The gigging scene in your area

Well I probably made it sound worse than it is but some decent venues are shutting down lately which sucks, like the Arena and others.

We've played The Zoo a few times, X&Y recently, The Hive and The Globe a few times among others. They're good venues. I hope by the time we're playing big venues there's still some big ones left tho.

Yeah fair call - The Arena shut, but the Hi-Fi opened... so we haven't lucked out too hard. At least the Hi-Fi is structurally sound!
 
We do pretty well here in Northern California. Funny you mention Casino's Poly, because the casinos here and in Reno pay VERY well. They are hard gigs to get, but when we do get into one, it is always a fun, profitable evening.

Our Casino in Sydney only hires name acts.

When we get our demo together we'll have to start hawking it around and find out exactly how much we will need to play bars and clubs to be allowed to play (hopefully cheaper than hiring rehearsal studios) and we can also find out if they demand any extra "favours" so as to proffer this great privilege (ie. to play gigs) to we lowly scum intermediate musicians.

Ok, I'm exaggerating but that's how it feels at times in old Sydneytown. We're such a cultural wasteland as compared with the European and American scenes!
 
Dallas is nice. Lots of places to play, but most booking agents and venues treat young bands like they should be honored to even receive a slot. This usually leads to extremely poor compensation. I don't mind it though because right now the band is a hobby and not a source of income, and generating buzz and drawing new fans is what we're more concerned about. But sometimes I feel we end up jumping through hoops just to play for a decent crowd.
 
My band is from Maryland, directly in between DC and Baltimore. The live music scene here is amazing. We could literally play a brand new venue every weekend and not be able to fit them all into a years worth of booking.

Right now we are making abour $1500 a show with plenty of room to grow. We are investing in in ear monitors to better our sound and performance and the potential to make 3K a night is definatly there.

Of course, we started out making 2 or 3 hundred a night but after 2 years of playing out we dont even accept less than $1200.
 
My band is from Maryland, directly in between DC and Baltimore. The live music scene here is amazing. We could literally play a brand new venue every weekend and not be able to fit them all into a years worth of booking.

Right now we are making abour $1500 a show with plenty of room to grow. We are investing in in ear monitors to better our sound and performance and the potential to make 3K a night is definatly there.

Of course, we started out making 2 or 3 hundred a night but after 2 years of playing out we dont even accept less than $1200.

How many pieces in your band and what style? You said you made 2-300/night two years ago. I assume you don't play those clubs anymore? What type of room pays out $1500 a night? Do these clubs expect your band to bring a fan base with you, who normally wouldn't frequent that club?
Thanks!
 
It's funny because we have finally gotten to the point of playing the big named clubs (just to name a few, Clarendon Grill, Cancun Cantina, we just played Seacrets in Ocean City) and those are the gigs that pay the most even though they provide lights, sounds and engineer.

We are a 5 piece band and do have a pro PA system with lights and the gigs that require us to bring our own stuff (and can afford our minimum) are the ones that can only pay between 1000 and 1200. I hate sounding like we are in it for the money because we definatley are not but the fact is that the bigger paying gigs are the ones that push your band forward (in most cases) so we ever so slowly increase our rate over the months.

You are correct, we don't play those $300-$400 venue's anymore simply because we are offered higher quality gigs. What i mean by that is that we are offered gigs that will have a "house crowd" built in to the venue its self so we know we have the potential to gain more fans than in a small bar.

Normally, with the bigger/better venue's the club books you on a weeknight (for about a third less than full pay) and do expect that you bring a following. Not that they expect us to pack the place on a Tuesday night but they want to make sure that we will add to their built in crowd on on a Friday or Saturday and that no matter what the turn out is, we will entertain who is there.
 
I hate sounding like we are in it for the money because we definatley are not but the fact is that the bigger paying gigs are the ones that push your band forward (in most cases) so we ever so slowly increase our rate over the months.

When you say this, do you mean you are an original act? What kind of crowd do you feel your band could pull into a venue on a Tuesday night, say in a town you've never played before? What kind of a drive (in hours) do you need to make to play in a bunch of $1500 rooms?
 
Oh, sorry for not saying. We are actually a cover band called KleptoRadio. The good thing about Balitmore DC area is that an hour in any direction gets to a pretty popular area. Weplay a lot in Arlington VA which is only 30 min away. I would say at any new venue within our area we pull about 75-150 people. Closer to 50-75 on a weeknight.

There litterally countless "A rooms" within 1 hour in any direction. As a cover band we play anything fro modern Rock to Classic Rock and have made a name for ourselves by playing Oldschool and modern hip hop so we can really entertain any type of crowd.

Are from the Maryland/DC/NOVA area? i can recommend some booking agencies to get you started if so.
 
Are from the Maryland/DC/NOVA area? i can recommend some booking agencies to get you started if so.

No, I live in coastal New Hampshire. (I do have a friend who lives in Arlington, VA.) I'm just blown away by the club opportunities in your area! Where I live, a top club is around $600 for the night. I play in a original/cover band, and I'm just trying to gauge gigs around the US, and see what is possible. Around here, you would never use an agent. Do you work strictly through agents?
 
We only use an agent about 30-40% of the time. Some of these high end clubs will not even talk to a band directly. However, getting into some of these agency booked clubs opens to door to a bunch of other clubs that will book direct with us. For example, we play a place in downtown Arlington though an agent and met a guy that now books us direct for 1200 right up the street.

In honesty, 600-700 bucks is pretty basic around here too for a smaller gig. We were in that range for about a year and a half and then jumped up to the $900 range. Its really hard to make the jump, but once you do, its all forward from there.

