Covers are taking over.... Again..

[Halloween]

My whole area is saturated with clubs that only allow "bands" to play in their clubs if they play covers. I think there are only 2 original venues left in the area. This does not exactly motivate kids to write originals and makes it impossible for those who do to get any exposure. Without exposure, and building a fan base on a local level, the band falls apart. No bands playing originals really puts a damper on my booking. FML, how do you beat this? I think it is impossible.

[Barfunkel]

While I can appreciate a truly great cover, for most part I simply don't understand them. I'd much rather hear a DJ play the original record, than a cover band playing a cover.

I especially would not PAY to see a band playing covers.

I even get annoyed when those street players play covers, I've been thinking about paying them to play something they wrote themselves.

[NotchontheRocks]

It's like the current movie industry, which relies heavily on remakes and films based off other stories, books, or comic books. It's like nobody has an original idea anymore, and if they do, those ideas get cast aside in favor of plots or - in the case of music - songs that are proven to work.

I think part of the reason clubs or bars do it is that good cover bands usually have a pretty decent following as a result of familiar material. Bands that play original music only are the ones that struggle to build a loyal fanbase and thus, have less potential for profit in the eyes of owners.

I don't think there is any way to "beat" this trend. You'll just have to wait until it fades away and originality falls into favor once again.

It does sound like it's a local issue. While the music scene in my city isn't phenomenal, there is an abundance of original local bands. Unfortunately, I've noticed local studios (aside from top ones) seem to be struggling. I know of multiple local bands that have opted to go with cheaper, lower-quality recordings, and I think that trend benefits the "Guitar Center audio engineer" and top of the line studios while hurting the middle of the road studios that have good engineers and nice equipment.

[Lute]

Can you not open with a cover then do your set then close with another cover? And maybe an encore with a cover?

It's a shame the management of the venues perceive their audience as unimaginative and not open to original music.

Maybe organise a battle of the bands thing? Anything to get your music out there really.

Best of luck

[Ward Pike]

The entertainment industry is cyclical and goes through periods of intellectual deficit. Remember hearing about the glorious 60s when even recording artists would do covers or each other's songs whilst the originals were still on the radio?

I don't mind doing covers in a band, or listening to a band doing cover songs if they put their own spin on things and bring interpretations to the music.

Also good to remember is that most everything on radio (country or pop) is cover material as the "artist" performing usually doesn't write the material.

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by Ward Pike

The entertainment industry is cyclical and goes through periods of intellectual deficit. Remember hearing about the glorious 60s when even recording artists would do covers or each other's songs whilst the originals were still on the radio?

I don't mind doing covers in a band, or listening to a band doing cover songs if they put their own spin on things and bring interpretations to the music.

Also good to remember is that most everything on radio (country or pop) is cover material as the "artist" performing usually doesn't write the material.

I feel the same way, you must do them you own style, change up.

[Chris Lago]

Hey, I understand but it's always good to add a couple of covers in there.

In my 11 songs set, I usually sing 4 covers so people can be familiar with the music.

I wouldn't want to only be singing covers though, and I find that some of my songs get better reactions from the crowd, more dancing and so forth.

[kennybro]

Originally Posted by Ward Pike

The entertainment industry is cyclical and goes through periods of intellectual deficit. Remember hearing about the glorious 60s when even recording artists would do covers or each other's songs whilst the originals were still on the radio?

I don't mind doing covers in a band, or listening to a band doing cover songs if they put their own spin on things and bring interpretations to the music.

Also good to remember is that most everything on radio (country or pop) is cover material as the "artist" performing usually doesn't write the material.

There have been many great covers.
Santana Black Magic Woman
Joan Osbourn's Make you Feel my Love or Man in the Long Black Coat.
Allman's Stateboro Blues or Stormy Monday
White Stripes Jolene
Animals Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Creedence I put a Spell on You
One Eskimo Kandi

& a whole, whole lot more.

