Should local bands play for free? (1 Viewer)

[MilanPan!c]

so i think its pretty unanimous that local bands should play for free then??

Yes

 

[D0njo]

No

 

[Scientician 0.8]

The nearest village to me is Collon, Co. Louth, with a population of around 1500 people. It has 5 pubs, and on any Saturday night at least 2 of them will have live music and you can be damn sure they'll be paying the musicians

I wonder is it something to do with sky-high rents in Dublin? Or its just easier for a venue to not bother with promotion, and leave it all up to the bands/promoters? Or the fact that "original live music here tonite" is just not something that draws in the punters?

I think there is probably a place for a promoter-run venue like the Roisin in Dublin. Dermot Doran used to book the bands himself and pay everyone once upon a time, IIRC

There seems to be a healthy live scene in Slane too. It must be the inclines or something...

 

[RSJ]

Would it not have been more normal for venues to pay bands years ago, before it became easier to take out one table in the corner and put in a DJ (as opposed to six to ten tables for a full band)? I remember my brother's band in the early 90s playing tonnes of gigs in cork and it was almost always the venue that put them on. Music venues in the UK and the US never seemed to be hit as hard by the DJs in pubs thing as they did in ireland. Also, I'm fairly sure when i was in galway, the gigs dan ran in sally longs would get a set fee paid by the venue and dan did the organising.

 

[ann post]

see also:

you dont need music to convince irish people to drink beer.

 

[The septic]

Of all the gigs I played growing up in the states there were very few shit-hot bills. Bars generally just wanted to make sure that there were bands on from 9 till 2.30 am every night of the week. They didn't give a bollix about putting together a great night of entertainment. I played a lot of gigs at half one in the morning, on a tuesday, in a then unkown Portland, in the winter, which is cold, and rainy.

In my experience, gigs here are a lot more fun for both the punters and the musicians. The people that care about the music are the people putting on the gigs.

The money wasn't much different than what I've earned in Dublin either. This was 15-20 years ago and gigs cost the same as they do now.

The X-Ray Cafe bucked the trend and put on fantastic gigs, but nobody and I mean nobody made any money on those.

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[Scientician 0.8]

see also:

you dont need music to convince irish people to drink beer.

Cite?

 

[sugar_referee]

What really gets me is getting shit money or no money for supporting a band that sells out somewhere. It kind of works like this:

You get asked to play with a touring band by the venue or promoter.
You say great, thanks, what about backline and fee.
You get told that you have to bring your own backline, and sometimes that you have to supply it for the other band, though you cant use their stuff. Thats grand, its a major hassle getting gear over here.
You then get told that either a)you take a fee that wont even cover your van/taxi/post gig pints etc or b) you dont get paid because its such a good, sold out gig and therefore a great opportunity.
You either take the money, ask for more and get shot down and possibly not asked back, or refuse and get threatened with the 98 other bands lining up behind you to take your place.

Really gets me in the balls, especially if we do our jobs as support band and entertain a packed venue, or bring in as many or more people than the main band.


a better minimum or decent cut of the door would be nice when its deserved.

 

[Space]

If yas want to make sure you and the other local bands get paid, put on your own gigs and get punters in the door yourself.

with that in mind perhaps what we need is a thread how to to better promote gigs and get those punters in the door ourselves rather than complaining about the promoters who don't pay the local supports.

 

[D0njo]

Lets play naked

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Lets play naked

Way ahead of you.

 

[Space]

Way ahead of you.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

If yas want to make sure you and the other local bands get paid, put on your own gigs and get punters in the door yourself.

with that in mind perhaps what we need is a thread how to to better promote gigs and get those punters in the door ourselves rather than complaining about the promoters who don't pay the local supports.

maybe a good use for thumpedia would be to use it for providing info that would help with booking and promoting gigs - an article on venues with info on things like how much it cost to hire, if there was a pa available etc, another on where to hire gear etc, then some sort of rule whereby only bands listed on thumpedia could play gigs.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

[Insert Gazz playing naked in every county in Ireland]

 

[GO]

[Insert Gazz playing naked in every county in Ireland]

I like it.
I'd rather just be in the nude from the waist down though.All these fucking cheese toasties are fucking me up above the belt line.