Musicians beware - is this wrong?

Man of Honour
Joined
29 Mar 2003
Posts
57,347
Location
Stoke on Trent
Talking to a workmate today about his son who is a talented drummer/percussionist who starts a music degree later this year at Cardiff.
I asked what he was doing now and the conversation went like this -

Me - "Hows he doing?"
Dave - "Great, but he's left This Is Seb Clarke"
Me - "I remember you saying something last time, what is it"
Dave - "Its a 12 piece band with sax, trumpets etc but they were messing him about"
Me - "How so?"
Dave - "Well on saturday he found out they played with another drummer behind his back but its OK he got his £60 back"
Me - "What £60?"
Dave - "There are only two real members in the band and the rest of the musicians pay them £15 a week to be in the band" :eek:
Me - "Are you sure?"
Dave - "Positive, I'm his Dad and I was there when the arrangements were made"
Me - "So it looks like they get £150 a week of those ten musicians but there could be loads more on the sidelines paying £15?"
Dave - "Thats why he stopped and asked for his money back"
Me - "I'm in the wrong job"

Basically all bands who perform their own songs pay to play until they get a fanbase, charge on the door and hopefully it pays for the PA etc but this is taking the proverbial.
 
I'm going to step back a bit here and look at it from a different angle.
I've been lucky to play in covers bands/acts since 1970 so I've always had money put in my hand.
Obviously, when you take the cost of equipment out of that then you're not left with much.
When I was 18 the covers band I was in had a transit van and a PA on the knock so I never saw money in my pocket.
I joined a futurist band around 1980 for 3 months and this was the first time I actually pulled money out of my pocket to play in nightclubs - sod that.
Anyway, since about 1982 I've earned a second living and tax man has had a good share of it too.
Now if we look at young bands who play their own music and want to get their music out to the public then its going to cost.
If all it costs to join the band in the OP is £15 and that covers rehearsals, PA and playing a club then its actually a bargain.
The only problem is that even though its an original music band its only the music of one man and so therefore you're paying £15 to play music which isn't yours or what you've contributed to.
 
ElvisFan said:
Sod that malarky. I'll stick to my backing tracks and pocket £150 everytime I go out.

The only problem was that I did that for many years and I earned a fortune but around 1998 I'd had enough and wanted a real band behind me and my money reduced considerably.
 
Back
Top Bottom