Future of live music

You have two choices in music: play whatever you want, or play what you get paid to play.

If you put 'artistic integrity' above everything else, you might be satisfied as an artist. You will probably also be doing something else for a living.

If you put making money above everything else, you may never play music that thrills you. But you can make money.

Like most choices in life, this isn't either/or. I am quite happy making a living in music. I don't play original music often, nor play jazz very often, because I have a mortgage to pay. But that doesn't mean I never play music I like.

I detest the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon". I have played it more times than I can count, always for a paycheck at the end of the night. But that doesn't mean I only play music I can't stand.

You can find a balance.

Bar bands play the same old tunes over and over because their job is to a) fill the bar, and b) having filled it, make the people dance. Dancing people get thirsty. Thirsty people buy drinks. People buying drinks make a bar owner happy. A happy bar owner will hire that band again.

Every tune you listed will get people dancing. In a three or four hour bar gig, you have MAYBE four to nine chances to play something that takes a chance - a slow ballad or an original tune. If people don't know it they won't dance to it. If they're dancing, and you start in on a slow ballad for your next number, lots of them will leave the dance floor. Once they're off the floor, some may leave the premises. Neither makes a happy bar owner.

If you want to play for pay, you may do the following types of gigs:

- weddings. During the ceremony, you'll play whatever the happy couple asks for. You don't want to play "Canon in D" for the umpteenth time? Suck it up. You're making $200 an hour or better (at least in my market). If you're playing the reception, the mother of the bride may ask for something from the 1940s. Play it. She's signing the check. You'll play the chicken dance. You'll play "beer barrel polka". You'll do Brick House, and countless other tunes you won't like. If you don't want to play them, rest assured there's a DJ who will... and he's probably cheaper. If you really care about live music, play whatever they want - it keeps people hearing live music.

- bar gigs. People didn't come to hear you play. They came to drink, and to be with their friends. If you get them dancing, they will drink. If you really care about live music, play what makes them dance - it keeps the bar owner hiring bands.

- charity gigs/fundraisers/background music. If I'm with a jazz trio that's doing a charity gig, they aren't there to hear the band. We're live Muzak in a way. We'll play light backgrounds music. We'll do Satin Doll - we won't be doing Giant Steps. If you care about live music, you play what fits - it keeps them hiring bands for the next event.

- musical theater. You'll play what's on the page. It doesn't matter if you like it or not, it's what the musical director needs. It's what the performers have rehearsed. You have zero latitude. If you care about having working musicians, you play what's needed - they could license a CD for their next staging.

- jingles. You'll play whatever the producer wants. That may be dots on a page, or it may be a general direction. Either way, you do not have free rein. If you show up wanting to shred and they want a smooth jazz sound, put away your Ingwie hat and start thinking Stan Getz.

- Sideman work. Here you're joining an established act for a night, a tour, or whatever. You play what they play. If you don't like to play it, you shouldn't have auditioned. They're committed to live music whatever you do, so your decision won't matter in the big picture. But if you're chosen for the job, do the job.

- Studio work. You often have latitude here, as you're the hired gun to make the product better. But it has to fit the product! If the band you're doing tracks for is reggae or country, you'd better be channeling Jimmy Cliff or Merle Haggard. If they hired you for 'your sound', great. If not, do what's needed to get the next gig - because it might need 'your sound'.

- Cruise ships. I've never done one of these, but many of my friends have, some for years. You play what the musical director says you'll play.

The bottom line: if it's a job, you have a boss. Do what the boss says. You won't get far in any kind of work if you specify what you will and won't do. Imagine being a customer service agent and telling your boss you only want to take calls from young single women between the ages of 18 and 35. That's essentially the stance you take if you want to play bar gigs, but only on your terms.

If your beef is that the music is all old, it doesn't have to be. In a bar gig, you could certainly impress folks by covering "Call Me Maybe". Anything on the current Billboard charts is pretty safe to add to the mix. But like the oldies, you may not like it.

If you only want to play music that inspires you, put out a CD of it. Tour to promote it. If audiences agree with your choices, you'll do ok. But that's a long shot.

To be happy as a working musician, find your own balance. When I do studio work or musical theatre, I play what I'm told to play. When I do live performances, I play what suits the purpose - charity gig, wedding, bar, whatever. When I teach, I play the styles and songs my students want to learn. And when I want to do my own thing, I compose, take part in jazz jams, or whatever. It's not always what I want, or even usually what I want. But I play guitar about 50-60 hours in an average week, and get paid reasonably well for it. I think that's a darn fair trade.

