blastbeatkeeper
Senior Member
Hello, everyone. This is a thread that was started on a Facebook group Im a part of: Whether or not "pay to play" gigs are fair to local underground bands. If youre unsure of what pay-to-play is:
A band recieves 50 tickets. 5 piece band x 10 tix a piece. That band sells as many tickets to their own show as possible, then by the amount sold, the lineup for the night is made. Most tickets sold-deeper in line the band plays. Say one band sold 48 out of 50. One band sells 16 out of 50. The band that sold 16, opens. The band that sold 48 plays before the headliner(or headlines themselves). I know a lot of you are of an older generation, and havent done this for years, but Im looking for opinions on this. Ill start...
I think its a good idea for younger, up and coming bands to do, just to get themselves to self promote, and to get a grip on what promoters, club owners, and more popular, veteran bands that are actually making money are doing, or can do.
I think its a crappy idea for bands that have a decent following, whether it be from playing these type of shows, social media, word of mouth, or just staright up hard work self promoting, handing out flyers, burning self recorded demo cds, selling self bought merch, and the like. What do you guys think?
A band recieves 50 tickets. 5 piece band x 10 tix a piece. That band sells as many tickets to their own show as possible, then by the amount sold, the lineup for the night is made. Most tickets sold-deeper in line the band plays. Say one band sold 48 out of 50. One band sells 16 out of 50. The band that sold 16, opens. The band that sold 48 plays before the headliner(or headlines themselves). I know a lot of you are of an older generation, and havent done this for years, but Im looking for opinions on this. Ill start...
I think its a good idea for younger, up and coming bands to do, just to get themselves to self promote, and to get a grip on what promoters, club owners, and more popular, veteran bands that are actually making money are doing, or can do.
I think its a crappy idea for bands that have a decent following, whether it be from playing these type of shows, social media, word of mouth, or just staright up hard work self promoting, handing out flyers, burning self recorded demo cds, selling self bought merch, and the like. What do you guys think?