Live performance in L.A.

[onoffon]

Just wanted to share this with you all...I got a call from a booking company that wanted to have ONOFFON play at B.B. King's Hollywood, located at Universal Citiwalk. Obviously, it sounds great on the surface - here's the details -We get to play on a Tuesday night, not the greatest night for performing, in fact, probably the worst of the week. We get to be the first band on, at about 9:30 pm, and play for about 35 minutes.For that wonderful timeslot, we have to guarantee 35 people attend at the cover charge of $10.00 a head - in essence, $350.00 for our 35 minutes. We get to 'keep' any money above the $350.00 for ourselves.Isn't that a great deal? Let me add, being a 10+ year member of the Musician's Union, I'm supposed to not work gigs that pay less than union scale. Let alone, gigs that might actually cost the band money to perform. What's a professional musician to do?

[hummingbird]

Quote:Just wanted to share this with you all...I got a call from a booking company that wanted to have ONOFFON play at B.B. King's Hollywood, located at Universal Citiwalk. Obviously, it sounds great on the surface - here's the details -We get to play on a Tuesday night, not the greatest night for performing, in fact, probably the worst of the week. We get to be the first band on, at about 9:30 pm, and play for about 35 minutes.For that wonderful timeslot, we have to guarantee 35 people attend at the cover charge of $10.00 a head - in essence, $350.00 for our 35 minutes. We get to 'keep' any money above the $350.00 for ourselves.Isn't that a great deal? Let me add, being a 10+ year member of the Musician's Union, I'm supposed to not work gigs that pay less than union scale. Let alone, gigs that might actually cost the band money to perform. What's a professional musician to do? Yikes!

[zink]

Never ever ever ever ever pay to play. That's exactly what this gig is. Don't do it.z

[onoffon]

Quote:Yikes!Yikes, indeed!!!!

[onoffon]

Quote:Never ever ever ever ever pay to play. That's exactly what this gig is. Don't do it.zNo problem, Zink - we won't be doing this one... Weird thing is, we played at that club a couple of years ago without the ticket guarantee. Still have pics on our website from when we were there.Must be a new booking agency trying to drum up business and suck the life out of who ever they can....Saddest part is, there are hundreds of bands out there that will do it without blinking an eye.

[ernstinen]

That kinda sucks, Von, but not quite as bad as the "pay-to-play" days on the Sunset Strip. I remember you had to sell $1000 of tix in advance before you saw any money, that is IF you could find the promoter after the gig.My band once rented a big room at SIR, served food and drinks, paid a light man and sound man, and had a large and enthusiastic crowd.Record company A&R weasels who showed up!? ZERO.Later that year, we had a real good time slot @ "At My Place" (remember that room?). So we hired the soundman to come to a couple of our rehearsals at $125 a pop. Two days before the gig, we got a call from the guy's wife. The dude had DIED.Oh, the stories I could tell y'all about the L.A. scene --- Another time in the valley, we prepared a killer 1 hour set and had a good crowd. The promoter came up right before we went on, and said "What's with the small crowd! What happened? You only get a 30 minute set."I was so pissed off, I axed all the slower and subtle numbers from the set and went off in an electric guitar inferno. The crowd freaked out. People came up to me and said "WHAT was THAT!!??" "Wow!"I went outside and sat on the curb and cried for a half hour. That night was the beginning of the end of dealing with the LA rock scene. I just couldn't handle it anymore. Ern

[onoffon]

Quote:onoffon,I say try it.No. And this is about so much more than pride.First of all, where self promotion is concerned, I do what I do with little or no money. I don't join websites that charge fees, I don't buy advertising, I don't have much money to speak of. I'm what you'd call a typical 'starving artist'. Yet, I've still generated an enormous web presence for our group. We're in places that many independent artists aren't.So, there's got to be a damn good reason to spend $350.00 on anything, in my book. A 35 minute timeslot on a Tuesday night is NOT one of them, unless it's opening for Sting (would be the right demographic for us) or a nationally televised halftime show at the SuperBowl... But, seriously, I've spent less over the last nine months in writing grant proposals to more than 400 foundations in support of the documentary I'm producing - and talk about being so much more significant in my life than a Tuesday night at B.B. King's...It's not pride - it's priorities...

[onoffon]

Quote:That kinda sucks, Von, but not quite as bad as the 'pay-to-play' days on the Sunset Strip. I remember you had to sell $1000 of tix in advance before you saw any money, that is IF you could find the promoter after the gig.ErnTrust me, Ern. Been there - done that... I'm sure the going rate would be $1000 for a more favorable night - say Friday. The difference now is that they have four or five bands in the same night and throw you on and off stage as fast as they can, charging four and five fees in one night - probably charging more money for the more favorable timeslots as well.I much prefer to play all night. You get to really set the pace of the night, musically speaking, and play off of the crowd.If you're not having fun - what's the point...

[sgs4u]

Quote:That night was the beginning of the end of dealing with the LA rock scene. I just couldn't handle it anymore. Ern There is always a cost. It comes with the territory. I empathaize. sgs4u 100

[ernstinen]

Quote: There is always a cost. It comes with the territory. I empathaize.Thanks, guys --- it's a tough racket.Here's what the promoter looked like after he refused to pay us:Ern