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This Gigging Life


BbAltered

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So, I am on a mailing list of a local guy that leads a B3 soul/jazz trio, and I got an email from him telling about an upcoming gig at a venue near me. I was excited to see his group (I also took lessons from him for a while so I want to say "hi"), so I checked my gig calendar to see if I was free that night and it turns out our soul band has a gig that night at the same club where he is playing!!

 

This is actually the second time this venue has booked our soul band and then we find out they have also booked some other band for the same night. Grrr!

 

And it is a ridiculous place to play: too tiny for our 7-piece band; the owner only puts in $200 and we have to encourage the crowd to kick in more in the "tip jar". On the plus side, the crowd is boisterous and dances a lot, and it's a gig in a market where gigs are hard to come by.

 

One of our guys put in a lot of effort to lock down that date. Gigging is a bitch.

J.S. Bach Well Tempered Klavier

The collected works of Scott Joplin

Ray Charles Genius plus Soul

Charlie Parker Omnibook

Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life

Weather Report Mr. Gone

 

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BbAltered it really is a bitch. Being a musician is hard. Hard physically, mentally and monetarily speaking as well. You have to put up with so much to do what you love. More so then other hobbies because it depends so much on other people and a lot of blub owners dont give a shit. Getting up on Sunday from playing out two nights in a row late and driving two hours home wears on you for example.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

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I had a similar case last year, in this case the bandleaders of two different projects I was in both told me that they'd booked a date, the same date in both cases, at a new venue out here on Long Island. Lucky there was a common person, me, in both bands or the issue might not have been discovered until both bands showed up. I alerted bandleader #2 that my other band was scheduled there that night; at first we thought maybe they'd intentionally booked a two-band night but he looked into it and found that two different people at the club had unwittingly independently of each other made the two bookings on the same night. Oh yes, shortly after that, the place decided to abandon live bands completely and both gigs, and everybody else's there, were canceled!

Rich Forman

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The agent for an artist I work with somehow booked us at opposite ends of the country on the same day. Initially they were supposed to be a day apart, but I checked one festival's site and saw the date discrepancy and forwarded it to the artist. Obviously, we had to cancel one of the performances.

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BbAltered it really is a bitch. Being a musician is hard. Hard physically, mentally and monetarily speaking as well. You have to put up with so much to do what you love. More so then other hobbies because it depends so much on other people and a lot of blub owners dont give a shit. Getting up on Sunday from playing out two nights in a row late and driving two hours home wears on you for example.

 

I find myself more and more relating to this

 

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Favorite movies. I think of that scene everytime I go to Judo class or the gym. I think also it's hard for us men to accept being middle aged.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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When booking a gig try to personally make sure the club manager enters the date on his/her calendar. Don't take their word for it that they will put it in the book. Sometimes clubs have more than one person involved with bookings and if one of them forgets to log it in the other person might book another band. Put up a couple of band posters in the club announcing the date in a place where club personnel are sure to see it often. Then call or if possible drop by the club once or twice a few weeks before the gig to make sure nothing has changed. I've seen situations where clubs change personnel or ownership prior to your date. Every band has had problems with double bookings so you have to do your best to minimize the chance of errors.
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I had a double booking situation last month. I only found out about it by looking at the event on the venue's calandar. It got sorted out (we play there more often, so the venue gave us the gig) but not without some stress.... So now I always will check the venues web site and make sure it shows the right band. Tough to avoid double bookings as you can't be responsible for the venue having their stuff together.

 

Two years ago a popular venue had a manager who made a complete mess of their calendar. We thought we were booked their multiple nights, but the manager refused to answer emails to verify the dates. I finally had to send a very pointed email and call the venue a couple of times before he fessed up that the dates were not real and he had double booked. A couple of weeks later I heard that not two but THREE bands showed up one night to play there! If you work with the venue via email, always make sure you have an email confirming the date/time etc.

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Here's something that may be of value. If a verbal agreement has been your contract with a place in the past it can be a legal option for you to pursue. Happened to me twice years ago. Similar circumstances. Places we played a few nights a week for every third month. We leave our last night and tell them "see you in XXX month'. Comes up to that time and I call to see if we can get in early to setup and hear, "Oh we decided to go with XXX band and one time a DJ, damn !!!" Never telling us in advance and leaving us with a full month open and these are places we did well in and got along fine with the management. But then again we're just musicians and can be treated like dirt.

Contacted a lawyer friend and after he informed them that our verbal agreements had been upheld in the past they were binding now. We settled for a partial payment but didn't have to go to court. Live and learn, your disposable to club owners.