Inspired is inspired, whether your doing original or cover music. I've always found it more effective in clubs to develop an identity with unique spins on covers, and then slide in our originals that feature that same spin. What drives me nuts is the band that learns songs note for note. More than once, I've gone to an audition and packed my stuff after the first song because someone in the band said I played some of the notes "wrong" on Sultans of Swing, or some such thing.

[newdigitaluser]

Originally Posted by Halloween

My whole area is saturated with clubs that only allow "bands" to play in their clubs if they play covers. I think there are only 2 original venues left in the area. This does not exactly motivate kids to write originals and makes it impossible for those who do to get any exposure. Without exposure, and building a fan base on a local level, the band falls apart. No bands playing originals really puts a damper on my booking. FML, how do you beat this? I think it is impossible.

as a customer i would rather hear old good music
than new original crapp

you need to find one venue that takes original work
and pack it with your fans
then you can expand to other locations

[chrisdee]

99% of the time i prefer the original.

One of the worst covers the last year or two must be The time of our life with black eyed peas. Its awful how the rape a perfect original. Shame on them.

[famousbass]

Blah de blah fellas. Don't like "the scene"?
Obviously you're not interested in actually making money playing music while you prepare your amazing music product that'll change the world and have you working out of Prince's studio next year.
What's the alternative? Real Estate License? Depends on what you really believe in, huh?
I bought a house playing other people's music. More than my songwriting ever did for me.
If you're good you'll do well, if you suck, well, you still have to rehearse.
I'll give you the advice that was given me when we complained about the same crap in the 80s (when we were all busy BTW): If you don't like it, open your own club. If you don't wanna be the boss then suck it up baby.
That's the scene.

[_Ludovico]

I think average people don't really care for "new" stuff anymore. They already have enough music forced in their ears everyday, so really there's no need to look deeper for the regular music listener. Radio and club music has become sufficient for the majority of people.

It's not like in the days when a friend would come up with this great band you didn't know. Most people I know today carry the same CD collection they've had for many years. People stick with the classics, stuff they've known for a while or have become familiar with through overexposure.

It's also really not "hot" anymore to write music. Almost anybody can write a song. There are trillions of bands writing their own stuff. When I was young I was playing guitar and singing and was among the few kids of my age who did, so I was cool, you know . But after a while, many kids started playing and singing too, and It became ordinary and boring.

All of this translates to the clubs, where people go not to "discover" new stuff, but to hear stuff they know and can relate to. The whole band thing in clubs, save for a few prestigious venues, is dying. I used to play in a tribute band, but I'm also part of an original band, where we write our own stuff. Needless to say, only the tribute band brought money in.

Cover bands flood contests and places they can play for free, just to be seen. You can not really ask for cash upfront when you play original stuff. You get door deals and such crap, which means, if you're out of town or don't have many friends, (or you're just not in college anymore where your gang follows you) you basically get nothing at all. My only concern with my band is to cover our expenses.

Clubs hire bands so they can play stuff instead of putting cd's in their player. It's different, it's fun, and it makes people drink.

It's a dirty business...But it's also easy to understand.

[Halloween]

Bitterness much?

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[The Real MC]

Business 101: Clubs do not make money by promoting music - covers or originals.

They make money selling drinks.

Patrons buy more drinks when they dance and the aerobics make them thirsty.

The club hires groups that encourage dancing using cover songs. The more drinks you sell, the better your pay. Sad but that's reality.

However there are coffeehouses that refuse to pay the ASCAP/BMI extortion fees and will only hire performers that play original music.

[chiimba]

I think that if people like your originals you will get to play them. I'd suggest sneaking them into cover sets to start... there's been places we played where we did covers and originals and we got such good response from originals that they asked that we play more the next time and ignore the covers.

I've seen some bands and felt that way.. I've also seen bands who did good covers but when they played their originals I was like ...ahhh stick to the covers.

[foamboy]

Hmmm. These topics always make me hesitant to participate as they are such slippery slopes. However,........


I agree somewhat with famousbass. While his attitude is a bit snarky, I agree with the sentiment.

