If I'm being honest, things have been turning around for me lately in terms of being a local performer. My tips have really improved. There has been a surge in private party bookings. My first headlining opportunity as a full band went very well. As such, it feels a little uncomfortable to complain, so keep in mind that this is a holistic examination of my experiences. Regarding the recent improvements, my attitude and outlook have changed somewhat, but I really have done very little to change my act or my level of professionalism. Some of it is probably timing. I would have to attribute much of it to preparing this blog series and really examining my career as a musician. This will be the second installment of my 3-part series on the unglamorous life of the local musician.
Power Struggles
In any professional band, there are certain desirable things up for grabs. Be it profit, notoriety, creative control or business management, there’s bound to be conflict as individual band mates push for what they want. To this end, one may be tempted to use whatever one has at his or her disposal in order to gain an advantage.
Funding
When one or more members are investors, while others aren’t, it’s not uncommon for the investing members to feel entitled to more. In their defense, it’s not fair to expect someone to make an investment if the best they can hope for is only to recoup it. If everyone recoups 100%, yet Dave put up a lot more than anyone else, he took the biggest risk without getting the biggest reward. An investment shouldn’t be made unless there’s an opportunity for ROI. A properly funded band would not be possible without these investors, so they tend to hold a position of power within the group.
Talent
Some groups have a stand-out member; someone who is exceptionally talented; an MVP if you will, who is the driving force behind the band’s performance. This talented person would be the hardest to replace if he left the project. At the same time, this one person could leave the band and quickly build a new team around himself. A talent like this is likely to be courted by more successful acts, or tempted to start his own solo project. The key thing to note here is that this person has exceptional talent, something that elevates the band whether others recognize it or not. He could be amazingly talented, yet remain humble and easy to work with. He could remain loyal to his band mates and never use his position to advance a personal agenda. It's a choice. Choose wisely.
Popularity
The flip side to the talent scenario is popularity. There are two different types of popularity, but they both work the same way:
A person who has an existing following or reputation from past success may feel entitled to be the star of every new band they join. Venues and agents recognize the name, and feel more comfortable booking your act with Mr. Popularity attached. The added following one brings along can sometimes be a wonderful asset. Alternatively, the fanbase could be a vocal minority of obnoxious punters who constantly reinforce Mr. Popularity's overinflated sense of self. The other type of popularity is purely social. Every time your band plays, one band mate consistently brings the biggest group of personal friends and relatives.
In either scenario, these “fans” attend most performances, focusing all of their attention and praise on one member, alienating anyone else on stage and perpetuating a false idea that one person is the breakout star. This can ruin morale, because your “star” does not have to be exceptionally talented or a hard worker. He needs only to show up in order to feel like the most important member, deserving of the biggest slice of the pie. Popularity doesn’t come from within. It is a social phenomenon, and not directly linked to achievement, work ethic or talent. It’s something given to you by others, often for fickle reasons. It can be taken away overnight.
Management
It’s unusual for a band to have long-term success without at least one business minded person being involved. When you have a good and effective manager, the band is truly elevated by the work he does behind the scenes. Why shouldn’t he be compensated for his valuable contributions to the band’s success? If this manager is a third party, he probably has a written agreement entitling him to a percentage off the top of everything. However, if a band member (or his spouse) manages the band from within, it’s only natural for this to create an imbalance of power among band mates. In the course of his duties, a manager will have opportunities to make decisions that mostly benefit himself at the expense of the rest of the band.
It’s worth mentioning that some people who play in successful cover bands don’t take it very seriously at all. They already have other careers as working professionals or entrepreneurs, and their involvement in the band is considered a side income at best. These people often join bands mostly for the enjoyment of playing on stage or having something to do on the weekends. If a band became too demanding or stressful, these types of guys may just move on. Someone in that position may not be the best manager or band leader, but he could still make a worthwhile contribution to the team.
Being in a professional band isn't always easy, and there are loads of potential pitfalls. That's why it's very important that you be selective in how you structure and staff the band.