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Favorite movies. I think of that scene everytime I go to Judo class or the gym. I think also it's hard for us men to accept being middle aged.
Middle aged? How about just plain old. I think of this every time I'm packing up gear for the load out. Still, I keep going out to the next gig.
These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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When I was still in NY, I was doing a bunch of playing as "me"--my own material, as BL. At some point, I started getting listings, with my press and website and propaganda--for gigs I hadn't booked. A lot of these were at venues that I regularly played. I called one of them and figured out there was another guy just starting to book gigs, and we had the same name. So because I'd played those places for so long, they were booking him thinking it was me.

 

Awkward, since--I'll just say it--I was way better and farther along the road. So he was getting my traction.

 

I called the guy, believe it or not, and told him he needed to change the name he performed under if he was going to play the same venues. Add a middle name or something. He said, "I did think it was weird that some of these places had seemed to have heard of me. But I've got some recordings I'm working on and I don't think I should have to change my name."

 

But guess what? He did. He took a pseudonym, and, unexpectedly, all ended well in the kingdom.

 

(Then I moved away and in the end it turns out he probably could have had the gigs anyway! Oops...)

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
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I don't know how you guys persist.

 

I determined at 22 years of age, that for me, it would be a very difficult lifestyle/career choice.

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

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I don't know how you guys persist.

 

I notice that these problems happen in large metropolitan cities.

 

I have been gigging in rural and small cities for over 30 years in different bands and I do not remember encountering multiple bookings.

 

I will say that bars and clubs change ownership and staff quite often. Often you are dealing with a new contact who does not know your history (IE the crowd you pulled in) or has decided to book only certain genres or bands.

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Always have a contract, period.

 

It doesn't mean you're going to sue somebody if they double book you, but it's a way to confirm the communication - date, time, and any other details. When you follow up with a verbal confirmation by sending a contract, it just makes sure everybody's on the same page. The owner might receive the contract, double check the calendar and realize a manager already booked that night. Quick phone call, offer another date, and it all get's resolved much earlier on. And guess what? If 2 bands show up at the same time, and one has a contract, guess who's playing and who's going home? It's happened to me several times where we played and the other band went packing.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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This venue has two guys doing the booking, and yes it has happened to us before that one books us for a given night and the other books some other band for that night. The owners are now saying they never got a confirmatory email from us for that date. It's possible our side forgot to send one, and it's also possible one was sent and the owner never say it. But the bottom line for us is that we are out of a gig.

 

A crappy gig to be sure, but a gig is a chance to improve your performance and spread your brand around.

 

Our band is pretty low on the music food-chain (pretty much a bar band with a few weddings and corporate gigs thrown in). As I said, at this venue the owner pays us $200 and we get whatever we can from the crowd in tips. So there are no contracts involved. And nobody is going to sue because it would cost far more than we might recoup.

 

Maybe we have contracts for 5% of our gigs - and surprise, those gigs never get double-booked.

J.S. Bach Well Tempered Klavier

The collected works of Scott Joplin

Ray Charles Genius plus Soul

Charlie Parker Omnibook

Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life

Weather Report Mr. Gone

 

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I won't beat a dead horse on the contracts, but regarding emails, you can check that you'd like to receive a read email notification, so that when they open the email, you get notified.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Contracts for a bar gig? I've never seen or heard of one.

 

When I booked exclusively through an agent, we would not do a gig without a contract, period. NEVER showed up to find a gig double booked - always figured it out during the contract signing phase.

 

It they are unwilling to sign a contract, that's a HUGE red flag.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Hey Dan, these guys are playing for $200 + tip jar. The bar owner may not be able to read or write.

 

:like:

 

However, I'll add that even back in the 90s when I was doing duo gigs for $200 and 5-pc gigs for as little as $375 (no tip jar), we still used contracts.

 

I loosened up on it for a while and would let bars book with no contract until the first time we got screwed, then after that, no booking at that bar without a contract.

 

They really have no reason to not sign a contract unless they plan on screwing you. Also, the contract includes a cancellation deadline. If they are wavering on making a change, this at least gives them some feedback as to what an acceptable time is to make a decision. It also includes some guidance as to what happens in case of acts of god, rain clause, etc. These things aren't just legal gotcha's, they are a way to communicate what the mutual expectations are.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I don't know how you guys persist.

 

I determined at 22 years of age, that for me, it would be a very difficult lifestyle/career choice.

 

In particular if you have a family to support- wise decision.

