The Price

I want to address the misconception that musicians, particularly punk musicians, are rich. I seem to encounter this misguided belief from kids at shows or just within the scene that have no idea how the inner workings of the music business work. First of all, a band is given an advance to create a record and via sales of said album the band has to reimburse the label for said advance or the more common term is the label has to recoup the advance and promotional money it forwarded as well. That promotional money is usually spent for music videos, publicity and in some cases tour support.

Second a band requires transportation to tour and support said record (and said record really isn’t all that viable anymore visa vie file sharing etc). The band can go further in the hole and try to hit up its label or come out of pocket and make payments along the way from tour money on a van. Now keep in mind bands also on the road pay for fuel, sometimes lodging, food and their merchandise and have to pay label up front for said records they will sell on the road!

Are you starting to get the picture? Or do you want some more?

Well here the fuck you go! Working with promoters on the road is tough! Whether you deal with the beast itself i.e. major promotional companies or indie promoters it is hell. Getting info on a show sometimes is tough. Especially when promoters are getting hit up by bands left and right all day to advance shows, which means the bands express to venues/promoters their needs what they carry with them etc. Eventually most bands become frustrated dealing with this frustration and hire a tour manager. Guess what that cost? Did you say more money ace? You got it, that’s right more money……..

Then guitar techs cost money, merch aka t-shirts and the extremely mentally tough people that sell them (hardest crew job of all)cost money as well. Oh yeah did I forget to mention lawyers and maybe even the dreaded band mgmt. debacle debate? More money, more problems!

Listen I am not complaining here. We love what we do and would not trade it for anything. We love to record and play live for our fans but we are for sure the last people in line when it comes to getting paid. This is for sure.

Mike McColgan
Street Dogs
http://twitter.com/MikeMcColgan