Dear CM,
Bernie LaBarge makes a great insight into today's live music scene and how difficult it has become to "make a living". I have friends who play 5-6 nights a week which is very rare these days but they also had to adapt. Solo's on Monday/Tuesday, Duo on Wednesday/Thursday, Band on Friday/Saturday, with occasional Sunday gigs. The pay has also not been any better since the 70's either and while everything else has gone up, musician's pay has stayed the same for most part.
But there are a few things which I feel have to be pointed out in Bernie's article. First off, bands that play for "beer" need to realize that they are doing a HUGE disservice to the rest of us. For beer, everyone can chip into a "keg party" and find a free or cheap hall to play with other groups and control everything. Some halls provide the beer and let you charge whatever cover you want to keep. Also, some club owners are very low in their pay out to bands. I've seen amateur 5 piece groups get paid $100 total and when another group that is seasoned and professional asks for minimum $100 a player, the bar owner laughs and says he can get a whole group for $100. So... where's the "Musician's Union" on all of this?
The second point I have to make is Bernie's point about younger musician's denying themselves a chance to see seasoned professionals. Unfortunately, this isn't only younger musicians but also the music "industry" and media's attitude. If I have to make a choice between some 21 year old "pop star" and a 55 year old "played 300 gigs a year", guess who'll I'll pick? But I think alot of this attitude comes down to the instant "excitement" our youth has grown up with. They have loops galore, auto-tune, quantize, plug-ins, etc. that make their playing easier. Practice their instrument and get better? As for the record "industry" and media, they called the Toronto "Sars" benefit concert "Dinosaur" rock. Excuse me? Rush (congrats on 30 years!) and AC/DC, are no dinosaurs and kicked the asses off of the majority of the younger performers. If they didn't learn from that, they should get out of the biz. And... shame on SNL, Much Music, and radio for promoting Ashlee Simpson's latest lip-synch garbage. Most talented musicians never get a first chance... why is she getting a second?
Thanks Bernie for a great insight into this "weird and wonderful" biz.
Ian Graham
band@eyerhyme.com
PS-Nickelback has done it again with yet another piece of factory line plastic. Serving up yet another "How You Remind" song! Can you guys write anything with some sort of interest?! 2 of the songs on the album are almost identical as well... please. I don't care how many albums your brain washed fans have bought... just stop already! You've made your money... quit being greedy and move on. |
