Musicians Contact, etc

drummingman

Gold Member
I'm in a band right now. But they have different goals then I do for the long term. So I'm looking into joining musicians Contact, Band mix and any other sites that I can to find a serious metal band. I'm also looking at joining the musicians union for contacts , as well as other perks.

Have any of you used these or any other good sites that have been effective for you?

Of course I use craigslist. But it's very hit or miss. And in my area it's been pretty much the same ads forever. I still check it though just in case.
 
Unless you are going to be taking Union Gigs, I don't think it makes much sense to join the union... You'll be penalized for taking dark gigs, and there may not be a huge amount of metal work for the union. Depending on your local, of course.


Honestly, I've found Facebook and LinkedIn to be more valuable than BandMix, and they are free. Just keep your sites up-to-date with gig listings, and pictures/audio/video.


I'm not sure what area you are in, but if metal is popular there, then you should be able to go to shows and/or network online to start finding other musicians.
 
What the heck is a musicians union anyway? I have heard of it once or twice but never got an explanation from anyone as to the pros and cons of it
 
What are their goals, and what are yours?

My goal is to tour and record full time for a living. They are just doing it for fun. They know my goal and are cool with me leaving for a full time band. Until then we enjoy playing together so I plan to stay with them until I find a serious band.
 
What the heck is a musicians union anyway? I have heard of it once or twice but never got an explanation from anyone as to the pros and cons of it

It's the same as any trade union.

In the US and Canada, it's the AFM (American Federation of Musicians). They perform the same functions as any other union. Collective bargaining, pay scale negotiations, instrument insurance, benefits, retirement accounts, et cetera.

You pay union dues ($200-$300 a year), and there's a union fee for each gig that you take... 3% or so.

Most orchestra gigs, studio work, large scale touring bands, film work, et cetera is all union, and membership is required. Union members are not supposed to take scab jobs, or dark gigs, which are non-union. If you get caught playing non-union gigs, there are fines, and you might be thrown out. This is the same as the IBEW, or any trade union... and like other trade unions, there are plenty who take side gigs and hide it from the union.


If you are doing orchestra, film, theater type work, it's pretty much the only way to work, and it helps to negotiate your pay and benefits. Like all unions though, it's experience over merit, so those who have been in the longest get the highest pay and the best gigs.

If you are playing in rock bands, which it sounds like you are, then the union probably isn't for you until you get to the point that you are touring nationally in arenas.
 
Until then we enjoy playing together so I plan to stay with them until I find a serious band.


Play out as much as you can with them, and be nice to everyone. Try to get gigs where you are playing together with other bands on the bill. If you are really good and really cool with everyone you run into, I think this will do you a lot of good in terms of find others to play with.
 
Play out as much as you can with them, and be nice to everyone. Try to get gigs where you are playing together with other bands on the bill. If you are really good and really cool with everyone you run into, I think this will do you a lot of good in terms of find others to play with.

That's exactly what I've been doing. We have gigged out a lot over the summer. My hope is that a serious band will see me and ask me to join with them.

The band I play in is a black metal band. Although I like black metal my idea band is a combo of groove metal, metalcore, experimental metal. Kind of like Pantera meets Deftones meets Extol meets Zao meets Mastodon. Of coarse with our own unique spin on thing's.

The band that I'm in is the most on the ball out of any band that I had talked to in my area that needed a drummer. At first when they asked me to join I turned them down. I really wanted to wait to find my ideal band before I joined another group. But after much prayer and talking with people I trust I came to the conclusion that it is better to be playing out with a band and hope to be seen then just posting on musician wanted website's.

I do like my current band's music. But even if they were wanting to go full time I still would want to find a band that is my ideal musical match for the long term.

We have played in front of some good crowd's. The bass player for Nile was at our last show. Very nice guy! I got to hang and talk with him for a bit.

My only concern in playing with my current band is they really only want to be on line ups with other black metal band's. So I just hope that band members from the other styles of metal that I want to play more will be at our shows so that I can network with them.

I'm about to get a new batch of business cards made up to hand out to people at shows for networking as well. I'm very serious about doing music for a living. I just need to find the right band with the right people. In my opinion the hardest part about being a musician is having to depend on other musicians. I'm not a negative person though. So I just keep searching for that right band. God willing I will find them sooner rather then later
 
Not quite sure why it needed prayer to decide whether or not sitting on your computer posting adverts was better than playing out with people...

Truth is that it's very rare that you find exactly the band you want to be in. At the moment I'm playing with some old friends. We all play sludgy metal (mid-tempo, 7 strings, etc.) and that is not my kind of music at all - but I came to the conclusion that it would be fun. At the moment, it's just a one-off reunion gig we're doing this Sunday but it could be more. Just taking it as it comes.
 
The reason why it took prayer is because I did not want my current band to feel like I was using them as a stepping stone just to get to higher places. I did not want to be using them for just my own advantage. Through prayer, and talking with people that I trust, I was able to determine that me playing with the band would be mutually beneficial for myself and the band. And it would not be me just using them for selfish self centered reasons just to get what I want. That is important to me because I don't ever want to just use people for personal gain.


Not quite sure why it needed prayer to decide whether or not sitting on your computer posting adverts was better than playing out with people...

Truth is that it's very rare that you find exactly the band you want to be in. At the moment I'm playing with some old friends. We all play sludgy metal (mid-tempo, 7 strings, etc.) and that is not my kind of music at all - but I came to the conclusion that it would be fun. At the moment, it's just a one-off reunion gig we're doing this Sunday but it could be more. Just taking it as it comes.
 
We all play sludgy metal (mid-tempo, 7 strings, etc.) and that is not my kind of music at all - but I came to the conclusion that it would be fun.
This is exactly my type of music and I'd love to hear some of this. POST it!
 
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