When Playing for Free or Paying to Play Makes Sense

I have a friend who's married to an ex-80's hairband singer. He was on MTV, toured Europe, knew Axl Rose when he was still considered cool- but, alas, the Hair Band bubble burst and the singer ended up as a marketing consultant. He still plays in various cover bands and I just heard, yep, they might get the band back together! Time to grab those spandex and break out the Aquanet!

Last year, our band put on a benefit for a local rock bar that suffered massive storm damage- the roof caved in, flooding...the works. I called my friend to see if her husband's cover band would be interested in helping out. "I'm sorry, they never play for free, even for a benefit." Wow. OK.

I started to wonder if we were making a mistake. Were we cheapening ourselves? Lowering the value of our product? No. Not when we make calculated decisions on when to play for free or when to pay for a gig.

Starting out, every band has to build up their resume. Havng played key gigs provides credibility when talking with a club or tour manager or when someone stumbles on your music and wants to learn more. There are 5 reasons to play for free or pay to be part of a show:

1. Play A Famous Club or Venue- When we started, one of the first places we hit in our area was the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood. We were charged a huge amount for a 30 minute set- the drummer had to sell a kidney. Of course, we could have sold tickets to offset our cost, however, we were brand new and coming from 2 states over- we had no real fan base in California yet. So we sucked it up and ponied up the money. That one decision has paid off three times over in credibility and momentum for us to play better gigs.

Try getting in to a House of Blues, a place in New York, Hollywood, Austin or a club that perks everyone's ear when they hear the name. You'd be surprised at how impressed people are when you talk about the show. To the average music lover reading your bio, they don't need to know you PAID for the experience, they just see an impressive list of places you've played that they've read about or know of.

2. Open For A National Act- We have 3 clubs in our area who book up-and-coming national acts or those use-to-be-famous bands that just haven't given up yet. Find out who the booking agent is (usually on the website or call and ask) and find out what it takes to get in the line-up of a national artist who has a fanbase that would appreciate your music. It doesn't matter if you go on at 7 p.m. and 6 other bands play after you before the headliner even shows up. YOU get to put on your bio that you "opened" for 'X'. Once you get your foot in the door, it becomes easier to get a better time slot or even direct support for the headlining act. Again, there is usually a minimum the promoter charges (here it's $250)- hopefully you can hustle and sell tickets to make up your loss. But it's worth it even if you have to pitch in the money and someone loses another kidney.

3. Play A Famous Festival- There is a story around here about a dad who paid $2,500 to have his son's band play Ozzfest. Everyone was laughing that this kid had his dad pay and couldn't get in on his own merits. Seriously. From that day forward, that band can tell everyone they played Ozzfest. Was it 2:00 in the afternoon and a billion degrees out? Sure, but they now have the experience under their belt and have gone on to a few other major festivals. The other guys laughing? Still playing local dive bars.

4. Play or Host A Benefit- Benefits are tricky. Everyone knows someone who's had a tragic accident and needs help with medical bills etc. And sometimes you do it because you know them or you're close to someone they know. But be careful, once you get tagged as a band that will do benefits, you'll start getting calls from all over to play. You need to pick and choose very carefully.

Our first benefit was for the bar I mentioned above. Their customers were incredibly loyal. We called a few bands, called one of the other clubs and asked if they'd help host it and called a few local vendors for raffle prizes. Now, we did it because we loved playing at the bar and we're close to the owner, however, we also recognized what a huge opportunity it was since there was a lot of media interest. We were able to get a mention on 2 of the local TV stations and mentioned in an article in the local paper. We were also able to capture a wider audience since the club promoted all genres of music and everyone wanted to help out.

Make sure any benefit is associated with a credible organization or cause. Promote the hell out of it- send out a press release, email your media contacts- it shows that you are willing to give back to your community.

5. It Just Makes Sense- There will be times when you are presented with an opportunity and it just makes sense to either pay or to do the gig for free. They will usually involve exposure to a large audience (one that you could never get on your own) OR positive media exposure. Jump. On. Them. I can't tell you how many times we've capitalized on an opportunity and learned later that someone turned it down because they weren't getting paid.

A band resume is exactly like a personal resume. You have to show you have the experience to keep getting better and better gigs. Venue owners want to know that you put on a great show and festival promoters want to be sure you can keep a large crowd entertained and know how to play a big stage. Sitting around at home or playing venues that only hold 100 people won't get you there. Sometimes you have to push the envelope a little and pay to get the experience.

But once you do, you'll be amazed at how many doors open for you. Who knows, maybe the Whisky A Go Go will be paying you to play their club someday.