Members TotalPoser Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 OK, so this has probably been discussed to death before, but I'm sure others on this board have experienced this before. I recently joined a new project after the cover band I had been in for eight years decided to break up. The band is interesting...two female lead singers, a key board player, along with drums, guitar, and myself on bass. We cover 80s through current material...what's nice is the fact that I've never done any of this stuff before. Band members pretty much seem like a good, down to earth, type of group. Good rehearsal space, and plenty of equipment to do a show. Guitarist even owns a van and truck for going to shows. The guitarist is the one who put the band together, and is by far the oldest member in the band. I haven't asked him a lot about his past, but he's been playing guitar for about 30 years, and is probably pushing 50. My understanding is that he's toured in the past, and is a pretty talented guitar player, IMO. The thing is, he keeps talking about how his plan is to do cover gigs for about a year, 2-3 times per month for good money. OK, great, that's exactly up my alley. But then, he wants to go into a studio and record originals. Now, I haven't said this to him, but this just seems pretty unrealistic to me. He has also made statements like "All I want is a couple big royalty checks to set me up for good." Now, with all the experience he seems to have, you'd think he'd understand the facts about the industry nowadays. It kind of seems like he's trying to somehow relive his glory days. I mean, how many new bands do you see where the members are in their late 20s, to mid 30s, with a pushing 50 guitarist? I can't recall any recently breaking it big on MTV or anything. Also, while the female singers are attractive and have decent vocal chops, I wouldn't call them up to par with the average "good" audition you see on American Idol, or anything like that. What should I do? Shut up and keep playing until things go south (probably what I'm leaning towards)? Do I tell him I think he's being unrealistic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crossways Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Let him talk all he wants to IMO!! If he's not pushing anyone to do anything or taking up time writing materials in rehearsal, or asking you guys to put in money....let him talk, that's all it is. Most likely that's all it will ever be. So smile, make your cash from the gigs, enjoy the music, and let him have his pipedreams! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PlatinumProd Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 What will it gain you to try to burst his bubble? It's not that unrealistic to record some original songs. Penning a song that will bring you residuals might be unrealistic, but it can happen. My vote is let him dream ... as long as he doesn't get you to jeapardize your day job on a long shot, what do you care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TotalPoser Posted March 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. The focus and drive of the band has been to getting ready for our first gig in April...so I figure as long as he doesn't start going overboard on the originals talk, things should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker99 Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 The guys is 50 and still dreaming of making it? There's still hope left in the world, afterall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gtrbass Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 At some point, here's what you say: "Dude, the sun has set, the ship has sailed, and you (we) weren't on it." It's a tough nut to swallow, but it's the truth. If someone with some talent wants to make a record and put it out, there has never before been better opportunities to do exactly that. Go for it!! Make music and share it with the world. If it's really, really good, you could sell enough to make back your (relatively small) investment, have a lot of personal satisfaction, and fun. It is something to be proud of. If you want to make music to get rich and live off royalty checks... You have already failed. There is plenty of data and stories to demonstrate to anyone with moderate intelligence that the success rate is extremely low, even with major label money & support. According to Billboard, there were 75,000 new CD titles released in 2006, and 54,000 of them sold less than 100 copies. That means 72% of all titles released don't sell enough to even warrant a commercial release. Out of those 75,000 titles, less then 6% sold more than 5000 copies. That generally means 94% of all titles released are commercial failures that do not likely recoup the amount invested to produce, market and distribute them. My advice: Play covers, and build a following. Slip in a couple orgiinals at gigs to gauge audience reaction. When you have ten that people seem to really like, record them. Press up 1000 CD's. Sell them at gigs, get on CD Baby, Tunecore, etc. Put whatever money you make back into promoting your band and your music. Have fun. If you build it into a self-sustaining enterprise where you see enough cash flow to pay for it all, you've done better than most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Instrospection Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Heh, good luck! I've found that musicians that are convinced that they're great or that they're going to break big won't believe otherwise--no matter if it's said nicely, or not so nicely. My advice is to do it until it stops being fun....the bonus