"Pay To Play" For Live Music
The practice of "pay to play" is defined as bands paying to play live at a bar, club, or auditorium. The payments are typically made to the owners of the club; sometimes this happens through a middleman or proxy, otherwise known as promoters.
Much like in the aforementioned payola scheme, the promoter places the financial risk on an unknown band by asking them to provide the owner with revenue. Rather than accept direct payments, promoters ask the band (Usually young and/or naive) to buy tickets. The band then owns some tens of tickets which are then usually sold to their friends. Often, the promised exposure is limited because only family and friends buy tickets and care about the event. The overall effect is to drain money from the band, the friends, and the family members for the false promise of fame and success.
In rock and metal music, some clubs and bars ask some bands to pay to perform. Metal/rock drummer Richie Rivera states that the best clubs to play "...are usually pay-to-play (or what the clubs call 'pre-selling tickets')". Rivera says that while his band has done "pay to play" to perform at venues, in the future, the band will "...only do it for a support slot for a national act".
Jazz trumpeter Marvin Stamm has described a similar "pay to play" issue in New York city jazz clubs. Stamm says that if a jazz "...artist or group is new or unknown, some clubs - even the larger clubs - will ask that the artist or group’s record company guarantee that the club will break even. If there is no record company to back the artist, then he will probably have to guarantee this himself". If there is a poor turnout at the club, the jazz band leader may have to pay hundreds of dollars to the club.
In the US, there are "pay-to-play" "Battle of the Bands" contests where bands pay to perform on stage. Billboard Magazine's Oct. 21, 2006 article "Pay to Get Played" described how a "third-party booking agency in New Jersey" called Audible Spectrum Records was "charging bands up to $350 per show, promising services and opportunities that were never delivered". "Battle of the Bands" are becoming increasingly common in both the U.S.A. and Europe, particularly the U.K. Typically, each band that enters the "battle" will pay a fee, returnable only if a minimum number of tickets is sold for the first round of the contest. Progress in the contest is dependent on "votes". A prize is usually given to the winner.
Read more about this topic: Payola
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