lowdown and the law!

[40hertz]

some questions for all of you giging bass brothers and sisters out there...

do you sign a contract with the club owner?

do you have a rider/stage plan?

do you have an agent that takes care?

do you just show up and play?

thanks!

[Patrick74]

We always ask for a contract:

In Holland the law has changed resently concerning payments to bands/artists.We do not like trouble with the taxcollectors!!

 

As second:it is sad but true.. In our band's hometown a select group of musicians (band)always try to get the important gigs, due to the arrogant thought they are the best and most wanted. Even if my band would get the gig on word, those guys will enter the backdoor and try to steal our gig! So we made a contract last time with special terms: other musicians (mainly those guys) are not allowed to play with our gear and rental PA, We play our whole set, They succeeded to "steal" the half hour (We were playing at a Venice afterparty)what was to be supposed a upwarming before the Venice show. In our contract we simply quoted that after their half hour gig all their gear had to be removed (if not: they just wait for us to finish and play in our time).

 

I think you might find this childish. I like to give every musician a change but I expect they would do the same regarding to others. If we notice that somebody is trying to undermine our gig: we take action by adding extra terms of agreement. it still is a sad thing, though..

[Patrick74]

I forgot something: we also like to do a proper soundcheck. We use a sampler and our guitarplayer has a rather large set up (3 way system) so for us it is not wise to show up and play... Everytime we use the same PA company so he knows us with the result our sounchecks go rather quick...

[Chad Thorne]

I persinally have never known a club owner in my area who would sign a contract, certainly not for a "bar band". If the band has a substantial following, name recognition, recordings, maybe - I've never been in that situation.

 

(P.S. Don't forget the many gigging bass sisters on this board! )

[jeremy c]

I usually play gigs which are called "casuals" here in the San Francisco area. They are called "club dates" in New York and "General Business" in Boston.

 

I don't know what they are called in other places, but these gigs are mostly for corporate parties and very elaborate weddings.

 

There is always a contract and most of the time 50% of the money is paid up front. Sometimes these gigs are booked through an agency and sometimes they are booked directly by the band.

 

Sometimes the contract specifies that there will be food supplied for the band. Stage specifications are rarely mentioned....the bands are completely self-contained and bring all their own sound and lights. There is never a rider.

 

After the gig is booked, I just show up and play. (And collect the balance due at the end of the gig).

[61Pbass]

We play gigs that run the gamut from small clubs to full tilt concerts. Most are booked by our agent, although we do book a few on our own.

 

There is ALWAYS a contract involved, no matter how small the venue. Any place where production is provided we send a stage plot with the contract with FOH requirements, compatibility requirements for our IEM system, lighting needs, etc. Depending on the venue we also have a rider for cleanup/dressing/hotel rooms, meals if the time frame/schedule requires, adequate area to set up our merchandise booth, etc. Venues where we will be providing sound will at the very least get power requirements for lighting and sound. We also advance the dates a month before AND a week before the show to make sure things are the way they need to be. We also require a 50% payment up front.

[Cup]

Wow, some real pro set-ups going on. Maybe it's the indy band scene, or maybe it's clubs and pubs here in Ireland, but we always just show up n play! Money? We rarely make enough to worry about a contract. Any larger paying gigs are arranged by a gentle mans agreement.

 

I think if I was to insist on a contract, rider or 50% of the fee up front, I wouldn't gig too often!

 

Cup

[Cup]

Whoops, missed out on the soundcheck question! For most gigs, we soundcheck, some for 1-2 hours (always my favourite)other for one song. I usually judge a new club by the soundcheck. Not just by the time it takes, but by the attitude toward the bands.

 

Jaded soundmen should be shot!

 

Cup

[Grumpyoldman]

We rarely have signed a contract, although for the bigger events it has proven to be a reassurance for both band and employer. Most weekend bar gigs have no paper trail.

We do not have riders.

We have recently entered into an agreement with an agent, in an effort to add specific rooms to our roster, but have found that we are still getting the gigs on our own - our lead singer pounds the pavement and does that for us. Since the "agent" came to see us, we tend NOT to get the offers of the better rooms that his band plays - do I suspect a bit of nervousness or concern on his part? I do.....

We never just show up and play. If we do our own sound (and we own a full P.A.) we arrive at staggered times up to 3 hours in advance. At least 2 of us will arrive with the stage show and set it all up, and as the rest arrive we complete a full sound check consisting of one song per lead vocalist - that way we get all the instruments checked and the various lead/back up vocal levels taken care of.

If we happen to play a show where house sound is provided, we still arrive in lots of time to have all our stuff set for the sound guy - makes it a much better working situation if you start out prepared when he arrives.

 

the Grump

[...]

All of your questions vary drastically on the band and venue.

 

do you sign a contract with the club owner?

do you have a rider/stage plan?

do you have an agent that takes care?

 

For the cover bands that I play with, yes, on all 3 counts. These shows tend to be 'all night' events, where we are the only band playing and we do 3-4 sets of music. Sometimes we even get paid before playing a single note, which is always very nice.

 

Most of the orginal bands that I've ever played with, or currently play with, don't do this. Most of them are fairly loose with their gigs and dealing with the club people. They pretty much work where we get booked, usually 30-60 days in advance, then we just show up and play when we're supposed to. The Fear of not showing up for a scheduled gig is enough incentive to get bands to not screw the clubs. A lot of the 'popular' clubs to play in Seattle are booked by the same people, if you screw them, you aren't going to be playing those clubs for at LEAST a year; some of them have a "do not book" list that they keep.

 

With the original band scene, the club owners are the ones with all the power. If you're a good cover band, you can demand and get away with murder.

[Foot]

Originally posted by CupMcMali:

...in Ireland ... we always just show up n play! Money? We rarely make enough to worry about a contract. Any larger paying gigs are arranged by a gentle mans agreement.

 

I think if I was to insist on a contract, rider or 50% of the fee up front, I wouldn't gig too often!

This is pretty much my situation too. Here, contracts are for pros passing through or for corporate/wedding gigs. The rest of us have to hold our hands out and beg at the end of the night. Though usually, some dollar amount was agreed upon over the phone.

[73 P Bass]

In the last band I was in that played out on a regular basis, there was a local booking agent who had a relationship with most of the bars around the area. He'd tell us where to go and how much we'd get, and we'd decide if we wanted the gig(we always did!). It was always cash. Sometimes the bar owner would hem and haw about how much we drank, but we always got payed what we had verbally agreed on.

Some bars would give us the door, and we'd provide the doorman.

We never had a contract.

[Cup]

Originally posted by 74 P Bass:

[QB]In the last band I was in that played out on a regular basis, there was a local booking agent who had a relationship with most of the bars around the area. He'd tell us where to go and how much we'd get, and we'd decide if we wanted the gig(we always did!). It was always cash. Sometimes the bar owner would hem and haw about how much we drank, but we always got payed what we had verbally agreed on

 

74 P Bass, you actually got drink laid on! We never (and the same goes for other bands in our scene) ever get even a mineral water. Once a bar man stood me a drink after a gig, simply cos he liked us. But on the whole, if a band wants a drink, they buy the drink. Usually means any money made goes back to the bar.

 

Cup

[Rik]

No contracts around here. Wish we did have them, though. A contract would prevent problems such as the one we had when we showed up for a gig, got all our gear loaded in, and then the club owner came over and said he "didn't remember" booking us, and had booked a karaoke DJ instead (It finally came out that his wife didn't want to pay for a band).

[earljam]

Around these parts your word is your good until proven otherwise and the word travels fast. It is very rural here though, up in St. Louis they would crawl over their dyin mother to f**k their dead sister.