Tim2291

The singer who voiced Simba in the Lion King chose to take the percentage rather than the $100,000 fee! He's made over a million off the movie now!

Very definitely, although I don't think I'll be cracking out my Explorer for any Jazz gigs 😆! Weirdly though it would probably have a suitable tone, single P pickup!

Spotify is a necessary evil, if they hadn't done it someone else would. But bands make barely any money from the music any more which is partly why merchandise and ticket prices have become so expensive! I think the artists get around 0.0035p per play but obviously please correct me if I'm wrong! If a track is played 1 million times... the band gets £3500 which may just about cover recording costs!

You mentioned in a previous post that you wouldn't pay to go and see a local band... How are they supposed to move forward with their career if people can't be bothered to go and see them? A local gig is what, £5 a ticket? You may see some awful music, but you may also see something spectacular! Even the Beatles started as a local band! As @EBS_freak has pointed out above though, we are targeted at all levels to play for "free" and "exposure" so we aren't really talking about the just starting out local bands here. I stand by it, if the promoter wants them to play they should be paid. If they are trying to get exposure, go to open mic nights etc.

And on tour with a bassist who doesn't know what strings he has on the bass...

Completely agree, it's amazing gear, most of what they make is brilliant! It does really seem that the fender popularity is down to marketing rather than actual quality!

Audiences don't care, as you say, you could be playing a twanger from rainbow and they wouldn't care as long as there is some kind of low note. It's generally the other musicians or producers! I've pulled my 5 string Ibanez (flamed maple top, really boutique looking bass, bit like the Yamaha TRB's) out on an acoustic gig before and was asked to put it back away because, and I quote, "Ibanez make guitars for metal"... got the jazz bass out and they were happy. I mean, my Ibanez is a great metal bass... if I want it to be, but it is also far more versatile and useable than a Jazz bass in any situation!

Genuinely the reason I have a Jazz bass is because it's what people expect you to use at gigs, probably because the marketing team put one in the hands of 90% of touring bassists!

We once got told by a guy we stayed with whilst on tour to help ourselves to his wine cellar... he regretted that pretty quickly... the worst culprit was his son who was the tour manager 😆

Totally agree with you, to earn money in ANY industry you have to provide what the customer wants.

And herein lies the issue the OP of this has highlighted. Musicians are arguing that musicians shouldn't be paid for their work and are therefore devaluing their own craft... almost suggesting that it isn't a real job. My comments aren't necessarily to do with originals bands, covers band regularly get asked to pay for free as well. I've been asked to do weddings, parties etc for free in the past, I politely declined. My overwhelming experience when I was playing originals on tour was that promoters will do anything to not pay the bands. We played sold out shows, 250+ people paying to get in then buying drinks at the bar and have been told that they can't afford to pay the bands... clearly not true. That was the common theme throughout most of the UK. If an originals band is struggling to get known, then they need to evaluate why, like any business, if nobody is buying their music then like any product, it needs to be changed for the market.

Pro musicians are essentially tradespeople, their trade is playing music, we aren't talking international megastars here, we are talking normal people who are hired by others to play for them, be it a wedding band, a session or a teacher. These people work at their trade and deserve fair pay. Most musicians do need to think about what genre they are playing the next day, session people get called in for anything at a moments notice, the people playing on musicals can go from a rock tune to jazz in the space of 5 minutes. Pro musicians aren't just the world famous guys or the people trying to make it as one of them, it is the people supporting their family using the tool they have worked at for many years. Are you suggesting that session musicians, cruise ship musicians, function bands, teachers etc are not professionals? They are directly comparable to builders.

It would be amazing if being a musician was like any other person selling their time and it should be 100%. You wouldn't expect a building tradesman to turn up and work for "exposure" or even £50 and lets be honest, most gigging musicians who are trying to earn a living spent a lot longer practicing their trade than a builder does (not many builders start their craft before their 10th birthday)! Sadly a lot of the people hiring musicians are opportunistic snakes that want to exploit them for their own gain! It drives me insane when I see local bands accepting unpaid gigs, this takes the income away from those who rely on it!

I 100% agree with you! Anyone who plays my cheapo RBX comments on how well it plays! Tonewise it could be better... but I am comparing it's tone to my Ibanez with Bartolini PUPs and preamp so maybe not a fair comparison! I'd probably be saying the same if I had an entry level Squier tbf!

Maybe Prince hired them as they were a little different? This is a valid point! I assumed maybe it was that he started playing on a right handed bass that was strung normally?

This is the kind of comment I was hoping for! Yamaha are a far older company who have been manufacturing things far longer than any of the "big" guitar brands so they obviously know what they're doing. I had always suspected it was down to marketing but was interested in the opinions of other bass nerds!

Still wondering Why Sonny T strings his bass upside down

We all know how great Yamaha gear is, there's an entire thread about the BB range. But why are they not more celebrated (talking to the level of Fender etc)? Is it down to the traditional view of "American is best" or is there another reason they aren't considered up there with Fenders etc? Could it be that they make a lot of "entry level" or "beginner" equipment and never separated them with another brand name like Fender did with Squier or Gibson did when they acquired Epiphone? Are they just not as well built? - my experience this is obviously not true, my RBX 270 and BBN5 are just as well built as any equivalent Squier or Epiphone.

You're not just encouraging a new member... I'm trying to work out how I could convince my wife that I need this as well... I mean this one has a maple fingerboard and mines rosewood, would be rude not to have both right?

I am pushing to try and get my income from music to be more than it is currently, I'd love to have a 50/50 split as you have but do lack the confidence a lot of the time! Something I am working on, after 20 years of playing, including tours and numerous high end wedding bands (have to keep reminding myself of these to keep confident), I feel I am finally getting somewhere. My biggest issue currently is that the band I am in has some awesome people in it that I wouldn't want to lose, but they do not have similar aspirations to me!

Precisely the issue! That figure sounds a lot more realistic, unfortunately that does then mean that based on the UK average house price of £286 K in June... people are earning 10 times less than the price of property.

Definitely, because once you have the Fender twins, you'll need to try a 5 string, and maybe a 6... and then a short scale, and then maybe a fretless... and then...

Ah but then you'll also need a matching Jazz bass in the same blue

Of course nobody would turn down the offer of a large sum of money! From what you have said, you are on the same wavelength as the conversation. Your financial success and planning has freed you to retire earlier than many others which is amazing and it sounds like it makes you happy and content! As you have said, you don't buy shiny new stuff which was probably a large factor in your early retirement and hats off to you for doing so, my grandparents did similar and now in her late 80's, my grandma can still afford to do anything she wants to do! I would 100% make the same choice as you if I have managed to get myself to a similar position. My theory is it is much better to live in a smaller house, with an older car but have more time to be with family and friends doing things I enjoy than to be at work 14 hours a day!

From what you have said above, you are a successful person, you have found the things that make you happy. I'm nowhere near retirement (35 plus years away) but have thankfully already realised this! The world is full of shiny new things that are well advertised to make people think they "need" them. The more money people earn, the more they spend on pointless things that don't fill the emptiness in their lives and holidays to mini England resorts so they can post photos on a beach! Success is measured financially rather than on happiness and contentment. Nobody says "she's doing well, look how happy she is!" I know plenty of "successful" business people who are being sustained by cocktails of antidepressants and all sorts of other drugs. For some people, a bit more money would be incredible and would increase their quality of life unimaginably. The difference between supporting a family on £15 K and £30 K for example would be extreme. But the same person then moving from £30K to £45K isn't going to have the same impact, yes it would help them retire earlier in theory, but in reality it's likely that they would take on greater overheads and end up retiring at the same point anyway!