Musical Arrangements & Song Selection
There are many kinds of bands out there that do well. They run the gamut in terms of size, repertoire, instrumentation, etc. If you try it and it works, great! There are certain formulas, though, which have stood the test of time. These band arrangements or repertoires can be great places to start if you want a good shot at being successful. Here are some broad guidelines:
If your band is too big, you become limited in what venues you can fit into. Not to mention, big bands have to charge a lot of money in order for each member to get a worthwhile paycheck. If your band is too small, it’s kind of hard to do things like 1) get a big sound 2) play dance music or 3) free up your lead vocalist to work the crowd. One way to get a bigger sound for less money is to play along with performance tracks. Over the last 10 years I’ve seen this more and more. People make tracks in the studio or purchase ready-made tracks to play along with.
In terms of repertoires, I learned one very valuable lesson the hard way: The most popular bands learn from (and cater to) audiences, putting aside personal feelings about what music to play. As a cover band performer, you are equal parts musician and entertainer. Side note: some folks use this as a license to be subpar musicians (vocalists included), but all I take from this lesson is that you have to give people something they will like. That doesn’t mean that you have to give them exactly what they ask for, or even what they think they want. It just means that you shouldn’t make a set list based on your exquisite musical taste while ignoring audience feedback.
In terms of musical eras, my current set list breaks down as illustrated in the chart above. The disproportionate amount of 70s music was completely unintentional, but the avoidance of modern music is quite deliberate. Playing the latest hits often alienates the majority of audience members, unless you’re playing to a group of students.
Thankfully I’ve had a good deal of success with my repertoire while intentionally avoiding worn out clichés and other music that I detest. I find that the most nauseating requests out there are often popular dance songs. Someone always requests these songs when they see a band, and most bands voluntarily wear these songs out in an attempt to please audiences, perpetuating the cycle. Unless you avoid all dance venues and private parties, you probably have to deal with this material. I still learn certain music just in case someone insists, but I mostly play stuff typical bands would never think to cover. I get almost exclusively positive feedback on my set list, but it’s not for everyone.
Asset or Liability?
I love music. Full stop. I do find, though, that I often bemoan my status as a local cover band performer. More often than not, I’m frustrated and disappointed with the experience. There are so many things that come up as you start to settle into the day-to-day of being in a professional band. If you're not careful, the ingredients in this recipe can start to rot. It breaks down like this:
Band Mates
Playing music for a living is a difficult lifestyle to maintain long term. Band members often experience lifestyle changes along the way, making it harder for them to stay committed to a project. Hiatus is quite common when a musician has a change in relationship or marital status, starts or completes higher education, has a child, gets a day job or relocates out of town. I’ve seen bands break up because a founding member embraced religion.
There’s also the classic in-fighting that breaks up a lot of bands because of egos or difficult personalities. Perhaps one member is the breakout star and it goes to his head. It may be that a band member gets recruited into another band, starts his own project, etc. It’s also quite common for one or more pro musician’s personal lives to be in turmoil due to addiction, money problems, relationship or psychological issues. They might even get into legal trouble or pass away. I’ve seen it all.
I would be lying if I didn’t say that sometimes the musicians you have to partner with are flakey and selfish. They can be fair-weather friends who only come around when they are desperate for side work. Then they will jamb you up in a heartbeat when it suits them. The bottom line is that people leave bands all the time for a variety of reasons. When a key player within the group leaves unexpectedly, the project can flounder. If the remaining members can’t find a replacement and a new groove pretty quickly, it becomes too difficult to recover.
It's really hard to be in charge of people if you don't have the personality for it. As a band leader, I have found this to be particularly stressful. You learn to avoid pitfalls, and to pay attention to what matters most to you. Once a candidate passes the audition phase and we begin working together, I constantly re-evaluate how he's doing in key areas:
- Must sing/play your parts well
- Must be willing to take notes if I need it done a certain way
- Must be willing to commit to weekly or monthly bookings. This is a job, and must be treated as such.
- Must notify me immediately if you discover that you can’t honor a booking.
- Must own a complete and professional rig.
- Must maintain your rig in proper working order.
- Must bring everything you need to a rehearsal or performance.
- Must make time for rehearsals when needed.
- Must be on time.
- Must respond to texts, emails and phone calls in a timely manner.
- Must maintain a courteous and professional attitude/appearance at all times
I guess you could say that I'm looking for a certain personality type who obsesses over quality and prides himself in his work the way that I do.