I have been able to make a decent living (full time) for nearly 17 yrs playing covers. And I was one of the lucky few who made a living playing ORIGINALS in the '80's.

Unfortunately,after ALL these yrs, I STILL can't figure out why cover clubs do so much better than original venues. A few people here have stated some compelling reasons,but I don't know if that is the whole picture. I personally think that in current time,the issues are as complicated as piracy and slow music sales,but that is a WHOLE other can of worms. I agree that the ratio of cover/original venues is the worst I have ever seen and I don't know if it will get better.

My suggestion to the OP is to get a band that really wants to play originals and is really on the same page artistically as well as business wise and then learn a ton of covers and be a GOOD cover band,the kind that is actually in demand and people WANT in their clubs. Then figure out how to also be an original band that plays original venues. If you build a good cover band following,many of those fans will go to your original shows and then you can groom that market.

We did this MANY yrs ago and were pretty successful at it and actually set some record attendances in a few places that still hold true to this day. However,through a series of unfortunate circumstances the original side of our business fell apart and we decide to just stick to covers and it has served us well for many yrs.

Remember, there are many ways to "skin this cat".

Good luck,

fb

btw,the point of this post is to encourage you to use your cover band earnings to finance your original project. If your are smart and frugal,you will be surprised how much "original" time can be had with cover band money!!!

[Stg]

there's a band i tour with who is only orignials, i personally cant stand them but they are really getting out there

[AllAboutTone]

Also i play plenty of covers that are popular by the band that never hit radio air waves and they are a hit with the club and guest.

So is the club requiring you play covers or just songs on the radio ?

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by The Real MC

Business 101: Clubs do not make money by promoting music - covers or originals.

They make money selling drinks.

Patrons buy more drinks when they dance and the aerobics make them thirsty.

The club hires groups that encourage dancing using cover songs. The more drinks you sell, the better your pay. Sad but that's reality.

However there are coffeehouses that refuse to pay the ASCAP/BMI extortion fees and will only hire performers that play original music.

I can see that 4 real, people don't want to bang heads, they want to move there body when they are tanked up.
I really wished dance bands would come back, like funk as well, I enjoyed going to see bands on the Holiday Inn circuit. Those were the good ole days.
When I say dance bands I don't mean dance music as in shag, hate that crap.

[diogo_c]

I understando OP's situation as my town is totally flooded with cover bands - and 99% are not worth a penny. Bad thing about the whole cover thing is that there's no support whatsoever for people doing their own stuff. Club owners/promoters won't take any chances and would rather book a cover band because they feel like its safer.

[joeydego]

The OP is CLEARLY in NJ. Let me say this: I've been playing guitar 22 years and am a coverband guy. I'm an unapologetic weekend warrior, but that's besides the point. You can't blame bands for delivering what the "market", if there actually IS a market for live music around here anymore, demands. The truth is a bar isn't a recital. No one wants to hear songs they don't know in 17 different key signatures and time changes. They want to get drunk and silly and sing Dont Stop Believin for THE MILLIONTH TIME. We really can't even get away with RUSH covers as much as we enjoy them because we start to lose people. Don't blame the bands. Id LOVE IT if there was an original scene. People used to go out for good original music. Promotors used to promote, too. Nowdays, you go out and you're pretty much PROMISED at least 2 out of 3 crap bands that are all too loud, out of key and look like plumbers with instruments. THATS what the local venues book because they simply will not pay for talent. Furthermore, all the local rooms demand a following, yet do absolutely NOTHING to get people thru the front door. We draw people, sure, but when I look around and all I see are faces WE drew, what EXACTLY did we need YOUR bar for? We could have booked a rehearsal room, NOT lugged a PA, half stack, drum kit and bought a few bottles of liquor and called it a day for the same money and a quarter the work.

[kgdrum_nyc]

A few bands I played in over the years got around the cover band policy of a few clubs by playing our songs and announcing a few of the songs as unreleased or obscure songs from various famous bands, it actually worked most of the time! lol
Bewildered club owners would look at us quizzically trying to figure out if we were BSing them! lol
A few clubs that realized we were f*iking w/ them actually invited us back and relaxed their policy when they saw how much the customers liked us.

