[Dixielandjazz] Amateur bands

[Dan Augustine]

Steve and others--
     I have a question relating what you wrote to John Farrell (below; 
incidentally, i think he may have been pulling your leg a bit--or 
whatever the British slang for that colloquialism might be, maybe 
"bruising your sporran"--about you and Tom always preaching about 
money).
     What is an amateur band to do?  What do amateur bands in your 
area do if they aren't good enough to get gigs for money?  Do they 
play for free at local pizza-parlors, parks, and so forth?  Should 
they? How do they know when they're good enough? Where do they get 
experience playing in public if they can't play for free, or for tips 
or cheap wages?  (And an aside: what IS an 'amateur' band anyhow? 
Same as a part-time band, or a festival band?  Is the 'amateur' 
status defined solely by if they play for free, if they make money, 
if they make good money, or if they play full-time?)
     I agree that good bands need to charge what the market will bear, 
preferably even more if possible (in order to make adjustments for 
unrealistically low markets).  But we've all been in 
less-than-wonderful bands before, as less-than-wonderful players, and 
there are still a lot of these bands all over the country.  Certainly 
a novice band ain't gonna underbid a good, established band to open 
for Billy Joel, but on the other hand a well-known band ain't gonna 
play at the local Pizza Face for $10 either.  Seems like there should 
be some kind of balance, some kind of understanding among bands.
     Maybe it also depends on the market, on where you are.  Here in 
Austin, where we're striving to get OKOM before the public as much as 
possible, and where it historically has not been prominent, amateur 
bands are 80% of the existing bands (i.e., 4 out of 5 bands), and 
they work wherever they can, because there are so few gigs for good 
money.  In your area, i suppose it is entirely the opposite case.
     Anyway, i'm curious what you and others think on this matter.

     Dan

P. S. I think that the worth of OKOM has nothing to with how much 
money the audience is willing to, or does, pay.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:23:45 -0400
>From: Stephen Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Opportunity/Oppernockity/Hush my mouth
><snip>
>Relating that to music, especially OKOM which is 90% of all the 
>music I play, the rest being jazz most list mates do not think is 
>OKOM, here is the bottom line of all my posts for the past two years.
><snip>
>3. There exist many venues where OKOM should be played for MONEY.
>4. Yet many amateur bands give it away, thus devaluing the musical form.
>5. The worth of OKOM is what the audience is willing to pay and if 
>the audience doesn't pay, then the music is worthless.
><snip>

-- 
**--------------------------------------------------------------------**
**  Dan Augustine     Austin, Texas     ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu  **
**    "Barth's Distinction: There are two types of people: those who  **
**     divide people into two types, and those who don't."            **
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