To Juke or not to Juke

[lethargytartare]

I wish I could do something like that. I'm in an "indie" cover band. Except the singer had to have indie explained to him because the setlist he and the drummer came up had only 1 song that wasn't a rock radio hit.

Hmmm...maybe he thought you were and indie cover-band, while you felt y'all were an indie-cover band. Classic ghost pirate paradox!

 

[Low End Scum]

Hmmm...maybe he thought you were and indie cover-band, while you felt y'all were an indie-cover band. Classic ghost pirate paradox!

I don't think that'd be possible. My advert had my punk/metal stuff and classic rock as examples of playing but said I didn't really care about what genre it was other than not wanting to only do covers forever. They sold themselves to me as a late 90's through early 10's Indie bands. I thought it was weird that the first song they wanted me to learn was Mr Brightside but figured they must just really really like that song.

Before they picked Everlong and Float On the drummer tried to sell us on "Living on a Prayer". Thankfully that one got shot down.

 

[Five or Six]

Personally, I don't like the idea of charging for requests, just like I'm not a fan of begging for tips

This^^Sounds like a negative to me! Cover charge and drinks is what people "may" expect at the most. Cover, they are already paying the band if that is necessary to get in. Same with drinks. Bar owners depend on drink sales to offset band pay.

Something just not right about this like someone said.

 

[tshapiro]

My take… the flow of the show is critical, be skeptical of requests unless your schtick is being a request act.

 

[Aussie Player]

This^^Sounds like a negative to me! Cover charge and drinks is what people "may" expect at the most. Cover, they are already paying the band if that is necessary to get in. Same with drinks. Bar owners depend on drink sales to offset band pay.

Something just not right about this like someone said.

I never saw a tip bucket before I moved to this circuit. Every band has a "love jug" out front and can bring in anything close to double band pay from the tourist trade. They come to play and expect to pay. It's the local scene and musicianship is the only profession exempt from inflation, so you take it when you can.

Some bands gig 2-3 times a day, several times a week. Lots of full timers.(Pro?)

 

[Five or Six]

I did the tour thing covering 3 -4 states for 3 years but, never was exposed to any of it. I guess that's why it's just strange to me. Even doing what I'm doing now we have never put a "tip bucket" out. We play for some big crowds but haven't seen the need. To each their own and whatever works.

 

[ebo]

So last night was our first attempt at using Juke. An outdoor downtown plaza show with 100+ in seats and more coming and going. We only listed @30 of our songs that could be requested, some were already on our set list for the evening. We got more responses than I thought, over 100. Once people figured out that if they voted for a song it might get played we got a lot of engagement. A birthday party group requested a song and it was on our set anyway but we moved it up for them. If they mentioned their name we gave a shout out and people loved the attention. We set it on free so they didn’t have to pay to vote for a song but could tip. A whopping $27 was made through the ap. We did three songs for folks that were on our set already, and we snuck in three more that ended up bumping a few songs off the set. It was a bit disruptive as a first go, but you can choose to not play them and I’m sure we didn’t play all that were requested. It was about engaging the audience in a new way and less about money anyway. We’ll get way less action if they have to pay to request. We haven’t discussed it as a band yet after the show but we wont do it every gig. We got 6 more followers on social media so it might have driven people to our sites. It’s a brave new world. Better? Probably not, but different. Sorry for the bad screenshot from a video, but pic or it didnt happen applies.