"Pay to perform" ???

[lummer]

Oh yes, i definitely agree with you again on that, Lummer. But i guess it can be a catch-22 situation for some bands/musicans who depend on playing music to earn their living. It would be a perfect combi if they played music 6 nights a week, loved doing what they were doing & got paid decently well for it. :mrgreen:

Glad u agree again... It will be great to be able to perform n get paid if that is what the person is going after. 6 nights a week n doing it all year round... it can be tough.
To bring this to the next level how far do you want to go as a musician? Continue to do 6 nights a week for the rest of your life? You will probably earn 2 to 3K a month if its a good gig.
Having said, its not awful loads of money we are talking about... This is one of the main reasons why local musicians find it tough to do music in Singapore. Imagine having a wife n 1 or 2 kids... 2 to 3K definitely will be a stretch. I know i said the motivation must not be money but sometimes have to face the reality. Loving music is one thing, reality in feeding your family is another. Singapore not like other countries that have a welfare that pays u even when u don't work.

Personally, in singapore its hard to be a full time working musician but having said all top musicians have to start some where, right! The best way to be a full time musician is to put in obscene amount of time to learn music as a whole, refine and perfect your artistry. Once you're a great musician... people will notice and in no time you will be touring with artist and doing studio records. Like i say, Singapore is hard to work as a musician but if you are a great musician you will also become notice very quickly! hahaha...

So to all aspiring musicians... don't waste your time going to Zouk, find girlfriend/boyfriend, watch movie or shopping... you have to start sacrificing your time to practice practice practice... So it's eat, shit n sleep all about music!!!

 

[theblueark]

"pay to perform" is a misnomer coined by disgruntled lazy complainers.

The accurate term is "pay to have the organisers do all the work organising the entire event while you sit back and relax, then come on the day itself to perform"

How good the organisers are, you need to research for yourself. It's just like buying food or signing a contract with a local telco. Find out what you're getting first.

Then negotiate how you can get a better deal. If you're able to sell tickets, most organisers already have a package going on where they give you tickets to sell. The amount you sell is the amount you will get back.




You don't need to pay to perform. You can perform at home for free. You can organise the gig yourself, and get all the equipment and publicity yourself. Then you can play for free also.

If you want people to do work for you. Of course you pay. Or maybe you can sleep with them.

 

[lordie]

[QUOTE=lummer

i know a few or quite a no, of local club scene musicians that earns in access of more than 10k a mth and they go by contract, etc.. + some do their own music project, sessionist, earn extra $$$.

as for pay to play? i believe that is a big joke. personally damn lame, and i dun believe bands got suckered in that way. Musicians are to play music and not salesman!!!! The band i played with from my un-illustrious music hobby career, never ever pay for gig and at times we even got paid token sum at times. but than the choice of music we play are considered very extreme.

but we do pay for our music to be inserted into overseas compilation at times, but in return we got those CD's to be sold by the band. but thats a good investment to get your music heard outside of singapore and quite effective campaign to reach out to the target audience which are mostly fans of the extreme music \m/, and usually the compilation we got sold off quite quickly and good for trades as well.

 

[Lovehurts]

LUMMER : You're funny lah!! :-D

 

[lordie]

[QUOTE=theblueark

i have totally no respect for any bands and musicians that does pay to play gigs. its like those rich kids in school that pay $$$ to get what they wanted.

pay for organizers to work? is that even a viable business model?

 

[PunkRockDude]

zz

LUMMER : You're funny lah!! :-D

what thing so funny???
__________________
broken-hearts hurts....

 

[lummer]

what thing so funny???
__________________
broken-hearts hurts....

I was thinking also... what did i say that is funny har??

 

[Lovehurts]

Lummer's last paragraph lah....funny lah...kekeke

 

[Lovehurts]

Aiyah Lummer, when you're bored ah, everything also seems funny!!

 

[lummer]

I do not disagree with you that some local bands get in excess of 10K a mth. I was referring to the general market. U mentioned "quite a few of the local bands" but do u realize your "quite a few" is actually in percentage considered minorities?

Reading between the lines the TS probably isn't that old and probably an aspiring musician faced with pay to play thing... But come on guys... if u thing pay to play is an insult dan by all means don't get involved. Do your own stuff... set up your own gig... I strongly believe in freedom of speech but come on guys... got to be fair here...