I know the feeling. But I agree with everyone that unfortunately you need to play what people want to hear not want the band wants to play unless of course the two are the same.

You have to know the audience and venue you are playing at (sometimes that's not possible)but that why you can gear the sets to what music would work. We had a show last Saturday and although we aren't playing any now it was the kind of bar that Lynyrd Skynyrd music would have gone over really well. We did play Mustang Sally and yes it got people dancing.

But I also realize we play a bunch of songs that we like but no one is going to dance to them liek Keep Away by Godsmack (unless they start mashing).

I'd liek to do more modern stuff we do one Black Keys song Lonely Boys and that goes over well and we are going to add Gold on the Ceiling and I know that will go over well even if people don't know it. It has a ctahcy beat that you can dance to.

Thanks everyone for your honesty and reality checks.

I would like to return to one poster's questions about what makes a song a classic. To me, "Brickhouse" doesn't come close to "Fire" if you're going to play Commodores. Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" rocks better than "Hit Me with Your Best Shot". I suppose it's all very very subjective. But I've always thought there is a gold mine of great songs from "Revolver" right up to last night that were danceable hits but never get played.

Before I got my current job, I worked as a morning jock at an area Classic Rock station. The sales guy and I would constantly butt heads because he wanted me to stick to formula, while I would harken back to the AOR approach used in the 70s. I would still play the hits, I would just put Humble Pie next to Tommy Tutone, or Offspring after Peter Frampton e.g.; which made me a bit of a stepchild in the company's media empire. I was never #1, but I had a VERY loyal listenership.

Every place we play we burn it down. Folks like us because we're doing something different, and we are very danceable. When we book the gigs, we tell them right up front what they are in for because we travel a different orbit.

And the reality of that is, as validated on this forum, that we will always fight for recognition.

I wish I had a million songs like "Old Time Rock And Roll", "Mustang Sally", "Under The Boardwalk", "Margaritiville", "Oh Pretty Woman", "Electric Boogie", and others like it. Why? They always work with the audience.

So, how do I get a song released in 2012 to work with an audience? What is that secret ingredient that turns a song into a stayer?

Every songwriter in the world would like to know that. If I knew the answer, I'd go into the consulting business and make enough to retire in a year ;)

You have two choices in music: play whatever you want, or play what you get paid to play.

If you put 'artistic integrity' above everything else, you might be satisfied as an artist. You will probably also be doing something else for a living.

Indeed, and to me having a day job is just a different kind of sell-out.

BTW, NoteBoat - regarding your excellent post: I did cruise ships for 3 years on a 3 week contract. The cruise director didn't tell us what to play. We looked at the passengers on the ship, and what the other entertainment was playing, and figured out what the ship needed. We did so well at it that they gave us a passenger sized cabin with a porthole (the ultimate perk).

The home office looks at the bar receipts, as it is their clue to where the people are spending their time. If you had bad bar receipts, it means nobody spent time in your lounge, and you wouldn't have lasted past the initial 3 weeks - they wouldn't have picked up the option.

So what did we play? Baby-boomer music. There was Swing, Latin, Piano Bar, Country and a Disco on those ships, but no "Old Time Rock And Roll", "Margaritaville" or "Don't Be Cruel" on the ship, and a lot of baby-boomer aged passengers.

threegtrz, Playing the audience can be give and take. Give them what they want, and then let them take a bit of what you want. If I were to learn a Commodores song, "Brick House" would be my first choice because it covers the most ground, then I'd learn "Night Shift" for myself. Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" may rock better than "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" but if you are going to do Benatar, you better also have "best shot".

I know a dozen Jimmy Buffett songs, and the first one I learned is the one I play most frequently, "Margaritaville". I even get the crowd to shout, "Salt, salt, where's the damn salt" at the end of each verse. Sometimes a little crowd silliness can help, "Sweet Caroline" also gets response, "Woah, Whoh Woah" and "So good, so good so good" responses.

I play what the management wants, if the management doesn't know or care I play what the audience wants, and every now and then I sneak in a song that Leilani or I wants. It works for us.

I don't consider anybody I play for my boss, I am an independent contractor, and it is up to me to provide a better service than my competition. So I do what needs to be done, and I've been making a living doing music and nothing but music for most of my life (So far).