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What is your job?
- Thread starter juancaminos
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Hey, I didn't say you were not allowed to prefer running an alcohol advertising agency to playing your bass, I just said that personally I think that's kind of sad.
As with so many things, the answer is "it depends".
Your job -in addition to playing well- is whatever the requirements are of the establishment that hired you.
-If it's a place that needs more beer sales, your job is to make the brewski flow like water.
-If it's a place that wants to attract more patrons your job is to get folks in the door.
-If dancing is the locale's attraction, you need to get butts shaking and keep 'em going.
-If people are coming (and paying) primarily for the music you need to play music they want to hear and play it well.
Your job -in addition to playing well- is whatever the requirements are of the establishment that hired you.
-If it's a place that needs more beer sales, your job is to make the brewski flow like water.
-If it's a place that wants to attract more patrons your job is to get folks in the door.
-If dancing is the locale's attraction, you need to get butts shaking and keep 'em going.
-If people are coming (and paying) primarily for the music you need to play music they want to hear and play it well.
I was asking what the job of the band was. Some bars have bands to satisfy the ego of the owner, some have live bands to draw the music listening customers while other see live bands as an extension of themselves. The later would be to sell beer, making announcements, play the music they wish they could play, etc.
Some have quality bands and pay the price while others just go thru the motions and don't really care about the quality of the music as long as they can get it cheap and the band doesn't actually drive customers away. Anyone who has been around with eyes open must see this.
As with anything humans do for pay there is a give/take situation. In order to receive a stipend you have to provide a value stream. i.e change an item from a block of wood, metal or plastic to something people will buy. Or sell cars for a big car company, or make roads better, etc. Lady Gaga is building her own wealth along with the record company and all it's vendors.
As a bar band you are adding money to the owner's bank account. You are fooling yourself by thinking a bar owner would build a stage for your tombstone legacy. Yes there are cases where the bar owner is a rich guy who just wants to be known as a guy who has top bands. But he certainly won't stay in business paying you $100 per man if the drink and food sales don't support it. It's a two way street whether you like it or not.
Yeah weddings, house parties, church events, etc are different but I'm talking bar gigs. Not trying to be harsh. Just getting a feel for what TB folks think. Because thru the years I have played with BL's who know their place in all of this and some who don't. I grew up in The Southern California band scene where you better know that. Here in Arizona many nights I am the only guy in the band who brings friends. Other say it isn't their job its the bars job. I have mixed feelings on that. I think we as a band have at least a shared responsibility to help keep the establishments alive. Hence the term music scene which encompasses ass aspects. ALL ASPECTS. Without our support of bands, musicians, venues and patrons there will be no place for us to play. There are no silver spoons...
Some have quality bands and pay the price while others just go thru the motions and don't really care about the quality of the music as long as they can get it cheap and the band doesn't actually drive customers away. Anyone who has been around with eyes open must see this.
As with anything humans do for pay there is a give/take situation. In order to receive a stipend you have to provide a value stream. i.e change an item from a block of wood, metal or plastic to something people will buy. Or sell cars for a big car company, or make roads better, etc. Lady Gaga is building her own wealth along with the record company and all it's vendors.
As a bar band you are adding money to the owner's bank account. You are fooling yourself by thinking a bar owner would build a stage for your tombstone legacy. Yes there are cases where the bar owner is a rich guy who just wants to be known as a guy who has top bands. But he certainly won't stay in business paying you $100 per man if the drink and food sales don't support it. It's a two way street whether you like it or not.
Yeah weddings, house parties, church events, etc are different but I'm talking bar gigs. Not trying to be harsh. Just getting a feel for what TB folks think. Because thru the years I have played with BL's who know their place in all of this and some who don't. I grew up in The Southern California band scene where you better know that. Here in Arizona many nights I am the only guy in the band who brings friends. Other say it isn't their job its the bars job. I have mixed feelings on that. I think we as a band have at least a shared responsibility to help keep the establishments alive. Hence the term music scene which encompasses ass aspects. ALL ASPECTS. Without our support of bands, musicians, venues and patrons there will be no place for us to play. There are no silver spoons...
I'll perform in an inflatable whiskey bottle costume if the pay is right.
I sell alcohol. If I don't, the bar doesn't need or want me there.
And they want me there, in about 7 hours.
And they want me there, in about 7 hours.
My day job is very simple in concept: Make 3 groups of people happy/satisfied: My boss, my customers, my staff that report to me.
My band job is also very simple in concept: Make 3 groups of people happy/satisfied: The venue, the people who came to see the band, and my band mates.
What it takes to accomplish these jobs can vary dramatically in a band based upon venue, fanbase, and band mates, but the overall concept is the same. Keep people happy and satisfied, more money will come your way. If you focus on you vs. what your job is; success will likely be challenging to achieve.
My band job is also very simple in concept: Make 3 groups of people happy/satisfied: The venue, the people who came to see the band, and my band mates.
What it takes to accomplish these jobs can vary dramatically in a band based upon venue, fanbase, and band mates, but the overall concept is the same. Keep people happy and satisfied, more money will come your way. If you focus on you vs. what your job is; success will likely be challenging to achieve.
So what real band do you play in right now? I've been doing clubs and bars for 40 years and would like to step up to the big league, so any advice would be much appreciated.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
You left out the most important job of all... You play the most awesome sounding music that you can for anyone that wants to listen... Or dance... Or drink... Or take a piss... Or hit on your best friends girl...
This next song is called "Be sure to tip the bartenders and guy in the hat stop hitting on my girlfriend"You left out the most important job of all... You play the most awesome sounding music that you can for anyone that wants to listen... Or dance... Or drink... Or take a piss... Or hit on your best friends girl...
My job is to entertain...that causes people to stay longer to drink and dance. We play songs people like, have killer 3-part harmonies and we talk to the audience during our show and while on break.
All the more reason it's a problematic analogy. People go to baseball games for lots of reasons, true. There's community pride and all that, the dogged insistence on loyally rooting for an underdog local hero and such. Most of those reasons have nothing comparable in the music world. But at the end of the day, they still go (and drink) because it's a fun experience, one way or another.
I play gigs to entertain the people who come to hear it. Wether they pay of it's free. It's the vain's job to promote whatever they like.
Making music for me should be fun. When it stops being fun, I'll stop playing out. Wedding, Bar gigs, Corporate functions, Clubs, Theater pit-gigs. It's all the same. Have fun and groove.
Making music for me should be fun. When it stops being fun, I'll stop playing out. Wedding, Bar gigs, Corporate functions, Clubs, Theater pit-gigs. It's all the same. Have fun and groove.
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