Shavano Music Online

    Music Business 103;
    Deciding what to play

    5/98 - Jens Moller - http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/business103.html
    You want to make it big, You have goals and talent. You want to perform. You want to make money You aren't sure what kind or music you should be playing. Where do you go from here?

    You know it and I know it. You'll never become a big star if all you perform is someone else's songs pretty much the same way they were originally done. But then again, you may just want to perform and make some money on weekends and want to find out how to earn the most you possibly can.

    The solution is not simple if you are shooting for stardom. You could find great original material and play it. The problem? What is good for you in the long term may put a major cramp in your ability to earn money in the short term.

    How a club works

    In the United States, the average person who goes to a club to hear a live band, and maybe dance or try to meet members of the opposite sex, spends around $5.00 on drinks at the club. Granted, some spend a lot more, but, this is not how the manager/owner of the club will see it. Club managers/owners count the number of heads that come into the club and pay attention to just how long most people stay. Some people will walk in and see that there are no members of the opposite sex, or the choice is not to their liking and leave right away. Others will stay and listen to the music or be waiting for friends, or maybe even meet someone.

    The club manager/owner is interested in retaining the audience as long as possible. If a good crowd comes in and they spend more money, this will make the club manager/owner happy. They expect people to stay 2 hours or less (called turn-over) and they expect new people to be coming in during the evening to replace those people that left.

    Getting 50 to 100 people a night is good for some clubs, some require far more traffic just to break even. For these clubs, having a live band performing should help retain the audience. The club manager/owner wants the band to play the music that the audience likes.

    What does this mean? It usually means that the club is not taking any risks and wants to provide a high energy version of the music thats on the Juke box. The club manager/owner expects that the music is totally recognizable and people should be able to sing along and 80% of the songs are things that they really like.

    The club manager/owner wants a return on their 'Live Music' investment. Thats not unreasonable - if they don't improve the cash flow, then they won't bring those entertainers back for another try.

    Your Options

    Obviously this is not conducive to the success of bands that play only their own music. If you want to perform at this club, you will have to play covers (other peoples tunes played pretty much the same way that they did them). Is this bad? Maybe not; if you are playing the tunes that you like and getting paid for it and having a great time doing it, it can be great. You might even put together Tributes to specific Artists and Musicians. In a situation like this, you can expect steady work, but you will never get much recognition outside of the local club and private party scene. Lots of people do it because its good money and gets you in front of an audience with some regularity.

    If you want to perform 100 percent originals, this club and you may not work out very well. Unless you already have an established following (how do you get that unless you play out? I don't know.), the odds are good that you are either going to play for free (or a percentage of the money collected at the door), and you may not get a chance to play during one of the clubs peak nights. Many club owners will not have anything to do with you if you play only originals, or may restrict you to a time where they have nothing to lose by bringing in your act.

    Where does that leave you? Many bands start by doing covers and then gradually, over time, start adding their own material. You may or may not want to do this. Some even create separate shows depending on the type of performance they have scheduled. The problems associated with this can destroy a band and leave it with no direction, or it can help them set goals.

    What Now?

    This all boils down to long term goals. If you decide to start with cover tunes, there is an option for initial earnings that gives you an income that comes from music. If you decide to perform 100 percent original material, you won't see much in the way of payment anytime soon, but you may find many places that are willing to let you perform.

    Commitment by the band members is an important aspect of any performance. All should get together and decide what to do, and define what this means. In all cases, the members need a reason to create the music that they do.

    Doing Covers

    Find out what music people are playing at the clubs in town. You will need to consider these tunes on your 'I might need to learn this song' list. It won't take you long to get a list of 50 songs. To be on the safe side, you'll need to be able to play at least 100 different songs. You'll be expected to handle audience requests and have at least 5 hours worth of non-repeating songs to choose from. This equates to roughly 10 songs per set. You'll have to determine what standards that you will need to learn, and what the crowd expects. After around 6 months of having a stable set list, you'll need to start adding a new song every week or 2 to your growing song list. If you can lean towards songs that you happen to like, thats great, but, you'll probably have to play songs that you absolutely detest. This is life and you are being paid to play these tunes.

    Playing covers can be quite nice. You'll need to develop and become a better singer or musician and you'll pick up new styles over time. The stress level is lower and you can build an audience that enjoys the level of entertainment you provide. You need to develop into becoming an entertainer, and not just a musician or singer. If you don't develop this aspect, there will be little to differentiate your act from all of the other cover bands out there.

