Members Zeromus-X Posted August 2, 2002 Members Share Posted August 2, 2002 Around this area, there's less than half a dozen clubs that will have local bands. 2-3 of those are cover band only type things, so that leaves us 3-4 places to play. We're one of the bigger bands in the area (by far not the biggest, but we bring in a larger crowd than a good majority of even those "above" us). The clubs know this. Yet, if I call the club and we're discussing the shows, and I ask for $150 bucks, I'm told not to bother scheduling the show there. This is a club that I know we can bring in at least 50 people at $5 a head, and so do they. Their plan is to give us $1 of the door for each person who comes in. We, as the headliners, will be in charge of taking the money and giving it to the openers as well. How does one start getting clubs to pay enough to even justify a PA rental? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Atomic Jonny Posted August 2, 2002 Members Share Posted August 2, 2002 Unfortunately playing original material live does not pay well unless you are a big well known band, even signed bands have to pay a lot of money to get a support slot. playing original live material is about promoting your music and not making money although it would be nice. You do have some options though: 1. One get several other bands together who can pull in a good crowd each, rent a venue sell tickets yourselves and via the other bands. 2. Get a manager use internet/yellow pages etc. 3. Start giging as a covers band in order to finance your original material (my band has bought pa,web domain cd duplication advertising etc using this form of revenue raising + through playing widly varying musical styles your song writing skills become enhanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thescham Posted August 2, 2002 Members Share Posted August 2, 2002 man, you only get a $1 per person! That's not good...but unfortunately not all too uncommon. My advice, learn to put on your own shows...like a house show or be creative and find places you can do shows at..like a park, a highshcool theater..whatever. I mean, you're already haveing to rent your own PA...this way you can keep more of the money. Or find a better place to play, or try working out a gurrantee with the bar. Do you have a big drinking crowd? If so, bargain for a % of bar sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeromus-X Posted August 2, 2002 Author Members Share Posted August 2, 2002 Originally posted by thescham Or find a better place to play, or try working out a gurrantee with the bar. Do you have a big drinking crowd? If so, bargain for a % of bar sales. Unfortunately that's one thing we *don't* have on our side. Because of the kind of music we play, we tend to bring in quite the Good idea about finding a place and setting up the show ourselves. I might actually try and start something like that. Rent out a place, rent out a badass PA and a little bit of a light show, and put 4-5 of the more well-known bands on the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted August 2, 2002 Members Share Posted August 2, 2002 Originally posted by Zeromus-X Unfortunately that's one thing we *don't* have on our side. Because of the kind of music we play, we tend to bring in quite the Good idea about finding a place and setting up the show ourselves. I might actually try and start something like that. Rent out a place, rent out a badass PA and a little bit of a light show, and put 4-5 of the more well-known bands on the bill. I would keep it down to 3 bands. Five or six bucks is not unreasonable to charge per head. But you have security to consider, liability, and what about alcohol? If you have to pay for all this and a sound system and a lot of bands, you'll end up making more money staying in the clubs at $1 a head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thescham Posted August 2, 2002 Members Share Posted August 2, 2002 Yeah man! Do it yourself. Punk bands have been doing it for years...playing people's basements, houses..whatever. I'd avoid renting a place if you can...that is costly. Punk bands around here have shows at the community center or the vets hall..any public place that will let them. Rock music needs to underground! Viva la revolution! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scheming Demon Posted August 3, 2002 Members Share Posted August 3, 2002 Another thing to try. See if one (or more) of your fans would like to have your band play live at a party. You can get a minimum PA and just collect a few bucks which the people won't mind paying. It's also a lot of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6am eternal Posted August 3, 2002 Members Share Posted August 3, 2002 Just an idea: if you are really sure that you have a following, then talk the club manager/owner into selling you tickets in advance for a reduced rate, say $3 instead of $5. And sell those yourself for $5 to your fans. Or maybe sell them for $7...that's up to you. That way you help them with their business, and you get some $$ for yourself.....just an idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted August 3, 2002 Members Share Posted August 3, 2002 Couple of thoughts: (A) Bars are the lowest paying gig there is...look into decent paying gigs instead...they ARE out there, if you're willing to look! (B) Learn a repertoire that brings in crowds...originals between covers will allow you a lot more success...the folks who insist on playing "originals" only RARELY succeed...ego pays nothing! Hope this is of help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members swingset Posted August 5, 2002 Members Share Posted August 5, 2002 Or, a viable option is to do what our band has been doing. We play 4 hours of original stuff, but in the vein of our originals. Then, you can slip quite a few originals into a cover set without raising too many bar owner's eyebrows, and still sell your own CD's at the gig. Then, when you have to lose money on showcase bars, it's nothing to do so, as you have a high-paying cover act to cover the PA and still keep you going. Plus, it'll DEFINATELY make you better at writing and performing. If your originals work right next to solid covers, they're DESERVING of standing on their own. It only took us a year of cover band stuff to have a full PA, trailer to haul it in, and a good following. It's not selling out, brother, it's finding a NEW WAY. Nothing wrong with subtrifuge when it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Snagglefinger Posted August 6, 2002 Members Share Posted August 6, 2002 Originally posted by swingset Or, a viable option is to do what our band has been doing. We play 4 hours of original stuff, but in the vein of our originals. Then, you can slip quite a few originals into a cover set without raising too many bar owner's eyebrows, and still sell your own CD's at the gig. Then, when you have to lose money on showcase bars, it's nothing to do so, as you have a high-paying cover act to cover the PA and still keep you going. Plus, it'll DEFINATELY make you better at writing and performing. If your originals work right next to solid covers, they're