If a genuine organizers set up a platform for young aspiring bands to perform and in return ask them to sell tickets as part of raising funds for the cost of setting the event... i don't see where the problem is. This are private organization that people took their time n trouble to set it up for young aspiring bands to have the opportunity to perform. They are not government funded you know!! Someone has to pay to organizer the event leh... U thing everything drop from the sky? Having said, i do not belong to any such organization that set up such events. i purely comment on the subject.

Please don't get me wrong... if your band is damn happening and probably can earn few thousand dollars a mth... u wouldn't be interested in this so call "pay to play" shit right. If your band is some what OK band... u expect people to pay u while u do your OK stuff on stage??? Can like that meh? So, pay to play is more for "YOUNG N ASPIRING" bands to gain exposure. The operative words is "YOUNG ASPIRING"

 

[lummer]

Lummer's last paragraph lah....funny lah...kekeke

Hey lovehurts... thanks for clarifying. But its all true you know... Great musicians live and breath music wan ok... they don't waste time... that separates the great from the legends...

 

[balloons]

Lummer,you gig organizer?

 

[Blue_hair_boy]

Lummer,you gig organizer?

of course LAMMER is a gig organiser...he seem to support the organiser..not the bands.... btw is there a war goin on here??

No offence dude....Im just stating the facts
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Hope is what i need......

 

[lordie]

aspiring musicians should take time to achieve targets and milestones for them and their band and perfecting their craft than playing gig to get laid. \m/

 

[recklessnick]

dont listen to these guys. pay to perform is the only way.

 

[lordie]

dont listen to these guys. pay to perform is the only way.

yup, the only way to go like paid sex.

 

[Lovehurts]

lordie: Good metaphor used!! haha! Ya is there a war going on in here??

 

[lummer]

of course LAMMER is a gig organiser...he seem to support the organiser..not the bands.... btw is there a war goin on here??

No offence dude....Im just stating the facts
________________________
Hope is what i need......

To ballons & Blue_hair_boy

COme on lar... i am not organizer of such pay to play thingy... If you don't believe can go and check... I am in the aviation business. I played music for the last 23 years for the love of it n still does it now... So, you guys are unfair to say i support the organizers and not the band. I also band boy ok...

You see... you guys have to get the perspective right... i can see there are lots of guys here already stated the obvious but some of the guys here chose to ignore. The simple fact is... In the first place if your band is up to scratch, you wouldn't be bothered to participate in the so call screwed up organizers event that requires band to Pay to Play... If your band cannot demand to get paid... you have to asked yourself the question why. To put it as polite as it can be, I believe your band sucks.

There are many local bands in singapore but most of them are not exactly up to scratch yet they think their are the best band around and think its an insult to their enormous ego having to pay to play. Reality check please...

In the first place why start a thread on pay to play if guys in this forum are all damn good musicians and play fantastic music? Assuming you guys are really damn solid musicians then there shouldn't be any discussions on such pay to play program right? All of you guys should be earning some money by performing or easily get a gig to perform. Instead there should be a thread started to discuss how much should your band charge for a gig or something.

If you guys read properly what i commented... I was targeting on young aspiring bands. I believe most of you guys that contributed to this threads are all great musicians that have a great band doing great music and easily can demand for 5 to 10K from performing. I respectfully apologize if i have offended anyone from this circle. So to all these professional and great musicians (Ballons and blue_hair_boy included) that contributed to this thread, we must understand not all bands are at your level of musicianship. They probably just started for few months to a year or 2 and the band still cannot hold a groove properly, the band hasn't really define their sound n identity yet or still struggling to chart out their music or cannot really read music.

So, for all the pros here... maybe it will be more beneficial to these young aspiring bands that you professional musicians can share how you guys started and how to avoid pay to play gigs.

Maybe you professional musicians here can allow me to share one simple idea and that is simply boycott the pay to play gigs. If no one wants to participate then there will not be organizers to start one. Everyone from now on may it be a great band or lousy band all demand for a performing fee. I am sure it will be the END of pay to play and the beginning of a new era of get paid to play!

 

[lummer]

of course LAMMER is a gig organiser...he seem to support the organiser..not the bands.... btw is there a war goin on here??

No offence dude....Im just stating the facts
________________________
Hope is what i need......

War??? What war??? Don't waste on war lar... Spent more time to practice so can demand more $$ better right!

 

[lummer]

dont listen to these guys. pay to perform is the only way.

Yo recklessnick... Cannot like tat say lar... THere are great bands here that can demand for huge performing fee... Its not fair to comment like that as some are professional musicians here... don't prey prey...