Audiences
When you play music for an audience, whether money is involved or not, there is a chemistry between everyone in the room. The people on stage and the people in the crowd will vibe off each other. It doesn’t take much for someone in the audience to turn on you, and this negative attitude is contagious. Some examples of what I experience routinely when playing music in a professional setting:
- Being completely ignored by a segment of a crowd (zero eye contact, zero applause, zero interaction)
- Getting non-verbal cues (e.g. dirty looks, overt gestures) or other passive-aggressive behavior from those who seem annoyed by your presence at the venue.
- Getting no tips by the majority of the patrons - especially if they gave you all of the visual cues that they enjoyed your performance, and ESPECIALLY if you played a request for them. If everyone who walked through the door and didn’t hate us just gave $1, we’d do fine at every show. Unfortunately, people can be so greedy sometimes.
- Being asked repeatedly by management to turn down the music, when you’re already playing soft enough to make out conversations that are taking place 10 feet away. I don’t think the managers have it out for us. They are just trying to keep people happy. I do take exception to the concept that one unhappy patron or table in a restaurant full of people can hold the establishment hostage with their complaints or demands. These shows are weekly occurrences, and have been so for years at this point. You could just come out on a different night if live music bothers you that much.
- The patron who keeps making unrealistic requests, or won’t take no for an answer when you cannot oblige them.
- The patron who walks up to whisper in a singer’s ear mid-performance. Sometimes they want to make a request, but sometimes they just decided they wanted to tell you something that could have waited until the song was over.
- People, even when sober, tend to violate your personal space and jeopardize your safety, as well as that of your equipment. I’ve definitely been put in a vulnerable position plenty of times on stage when someone entered the band area in the middle of a song and refused to leave. One guy wants to scream something on the microphone, and will rip it right out of your hands. Other times a girl wants to dance on stage and won’t take no for an answer. I’ve also seen people in a restaurant let their kids jump on stage. No lie: on more than one occasion I’ve had a guy or girl just walk up on stage and try to sing backing vocals with me in the middle of a song. Typically, no one in the room helps you. You’re completely exposed.
- Hostile drunk people. Plenty of times in my work I’ve had to deal with drunks. They come into your personal space and spill their drinks all over you and your equipment. They blow their smelly booze breath in your face, spit all over you while they talk and often refuse to leave the band area. I’ve had drunk people come on stage mid-song, lose their balance and grab on to me to steady themselves, tweaking my shoulder or ripping cables out of equipment. One time at The Station, a drunk guy got into a tussle with another patron, which spilled onto the stage and knocked my amp off its stand onto the ground. Again, it’s just an extremely vulnerable position to be in.
- Actually being heckled by a crowd. This usually happens when someone is either drunk, or because they walked in the door with a bad attitude. Either they think you’re too loud, they don’t like your song selection or you don’t know their request. Other times, you get the pack mentality. A large party comes into the venue and proceeds to try and dominate the room. They want to be the loudest, the rowdiest, and they don’t care if they ruin someone else’s night. You are their only competition at that point, so they try to passive-aggressively bully you. They don’t fear retaliation because they are in a large pack and feel they have the upper hand. They are the worst. One common scenario is the group of hostile kids. For some reason, people think team sports encourages the best in kids, but I’ve often observed the opposite when a group of kids come to a restaurant straight from a little league game. I’m sure there are plenty of good kids out there, but I’ve run into that obnoxious kid scenario repeatedly. Other scenarios include the "work event afterparty" crowd, or the bachelorette party. These people are dead set on monopolizing the attention of the room, and can’t help but try and compete with you in a hostile way.
Venues and Agents
In my experience, there is nothing worse than a musician-turned-agent on a power trip. There have been many scenarios where I had a smooth and pleasant working relationship with a venue. Along comes a so-called agent who says, “I’m handling the calendar for this venue now, so if you want to continue to perform here, you have to go through me.” As far as the venue is concerned, their new “agent” is working for free, because 100% of agent’s commissions come from the working musician’s already tiny paycheck. Well, my opinion is that I didn’t hire you, so I didn’t have a choice in the matter. The restaurant made this call, and they should have to pay you out of their profits, not mine. Well, corruption always follows power, so of course agents only book people from within their little network of friends. You have to kiss the ring to get any work, and even then you will run into a lot of favoritism. I’m a businessman, and I’m completely capable of managing my own calendar.
