An Open Letter To Venues That Exploit Their Muscians

[carvinplayer]

http://www.grassrootsy.com/2012/02/22/a ... musicians/



as a guy who's been gigging for nearly 40 years this rings so true. Tired of paying my dues each and every time you put a new name out there and being treated like crap. Last night for example we were "lucky" to get 2 bills for a 4 piece group who are all very seasoned experienced very good muscians who put in on average an 8 hour day to play this gig, not to mention I spent nearly as much as my take to patronize the place by eating their food and buying their drinks at regular prices. I got fed up with this crap in 2001 and "retired", but was lured out in 2014 to try it once again...... ready to go back to retirement again...after spending about $5000 (thousand) to get back into this scene... buying and maintaining web space for a website, constant promoting at my own expense for flyers and business cards, and travel expenses for gas and vehicle maintanence and high mileage wear and tear....."yeah you can play for the door...or maybe we can cut you a %"....... good thing I love the music so much that I keep plugging along, but it's frustrating........ rant over.

[JackANSI]

I'm seriously thinking about getting back out there, but the music I want to play isn't the music anyone else seems to want to play... or the bassist position isn't open (Of all dang things I want to play modern alternative or country! I used to dislike those. Must've hit my head and don't remember it...)

I think there are a ton of catch-22's for bands and venues around here that extend way further than just band/venue responsibly for their respective parts.

That open letter is awesome, but I feel in this area it is a bit more complicated than just that.