ARTICLES

Pay to Play. Is it Fair?

By: Gian Frantik - January, 2008

“Fuck this shit man, its not fair!” That’s what you usually hear when musicians talk about pay to play. Pay to play is a deal that clubs do to ensure that they get their pay for the night. Pay to play is also a deal that some bands go by to make their bread. So is it fair? Let’s debate.

Pay to play usually means that the band has to sell tickets. Bands receive a sum amount of tickets to sell at a set price. The club then sets the price you have to pay to the club in order to get your band onstage. Sometimes the club will give you extra tickets either to sell and make money for yourself or to just give them away for free. Most clubs will not go this route though for fear of losing business at the front door. You can also request extra tickets but most of the time it’s denied for their own private reasons.

You sign a legally binding contract to the club. Depending on what you and the promoter made out as a deal, some bands will have far less tickets to sell than the others. The club bases their computation for the different amounts owed in order to play by what day of the night it is or what time slot you’re on. Expectedly, if you are playing a Friday or Saturday night at the prime spot of 10:00pm or 11:00pm, you will indeed have more tickets to sell.

Promoters and Music Production companies are often a better way to go about this situation. They usually have a deal set up already with the club and in most times, they get you in cheaper with less tickets to sell. Promoters and Music Productions also have better line-ups than just going straight to the club since they peddle to the type of genre, or get close to, the genre you belong in. They can even book you an opening slot for a big band that’s coming through.

I’ve seen disastrous shows where the club itself booked the bands and at that same night, you get country mixed in with metal and jazz. This won’t help you out in anyway since you’re not going to gain any new fans or play to any potential new fans since the crowd is way too diverse for your style. But then again, it depends on what style you play.

In my personal experience of pay to play, it was both good and bad. I’ve lost money on these types of deals but have also gained money so I am neutral about this topic. I do understand why some bands absolutely despise this type of deal since it makes no sense to them to sell a sum amount of tickets and never see a single cent. On the other hand, if you have a large fanbase, ticket selling is perfect. You get to make sure your crowd is coming and make some extra bread on the side for whatever the band chooses to do with it.

So is it fair? Yes and No. If you have a definite fanbase, paying to play is not even an issue. If you are a local band just starting out, paying to play is not recommended. So the grey area here is, how does a band starting up get to play those nice big venues? Answer is, Pay up. Not unless you know the promoters and have the hook-ups, you will pay to play. In time, the clubs will give you a break after paying to play a few times and let you play for free but don’t count on that. My suggestion to bands that don’t want to pay to play is, don’t do it. There are still a lot of clubs that don’t require you to pay to play that are fairly decent with frequent crowds and locals.

Nobody is forced to pay to play. You either do it or you don’t. There are a million bands in this world and people will do it. Pay to play is not all that bad, only if you have no fanbase. Most rock clubs in Hollywood do require you to pay to play so if you don’t want to, stray outside of Hollywood. The bottom line is, it is your choice.

I Email to Friend I Print