I hate the people who book clubs

eclipseownzu

eclipseownzu

Gold Member
Not sure what my point is in posting this other than just to rant. So I am just going to rant for a minute. Hopefully I will feel better at the end.

So last weekend I went to a club in a very large city about two hours from where I live. This club hosts national touring acts and I have seen several here (i.e. BLS, Lamb of God, Clutch) that put on great shows. Last week I went there becasue I was in town and not to see anybody in particular. The place was pretty dead most of the night and the headliner (a band I had never heard of) had a crowd of maybe 100-150 people. The bill had four bands, meaning most of the bands brought exactly nobody to the show. Between sets I spoke to the sound guy and got the info for booking, figuring its the kind of place we would like to play.

I contacted the booking agent and sent all of the band info trying to get an opening slot of something. I recieved a response yesterday saying that he wouldn't book a LOCAL band that couldn't draw at least 100 people to his club. My response to him was a reminder of the mostly empty club I had been to a week earlier. His response this morning was that those were TOURING bands he had booked. I guess they give priority to touring bands on weeknights.

I was amazed at this response. First off the club is 2 hours from me, how the hell am I a local band? Second, why would you give a pass to a touring band that nobodys heard of over a band that you consider local? I really dont understand these people. I get that its a business, but really? The longer I do this, the more I dislike everybody that I have to deal with as a musician.

What do you guys think? Am I wrong, do all clubs work like this? Should I just shut up and accept it?

Thank you for listening. / end rant.
 
does he mean they only book through a bands agent, not directly? Boston?
 
My relative is a club owner. They're in the drivers seat unfortunately. It's their business and they can do and act how they want. He receives tons of promotional packets and materials from bands wanting to play at his club every month. He can pick and choose he wishes.
 
If you're not out grinding it out and traveling more than 5 hours to the gig you are indeed a "local band".

We work shows at a venue out this way (Southern California) and we end up being the opener for a lot of the more progressive acts that roll through. It's a pay-to-play scenario in that we have to sell tickets and present the promoter with the $$$ which in most cases usually ends up topping out at around $1200. That's OK because not only do we sell all the tickets but we also make our nut in CD and merch sales. And we get to play in front of that band's crowd who would have otherwise never heard of us.

This new landscape in the music business can be mighty disconcerting at times because of the uncertainty, but nothing in life is for certain except death & taxes.

The maxim "it takes money to make money" has never rang truer. And the sad fact of the matter is that so many AMAZING artists will probably languish in obscurity because they have not got the guidance and patience to chip away at the granite face that is the modern music business and the constantly shifting tastes of the listening public.

I just wanna know how did some of these acts get so damn popular? Justin Beiber? Really? (On another note, should he get deported he's going to have a whole new set of problems...that deportation stamp from the USA can sink a career!)
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
Call him back and tell him you are a touring band.
Click to expand...
A little local but popular spot a few towns over, when we called they're like, sure, but we only pay touring bands! (WTF?)...

We probably should have called back and said we're just in from LA!
 
BillRayDrums said:
This new landscape in the music business can be mighty disconcerting at times because of the uncertainty, but nothing in life is for certain except death & taxes.
Click to expand...

Question; is this really a new landscape? It's been this way for as long as I can remember, no? I remember being in high school and college and friends always asking me to come to the show and buy a ticket.

It sounds like you have two ways to go. I've joined and played in local bands, but none that ever had to sell tickets to get to play, and it was always just fun stuff that I didn't take too seriously. But the other way is to be a hired gun, which is the way I went (being associated with one of the biggest entertainment corporations didn't seem to hurt, either). Get your reading up and be able to play anything and take any gig with anybody so long as it pays and to me it seems so far removed from what the local band scene is, it's almost alien to me.

I'd love to be in a working band, but the upfront costs are too much for me.
 
Being a booking agent isn't exactly an easy job either.

My wife worked at a few clubs and did some of the booking way back when. She would get dozens of media packets for one slot.

Here in LA, there are certain clubs who are notorious for treating bands poorly, and yet, they a waiting list a mile long of bands willing to do whatever it takes to play on that stage. The supply of bands wanting to play outweighs the number of bands a booking agent needs.

An overabundant supply gives booking agents a right to be picky.
Unfortunately, it also gives some agents a license to get away with being rude.

The problem is quality of the bands and building of a scene tends to get thrown out the window in favor how many relatives can the lead guitar player trick into coming to their show one time.
 
DrumEatDrum said:
The problem is quality of the bands and building of a scene tends to get thrown out the window in favor how many relatives can the lead guitar player trick into coming to their show one time.
Click to expand...

