A first for my band, but I'm suspicious...

[Area51]

So, I'm a member of a faculty and staff band at a university near Atlantic City. We formed about two years ago and play strictly covers, everything pop and rock from Beatles until now. We meet weekly and have dozens of songs in our repertoire now. We play at school functions and had our first show on campus scheduled before we had a drummer. So, there's always something to do. It's my first band (I wanted to call it the Institute for the Study of Gettin' Down, but the others weren't having it) and the first band for most of the other folks. A few weeks ago, one of the members was with a colleague downtown and they ran into a friend of that colleague who owns a venue. The guy said he was interested in having us if we could get 50 people there at $10 a pop to pay for the bartender and sound guy. We'd keep any extra (honestly, it'd go to the university scholarship fund). This strikes me as, you know, potentially fun, but is this how it's done? It feels like renting a venue for a private party (and charging friends to get in). I figure the guy plans to make his money off the bar reciepts. I'd have thought that the venue costs would have come primarily from alchohol sales. But I've literally never done this before, so what do I know?

Generally speaking, the only places with cover charges in my area are non-alcohol venues.

A very similar scheme to the one you mention is to pay the band a percentage of the proceeds from the evening. Often after a minimum is met. Basically if the band wants to make money they better get a lot of friends to show up and drink (and hope they tip well). Which isn't always easy for various reasons. I suppose the positive is its a step up from the places where you only play for tips.

If you're OK with the worst case being you don't make money but could get exposure and have fun, go for it.

A side point. I personally always order a drink when I go to see a band play. It's my way of supporting the band and the bar.

 

[Heartbreaker_Esq]

OK. Maybe I'm sounding old...

But what happened to the old punk rock days where, if you're going to scrounge up 50 people to hear you play regardless, just find a place that barely has electricity and is a fire hazard (old warehouse, etc.), charge $5/head and forgo the club where some guy is using you to bring him drinking business?

I mean, unless you've got a buddy that happens to own the old warehouse or whatever, you're probably still going to have to pay to rent/use the space. I don't see how this route is that much different than the club-style, pay-to-play situation. In either case, you're putting up money up front for the privilege of having a place to play. Except in the case of the club, at least you probably get amenities like a PA system, a sound man, bathrooms, lighting, etc.

I'm not advocating for pay-to-play, for some of the reasons mentioned by @regularslinky . I'm just saying I don't necessarily see the advantage of the "fire hazard" plan. But house/basement shows could still be a viable compromise, if you can find a house owned by someone in the scene, who will let you use the place for free, or for a small cut of the door or something.

 

[sax4blues]

You can easily fit 50 people in a backyard. Just have a party and play for friends.

 

[Telekat 100]

I mean, unless you've got a buddy that happens to own the old warehouse or whatever, you're probably still going to have to pay to rent/use the space. I don't see how this route is that much different than the club-style, pay-to-play situation. In either case, you're putting up money up front for the privilege of having a place to play. Except in the case of the club, at least you probably get amenities like a PA system, a sound man, bathrooms, lighting, etc.

I'm not advocating for pay-to-play, for some of the reasons mentioned by @regularslinky . I'm just saying I don't necessarily see the advantage of the "fire hazard" plan. But house/basement shows could still be a viable compromise, if you can find a house owned by someone in the scene, who will let you use the place for free, or for a small cut of the door or something.

I'd never known of the spaces being rented. Although probably harder to find them these days than it once was.

 

[ddewerd]

I've never done a pay-for-play, but I've done a bunch that kind of felt like it.

I'm mostly past my gigging days, but a few decades ago I was much more into it. Although my bands were actually quite good, we were basically weekend warriors who all had decent day jobs.

So for us, the money wasn't a big deal, we just enjoyed gigging, but we also weren't going to pimp ourselves out and play for nothing.

We played a lot of cheap little dive bars, made a couple hundred bucks for the band, and called it a good night if we covered our gas money, bar tab, and had a good time playing.

But what would really irk me was when going into a prospective new place for a gig, and they would ask "What's your following? How many folks will you bring in?"

Like holy carp dude. You're going to pay us maybe $150-200 to play your dive bar, and you want to put it on us to fill the place? If I had a "following" do you think I'd really be soliciting to play your $h17hol3 place?

Pretty much why I stopped doing bar gigs in favor of private parties/events

Like I said, my gigging days are mostly behind me, but bar gigs, much less a play-for-pay (or even a cut-of-door) aren't worth my time nowadays.

Cheers,
Doug

 

[teletail]

Tell him you have a counter offer - he pays you $500 and gets to keep anything over that for himself!

 

[rjblaskiewicz]

I appreciate all of your input, folks. Thanks for letting me draw on your experiences. The band meets this weekend to discuss this and...we'll see. The venue owner said there was no contract, just that most bands who say they will show up do show up. So, that makes it feel more open mic-like. As far as I'm concerned, I play for giggles and for those moments where everything clicks and you get something golden. I just don't want to pay to do it.

 

[loudboy]

I appreciate all of your input, folks. Thanks for letting me draw on your experiences. The band meets this weekend to discuss this and...we'll see. The venue owner said there was no contract, just that most bands who say they will show up do show up. So, that makes it feel more open mic-like. As far as I'm concerned, I play for giggles and for those moments where everything clicks and you get something golden. I just don't want to pay to do it.

Bars rarely do contracts, at least in my pretty extensive experience.

I've never done a pay to play, but as long as it's your decision, and you know the details going in, it's up to you.

Do you have a lot of friends who will come?

Does the $500 fee include sound/lights and people to run them?

 

[bottlenecker]

Tell him you have a counter offer - he pays you $500 and gets to keep anything over that for himself!

This is how it's supposed to work.