Bluewine Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 At times there are some of us that sit back and ponder about why some of your peers are getting more of the premium higher profile gigs. I'd like to open up a discussion about the value of decision making contacts and networking as well as the consequences when you lose a contact. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewine Posted June 9, 2023 Author Share Posted June 9, 2023 I'll start. First of all I think most of us have enjoyed the benefits of having good contacts and the pitfalls of losing them. We had a really cool relationship with The Thelma Performing Arts Center, a top notch center hosting several series of live music events. We got to open for Charlie Daniel's through them. After 3 years of doing business with them our contact was fired. All opportunities for us came to an abrupt stop.All attempts at rebuilding the relationship with them failed. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 We rise through the ranks depending on our personalities, ability on our instrument and by being in the right place at the right time. My last audition was in 1985. Since then I've been solidly gigging thanks to the recommendations of people I've met or played with. . . . . or people who know people I've played with. IMO learning to network is almost as important as learning to play your instrument. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewine Posted June 9, 2023 Author Share Posted June 9, 2023 (edited) 11 minutes ago, chris_b said: We rise through the ranks depending on our personalities, ability on our instrument and by being in the right place at the right time. My last audition was in 1985. Since then I've been solidly gigging thanks to the recommendations of people I've met or played with. . . . . or people who know people I've played with. IMO learning to network is almost as important as learning to play your instrument. Hi Chris, In my neck of the woods the caliber of the musianship of a band means nothing when it comes to playing high profile large stage gigs. The awful band with a high level contact always gets the gig over the excellent band with no contact. Blue Edited June 9, 2023 by Bluewine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 35 minutes ago, Bluewine said: The awful band with a high level contact always gets the gig over the excellent band with no contact. There are a couple of promoters my bands work for and it's all done on a personal level. If they like you, you're in. If they don't you're out. How good the band is is not always the prime motivation to giving you the gig. If the decision to end the relationship is made it doesn't matter how flimsy the reason, you didn't say the right thing when last you met, etc, it can be an arbitrary thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewine Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 4 hours ago, chris_b said: There are a couple of promoters my bands work for and it's all done on a personal level. If they like you, you're in. If they don't you're out. How good the band is is not always the prime motivation to giving you the gig. If the decision to end the relationship is made it doesn't matter how flimsy the reason, you didn't say the right thing when last you met, etc, it can be an arbitrary thing. My band has some kind of questionable relationship with a promoter. We only get offered the low end gigs Like I said there's some sort of history there that pre dates me entering the band. 15 years is a long time to hold a grudge. Blue 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_derby Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I absolutely agree with the importance of networking, plus the ability to be a ‘nice guy’, whether it feels natural or not. This is why most good opportunities rarely make it to the advert stage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 (edited) About 10 years ago, over a period of about 6 months, our singer managed to p*** off a number of local contacts (landlords, club entertainments secretaries etc) until all our local gigs dried up. Until then we'd enjoyed a couple of residencies in local pubs (every 6 weeks or so) plus an informal club circuit netting us about 10 gigs a year and from these came the bigger gigs - weddings, birthdays, charity gigs and Xmas/New Year. Suddenly we were only getting work from the agent he was friendly with and it became clear that the agent was using us to fill gaps that his other acts wouldn't touch ("You're in Aberllanllinllyngweryngoch Sewing Circle club tonight, boys. £100 pick up.") The direct consequence for us was the loss of about 50 gigs a year but in the longer term it impacted on the reputation of the band because the nature of a network is that it shares information. The band very quickly drifted apart until it became just a collection of musicians who were available on the night. Needless to say I am no longer a part of that collection. Edit: Other bands are also part of the network - I've recommended bands I know when my band hasn't been available, and we've had gigs through recommendations from other bands. Edited June 10, 2023 by Franticsmurf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 (edited) It takes years to build a good reputation. It takes seconds to lose it. Edited June 10, 2023 by Dad3353 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilorius Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 10 hours ago, Bluewine said: I'll start. First of all I think most of us have enjoyed the benefits of having good contacts and the pitfalls of losing them. We had a really cool relationship with The Thelma Performing Arts Center, a top notch center hosting several series of live music events. We got to open for Charlie Daniel's through them. After 3 years of doing business with them our contact was fired. All opportunities for us came to an abrupt stop.All attempts at rebuilding the relationship with them failed. Blue That could be called "poo business". Someone constantly thought - no, they are not so good as these are, let's change them with these. Bad end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 In my last band we - well the lead singer - had an amazing amount of contacts established as much through chatting to people at other bands gigs as chatting to them after our gigs. We were easy to work with, professional in approach and never let anyone down so the contact list grew favourably as a result. If we’d been the same band but prima donnas, always late & cancelling would we have done so much, I doubt it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewine Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 6 hours ago, Franticsmurf said: About 10 years ago, over a period of about 6 months, our singer managed to p*** off a number of local contacts (landlords, club entertainments secretaries etc) until all our local gigs dried up. Until then we'd enjoyed a couple of residencies in local pubs (every 6 weeks or so) plus an informal club circuit netting us about 10 gigs a year and from these came the bigger gigs - weddings, birthdays, charity gigs and Xmas/New Year. Suddenly we were only getting work from the agent he was friendly with and it became clear that the agent was using us to fill gaps that his other acts wouldn't touch ("You're in Aberllanllinllyngweryngoch Sewing Circle club tonight, boys. £100 pick up.") The direct consequence for us was the loss of about 50 gigs a year but in the longer term it impacted on the reputation of the band because the nature of a network is that it shares information. The band very quickly drifted apart until it became just a collection of musicians who were available on the night. Needless to say I am no longer a part of that collection. Edit: Other bands are also part of the network - I've recommended bands I know when my band hasn't been available, and we've had gigs through recommendations from other bands. Was this singer the band leader ? Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 5 hours ago, Bluewine said: Was this singer the band leader ? Yes, unfortunately. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewine Posted June 11, 2023 Author Share Posted June 11, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, Franticsmurf said: Yes, unfortunately. That is unfortunate and also leads us to another discussion. How transparent is your band leader. How much of the behind the scenes and business stuff shared with us ? I just found out tonight we just purchased $1,000.00 in t shirt inventory. Blue Edited June 11, 2023 by Bluewine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 1 hour ago, Bluewine said: How transparent is your band leader. I'm still friends with him and for all the faults (and there were many) I always trusted him with the financial arrangements. I don't believe he was every trying to con the band but he needed to be seen as the 'professional musician' and his ego struggled if someone said 'too loud/wrong music/you're not very good'. He would spin the situation sometimes so that it seemed as if the band was at fault rather than him. I depped with him and a scratch band last year to play an Eagles tribute gig at which there were a couple of agents and some club secretaries he hadn't p***** off. Honestly, given that we were six individuals with 4 rehearsals (2 in my case as i joined late) we played a good gig with some dodgy moments but afterwards he claimed that the agents had said we were scruffy and hadn't made an effort visually and that we needed to tighten up. Over the next few weeks he let slip that they thought he was scruffy and he needed to tighten up with the rest of the band. 😃 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.