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Venting: Potential big gig ends up being a freebie
- Thread starter FirewalZ
- Start date
Sure, we'll play for free, but providing the PA and load in/load out will cost you $$$
In this case the attendies are there to see races. They’re not coming to hear bands. That’s just a little spiff at the end of the day. If it were important the venue would be spending whatever was needed to secure it. As the OP noted - everyone else seems to be getting paid for what they do there. Even the guys cleaning up the trash. Need more be said?
We sometimes need to remember that not everyone is as into hearing live music as we’d hope.
Got contacted by a large Speedway/Racetrack, they need band(s) to play their campgrounds on Race weekends....Thurs-Sat nights. Seemed like a great gig, i love playing campgrounds on summer evenings.
Of course I said thanks but no thanks and ended it on a positive note, they seemed to understand and offered to keep our contact should something else pop up. However part of me was highly insulted and wanted to scream back at them....this is a very large venue/event/facility that is pulling in tons of ca$h on race weekends and you want us to play for free? I bet they didn't ask anyone else to work for no pay, why is it acceptable to ask musicians to work for free? Ill have to haul in a very large, heavy and expensive PA system that needs to be set up and take down each night, you want us to play for 3 hours, we are local and have no need or interest in free "camping", and any publicity would be nearly useless........
- Band supplies PA, needs to be powerful enough for a large outdoor campground
- You will need to setup and tear down each day.
- Band can camp and get into the race for free.
- Oh, and your compensation is the fact that we will promote your group and you get to camp for free?
Venting Over!
And if everyone else responded like you did, we would all be making decent money. But they don't, so we are where we are.
Yep. See all those ads and logos all over the cars and the drivers’ jumpsuits? That’s where the drivers get their money from, if they get any.
Now days small racetracks don't make a lot of money. There was a good one in Birmingham al for years & years. I saw many NASCAR drivers start racing there. It was demolished several years ago. In saying that, they should have offered to pay something.
At anything less than national and international level it's just a hobby, same as music. Except it costs way more, and you get paid even less.
But people love doing it and are willing to do it for nothing.......
If it’s MIS then I garauntee you they can afford to pay the band. But I also garauntee that some bands will do it for free.
You could always say “sure” and then not show up. What are they going to do? Not pay you?
Because it could have the opposite impact, drive people off or make the venue look silly, cheap and unprofessional... ever seen that YouTube clip of that band butchering a Pink Floyd tune....that’s what they’ll end up with and having nothing or a radio playing is better than that.
Curious.............bands that will play for free..........how good are they actually??
That would have been icing on the cake if they also added a bunch of unrealistic demands on top of not paying you
They’ll be asking for only green m&m’s.
My guess is like bands that won't play for free, they range from really bad to really good.
Some people just don't care about money. They have plenty. Some of those are also good musicians.
I get and understand that perspective....however that approach works to drive down the market price for other musicians and bands that do care about the money. Imagine going around and doing contactor work for zero labor costs....you would put good people out of work.
Yes, I have several friends who raced. Talk about spending money. But speed is addictive..
Incredible, not only play for free, but provide, set up, & breakdown the PA everyday?!
Shoulda said:
“You got a deal!!
We play for free.....
......but.....equipment rental, and the engineer(s) to set it up, operate it, and break it down, costs $1000 (or insert your preferred #) per day.”
They should agree to that, right?
Since, as has been mentioned, everyone else working at that facility is getting paid, except the silly musicians.
Just so happens that all the band members are part of the soundcrew, too!
————
Seriously tho, even if this track is smaller or not as profitable as it once was, to pay the band a fair wage would probably equal a fraction of 1% of ticket sales, or maybe 1 hour of beer sales per day at one of the Many beer stands in the facility.
When talking about a venue that large, on a race weekend, I’d guess that the cost of a fair wage for the band would barely move the needle when tallying the numbers for the weekend.
————-
I don’t know why, but it still blows my mind when I hear things like this...
Shoulda said:
“You got a deal!!
We play for free.....
......but.....equipment rental, and the engineer(s) to set it up, operate it, and break it down, costs $1000 (or insert your preferred #) per day.”
They should agree to that, right?
Since, as has been mentioned, everyone else working at that facility is getting paid, except the silly musicians.
Just so happens that all the band members are part of the soundcrew, too!
————
Seriously tho, even if this track is smaller or not as profitable as it once was, to pay the band a fair wage would probably equal a fraction of 1% of ticket sales, or maybe 1 hour of beer sales per day at one of the Many beer stands in the facility.
When talking about a venue that large, on a race weekend, I’d guess that the cost of a fair wage for the band would barely move the needle when tallying the numbers for the weekend.
————-
I don’t know why, but it still blows my mind when I hear things like this...
