It's hard to earn a living

I've been watching it go on for year, ever since I first step foot into the music scene I've watched and also been victim to the exploitation of musicians. I was naive at first, as a 14-15 year old boy I just wanted to get out there and play in a band (and a god awful band we were may I add) I used to beg my parents for money so I could go and get new strings, get band practice, go to perform at gigs all across the country. My parents until I turned 16 funded me to go to venues so that the promoter could line their pockets. Promoters have this idea in their head that us musicians should show up, bring a crowd, sell tickets, play and then leave. They think that they are giving us an opportunity to perform when the fact of the matter is that most of the venues have no "reputation" and so would performing there really boost your career?

I remember me and the old band had a gig booked at Rockers in Glasgow one night and myself (as I always was, ran late) we hadn't sold that many tickets, and we weren't getting any return on any tickets sold, so what was the point of pushing ticket sales? Anyway before I arrived at Rockers I received a phone call from my Bassist who said that because we hadn't sold many tickets the venue were keeping our instruments until we paid the cash. If it wasn't for the other halves of the band members grabbing the guitars etc and running out the door, those instruments may very well be one of the ones sitting in your room that you purchased from E-Bay.

Yesterday I received a wall post on my facebook asking me to go along and perform at the "Kopperberg Sessions" in Prestwick. No fee! Just show up and have a few free drinks, which is nice of them. I mean I'm sure a couple of free drinks will pay the rent, the electricity and keep me fed. Musicians work hard at what they do, and should never be used simply to put money in a till. I think people sometimes think that a musician just buys a guitar and shows up at gigs with a list of songs that "just came to me in a dream" and that those guitar strings never need replaced, or that you can pick plectrums off of a tree branch in the Ibanez garden next to the Zylgen pond in the town of Everything's Free.

It's not, they work damn hard to do what the do. Paid Musicians are guaranteed to put on a better performance and bring a better crowd. There's a saying "Speculate to Accumulate" and I suggest that promoters start doing it.

Rant Over