No Pay To Play In Birmingham
A myspace has popped up in the last few days called No Pay to Play in Brum, and good luck to it! Pay to play is a chuffing wrong business model and the fact that people primarily refer to it as a business model rather than a way of enjoying music should give the game away really.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:16 am
I think what needs to be done, alongside exposing pay-to-play operators, is to explain to bands why pay-to-play is wrong and, in particular, why it is absolutely unnecessary and counter-productive.
JDT
October 31st, 2008 at 11:39 am
Exactly! I also think it’s important to set out the alternatives to pay to play and stress how much better the alternatives are!
It’s hard getting good gigs, I know that. Everyone in a band has had that awful experience of finishing a set, only for the room to suddenly fill with people there to support the next band and the next band only - so the offer of a room full of people and the flashy advertising of the typical pay to play promoter can seem attractive.
Pay to play is not the only way to get a good gig or do something different than the typical Wednesday night at the Acress and Bishop to four people slog though.
Personally I think the best way for bands to get a gig they’ll really enjoy playing is to arrange and promote their own. It’s ace, you get to play with other bands you like and put on your favourite records between sets etc.
It’s not as hard or expensive as some pay to play promoters would like you to think it is and there’s the small bonus of not having the well meaning of your family and friends exploited!
November 14th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Myspace deleted it - please re-add
John
November 14th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Have done!
John, have you ever thought of using a blog package like Wordpress or Blogger. They’re less likely to delete stuff.
August 10th, 2010 at 10:33 am
[...] Well they went and deleted the No Pay To Play in Birmingham myspace which I reported on a few weeks ago. [...]