let's make a deal...

OK, so your band gets its first gig. You tell all your friends and hopefully get a lot of bodies to show up when you play. But here's the thing: what if you want to keep your performing chops up and you want to go out every week and play? All those friends who showed up to your first gig may not (probably won't) show up at every gig if the frequency is weekly or bi-weekly. Maybe monthly. Maybe.

Whether you're "good" or not has no bearing on a club's interest in you. If you can bring people through the door then you count. You'll be asked back, etc.

That's fair, I do suppose. Consider the following: a great band (let's just stipulate that it's great, however you would measure it) shows up to a club with absolutely NO audience. A mediocre band shows up and brings in some people. The first band just seems lazy. Honestly, if they're not interested or if they're simply incapable of bringing a crowd then why should anyone else care to do so for them? It's not an irrational position.

Having said that, however, it does seem that the same standard should apply to clubs themselves. They obviously have more leverage, but the principle is the same: if they're not interested in promoting themselves all the time why should anyone else do it? It seems that certain clubs (not all) have simply shirked their responsibility upon the bands that they "hire". These are the venues that are going to be empty if no band shows up. Again, why would anyone want to help them do what they don't want to do?

So I say let's make a deal: both parties involved should really, really make a commitment to bringing in the most people possible. Bands then get to play in front of people and clubs get to sell more drinks, food, whatever. Totally win-win.