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Would you pay a $5 cover charge....


fu2jobu

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Pay the $5. Worst case scenario is the band sucks and it cost you $5 to learn to avoid them in the future. Even with that you'll probably get $5 worth of entertainment just observing the scene. Best case is the band is good and you've helped keep the local live music scene going. I personally don't care if it's a cover band vs. original as I have done both and seen both. Good musicians can surprise you and teach you something no matter what.

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Even with that you'll probably get $5 worth of entertainment just observing the scene.

 

 

That's partly my point. Every indication was that there wasn't any scene going on. Between the band memebers and employees they probably took up all but a few of the parking spaces. I've been in the bar before, they don't have talent working the bar and I've never seen a crowd inside. For $5 or less there were plenty of other choices.

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Excuse meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. You're whining(not discussing) a $5.00 cover. YOU FAIL plain and simple.



You're not bright enough to know the difference between whining and discussing. Not my fault :idk:. Don't worry there are millions just like you scattered across the web.

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This is why the live music scene has died in a lot of places. Even musicians can't spare $5 to help support other bands.

 

 

I can spare a lot more than $5 to support a local band as I have said throughout the thread. I've been in their position and wouldn't want the place to charge a cover if it could only hold that few people. Everyone is fixated on $5 not being a lot of money, which I have agreed with. However, I'm not willing to pay it to get my foot in the door at a dive bar with nobody in it and not much in the way of atmosphere. Again, there are plenty of bigger, better places to go without a cover charge or the atmosphere to justify a cover charge.

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Here's a question- why does anyone think a band deserves a $5 cover just for showing up? Do you give $5 to every homeless person on the street with their hand out? I don't mind paying for quality, but pretty much every suburban sports bar cover band I've ever seen should have paid ME $5 for pain & suffering. If I want to go have a few drinks and talk {censored} with my friends, I don't need to pay some bunch of idiots $5 for making a racket I have to yell over.

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Alright, the OP said that he would be glad to give a fiver to a band he liked but he doesn't want to go to this bar. That's the long and short of it. The original question was not "Should I spend a five dollar cover charge to see live music?" but rather "Should I go to this bar I've already decided that I don't like?" If the title of the thread were changed to "Should I go to this bar I've already decided that I don't like?" there would be a very different conversation taking place. As it is, the OP wants someone to say "Dude, forget it. Screw that scene" so I'll just say it...

 

Dude, forget it. Screw that scene.

 

Now we can close the thread.

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$5?????


It costs me $12 for a decent hamburger. $5 for live music??? That's a {censored}ing steal.

 

 

I'd pay the $5.

 

As for good burgers - five guys has got to be less than $12. Ben's Chili Bowl for a Chili Burger - more than decent and with fries and a drink it's still less than $12.

 

Now I'm thinking about DC and chili and I want some Hard Times. Damn you!

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LOL, there's a ton of gigging musicians on this board. That's probably why some of us took offense with the inference that a band on the job wasn't enough to justify a $5 cover charge.

If the venue and the social prospects are not good enough for you, by all means you should take your $5 elsewhere. But don't be suprised when folks who work hard on the music speak up.

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Sorry, if a band is playing a place of that size, stature and obviously meager crowd then they are not worth $5 to get my foot in the door. Put in the time to play a bigger, more reputable place then yeah I have no problem ponying up some $$ ahead of time.

I've been in a few bands that played dive bars. 1 of the bands actually did get the bar to charge a cover to get in and it almost always ended up being a handful of people that knew the band. On a rare occasion people who weren't specifically invited before hand would show. I felt sorry for them knowing that they were about to get blasted with large club volume in a place that was meant to hold 50 people. Then again it was nice to get a little bit of walking around money. At that point however I would have been just as happy if there was no cover charge or we didn't get a cut of it. I knew I wasn't owed anything just because I had worked hard.

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If you don't think your hard work and music has value, it probably doesn't.

 

 

Sheesh. I shoulda known better right?

 

The band playing the dive bars didn't deserve much. While we had put some hard work into it no thought was given to making it sound good in a gigging situation. If you play at large club volume in small places you are going to sound like {censored} no matter how good you are. If you don't want to take my word for it wander over to the Live Sound forum where a recent discussion has popped up - Another Good Band With a Bad Product

 

"If you build it they will come" only works in the movies.

 

P.S. Notice the band was playing a much bigger place than dive bar I am talking about and guess what? No cover charge. (see Post #13 in that thread).

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I've payed $5-$10 a countless number of times to see bands play in a 80 person max occupancy room. I only start to get annoyed to pay cover if it goes over $10 and I've been unemployed highschool student for the majority of the last 4 years. I don't see what the big deal about a cover charge is.

 

I'm less likely to go see a band if its a free concert because I'll start to wonder if they're even worth seeing.

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