Pay to Play, WTH Are You Thinking?

Pay to play: the transfer of money from an artist to a promoter/venue before playing. The term pay-to-play is used to describe a performance where an artist (usually a musician) turns in money before taking the stage. This payment can either come straight from the artist's pocket or be collected from the artist through the pre-sale of tickets (aka pre-sale). The majority of the funds collected go to the promoter or the club/venue.

Why pay to play is Evil

Pay to play is evil because the promoter isn't taking the risk - the artists are. If nobody shows up the promoter isn't out of pocket, the bands that traveled (sometimes hours) to get there are. As a result, pay to play promoters do little to justify their job title. What exactly did they promote? The band did their job for them! Most of the time they don't send out press releases, pass out flyer's, contact local radio, post in the local beat scene, send out mass emails or even promote it in their own venue until the day of the show! 
Bands rarely sell enough tickets to cover the pay to play cost's that they may have incurred. Usually it ends up coming out of their own pockets. Rather than getting paid to do the gig they end up paying the venue for the privilege to playing to an empty room. How friggin lame is that picture?

The venue wouldn't dream of charging the staff to work there. Why should musicians pay to provide their club with live entertainment? What do the clubs say about this? "Well, we're in the business to make money and if bands don't like it they don't have to participate." Okay, I won't and if I can help it neither will anybody else. Back when the music biz wasn't in the tank (10+ years ago) the venue or promoter would do what a business does and promote or advertise their business. I know, crazy right?! Why should the bands have to do their job? Do we musicians ask the venue to write our songs or sing back up? Most of the time we don't even ask them to help us load in or load out for fear of being looked at or treated like a friggin idiot! Basically they want us to show up, buy their concessions, fill their venue with spend happy people, provide all or part of entertainment, and clean up our mess on the way out while they (the venue) count the fruits of YOUR labor. And if they didn't make any $ they'll blacklist you and complain about how your band doesn't "drawl" and that will be that. And then THEY wonder why the biz is in the tank!! Amazing! Absolutely f'in amazing! Maybe they should look up the definition of the word exploit. Actually, I'll take the liberty of doing it for you/them. 
Exploit: To Make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage. Merriam-Webster

I could ramble on for days about my own personal nightmarish experiences with paying to play but I won't. I'll just say that we've been dumb enough to pay up to $500 to play a well known music festival just to get our power pulled halfway into our set because THEY screwed up their scheduling times. Did we get our money back (or even half of it)? Heeel no! Will we do it again? Double heeel no! There are rare occasions where my band will pay to play again. One is opening for National touring acts where you'll have an almost guaranteed increase in exposure. Second is...well I can't think of another occasion.

I would like to clarify that this isn't always the case though. There are venues and promoters out there that  treat us like royalty (better than we deserve) and appreciate what we're offering them with our music and performance. In my experience those are the guys that are most successful. Their priorities are in line, they don't sacrifice all for the sake of money and it comes around in a huge positive way. Artists gravitate toward them, people show patronage to their establishments and they are widely respected and appreciated. Sadly, they are few and far between as our world becomes more and more consumed with greed and hunger for personal gain.

Here are some pay to play truths to consider:

*A club that needs to make bands pay to play may not know how to book or manage their club and doesn't have a clue to what the music business is all about. Much less how to create an atmosphere that will draw people to the club regardless of who is playing.
* Most likely you will get a very short set on a four or more band bill. Most likely you will get cheated out of a quality sound check.
* The time you spend selling tickets could be spent in practice. Money spent on paying to play could be spent buying studio time to record or to make promo packages or set up merchandising that will make your band money, or to put on your own show and make 100% of the door or put you on tour etc...
*  Most likely one or more of the bands on the bill with you will be non-professional in musicianship and other areas as well.
* You will start to get a clue when your family/friend buys the tickets but stops going to your shows or when your friends run and hide when they see you 'cause they know you're going to hit them up again.
* You already spent a lot of time and money getting to where you have a band ready to play out. You spent years practicing. You spent money buying equipment, maintaining that equipment, moving that equipment. You may spend money on a rehearsal space, perhaps lessons as well. So these pay to play clubs are not helping you pay these expenses, why should you pay for theirs? A musician is one who gets paid to perform (believe it or not) and the promoter/venue is one who purchases talent and sells tickets to see the talent they purchased. Know your role! 

People; It's time to support your local musicians! 
Bands; stop selling yourself short and tell venues/promoters you don't pay to play! Do your share in promoting your gigs but put your money back in your band for gear, merch, recording, etc.
Promoters and venues; put yourself in the artist's shoes and get off your arse, learn to build and promote your business instead of depending on the artist to do it for you! Promote the shows and bands you book and let the artists focus on their art!