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Take a look at this on JOIN MY BAND!!!


thebrig
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Just seen this on [b]Join My Band[/b].

[url="http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/gig-available-for-february-28th-t456185.html"]http://www.joinmyban...th-t456185.html[/url]

I've posted a reply with my thoughts, maybe you people might want to add something too!

[i]This is my reply:[/i]

[b][color=#000000][font=arial][size=3]YOU ARE TAKING THE P*** OUT OF US BANDS!!! [/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial][size=3]BY MY CALCULATIONS, FIVE BANDS @ £6 PER HEAD X 20 PEOPLE, THAT'S A MINIMUM OF £600 FROM DOOR RECEIPTS, BEFORE YOU EVEN CONSIDER PAYING US. [/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial][size=3]THEN THERE IS THE AMOUNT OF EXTRA MONEY YOU WILL TAKE OVER THE BAR, DUE TO OUR EFFORTS OF BRINGING ALL THESE EXTRA PEOPLE WITH US. [/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial][size=3]AND I NOTICE THAT YOU ONLY HAVE HALF-HOUR SLOTS, WHICH WILL GIVE US A MAXIMUM OF 20 MINUTES PLAYING TIME, IF YOU ALLOW FOR LIGHTNING-FAST CHANGEOVERS. [/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial][size=3]AND WHAT ARE YOU ACTUALLY GOING TO PAY US AFTER THE 21ST PERSON? [/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=arial][size=3]I HAVE POSTED THIS AD ON MY BASSCHAT FORUM, IT MIGHT BE WORTH YOU CHECKING IT OUT TO SEE WHAT THEY THINK OF IT.[/size][/font][/color][/b]

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I'm old enough to remember the days when promoters did just that - bands/venues paid for a service and (more often than not) got it. What exactly are they offering to do for you?

You provide: Their wage, your music, your own crowd.

They provide: the venue.

I don't reckon that worth £600 though.

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There is no need for any band (unless they are completely crap and doing it because they have money to throw away) to be playing gigs like this. If you are reasonably professional and can entertain an audience there are paying gigs available. And that's for bands playing originals.

The sooner bands realise this and stop doing them the sooner "promoters" putting on these events will go out of business. If they are advertising for bands this way though, they are probably already on the way out.

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Maybe it's some actual intellectual artistic irony? In the same vein a Matisse's



except they're saying "This is not Pay To Play"............


edit: re fast changeovers; my guess is - as is often the case with such occasions that they expect (read; demand) that there's a fair bit of amp & drumkit loaning going on.

Edited by Big_Stu
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And why are people getting so worked up about it?

Maybe in the past when there was a very definite route you had to take as a band in order to "make it" and gigs like this were going to be a necessary evil, done in order to put you in front of the "right" people and get your name about.

Nowadays they are totally irrelevant. The music industry has changed, but these "promoters" think that this kind of gig is still important. Pretty soon they are going to find out that they are wrong. Only crap and stupid bands will take them, and it keeps them neatly out of the way.

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It depends really. These types of gigs can be used to polish your tradecraft before going on to doing the gigs that count. Chances are, if you`re not too far away, the cost between doing one of these and a rehearsal isn`t that much, and this way you can work on things that a rehearsal won`t cover. Providing you don`t get pulled into that "These gigs are important/these gigs count" trap, I think you can make them work for you.

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Im really not getting this. I cant see why the fuss. If your a gigging band and you can pull people in then you will get paid, if you cant you dont do it. The advert seems pretty much up front to me.
Im not arguing with anyone, i just cant see what the fuss is all about.

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A friend of mine turned up for one of these kind of gigs where 2 bands had been booked by a "promoter". He was the support rather than the main event.
The main band cancelled but the promoter didn't tell my mate who dutifully turned up and found the place almost empty apart from their own friends who follow the band.
They played the gig, had a blast and used it as a rehearsal but the promoter straight out of Uni with her Business Degree and working from her bedroom office decided that my mates band owed her money because the place wasn't full and she had lost money.
Laugh !!! my mate nearly cracked a rib falling off the stage when she asked and he obviously gave her an ear-bashing.
However the good news is she learned her lesson and is now a pretty reasonable promotoer in Glasgow area.
Can't say i've used this type of gig-getting as any band I've been in have organised their own venues / gigs.

Does seem to be the new way of doing things around major cities these days.

Dave

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1358863997' post='1946204']
It depends really. These types of gigs can be used to polish your tradecraft before going on to doing the gigs that count. Chances are, if you`re not too far away, the cost between doing one of these and a rehearsal isn`t that much, and this way you can work on things that a rehearsal won`t cover. Providing you don`t get pulled into that "These gigs are important/these gigs count" trap, I think you can make them work for you.
[/quote]
Trouble is Lozz, they are only half-hour slots, allowing for changeover, you will be lucky to get fifteen minutes, so you wont get much time to sort anything out.
Also, how many bands are going to be living that close to Old Street in London, to make it worthwhile dragging along twenty mates, just so you can have a fifteen minute practise for free?

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1358863569' post='1946195']
And why are people getting so worked up about it?

Maybe in the past when there was a very definite route you had to take as a band in order to "make it" and gigs like this were going to be a necessary evil, done in order to put you in front of the "right" people and get your name about.

Nowadays they are totally irrelevant. The music industry has changed, but these "promoters" think that this kind of gig is still important. Pretty soon they are going to find out that they are wrong. [b]Only crap and stupid bands will take them[/b], and it keeps them neatly out of the way.
[/quote]

Agree with all of this - but would add to that list that (IME) it's almost always very young & in-experienced bands which believe it's their fast-track to fame & stardom. They believe the use of the word "promoter" and being young are still in touch with school-mates or are students who can blag their mates to turn up for them.

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When I first came across these kinds of gigs in the early 80s, they were solely in London at well-known venues, the implication being that you had the opportunity to "strut your stuff" in front of record company and other music business people. It might have been true back then, but only the most deluded of musicians would fall fro this sort of stuff nowadays, and the concept of doing a gig like this anywhere other than London is just unbelievable.

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