    The biggest money as cover band comes from playing private parties, special events and weddings. If you play for specific ethnic groups, you will need to expand into handling the material that is commonly requested. The other thing that comes with private parties, special events and weddings is young children. They will most likely feel left out of most of the festivities, but will be there anyway. Heres a tip for differentiating your band from the others - find a way to entertain those kids too. I learned how to make balloon animals and the number of bookings for weddings increased substantially - people would ask who the band was that made the balloon animals for all the kids and we would get referrals from people who enjoyed the a party because their kids did. The downside of this is that most of the people who referred the band couldn't recall what type of music was played.

    Some percentage of your income should be used to upgrade equipment, clothes and/or used for advertising. With a bit of effort, the right song list, a reputation for quality entertainment, a good market and a good working relationship with local club owners/booking agents, you can define your own rules, prices and have some control over the consistency of your bookings. If your goal is to become a house band, you'll find that your song list will become stale pretty quickly, and you'll need to add new material at a fairly high rate.

    Doing Originals

    If you are writing (or working with other people who are writing) songs, you will need to set goals associated with the quantity of material available, and the audience that you are trying to address. The guideline of 10 songs per hour may not apply your music, but you'll need at least 10 songs to present if you plan to put on a show or open for another act. The act you open for may decide which songs of your original music that they want you to perform. If you want to work your way into clubs (some club owners do support bands that are good entertainers and play music that appeals to specific audiences, who also happen to do all original tunes), you are faced with having at least 5 hours worth of material to play, just like a cover band. You may have to build up to this level, and it probably will not happen very quickly - it can take quite a while to create new songs and work them out to where they are polished.

    Band member commitment can wear thin because it may be quite a while before that first performance is possible. After that first performance, a lot of analysis needs to be done (I strongly suggest recording it on a portable cassette deck for later review). In fact, after every performance, the band members need to get together and correct any problems that cropped up as well as figure out what worked really well. Finding ways to emphasize what works and expanding on that is important. You'll also have to do reality checks on some of the original material - how it went over and in some cases decide if you should drop it (keep in mind that the audience absolutely hated 'Stairway to Heaven' when Led Zeppelin first added it to their set list - eventually it grew to become a classic. Don't drop a song that you believe in just because of a few bad reactions).

    Look for people who are interested in your work. If you have a college near by, you might find a ready crowd (usually with no money to spare) that you can play for. Street parties and special events can bring you an audience that you might never have run into. It will take some work and looking, but there are many opportunities to present your music if you don't mind traveling to those places. These are also good locations to sell CDs or Tapes of your bands work. If there is a college radio station - give them something that they can play the week before you do your show; odds are good that people will hear it and come to see you. Any airplay is good.

    Your band members may have to pitch in some cash to cover expenses. You may even have to establish 'dues' to make sure that these get covered. It costs money to promote yourself, and it takes time.

    You probably want to restrict the amount of times that you perform per month in any given area. A goal of quality, not quantity is more important. You also don't want to burn out your audience - they should look forward to your performances, not assuming that you will always be there and start taking you for granted.

    You might also try to find ways to support the local radio station that plays music compatable with your sound. They may be restricted when it comes to their playlist, but you could do radio spots for them or play for an event that they sponsor (usually for free). With any luck your names will be mentioned on the airwaves and you'll get some publicity. This will bring in people to hear you.

    Can you do both?

    Yes, but cover bands are constantly forced to provide a different type of entertainment than most original bands shoot for. There are opportunities in this area, and if your band is open to working in this fashion, it can work out very well. You can choose how many covers and originals you plan on playing. You have to figure out if your long term goals can be met by doing this, and establish how you plan to bring in originals into your cover tune sets.

    You can take doing covers many ways; there are a lot of exceptional musicians playing what they enjoy, and those happen to be cover tunes. On the other hand, there are a lot of people muddling thru life playing covers because doesn't have to be as demanding if they don't let it be. Some musicians look down on Cover bands as being bad - this isn't necessarily so.

    A problem that you can encounter is that the good paying cover band jobs may conflict with the style of music that your originals present. This is a common problem. In situations like this, the odds against mixing styles are working against you. You might, however, cover tunes that do mesh with your originals. Doing so will open up some paying opportunities that performing 100 percent originals won't allow.

    What should you play?

    This dilemma is encountered by almost every single artist that is trying to break into the big time - how do you get there from here. The right answer depends on what you want to do, and how you want to express yourself. Many people are quite happy playing covers, others want nothing to do with them.

    Your band members all have to decide what they want out of the music and they also need to realize that whatever path they choose, it might not lead them where they want to go. If there are no long term goals that people can grasp and set a time frame to, anything that doesn't pay money back almost immediately will be viewed as a failure. This is one of many reasons that many musicians and singers have broken up with their previous bands and seek new bands.