Furthermore, these agents claim to represent you as a performer, yet if there were some sort of dispute, the agent is going to side with the venue over the performer every time. From where I’m standing, there is NO value added. What these agents are doing with small venues is hurting local performers, and it’s wrong. However, South Louisiana in general is notorious for being clique oriented, with people placing “who you know” above merit in any competitive scenario. I know educated professionals who have left here for this exact reason. The old adage that “the cream rises to the top” simply doesn’t apply in every situation. Just look at politics.
I was just in a meeting with a venue, where the venue had already booked a different group for their big upcoming event. Well, when the venue found out that they could have booked our act instead, they immediately volunteered to cancel their existing booking to get us. To me, it doesn’t matter whether I’m getting screwed or I’m getting ahead at someone else’s expense. That is just wrong. People shouldn’t be able to just back out of a booking on a whim when it suits them, because it’s extremely unlikely that the originally booked artist will be able to fill that date.
I currently play at a venue where I am offered a $12 credit on my bill if I dine there. I appreciate the gesture, but they have consistently misapplied this credit, often over charging me or my partner and then squabbling over the bill. The majority of places I’ve played at just feed you without all of the caveats, so it's really annoying when certain venues go back on their word or get nit picky. Granted, venues have been burned before when performers take advantage. It’s just that I’m not even given the opportunity to prove that I wouldn’t abuse someone’s hospitality.
It’s not uncommon for a venue to try to squeeze a band into too small an area within their dining or barroom. Many restaurants decide to feature live music after they’ve already been open for years. They don’t have any place to put a band except for right on the dining floor. They just push a few tables out of the way in many cases. Some venues don’t even have electrical outlets near the bandstand. They expect you to drape extension cords across pedestrian rights of way, which is just a lawsuit waiting to happen. They also have no regard for your equipment or personal safety, and will expect you to play outdoors in puddles of standing water or intermittent rain.
Lifestyle
Most of the income-earning opportunities I’ve had over the past decade or so have come with the same set of disadvantages. Maybe they were project-based, meaning they could end at any time without warning. Perhaps they required me to travel constantly, work a long night shift or work every weekend and major holiday. I spent the first Father’s Day after my daughter was born, drinking whiskey alone in a hotel room in Long Island because I couldn’t leave the project that weekend to see my girls.
Playing music is certainly no exception. I find that most of my opportunities to play music are on Thu-Sat evenings. During the periods when I freelanced for churches, I would routinely work Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings as well. This meant that my weekend was more or less Monday and Tuesday. I switched back and forth between nights and days weekly, which is bad for your physical health, and a strain on your relationships. I was rarely present at special occasions, and was often on opposite schedules from my wife.
As a local musician, there certainly isn't a lot of money to be made unless you play it just right. This is why most people treat it as an income subsidy as opposed to a full time business. People outside of your field tend not to treat you as a professional because of the various stigmas associated with your line of work; something that is true of a lot of different freelance professions or unconventional jobs. It's just a different lifestyle that is often misunderstood.
A large portion of venues where a musician can work are bars and casinos. These venues have been filled with smokers all day, every day, for decades. The buildings smell terrible. I really don't like coming home from a show smelling like an ash tray. I have to air out all of my gear and clothing, and even after I shampoo my hair, it still takes a while for the odor to dissipate. Then there is the hazard of secondhand smoke, which no one can deny, yet people seem apathetic to this known carcinogen. I have a history of cancer in my family, so I have really tried to build my career around restaurants, private parties, corporate events and festivals. That said, I've still had to play plenty of bars and casinos, and I often worry about the longterm effects on my health.
Closing
So I hope that you are learning a lot about what it means to be a professional musician in the local scene, whether it's because you're considering a foray into my world, or you just find this type of thing interesting. Many of the points I'm making apply to other disciplines as well. Finding success in the local music scene was very difficult, and it helped to shape and mold me as a person. In the third and final installment of this series, I will explore one of the most fascinating and life-changing lessons I learned in my experiences as a freelance musician. Until next time!