Interviews & Why Pay To Play Sucks

This morning I did a very fun interview via Skype with one of my old friends from the UK for a new internet show he is putting together called  'From The Factory Floor.'  I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.  I will, of course, post a link to the video once I have it, in around 2 weeks time.

Regarding 'Pay To Play'

I was recently approached by a booking agent for Molly Malone's.  This is a great little venue and they also promised music executives to be there doing a little talent spotting.  Although it was very short notice I agreed to play and he booked me a slot.  The day after I noticed an invoice in my PayPal account for $150.
It turns out I had to pay $150 in advance for ticket sales.  I immediately contacted them and pulled out of the show.  One thing I really can't tolerate it pay-to-play.  Especially if they ask for the money up front and charge ridiculously high prices for tickets.  $15 at the door $10 online with a $1.25 convenience charge. I would never expect anyone to pay that much money for a 30 minute set.  And to have a  bar charge me to perform is outrageous.  I don't think people realize how much time, effort and money is put into a show.  At least when you work at a professional standard. I'm pretty sure the bar owner would have no staff members if he charged them to work there.  It really pisses me off that artists are treated this way.  Without art the world would be... well it wouldn't be a very nice place, let's face it. Not only that, the promoter/booking agents don't even do any promotion for the artists. They make you pay and also expect you to do all their work for them. If they promoted you well and got a ton of people in to see your show then maybe.  Just maybe it could be worth it.  But it's not.  Although I do music because I love it., it would be very nice to get paid.  Music is all I do.  And I can't keep doing it full time for free. I believe we deserve to get paid, just like any other workers in any other job.  Would you work 9-5 for free?  Worse still, pay your employer to work your ass off all day?  I don't think so. The only time I will give in to anything like this is if, time is on my side for promotion, it's for a good cause and you don't have to pay any money in advance.  I'm doing a show at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood in August.  It requires that I sell 30 tickets at $10 each or I will be liable for the ticket money myself.  While this does of course suck, all the ticket sales are going to a charity and I have enough time to sell the 30 tickets.  Otherwise, I would never do it.  This is also a one off thing for me.  Although it would be nice to get a cut. Los Angeles seems to suck musicians dry. I'm not sure if it's the same in other parts of the world now or not?  But if it carries on this way there will eventually be no more live acts apart from the A list stars.  If only we could get all the LA musicians to refuse and not play any shows for one month, and demand that we get paid.  Maybe that will force bars and clubs to start respecting us.  Can you imagine the impact it would have on their profits if we all just refused to play without pay!  Maybe this is something we can pull off.  Maybe we should look into a musical revolution!

I Don't Do Pay To Play

To all booking agents out there.  Before contacting me please note that I DO NOT do pay to play.