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Touring for "exposure"

#83
FullumMusic said:
This screams pay to play ...

And before it’s pointed out that you don’t have to give money to play, playing for free is paying to play. This company stands to profit from your labor with no compensation. Their event wouldn’t exist without your highly skilled labor. Don’t devalue yourselves and don’t devalue us all as musicians.
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This x 1000 !
 
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#84
MultiScaleMale said:
View attachment 4960888

This is the place that runs The Extreme Tour as one of its many ministries. You're really not allowed to be critical of anything church-related. So, I'm not saying anything critical. I'm just saying that this is the place that runs The Extreme Tour. 31542 Railroad Canyon Rd Ste 3 Canyon Lake, CA, 92587-9485 and you can zoom in on the window.
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I'd rather the outfit sending me on an undefined tour to places unidentified for an undefined rate of pay have a headquarters building that looks a bit more like this:

cbs-black-rock.jpg
 
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#85
The only tours pros (New York pros i know) are actually on is a) to promote their own music b) be a side person in a major recording act's tour. Only in the case of b) do you actually make some salary that helps you cover your rent, but you will not always get hotel room etc; some major acts treat their personnel wonderful (which is what you are, as a backing musician you will never speak to or be in the same room with the star.), some not so much (having to find your own lodging for example). In case of a) such as my wife sometimes puts on when she has a new record out, musicians will get paid per gig and provided hotel or airbnb, a small per diem, she has a reputation as someone who pays people properly and she is happy if she can break even. She has been doing this for 30 years, and the only way it can be done is with grant money. Some folks just tour mainly solo to at least make a little dough.

Touring costs a ton of money, and breaking even is the reality for pretty much everybody who does not have major label/agent/management backing with substantial extra funding.
 
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#86
jimmydean said:
Misery loves company and you will have lots of company on this tour . You only do this if you and your bandmates can afford to hit the road just for exposure . This is going to cost you money that you will not recoup unless you sell a lot of swag and can travel on the cheap . On the plus side , you get to travel and perform and sleep in Motel 8's if your lucky and get to eat lots of highway food........sign me up .
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So I have to ask, why not just rent an RV, throw the upright in there, and go around to all the bluegrass festivals for a month in the summer? You'll play every night, the financials will come out about the same, and there will be no delusions of grandeur.
 
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#88
Since this is a Christian organization, I guess the first question is whether your band fits that mold in terms of both music and personal beliefs. If outreach is something y'all want to be involved in, there are most likely plenty of opportunities to play for churches, youth groups and whatnot within an hours drive. Neither that nor the people recruiting you are going to give you much exposure, but, for me at least, local outreach would be more satisfying.
 
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#89
MultiScaleMale said:
View attachment 4960888

This is the place that runs The Extreme Tour as one of its many ministries. You're really not allowed to be critical of anything church-related. So, I'm not saying anything critical. I'm just saying that this is the place that runs The Extreme Tour. 31542 Railroad Canyon Rd Ste 3 Canyon Lake, CA, 92587-9485 and you can zoom in on the window.
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Is that the "Church of What's Happening Now"?
 
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#93
ezstep said:
One of my high school kids and his band were invited to tour "nation-wide" a while back. They were given $30K in advance. After the summer-long tour, at which they sold virtually no tee shirts or cd's, they were hit with a $30k bill plus interest that had accrued during the touring months.

Tough lesson for him.
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But I'll bet they had a lot of exposure.
 
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#97
Danny O Danny said:
Brings back memories... I was in a few Contemporary Christian rock bands back in the 80's and 90's and "opportunities" like this were common.

They generally fell into three categories:
1. Hopeful dreamers who wanted to put on some kind of great event or build a great ministry for themselves but didn't have a clue of what they were doing (but made grandiose faith-filled promises nonetheless).
2. Dubious "ministries" who viewed ambitious Christian musicians to be easy targets to be used and who, often times, completely believed--or at least had mentally found a way to justify--their own *BS*.
3. Outright cynical scammers who knew it was a scam and viewed ambitious Christian musicians as easy marks to take advantage of.

I'd guess that this one falls into category 2.
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i was roped into a christian band in the 80s. i remember someone involved saying, "christians love their music, but they sure hate paying for it."
 
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