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Why do you play for free?

#41
I play all the time for free. Play at 3 churches and have a band that mainly does fundraisers and are are working at playing at weddings($) and stuff like that. We are working on originals and just went in the studio last month and that was a great lesson for all of our playing. I love playing at church because it serves God and glorifies Him, but it also let's me play with different groups of people all the time and get some great seat time interacting with different styles and grooves. The band lets me be creative and gives me a great sense of accomplishment that playing covers would never give me. Even at church(es), we never do the songs exactly like that original and make them out own. One church does an hour and a half of worship with 5 or 6 songs so you do the math. That's a lot of playing and filling and dynamics and some of that goes spontaneous as well. It's about the opportunity to do something I love doing! The benefits of this come at tax time and yes I have costs and have lots of gear and equipment. 6 basses lots of pedals on a PT-3 and amps, sound gear, racks etc. I makes me tick and purr! Lots of the bigger churches pay their musicians as well.
 
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#42
I enjoy playing and do it as a hobby. It's nice to make gas money and cover expenses here and there but I don't ever earn enough to say I'm "making money". Keep in mind though that I'm doing short sets with other bands. If I were in an actual band doing 2-3 hour sets I would sure as heck expect some compensation.
 
#43
What we're not talking about here:
Charity benefits
Church
Original music
Any music you have a deep emotional/spiritual attachment to.

What we are talking about here:
Playing rehearsed covers in a situation where the main focus of the gig is for the promoter to make money. So the question is why would you play this gig for free?
 
#44
for us we never really play for "free". If we choose to play a free festival gig, or if we open for a national act for no money, we don't look at it as were not getting paid because in the long run we actually are. We look at is introducing the band to new people who are potential fans. I can't tell you how many people that come to our shows were introduced to us when they came to see a national act we opened for or saw us play the dogwood festival, Bayfest, or the Ft bragg 4th of July festival. We've probably made more fans by far doing that than any other way. Many of those people end up going to a lot of our shows where we get paid from the door and they buy CDs/merch so we look at is as we may not be getting paid that day, but in the long run its definitely financially beneficial.
 
#45
jeffbonny said:
What we're not talking about here:
Charity benefits
Church
Original music
Any music you have a deep emotional/spiritual attachment to.

What we are talking about here:
Playing rehearsed covers in a situation where the main focus of the gig is for the promoter to make money. So the question is why would you play this gig for free?
Click to expand...

Oh, well that's pretty specific! Heck no, I wouldn't touch that for free.
 
#46
nortonrider said:
I do it just to piss off all of you "pros".
Click to expand...

He he :)

nortonrider said:
not all bands are businesses.
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Yep

scotch said:
+1

Not everyone plays music for the same reasons.

Bands playing for free doesn't bother me in the least & I depend on touring income to pay the mortgage!

Someone made a joke about "to piss off the pros" above. I think it's funny, but no real pro feels threatened by bands having fun. Quite the opposite! :)
Click to expand...


:)

modulusman said:
Well your pretty far up the foodchain so maybe you don't have to worry about "bands having fun". You might change your tune if you were having to compete with local bands willing to do bar gigs for free beer. I consider my self a pro since I have made a good portion of my income from band gigs the last 30 years. BTW the OP said cover bands not original artists.
Click to expand...


I don't really remember, that it is a right to make a living out something, just because you find it interesting. There are plenty of hobbies, where you can make a living if you are among the best, but 99.999% of those involved only lose money doing it. Music gives better odds than that at least :)

If you can't compete with bands rehearsing once a week having fun and playing for free once in a while just for the kick of standing in front of an audience, then you're not really meant to live of it.

It even does confine it self to hobbies. There are plenty of people with college degrees, that unfortunately took the wrong path and majored in something, that just does not hold a prospect of a job in their field.


Like reading books, for a lot of us, music is a great escape ... just like watching TV or reading books and standing in front of an audience is the price. Since we have jobs that are stressful enough and use music to stay sane, then there really isn't any need for more stress ...... and yeah, all in all, we are not that good, so if anyone sees us as competition, then they are not that good either imho :)
 
#49
Simple. No one in my band is in it for money. We play because we enjoy it. The youngest person in the band is in his 40's and the oldest is in his 60's.

Since we're not trying to make money (although we won't turn it down if it's offered and we want to play the gig) we have perfect freedom to play benefits, do favors for people or just play when we think it would be fun.

Occasionally we rent the outdoor stage in our downtown center for an evening and play there. It costs us money and time, but it's a kick.

jeffbonny said:
What we're not talking about here:
Charity benefits
Church
Original music
Any music you have a deep emotional/spiritual attachment to.

What we are talking about here:
Playing rehearsed covers in a situation where the main focus of the gig is for the promoter to make money. So the question is why would you play this gig for free?
Click to expand...

Well, that's not the way the original question was asked...and you didn't start the thread - so how come you have the right to re-define the discussion after three pages?

You get the answer I wanted to give you, not the one you asked for on page 3 of a thread.
 
#50
Lobomov said:
He he :)



Yep




:)




I don't really remember, that it is a right to make a living out something, just because you find it interesting. There are plenty of hobbies, where you can make a living if you are among the best, but 99.999% of those involved only lose money doing it. Music gives better odds than that at least :)

If you can't compete with bands rehearsing once a week having fun and playing for free once in a while just for the kick of standing in front of an audience, then you're not really meant to live of it.

It even does confine it self to hobbies. There are plenty of people with college degrees, that unfortunately took the wrong path and majored in something, that just does not hold a prospect of a job in their field.


Like reading books, for a lot of us, music is a great escape ... just like watching TV or reading books and standing in front of an audience is the price. Since we have jobs that are stressful enough and use music to stay sane, then there really isn't any need for more stress ...... and yeah, all in all, we are not that good, so if anyone sees us as competition, then they are not that good either imho :)
Click to expand...

It is hard to compete with free.:rolleyes: If "Larry and the Losers" will play for free or for beers at a bar then it drives down the price for all bands that charge money. This is a fact.
 
#52
good causes, we have done shows for cancer and for the Philippines after the flood happened. pretty much it , rest are paid shows, we aint donating our time for some bar owner to make money
 
#56
Pilgrim said:
.



Well, that's not the way the original question was asked...
Click to expand...

Actually if you go back and re-read the OP that's exactly what he was asking. He ruled out benefits and original music and wanted to know what your justifications were for playing for free in a rehearsed cover band for on a for-profit gig. So how is my take fundamentally different?.....oh wait, it isn't. :rollno:
 
#58
Lobomov said:
I don't really remember, that it is a right to make a living out something, just because you find it interesting. There are plenty of hobbies, where you can make a living if you are among the best, but 99.999% of those involved only lose money doing it. Music gives better odds than that at least :)

If you can't compete with bands rehearsing once a week having fun and playing for free once in a while just for the kick of standing in front of an audience, then you're not really meant to live of it.
Click to expand...
Well stated.
 
#60
I'll play just about any gig with a decent audience for free. If I get paid for playing it's a bonus. If someone is making money off me playing, I certainly appreciate spreading the wealth.

I just like getting out there and sharing the music. Seeing the people respond to it and dig on the vibes as a community is far more valuable to me then cash.
 

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