about bands that aren't as serious as more successful ones, is that they're usually a helluva lot of fun (with exceptions....but that's my general experience). If you think telling him that his dream is unrealistic, it will not be fun anymore--if he's 50 and is still believing that he can make it, then I don't think that anyone will convince him otherwise. If it's bothering you that much, perhaps just quitting the band saying that "it's not your thing" would be better than telling the truth. I've had to do that one a few times, rather than tell people things that may be hurtful....but huge stumbling blocks in any sort of success, even just making it to the gigging stage. It's alot different when you're all 19, 20 or so and dreaming about that big shot of one day "making it". Ahh, the innocence of youth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TotalPoser Posted March 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Well, that's the thing. I'm already in my late 20s, and realize I won't ever "make it", not that I'm really wanting to anyway. I think maybe when I was about 20, and still pretty new to playing in a band, I thought about making it as an original artist for about five minutes, before I realized how much work and sacrifice that usually ends up taking. I figured finishing college would probably be a better choice. I'm married, have a house, and run a business...recording a lot of originals and going on some sort of tour isn't really in the cards, as far as I'm concerned. All I'm looking to do is be in a cover band that plays out regularly and gets paid a decent amount of cash for our time and efforts. I think this project could get there, as long as we stay on track. I won't say anything to him, but I'll keep doing what I've been doing...approaching things with eyes and ears wide open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker99 Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 What is "making it" anyway!? You should ask him more details about his goals. Maybe they are not that unrealistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sabriel9v Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Let him talk all he wants to IMO!! If he's not pushing anyone to do anything or taking up time writing materials in rehearsal, or asking you guys to put in money....let him talk, that's all it is. Most likely that's all it will ever be. So smile, make your cash from the gigs, enjoy the music, and let him have his pipedreams! Good luck! +10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Let him talk all he wants to IMO!!If he's not pushing anyone to do anything or taking up time writing materials in rehearsal, or asking you guys to put in money....let him talk, that's all it is.Most likely that's all it will ever be.So smile, make your cash from the gigs, enjoy the music, and let him have his pipedreams!Good luck! + another 10 Maybe he just wants to sell some of his tunes to be recorded by someone else, which isn't all that farfetched-hard, yes; unlikely, for sure, but there's a far better chance of that than him 'making it' as a touring performer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Instrospection Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Well, that's the thing. I'm already in my late 20s, and realize I won't ever "make it", not that I'm really wanting to anyway. I think maybe when I was about 20, and still pretty new to playing in a band, I thought about making it as an original artist for about five minutes, before I realized how much work and sacrifice that usually ends up taking. I figured finishing college would probably be a better choice. That's the smart thing to do. But it sounds like you have the right intentions--I think that good things come to those who don't expect it, and if it happens, it happens. If not, it's fun. I'm married, have a house, and run a business...recording a lot of originals and going on some sort of tour isn't really in the cards, as far as I'm concerned. All I'm looking to do is be in a cover band that plays out regularly and gets paid a decent amount of cash for our time and efforts. I think this project could get there, as long as we stay on track. I won't say anything to him, but I'll keep doing what I've been doing...approaching things with eyes and ears wide open. Touring is very, very expensive. Dare I say that pound for pound, it's much more expensive than recording and releasing cds, because with a recording and cds, you can still sell it at the end of the day, but if you tour and play in the middle of nowhere to five people (i've seen it happen!), you're out gas money and maybe a couple hundred, with nothing other than the experience of playing the club and talking to a couple of people, and that's about it. I always really respect touring bands, because they're really out there making it happen, and even the bigger bands have to scale back things (ie: often a piano player is playing a digital workstation keyboard like a Korg or something, rather than a big grand piano), etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ZERO HEROES Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Does he want you to help him? -lol BTW, my lead guitar player is 52. He does get royalty checks, but from when he did sitcom music in LA years ago (Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, he also did the theme song to Hanging with Mr Cooper). Let him do what he wants. Just make sure he doesn't waste your time if it's not something you want to do. Tell him to hire studio musicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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