Members Zeromus-X Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 I hear a bunch of talk from people who seem to play an obscene amount of shows per year. Granted, we don't have a large music "scene" here, but it's a pretty big tourist area. The band I'm filling in with is pretty well-known. We play classic rock, country, and some newer rock covers (Weezer, etc). We've played a couple "bigger" shows (opening for national artists, weekend festivals, etc), and have been around for a good while. Yet we never seem to be able to book more than one or two a week in the summer, and maybe 1-2 a month in the winter. All the clubs we play at have us back, but most are on a 2 month rotation, where they won't book a band more than once every two months to "keep a variety". There are a few that have us every month but they're more remote locations that I'm sure don't get as many. Is this a typical thing that everyone experiences? If so, I don't see how it's possible to book as many shows as I'd like to be playing. Hell, I'll do it seven days a week if I could. It just seems like when you've got all the bars in the area saying "nah, you were here three weeks ago, we only book every two months", it's impossible to pay the bills!
Members SeeU 22 Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 What type of radius do you cover? Might help to stretch your geographical area a bit. Neil
Members Zeromus-X Posted March 21, 2006 Author Members Posted March 21, 2006 Not a real lot of area to spread to. We're in southeastern Virginia, near Virginia Beach. There are quite a few bars at the Oceanfront, but the tourist crowd means there won't be a steady draw of the same people for a certain band, and the locals know to stay away from the area. Most of the bars hire a $100 DJ for the night. My previous band played out that way a lot and we'd be lucky to find a paying gig out there; why would they pay the band when they could crank up the CD player for free? Paying the band means charging a cover, and that means people are just gonna go down to the next bar without one. Or it means splitting profits at the bar, and god help you if you suggest that. Outside of this area, it's about a hundred miles 'till the next city of any significance, which is a rough drive for a $300-$400 show.
Members Beachbum Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 From what I've seen it's mostly geographical. College & university towns are good business spots for good bands. I've known musicians at Penn State (State College, PA) who can play for pay 4-5 nights week. The competition is tough though, very few original music bands (none really) get hired, and you've gotta be really good.
Members bonscottvocals Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 A tourist area is a prime place to play consistantly. You could set up in the Jewish Mother or somewhere else along Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean ave and play pretty regularly. No, you won't get a lot of locals, but who cares? You'll be playing to a different group of people every night. Looking at the variety of songs, you can keep it fresh and interesting enough for people who might pop in twice. Live music carries more energy than a dj any day of the week, so long as the band knows how to project that energy. There is no comparison. You could play near Pembroke, out in Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, etc. a couple of times a month to keep the local scene happening. Shoot, downtown Norfolk isn't the cesspool it was when I first moved there. That new downtown district could serve you well in the warm months. Of course, the Navy crowd is good to play for, and you've got the clubs near the bases to help you out. I never had a problem finding a place to play down there, and I could have been busy every night of the week had I desired. I just didn't want to sing that much, so 2 or 3 nights a week had to suffice. Good luck.
Members rickkreuzer Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 We've been fortunate to play 100-130 shows/year for the last 4+ years straight. It IS possible. I don't know how to say this except, make sure you have a market for your genre/style etc so that you have multiple places to play at. We've been lucky in the fact that there are a few clubs who would gladly make us their 'house' band. We're pretty resistant to that idea primarily because we tend to get stale if we've played at the same club for more than 6 weeks straight. That being said, be careful what you wish for. These past two weekends were the first I've had off since before Thanksgiving. Being busy sometimes it just being busy. There have been weekends where I literally dread going to work because I'm exhausted. Thankfully, there aren't that many of those, or I'd hang it up. Thankfully, I've got a (somewhat) supportive spouse. Anyhoo...It's tuesday...I've got to go setup today...time for the next run....maybe next weekend off will be in July-ish....
Members Alan Dunn Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 When we were doing the college circuit here in N.C. we were playing an average of 125 a year.
Members dblair Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 I don't know that area but the area I am in is great for getting work. north jersey. we can get gigs all down the Jersey Shore, Atlantic City Casinos, and at any one of hundreds of bars, clubs etc. From what I hear from other musicians its one of the best cover band areas in US. but competition is also tough. A million bands as well. The better ones have full sound system, bands as tight as any touring act. On the low end a crappy 3-4 piece bar band can make $300 for 3 sets in some local dive. Decent gigs for bands who are professional and sound great can go from $600-$1200, up to $2000+ But takes a couple of years to establish your self on scene and with agents. Then top bands are almost like National acts. Can get thousands for a night. But as far as getting gigs. Call every club, bar, venue that is appropriate for your music within reasonable driving distance. 2-3 hours depending on pay. NJ is pretty populated so you could play 5 nights a week and never drive more than an hour. Hoboken alone has at least 20 clubs. But even my friends that play in West Jersey which I consider the stix, still play 6x a month and stay 45 minutes from their house. There are hundreds of bars and clubs and all ya need is about 6 to give you a 1x a month rotation plus some additional gigs here and there. From my experience amount of gigs is directly proportional to how many press packages you send out, amount of phone calls you make to club managers. Just bug the hell out of them till they give you gigs. But if you are in an area where there are only a handfull of venues your only choice is to drive further to gigs or move to a more populated area, college town etc.
Members srsfallriver Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 My band was originally a bar band that would travel to any hotspot in eastern New England that would hire them. At the time they probably played over 150 gigs/year. There were weekends where they'd play five gigs and sometimes have to drive up to 2 and a half hours between back to back shows. (I had a couple weekends like that in former bands but not nearly as many as they did) When I joined the band (a little over 3 years ago) they were in the process of turning the group into a wedding band. The guys that were in the band from the beginning say that they make about the same $$ anually now as they did back then but play only a quarter as much. If you want more work, perhaps you could deversify a little. Book some big money weddings or corporate gigs on the side to supplement the club stuff. If you can play some jazz, maybe you could find some trendy lunch spot that'll hire you say on a Sunday afternoon or something like that. Being a performer is tough on the wallet. Do whatever you can to make a buck!
Members RupertB Posted March 21, 2006 Members Posted March 21, 2006 Originally posted by ADunn When we were doing the college circuit here in N.C. we were playing an average of 125 a year. +1 Back in the mid-80s there was much bread to be made playing classic rock and the "progressive" rock of the day at Univ. functions, fraternity parties (DSP Lawn Party 1988 & 1989), & college-town bars in NC. We even road-tripped up to look at some VA Beach venues. It looked pretty happening at the time, but we never got booked up there. Getting booked is like getting any other job: You've got to get out and sell it. Get your disc & promo pack in the hands of every bar owner & hotel/resort manager in the area. Consider working with a promoter.
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