, then you're not a musician.

The root of this is that at some point, the person decided they were better than other people because of some achievement they had. And when they make comments like this, my thought is that music has tainted their personality rather than enobling it. In other words, from a character perspective, music has made them worse off than if they hadn't any experience with music at all.

I believe if they didn't have music in their lives, they sounds be

 

[Ellery]

As a long time business guy, the guy making this claim in the OP epitomizes the pure artist mindset that is unrealistic, temperamental, and almost fascist in claiming the universality of his position.

I call these people artist types -- they get animated about a certain position -- here are the ones I've heard in this camp.

1. Real musicians only play jazz -- everyone else is inferior.
2. If you don't play an instrument of at least such and such a scale, you're not a real bass player
3. If you play covers you're not a real musician.
4. If you claim you have a leg up on on upright bass due to decades of electric bass playing, you're not a real musician.
5. If your music is commercial, then you're not a musician.

The root of this is that at some point, the person decided they were better than other people because of some achievement they had. And when they make comments like this, my thought is that music has tainted their personality rather than enobling it. In other words, from a character perspective, music has made them worse off than if they hadn't any experience with music at all.

I believe if not the music, they would be boasting about something else. It's an insecurity issue.

 

[inanimate_carb]

The funny thing about these “real bands don’t make money” clowns is that they all seem to be into the same 2 or 3 genres of abominable, unlistenable music. I won’t mention the names of specific bands in these genres, but when I worked at a club years ago, every one of these bands passed through and they certainly expected a check for the night’s performance and the proceeds from the merch they sold were not donated to a local charity. Maybe these details are lost on some people, or they’re just idiots. I’m leaning on option two, myself.

 

[buldog5151bass]

You think Mozart expected to get paid? Coltrane? Les Paul?

How much money have the Beatles earned? James Jamerson used to go to gigs with a gun, at least partially to deal with club owners.

 

[Mr_Moo]

Sounds like he's just frustrated with the situation. If he plays originals and doesn't get paid, it could be hard watching a cover band get paid. It's simple jealousy in some sense but also a little more complicated than that. He may call himself a "real" musician because he actually writes original material. I would call him an artist not a "real" musician. Musicians can play an instrument, period. An artist is a creative mind that makes new things imo. Maybe he's a starving artist and feels it's not just for a "copy cat" to get paid. I play originals and therefore don't get paid usually. I also play at church and typically don't get paid there either. But I made those conscious decisions. I can't blame someone else for my choice to play originals and volunteer my services. If you get paid for playing, good for you! Why can't everyone just be happy for their neighbor?

Yes, that's the way I read it. I used to have the same attitude. Not to the same degree, but I definitely felt that playing my own crappy songs made me better than the covers bands.

I knew a few covers musos at the time, and most of them were very vocal about despising the scene I was in. It would have made for better banter if we hadn't all taken it so seriously.

 

[bigboy_78]

Haha....funny this one should pop-up again. OP here and we played the same pub on the weekend and management made us wrap it up halfway through the 2nd set. They closed the bar because of a massive all-in-brawl on the street in front of the venue.

I did have a guy give me the "do you guys play originals" schtick before we started and I countered with "nah mate....dancefloor hits for the drunk chicks" he just looked around with a nod and smiled. There were some fine young women getting absolutely wasted. Saw him from the stage a few songs in with some chick grinding up against him.

 

[Razman]

I’m an IT professional at work and a musician at my church. Guess that makes me a professional musician, right?