lowregisterhead

I didn’t realise that. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of it on the price list - is a special order thing?

And more...

More evidence...

Yup, and the angled headstock. They were made for Trace Elliot by Status in the 90's, but there's a new version with a graphite neck. Pictures are on the Status website.

I glimpsed a pic in Twitter (which I can't find now, of course) of Mark King doing a Level 42 gig very recently sporting one of the new Status T-Basses. They're on the Status website, but with not much detail, or any prices yet. Anyone seen one? Edit: Turns out it was Instagram, and the pic was posted by Mike Lindup. I was close!

Sold Will a TC Electronics head, pedal and gigbag. Great comms, immediate payment, a pleasure to do business with!

Sold my Boldogh Custom to Steve. Good communication, fast payment, all in all a very smooth transaction. Thanks!

Whilst that may be true, my main gripe is it’s not (and, to fair, never has been) a level playing field. You can bet the lawyers and publishers for the Taylor Swifts of this world will extract a FAR higher per steam rate on behalf of their clients than Joe Blow who self-publishes and has a growing fan base. To him, the returns from streaming services could make the difference between being able to forge a career creating albums of life-changing music, and fading into obscurity. If that happens, all we’re left with are the part-timers and the trust fund kids. Not to say their music would necessarily be bad, but talent needs to be nurtured and supported for it to really flourish and have half a chance to produce something remarkable. Ms Swift really doesn’t need the money.

I was actually talking about originals acts, but some of the same principles apply to covers and functions bands etc - I'm with you there. I've been knocking about doing all sorts of gigs for a long time, and the standard in the pubs that remain where live music is being played have definitely fallen. Part of the reason is less venues, more bands, and landlords who can pick and choose, and state their price. As you said, there will always be some idiots who'll do the gig for next to f-all, but price, of course, is often proportional to quality. Not always, though. I've seen many high-end function bands who command a 5-figure fee that seem slick and impressive for the first couple of numbers, then you realise it's all the same for the rest of the set and it's dull, dull, dull. Or maybe I'm just a twisted old cynic. Yes, now I come to think of it, I am.

Sorry, I'm not going to bite. It's all been said elsewhere, and a TOTP thread isn't really the right place for it. I will say this - it's still a rigged game, and the digital age has only made the odds of exposure and/or success even longer. Everything changes over time, and I fully accept that. The internet has knocked the music business as it was into a cocked hat, and streaming is the way forward for now. That doesn't make it any kinder a mistress than the system that went before it, however. The current state of smoke, mirrors and general confusion (and let's be clear, the same people and huge corporations are still behind it) is the labour pains of what's yet to come, and nobody knows how it will turn out. One thing is certain though - whatever is born out of this will be just as ugly a brat as its older siblings. So please, don't blame the musicians.

Now you're talking. Many years ago, doing one of many temporary jobs whilst attempting to achieve musical fame and fortune (?) I was making a delivery to a beautiful house just off Kensington High Street in London. It was all white, satin chrome and etched glass, so the owners obviously had a bob or two, I thought. I rang the bell, the door opened, and lo and and behold, I was face to face with my object of adoration as a teenager... Cherry Gillespie! I was thunderstruck. I opened my mouth, and at first nothing came out, followed closely by gibberish. She smiled kindly, signed for the package, and just then her husband (who I later discovered is record company mogul Rob Dickens) passed me going into the house, and gave me a withering look as if to say "Oh, god, not another one". I felt ridiculous, but boy, was it worth it.

I'm sitting here open-mouthed in disbelief at what I've just read. If you made that statement to deliberately be controversial and get a reaction, well OK, you got me. If you genuinely believe this, I'm afraid I don't have the time or the patience to get into precisely why what you posted is so wrong on so many levels, but I'm sure someone else will. Musicians are to blame? Really??

Not convinced.

That's so true - with so many things vying for people's attention these days, music comes pretty far down the list. Are we to be the last hurrah of 'live' music?

It's surely just part and parcel of the proliferation of satellite TV and internet-based entertainment - along with the huge increase in viewing and listening choice, comes the user's expectation of an entitlement to certainty. There's such a huge quantity of available content out there that Joe and Agnes Average expect to be able to see and hear what they will enjoy with minimal risk, money and effort. Less and less people are willing to take a chance on something that's untried and untested. Add to that a generation that's grown up viewing music as a virtually free commodity that they can access on any device whenever they want, and you've got the perfect conditions for the slow death of original live music, and an increasingly difficult environment for every other kind. I'm in the middle of a theatre tour with a soul/funk band who had a number of chart hits in the 70's. We're sharing the bill with another similar act, and most of the gigs so far have been sell-outs. Even last night, on a rainy Mother's Day evening in the midlands, it was 70-80% full. It's a good show, but the main factor that's bringing in the punters is they know what they're going to get. Minimal risk. Even so, the promoter's twitchy about whether he's turning a good enough profit overall, and has cut costs to the bone, so there's no way he's going to take a risk on something that isn't a dead cert to put bums on seats. The guy's been doing it for years, so put someone less experienced in your local pub/club/venue, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Add in the current economic uncertainty, and the big 'name' bands (who make most of their money from touring now) soaking up a big chunk of the disposable income of the remaining gig-going public, and it's no wonder audiences are thin on the ground further down the food chain. It's rather depressing, but I've no idea what the answer is, or if there even is one.

You could try Status Hotwires (http://www.status-graphite.com/status/frames/index_home.html) As something of a veteran of things headless, I didn't care for them, but I know plenty of people do.