I read the first page and
The Olymics of amateur musicianship is what? SongStars, Eurovision, Britain's Got Talent, you get the idea. Those tasty carrots are not appealing to most of us.
The open mic jam stuff I used to participate in and run all had generous bar tabs for all involved. I lived close enough to one that I could walk home well shickered after buying my first drink and playing a few numbers three times. Many of the bonafide professional musicians frequent them after their gigs.
Sums up gotta get paid very well.
Have it your way I suppose. Nobody is going to come to your show and heckle you for playing for free.
Pay to compete for amateur glory/ personal satisfaction/ while interested observers of your slog also pay and the organizer makes out like a bandit. It's a different world.
I enjoy making coffee but I am hardly going to go on a barrista course so I can go work on a real deal 10,000 dollar coffee machine for free in my spare hours.
The only reason that racket hasn't been invented is no hospitality venue has the balls to try it on. They could run free courses in the evening to train them up. They will quite happily abuse interns from the hospitality school though.
From what I have seen pubs that want to put on bands and refuse / skimp on payment only get dregs of bands that aren't good enough for functions. Musicians with the pride to insist on getting paid look at those venues as the vultures that they are.