I think you nailed it with this line. We have been able to consistently bring in new fans to every show we have played, albeit in failry small numbers. I guess we will ultimately need to be content in building a following in our town and hoping that things build from there. I completely believe in what we are doing and I am sure that we will be asked to play some out of town places some point in the future.
 
Bo Eder said:
Question; is this really a new landscape? It's been this way for as long as I can remember, no? I remember being in high school and college and friends always asking me to come to the show and buy a ticket.

It sounds like you have two ways to go. I've joined and played in local bands, but none that ever had to sell tickets to get to play, and it was always just fun stuff that I didn't take too seriously. But the other way is to be a hired gun, which is the way I went (being associated with one of the biggest entertainment corporations didn't seem to hurt, either). Get your reading up and be able to play anything and take any gig with anybody so long as it pays and to me it seems so far removed from what the local band scene is, it's almost alien to me.

I'd love to be in a working band, but the upfront costs are too much for me.
Click to expand...

I've established myself as a guy who can play nearly anything in my neck of the woods; If I wanted to work 7 days a week playing any and everything that came down the pipes I could, but I did that in my 20's and 30's. Playing cover band gigs will not provide you long term security. That $75-$200 for the night dissolves rather quickly.

In 1995 I came to the realization that I needed to be playing original music and working towards that goal of getting my own music heard. So I recorded a ton of CDs (about 150+) with local acts over the years and while I got paid for that, the money never really stretched that far either.

So I went and got a gig with an international artist and worked that angle for many years; again, you're getting paid for the gigs you do on a stage and when that person decides to move on to another player or passes away, you gotta look for another gig. It's all very temporary.

So it's been recently that I've been involved with this "we sell tickets" thing that puts us into a different bracket as a band.The club respects us because we drop upwards of $1200/show into their hands and in return we get to play in front of a select audience who is into the kind of music we play. Their attention span is held longer because they paid $30 to get into the show so they want their money's worth!

But at any rate, at every show we end up building our fanbase if not by three or four (mostly about 10-20 average), sell a few CDs that we recorded in the rehearsal room (didn't turn out half bad!) and basically become known to those artists for whom we open. It also opens the door for players to be seen by the headliner and considered for their gig should the need a musician for their gig and want some "new blood".

But really, It's nice when someone you opened for comes up to you at NAMM and starts critiquing your CD... Especially when that someone is Carmine Appice. :D He said "The drums sound a little thin on the recording but I like the CD"... lemme tell you, I'm still floating on air!
 
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DrumEatDrum said:
Being a booking agent isn't exactly an easy job either.

My wife worked at a few clubs and did some of the booking way back when. She would get dozens of media packets for one slot.

Here in LA, there are certain clubs who are notorious for treating bands poorly, and yet, they a waiting list a mile long of bands willing to do whatever it takes to play on that stage. The supply of bands wanting to play outweighs the number of bands a booking agent needs.

An overabundant supply gives booking agents a right to be picky.
Unfortunately, it also gives some agents a license to get away with being rude.

The problem is quality of the bands and building of a scene tends to get thrown out the window in favor how many relatives can the lead guitar player trick into coming to their show one time.
Click to expand...

Maybe along with the packet, there should be a cover letter that states, "We can sell beer" ;)
 
I hear you. I knocked on the doors years ago and dropped off tapes and then CD's. I've even done impromptu "auditions" with the owner or booker right there on the spot. The unfortunate fact is that "they" are the gatekeepers - and you want in. You'll have to play their game, keep knocking or walk away to another venue. It's not easy but the one's who eat, sleep and live it - get in eventually.
 
Reasons why noone comes to your shows

The above link is the kind of advice I wished I'd had when I was younger.

Part of the problem is that some of these venues that you see some of your favourite bands play at are just about accessible to your average local band, but the venues always put the restriction on bands needing to bring in x number of people.

Pay to play sucks and in my opinion is not worth it. Sure you get to play some of the venues you have always wanted to play, but quite quickly find yourself burning through money and not increasing your fan base.

One of the best places I ever played, and I believe there should be more places set up like this, was a small town village hall. Capacity of about 1,000 people. A couple of local residents in their spare time put on live music every two-three weeks running all day on a sunday. They could guarantee a pretty much full house of kids under 16 (ie too young to go to your average club gig), some of the kids had bands and they played and through a chance conversation with someone on myspace (yes that long ago) my old band ended up playing there a couple of times. We sold more merch, cds and gathered mailing list peeps at those shows than a lot of the other club stuff we were doing.
 
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