You don't have ideas, ideas have you

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. "One mans food is another mans poison". I defend your right to speak hate. Tolerance to a point, not agreement

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>I determined at 22 years of age, that for me, it would be a very difficult lifestyle/career choice.

 

You are right. It is so difficult to be a full time musician. Many times it is depressing!

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IMO, "contract" may be too strong of a word. People see that word and think of a huge document with tons of small print, as well as weird stuff about M&Ms. I would imagine in most cases, a letter agreement will do. It just needs the details Dan outlines above so that both sides are literally on the same page. :) Both sides sign at the bottom and we're done.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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You can sue a club owner based on a verbal agreement just as you can with a written contract. However, suing a club will most likely reduce the number of gigs you will be able to get the future. Proving damages is a lot easier with a written contract and becomes more of a necessity as the stakes get higher. Most of the gigs we play are not worth the trouble of a contract and the clubs we play dont routinely use them. We do when its warranted as a gig we played two weeks ago that required travel, rooms and 4 times our normal bar rate.

 

Last year I just happen to be checking out another local bands facebook. They were advertising a gig on the same night we were scheduled. This was a gig we had on a calendar for 9 months and we hadnt made contact about the gig since booking it. The club was anticipating the other band and said they had no record of us being booked. Since this was not a very lucrative gig some of us were actually relieved to not having to play it. It was money out of my pocket for a crappy but easy gig. If we had a written contract, we most likely could have forced them to have us play. I for one am glad that it didnt come down to that as we have good relationships with the local clubs. Pushing the weight of a contract in someones face does not make for friendly relationships.

 

Years ago our country band was playing an out a town gig that we had booked with the bar manager. About the time we were doing sounds checks another band walks in. Their agent said she had booked them with the owner. There was no way we were going to break down. They did give the other band a room.

 

 

We play for free. We get paid to set up and tear down.
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I'll try sharing some examples, haven't tried publicly sharing dropbox files. If it doesn't work, let me know.

 

Sample Contract

 

Note: I took this one from a gig that wasn't a bar. Many times at a bar it would say sound provided by client, and wouldn't have all that stuff in there about water and Gatorade. Also, deposits and weather clause were only for private parties/festivals...that would be left off for a bar.

 

In some cases, we would provide a tech rider as well - namely if sound was being provided, but mostly for things like festivals and private parties to ensure adequate power, etc.

 

Tech Rider

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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All of our higher profile, municipal and festival gigs use contracts.

 

Almost none of the bars/nightclubs around here use contracts. if you insist on one, they simply won't book you, and those places stay busy all the time with bands. It's a tough, "Catch-22" situation.

 

We've only been hosed once in ten years, thankfully. Most places realize they will only get C-level bands with no following if they screw over other bands, and won't get butts in seats if they do this.

 

Again, unfortunately, we have to walk a fine line when pushing contracts and letters of agreement.

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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I'll try sharing some examples, haven't tried publicly sharing dropbox files. If it doesn't work, let me know.

 

Sample Contract

 

Note: I took this one from a gig that wasn't a bar. Many times at a bar it would say sound provided by client, and wouldn't have all that stuff in there about water and Gatorade. Also, deposits and weather clause were only for private parties/festivals...that would be left off for a bar.

 

In some cases, we would provide a tech rider as well - namely if sound was being provided, but mostly for things like festivals and private parties to ensure adequate power, etc.

 

Tech Rider

Thanks for sharing those, Dan! You've confirmed my point that an agreement like this can be pretty simple (when you don't need a tech rider). They shouldn't scare anyone.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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we have contracts on out of town/state gigs, but generally not for local clubs. being in San Diego, most local gigs pay lousy. the most common one is HoB, they get a full bill of local bands all the time for free. nada. zip. nothing. no, to be fair-they usually let you order something off their menu to eat. but pay for parking and gas and you just paid them to fill their venue. its for exposure (cough ... duck!).

 

I haven't had a double-book where I showed up and the club had two acts overlap, thank goodness.

 

OT: I hate when a club pays the band $200 and the club wants a written contract and tax forms etc. cmon, its petty cash, do i ask for an itemized invoice for the pitcher of beer I drank while I was here. or the band leader asks each guy for a tax id. seriously - you need to track the $40 or $50? we play 3 shows a year, you're not going to need to file it. or he gets paid that night but says its a check and he'll mail us a check for that fat $40 payday in a week. #checkingmailboxes #fingerscrossed! #gonnasplurge!

 

gtfo, if you're going to pay sub-scale slave wages, just make it cash under the table. cmon now, act like a respectable businessman!

The baiting I do is purely for entertainment value. Please feel free to ignore it.
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