    Those with long term game plans tend to do better, provided that all of the members of the band are aware of those plans and buy into them. If you want consistent money, you'll need to play some cover tunes. You can always interject originals into the set lists, provided that they fit in with the rest of the covers. If you don't need to see consistent money, and you want to present your music your way, you don't need to play any cover tunes.

    How did others start?

    Look at the musicians that you respect and listen to and see what they did before attaining some level of success in the industry. I'll list a few that I know of.
    • The Beatles started out as cover band and spent years playing to drunk crowds in the port town of Hamburg Germany. They came back tough and focused on teamwork. Since the audience didn't speak English that well, they often made up verses to songs depending on what mood they were in. This was a good skill to develop.
    • Queens-Reich never played a single gig before their first album. They were put together for a specific market and packaged for success. They are one of hundreds of acts that start this way.
    • Led Zeppelin was formed when Jimmy Page decided to fill in for the Yardbirds (who all quit, except for Jimmy Page) on established Scandinavian tour dates. Since many european countries don't have commercial radio stations, and the Yardbirds never got a lot of airplay there before the band showed up, the audience was open to what they heard giving Led Zeppelin at chance to develop.
    • Michael Bolton established his singing career by covering songs that suited his style, along with originals. The cover tunes got him airplay (and a Grammy award).
    • U2 started as a garage Punk-Rock band.
    • Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees (and was 'booed' by the audience). He couldn't make any money in the United States, so he went to England and created his look and sound - closely tied to the 60's counter culture - he got found and came home to a willing audience.
    • The Rolling-Stones started as a Blues cover band. Their early recordings are mostly cover tunes with a few originals thrown in. They have evolved from there.
    • Van Halen started as a cover band (I even saw them in LA in the middle 1970's before they had a recording contract). They still occasionally do covers that have been altered to fit their style.
    • Bruce Springsteen played in clubs for up to 5 hours a night doing covers. Once he started putting out records, he could play what he wanted, but until then, he played what the club owners wanted to hear.
    • Madonna started by putting together dance music to be played in the New York dance clubs. All the material was original.
    • Michael Jackson was part of the Jackson 5, driven by his father and Barry Gordy of Motown. They originally played what they were told to, including covers.
    • Garth Brooks sometimes played for Pizza. He also toured State fairs playing in beer tents for next to nothing. His label inked a record deal (1988) after hearing him sing his original "If Tomorrow Never Comes" at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.
    • Hootie & The Blowfish played a gig at Bar 101 in Rock Hill, SC on March 21, 1991 and were signed by a talent scout who was checking out the University of South Carolina music scene. They were playing originals and had already released their own records. It took 3 years for the record deal to take off.
    Everyone has different goals and follows a different path. If you set your goals, you can come up with a plan to attain them. If you are happy playing covers, originals, or mixing them up, do it. Any path you take has many possibilities. Performing in front of an audience as often as possible should be a goal.

    My experiences

    People often ask me what I have done, what I should have done and what they should do. I can't speak for anyone but myself. You'll need to figure out for yourself where you want the music to take you.

    I never attained stardom in over 30 years of playing guitar. However, I've had my compositions played on the radio and I earned enough to pay for all of my equipment needs and have money left over to have a good time. I've played on records and done radio spots. I've met touring musicians and know many people in the local music scene. Because the money was good, I started playing other popular types of music and increased my available audience to include many private clubs. I paid taxes on my musical income and took deductions against the income where possible.

    Personally, I like to earn money, and don't object to playing a selection of cover tunes, but I also injected original tunes into the sets. I averaged 45 weekend gigs a year for many years in a highly competitive town. I did 1 to 2 weddings a month and played ski areas (I live in Colorado). I've played back to back gigs that resulted in 10 hours of performing with few breaks (which is quite hard on your voice). For the most part I enjoyed interacting with the audience, but was often bored with the selection of music.

    My goals changed as a result of having a family. I'm not sorry I have one, but it didn't realize how much it would change relationships and musical goals.

    I stopped playing out in June 1993 after a very bad experience with the local outdoor 'Spring-Spree' festival where I had to deal with a highly incompetent sound person (over 2 days) and a very poorly organized event as far as the live entertainment was concerned (it was a free gig, so all I got was aggravation). I still join in on Jam sessions occasionally and often go out to listen to other live music. I miss playing for an audience, but I don't want to be bored by it when I play it anymore. I still mix sound for some local acts. My goals have changed from what they were in the middle 1980's. These days I prefer to work on originals.

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