[joeydego]

Originally Posted by kgdrum_nyc

A few bands I played in over the years got around the cover band policy of a few clubs by playing our songs and announcing a few of the songs as unreleased or obscure songs from various famous bands, it actually worked most of the time! lol
Bewildered club owners would look at us quizzically trying to figure out if we were BSing them! lol
A few clubs that realized we were f*iking w/ them actually invited us back and relaxed their policy when they saw how much the customers liked us.

Thats really what it all boils down to. If you can sell it to a room, fantastic. Ive seen awesome musicianship in original bands go nowhere. Ive seen fantastic image in original bands playing to no one. Seems to be an original act without a hit on the radio will have and only have their sympathy draw: friends and family. Its a shame.

[Don Cameron]

I can't speak for the entire country/world, but in my neck of the woods, the simple fact is that 99% of the "original" bands are completely awful.

[Barfunkel]

Sounds like a typical ratio for any kind of music.

[Halloween]

Originally Posted by Don Cameron

I can't speak for the entire country/world, but in my neck of the woods, the simple fact is that 99% of the "original" bands are completely awful.

you misspelled artful.

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[uncle duncan]

Originally Posted by Halloween

My whole area is saturated with clubs that only allow "bands" to play in their clubs if they play covers. I think there are only 2 original venues left in the area. This does not exactly motivate kids to write originals and makes it impossible for those who do to get any exposure. Without exposure, and building a fan base on a local level, the band falls apart. No bands playing originals really puts a damper on my booking. FML, how do you beat this? I think it is impossible.

How do you beat this? Try talking a club into doing a weekly showcase night where two or three acts play a set for free. Yeah, playing for free sucks, but if the band has any hope of success, they'll connect with the audience and develop a following that may lead to future paid gigs.

In the big scheme of things, all-original bands generally have to go out on the road to work, since they would wear out their welcome playing the same list of original songs in the same town week after week. In fact, the standard advice for all-original bands is to not play too often in your home town. That way, when you do a show, it's a special event that will garner attention and draw a crowd.

In general, I'd suggest that 90% of all-original bands suck, in that the music they're playing is mediocre at best, bad at worst. It all comes down to the songwriting. It takes talent, or luck, or craftsmanship (or a combination of all three) to write great songs. Not everyone can do that, although everyone with an instrument and some imagination and an Mbox thinks they can.

[Halloween]

Originally Posted by uncle duncan

How do you beat this? Try talking a club into doing a weekly showcase night where two or three acts play a set for free. Yeah, playing for free sucks, but if the band has any hope of success, they'll connect with the audience and develop a following that may lead to future paid gigs.

In the big scheme of things, all-original bands generally have to go out on the road to work, since they would wear out their welcome playing the same list of original songs in the same town week after week. In fact, the standard advice for all-original bands is to not play too often in your home town. That way, when you do a show, it's a special event that will garner attention and draw a crowd.

In general, I'd suggest that 90% of all-original bands suck, in that the music they're playing is mediocre at best, bad at worst. It all comes down to the songwriting. It takes talent, or luck, or craftsmanship (or a combination of all three) to write great songs. Not everyone can do that, although everyone with an instrument and some imagination and an Mbox thinks they can.

I agree with everything except playing at home, in 2004 I picked up my first record deal with windup records and my first publishing deal with BMI from playing the same club for a year straight, every weekend, fri and say. And before you ask, yeah it sucked. We picked up a few gigs later on before the signing at hob's and other decent rooms.

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[Halloween]

And from personal experience original bands sound dated more than anything.

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[joeydego]

Originally Posted by uncle duncan

How do you beat this? Try talking a club into doing a weekly showcase night where two or three acts play a set for free. Yeah, playing for free sucks, but if the band has any hope of success, they'll connect with the audience and develop a following that may lead to future paid gigs.

Strings, gas, tubes, tolls and guitars don't grow out of the earth. (THATS why I play covers).