I recommend going through an agent just to get you into some good opportunities which will in turn get your name out and other big name clubs will start requesting you and you can name a price.
 
South Texas has an amazing live music scene. I live in San Antonio and right now there is a music revolution going on...Its kinda like the "Outlaw Country movement in the 70's and 80's with Willy, Waylon, Cash and the likes. Independent artists with no label have access to a wide variety of huge gigs. The big thing here is "Texas Music" which is very hard to describe. Artists are everything from blues to honky tonk to rock and Indy. Its kinda cool cause you can go to a show and see tatted up rockers standing next to cowboys and hippies. Some of the bigger artists to emerge from this are Los Lonely Boys, Pat Green, Jack Ingram, Monte Montgomery, all of them are independent and sell out festivals with about 20,000 people!!! Even the rodeo's here which usually have artist's like George Strait, Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson will have a night with a local artist and it usually sells more ticket than the big names....anyways many bars and radio stations have jumped on the band wagon and will let just about anybody play (which is good and bad)...and many bars have a dedicated "Texas Music" night which if you play is usually free beer, food and about 500$ dollars or so...of course if you make it big which many do...you can get up wards of $20,000 for shows...many artists who started out locally now have major tour busses with crew, planes, European tours etc...and Texas music is absolutely huge in Europe right now...

Some artists to check out in the Texas Music scene
www.recklesskelly.com
www.jackingram.net
www.crosscanadianragweed.com
www.nathanhamilton.com
www.jamesmcmurtry.com
www.kevinfowler.com
www.eliyoung.net
 
Oh, sorry for not saying. We are actually a cover band called KleptoRadio. The good thing about Balitmore DC area is that an hour in any direction gets to a pretty popular area. Weplay a lot in Arlington VA which is only 30 min away. I would say at any new venue within our area we pull about 75-150 people. Closer to 50-75 on a weeknight.

There litterally countless "A rooms" within 1 hour in any direction. As a cover band we play anything fro modern Rock to Classic Rock and have made a name for ourselves by playing Oldschool and modern hip hop so we can really entertain any type of crowd.

Are from the Maryland/DC/NOVA area? i can recommend some booking agencies to get you started if so.

My band had a great time in that area on our last tour, we played dc, baltimore, and rockville maryland. I know we are going back to rockville on our summer tour. We had a rough show in d.c. but it was labor day weekend so I think everybody was at the beach instead of in a bar that night. Is there any good spots in d.c. you can recommend?
 
Gigging in Abu Dhabi???? Forget about it. First, you need license to perform; without it, musicians and venue owners are fined. We cannot even meet on the beach to drum in a drum circle! Then, the few venues that have live music tend to be either top forty/oldies or lounge music. Open mike? Forget it. Live music and opportunities to play are are few and far between. It is really depressing. That said, WOMAD is in Abu Dhabi, and last spring, I saw Robert Plant (among other excellent bands.) The local authorities are moving to make Abu Dhabi a cultural hub so I hope that the opportunities and quality of live music increase.

So next time you have a choice of bands to see in your city, rejoice!

GJS
 
in old Sydneytown. We're such a cultural wasteland as compared with the European and American scenes!
I suppose, generally, you're right Poly, but my "in the middle of nowhere" town has quite a healthy small scale music scene. Mainly pubs but some small clubs as well. The main gigging pubs pay around £300 for a 2 hour set so not great money but you can pay off your band gear out of it. For something more vibrant, I'd need to travel to a major centre like London, Birmingham, etc. I lived & played in Liverpool many years ago. At that time, the live music scene was unreal, just superb. My Liverpool muso friends tell me it's still good. Money's much better in the bigger centre's but out here in the sticks, we've got more gig offers than we want to accept. Our band's only interested in gigging once every few weeks though. Suits me just fine.
 
I played a show in tacoma 6 or 7 years ago at BOBS JAVA JIVE. seemed like a really cool place. It had this sort of tiki vibe and the bar was inside a giant kettle! I remember feeling like I was playing at some club old 50's bands would play at running up and down the west coast.

Some kid in the opening band tried to sell me weed, and then tried to give me weed. lol. I think we decided not to stay the night there and just trucked it up to seattle for the next show.

cfiles16811.jpg

I really miss that part of the world. Glad I saw this picture.
 
I live about 1 hr from NYC, which I consider to be a luxury for these reasons.. There are countless venues/bars ranging from TINY with the unmistakable musk of urine lingering from the potty, to Madison Square Garden (still smells like urine but with a hint of weed). A serious group will be able to work their way up from the bottom end bars while extending their fan base..the small bars will remember you if you packed their place. They'll talk to other (better) clubs about you and get you in the door. Also, NYC/Brooklyn is teeming with artistic youth. If they like your sound, they'll follow your group. It can really spiral upward if your group is consistent enough.
 
I live in Central Washington state, and there's everything from wineries to bars to festivals to play every year. The pay rolls about $100 a person if you're a good, dependable band. We don't generally have problems with "bring 50 friends" because the scene is pretty insular and everyone knows everyone. Summertime brings tourists and tourists tend to tip well and respond well. There's small scenes for everything from metal to indie/folk to Latin to reggae around here. Certainly no big stakes, and nobody's going to be "discovered" here, but it's certainly fun.
 
The competition in central rural NJ is pretty brutal, as fewer establishments continue to have live music. Best to stick to the urban areas where there are more opportunities.
 
The competition in central rural NJ is pretty brutal, as fewer establishments continue to have live music. Best to stick to the urban areas where there are more opportunities.

how far are you from Starland Ballroom?
 
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