DESERVING of standing on their own. It only took us a year of cover band stuff to have a full PA, trailer to haul it in, and a good following. It's not selling out, brother, it's finding a NEW WAY. Nothing wrong with subtrifuge when it works. That must be nice. Good for you. It seems that everyone I meet who wants to do original material will have nothing to do with playing covers, certainly not playing gig after gig to earn money. I guess that would be too easy. They can't seem to get their heads around the idea of simply running one act for originals and one for covers. If you even work outwards from one region to another, you could probably do some sort of touring, playing covers to pay for the money you're going to lose on originals for the first couple years. I can't believe how many musicians talk about "wanting to make it" but won't step up to the plate and do what they need to do in order to finance the freakin' band! I suspect this has a lot more to do with ego, or being a control freak, or wanting to be a "star" with no idea of how the biz works, rather than putting the music first. If you really love playing music, isn't simply playing *anything* with a good band at least half the enjoyment of playing? In order to get yourself to where you really want to be? OK, sorry, rant over. Carry on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members local#69 Posted August 8, 2002 Members Share Posted August 8, 2002 Since we do a combination of originals and covers we seem to get the best of both worlds. People sing along with the covers and there are several I have noticed recently singing along with the originals. Like Swingset said keep the originals and covers in the same vein and it can work. We even have people yelling for originals. Although they yell the lyrics from the chorus and not the actual title of the song. Hey it's a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dallasmopar Posted August 8, 2002 Members Share Posted August 8, 2002 There are probably 25 clubs for our style in our area (dallas/fw) and we have taken the following approach - and it is not about making money and funding the band for us - all about getting the word out brother. In a market like this it is almost impossible to make cash with original material. 1. Play for free, exposure and experience is better than nothing and have that attitude or your gonna be miserable. 2. Find gigs that pay, but only after you play for free and build a reputation. If you play a paying club and no one comes in, you won't be asked back unless the booking guy really likes you.3. $1 a head bites and might be considered a free gig. Worst I have ever seen (besdies free) is $3 a head and that goes up to $5 if we bring in more than 25 people. Playing for beer is a common thing and not bad if you like to drink. Think about it, beer at bars is expensive.4. We won't play a place that has no PA if it is a free gig. Why? Won't rent one out of our own pocket if the cost is not covered (we have an OK one) but don't want to haul it around either. PA means I get part of the door and part of the alcohol sales.5. If your playing to under 21 (we do sometimes) usually this means a freeby. No booze sales = no gig money for the most part.We have a kickass underage club here that provides awesome exposure and so many bands want to play there, they can say no pay. Its cool because of the exposure and they do invest in a great stage, lighting, and sound setup.6. And like everybody else said, do your own gig somewhere with 2-3 other bands. Get a PA, get a room, get a couple of kegs, and have at it. Sell CD, shirts, stickers, and tickets. I have seen this work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillCase Posted August 21, 2002 Members Share Posted August 21, 2002 I'll tell you what my band did : We started modest and built quite a nice following thru good PR ( remember that people like it when you talk to them in a club IE: Hi thanks for coming etc;) then we started charging our own cover charge at the door and not charging the club a dime . Believe it or not we started making killer cash as soon as we did that. However when it's time to do that is something you have to decide . I would rent out a place to start with and promote yourselves...then when things start to take off and Bar patrons start coming to YOUR gigs that YOU sponsor and club owners wonder where there customers are...well you get the picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FuzzBob Posted August 21, 2002 Members Share Posted August 21, 2002 Here is what you do, if covers don't do it for you or your crowd (or soon-to-be crowd): Hook up with a local originals band that is a guaranteed huge draw and has a larger reputation than your band. Book some shows as the opener. In the meantime, rehearse your show so that you kick so much ass that nobody can dispute you. Also check out other bands in the meantime and take notes on band quality, etc. so that you know where the golden standard is and how good you need to be to blow everyone away. When the shows roll around, you're in a good spot: as an opener, if one of your guys happen to get sloppy, it's low pressure. If you guys are ON, make the whole house's jaws drop, and impress the hell out of everyone, then the owner will ask you back and it's time to bargain. Either way, the combination of your crowd and the other band's crowd will make a huge impression on the owner. This involves playing one or a few gigs as an opener for crappy money, but in good time, it works and works well. Just be sure everyone in the band knows the plan, so nobody gets pissed because the money is bad on an early show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FuzzBob Posted August 21, 2002 Members Share Posted August 21, 2002 This is for those gigs where the money is good but having to do a few covers is inevitable: Bar owners like bands that do covers that the most people recognize, so the most beer is sold. That has traditionally meant that a band must lose all shame and play absolute schlock all night. However, TV commercials are getting much hipper than radio is now. Remember the Rav4 commercials that played The Buzzcocks? The VW commercials that played Nick Drake, Hooverphonic, Velocity Girl and all kinds of other stuff? Jaguar commercials that play The Clash? That's only the beginning. All this stuff plays during prime time, so all kinds of people recognize it. You can also play this stuff as covers during a set and actually live with yourself at the end of the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acplayer Posted August 24, 2002 Members Share Posted August 24, 2002 I would try your local cultural council (concert in the park) scenerio. If you submit a proposal with a definate venue (talk to the local "parks dept".), target audience, references (A MUST) and a vision of how the community will benefit due to your groups' performance, you are golden. I am a musician AND a member of my town's local cultural council. We get all of the work we want in MA (as far as "concert in the park" scenerios. MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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