I'm seeing a lot of new bands in my area lately. A lot of these new bands I've never heard of, or the people in them. Some of the talent level in some of these new bands are questionable, if non-existant. I'm thinking that the state of the economy is creating more bands. People out there that can hold a guitar, and know a few chords are putting together bands to help suppliment thier income. That's kinda hurting the good or established bands tho. These new bands will play for a lot less money than others just to get in the door and the bars will hire these new bands to cut expenses. It's not that I'm jeolous or anything, it just that these bands are taking away the available gigs and the knocking down the pay scale and the good paying jobs. If a cheap, no talent band is what bar owners hire these days, it makes the guys that have been around for years that have paid their dues want to hang it up.

Opinions?

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

I have to completely disagree with you... If someone wants to supplement their income, they don't "join a band"...

There are only so many paying gigs to go around... especially during a bad economy which will reduce the amount of gigs available... Those gigs will be filled with already established bands/musicians... So, I don't know how some Joe Schmo will just be able to pick up a guitar/bass/drum stick/mic and start making meaningful money...

Yup, lots of these bands in my area. I have friends in some of these bands and I've told them to stay in the garage, or basement. My band doesn't play too many clubs or bars anymore so it's not such a big deal for us. We play a lot of weddings and private events. We started doing this partly because of the problem you have described. It was like this with golf a few years ago, seemed like everyone was playing and now it has slowed down. Hopefully the same will happen with these less experienced bands.

It seems like everyone wants to be in a band.

Truer words have never been spoken.

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Don't worry, Be happy.

Joe

You can visit my area and see all the former kareoke singers that have put together a band, or are doing a solo/duo thing now. The consesus here is why hire a band that will charge you $400 a night when you can hire these guys for half that much. I've seen a lot of unexperienced start up bands lately in this area. Bands that know only a dozen songs or more and those songs turn into mega jam tunes just to make them last. And yes, a lot of those band members are laid off, lost my job, I just bought a new Harley, and I got a habit I gotta pay for, members. Their attitide is they don't care about the music, just "where's my money".
I can feel sorry for the honest guys doing it to make a house payment or rent or grocery money, but the money mongers need to move along.

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

Could be that so many folks were so inspired by Barry O they just had to go out and pursue that "Yes You Can" feeling and follow their hopes and dreams.

I think that the weak music industry has many of us becoming more creative........Lady Blah Blah is not music!.....I mean c'mon....gimme a break, grab a guitar and and break out the real stuff!!!!!

"We're going to see the penguin..........we're puttin' the band back together"

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I Can't Explain

What I seem to be seeing is more open mic nights. Some of the musicians are good too and the only one getting paid is the host band if there even is one. Some of the local bars in my area have their own PA system. It's pretty much plug and play and you bring your own equipment.

There's always been bad bands, the economy really has nothing to do with it. If you can't draw a crowd you're playing for the door. Most people won't pay a cover for a lousy band.

i could send this in a whole differn't direction, but i won't. i live in texas and i know all about "cheaper labor". i've learned that you get what you pay for. if this creates some competiton and hard work, it's a good thing. the established bands might have to step it up a bit and show why they are established bands.

I am kind of lost here, the bottom line is that a bar owner is not going to have anyone back that is not drawing a crowd. If a band is drawing I dont care if they are playing kazoos they will get booked. And more established bands should have a bigger following than run of the mill strummers.

Never, ever been spoken.

I don't think it's about people trying to "supplement their incomes" by playing in bands -- if you're trying to make some extra money there are much easier ways to do it than by spending thousands of dollars on gear and then splitting miniscule payouts with three or four bandmates with whom you've spent hours and hours with practicing your songs.

I believe it's true that established local bands are finding it harder to make a living off their music these days. But the reason is that the bad economy is causing folks to go out less and spend less money at bars and clubs in general. With their own pocketbooks squeezed, bar owners are less likely to shell out money for bands of any kind and will often go with either open mic or karaoke nights instead.

Around here, many up-and-coming bands or forced to play for free or even pay the bars to play (something which I'd never agree to, by the way) in order to get exposure. I seriously doubt they're truly taking any real money away from the local pros.

I've always found that in Nashville where you have more than "1352 guitar pickers"...it's very hard to make any money because there are some really good musicians here.
You never know who is in the crowd either who just stopped in to knock back a couple....kind of humbling/embarassing to see somebody like Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule hanging around....but that was years ago before the ABB and the Mule,but he still was awesome.
I do see that hard times doesn't really stop people from wanting entertainment or hearing music either so there's crowds out there to play to.

way i see it, if these lesser bands are playing for less money and getting booked over more popular bands, there is only 2 ways it can go. either 1 the lesser band isn't really good and the people who see them live realize that and either don't come out to watch them or relay the message to the venue and let them know. Or 2 the lesser band is actually not that bad and the "better" band may want to reconsider how much they are charging to play to begin with.

Either way I think it pushes the envelope for all those involved....the lesser band pushes to get better and does by playing more gigs, the "better" band realizes it needs to step its game up to the next level and/or charge less for it's services which it already possibly charged too much depending on the location and how many other "better" bands there were in the area.

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

+100!

I think there are more bands because of the internet. Not too long ago, it may have been difficult to meet and find like-minded people, musicians, bands, and concerts before the internet. Now that there is an internet, people can find people to start bands with, meet people who might be interested in seeing the band, release music, and information about upcoming shows all from their house. Although many people/bands/musicians still strive for that record deal "to become famous", many people now just opt to put it out on their own now, and I think thats why it may seem like there are more bands now, because its just easier for them to get their name and product out on their own now with the internet, than before the internet.

Before the internet, a band may have had to play for weeks or months before getting their name out and developing a following. Now with the internet, any band may just need to put in a few hours on myspace before developing a "following". Also, around the same time as the internet came ProTools, which is one of the main reasons why many bands sound like crap live these days, because when you play live, you don't have ProTools to help you stay in tune and on time....

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