Hello friends,

We’ve been on a bit of winter hiatus for the past few months, so first off, ‘Happy New Year’. It’s back to school for me which means a lot of time sequestered at home unable to keep my finger on the pulse of things around town. I did, however, recently receive a message from someone that I thought bears sharing. This message comes from a Southside bar/restaurant that wants a bit of entertainment during the week.

I work at [redacted].  We have an enclosed smoking lounge that we have live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays.  I am trying to get something going to give new bands or groups around here a place to get some stage time.  I am looking to get 2 bands a week with some following and promote a battle of the bands.  There would not be any payment for those events but we would cover food for the bands that day and have drink specials for the event.  We would offer the winner a paying gig the following month.  The way we would determine who wins would be who brings in the biggest following as well as well as other factors that I would be open to suggestions.  This is all on the drawing board but I think it would be a good way to promote new bands or bands that have had some experience.  Please contact me with any questions, comments or suggestions on how to make this a success.  My manager is eager to do this next month.

Thanks,

H.

My response:

You guys are going to have to pay someone to host the open mic/ battle of the band. The going rate around the Penninsula is about $150 for a midweek event, which usually gets you someone with a PA and an acoustic guitar. If no one shows up to play the host generally has to fill the time himself, and if you’re not willing to make that minimum investment your chances of getting quality talent are slim. And that’s just for a solo guitarist with a bare bones PA. You should probably expect to pay a bit more if you do throw this on Friday, as there is higher demand. If you want a full band it’s usually around $300 a night.

You probably aren’t going to get a band with a ‘following’ to play for free or even dinner. You might be able to get some fresh local kids with no experience hungry for a chance to play, so keep in mind you get what you pay for. The only situations that I have seen where a full band ‘volunteered’ to play week after week turned into a complete disaster that ended after a month.

Asking musicians who have trained for years and paid hundreds of dollars for equipment to both play and advertise or promote for you, for free, is insulting and disrespectful. If your manager feels otherwise, have them contact the proprietors of the following establishments and ask them their experience:

Hampton: Mugsy’s, Goodfellas, Goody’s, Hat Trix
Newport News: Aromas
Smithfield: Jalepenos
VA Beach: Abbey Road
Yorktown: County Grill
Portsmouth: Barrel

If you reconsider I’m willing to introduce you to the right people.

Sincerely,

Mike B.

Now I hope I didn’t come of too strong on the old chap here, but I’m simply sick of restaurant owners trying to take advantage of musicians. Is the starving artist stereotype so powerful that proprietors think we would just sing for our supper? I’m sure that there are naive young kids out there that would play for the exposure, but it would just be a matter of time before they wised up and resented the whole affair. I’m also pretty sure that there’s some other people out there that shouldn’t even be playing music that would be willing to take the gig because they can’t get anyone to pay them to play. Either way, I refuse to be a part of such exploitation.  Now, to be fair, perhaps the manager of the bar in question doesn’t know any better, in which case I mean no offense, but you can’t just think because you’re opening your venue up for an event like this that people will feel so grateful to have their music heard and bring all their friends.

Of the successful open mics I frequent, most people that play there are already patrons of the bar in question or are friends with the emcee. You’ve got to have an emcee. Period. And to have a battle of the bands where you expect people to work to bring in a crowd for nothing is just ridiculous. This is something I would expect the owner of a successful business to know.

How do you all feel about this? Did I miss the point or am I spot on? Let me know in the comments.