What's happened in the world of live music

[dave.king1]

Wot I sed.

My little trio is just about ready to start gigging and we've been ringing around the clubs to hustle a bit of work here in Sydney and the first question we are being asked is do you have Public Liability Insurance and is all of your mains powered gear tagged and tested with current certification.

$21m PLI, that seems to be a hell of a lot for a few guys to get up and entertain for a few hours.

Back in the good old days the venue generally covered the punters and if you were doing your own promotion you had PLI via the Muso Union, apparently neither is the case anymore.

The three of us are all getting on a bit and we have no intention of doing more than one show a month so PLI really takes the edge of the whole exercise, not to mention tax.

What is the experience for our broader community on here ??

[pablopepper]

Why the hell would performers be asked to cover public liability insurance? Test and tag, yeah I can understand that, but surely insurance is up to the venue. I have never heard of such a thing. Sounds to me like they are trying to discourage any type of performance, and then substitute with more pokies.

[tonyw]

I was going out and doing country gigs, but having said that i quit playing in 2009 when my drummer took of to somewhere, we were a 2 piece for 16 yrs. The city was getting crazy, the whole music scene is crazy and yes everything has to be tagged, and i would take put some sort of insurance anyway, i always did, this is why i just like to sit home and record and make guitars etc.

[dingobass]

I blame these bottom dwelling promoters.
A lot of young bands here in Perth have been forced into some really stupid situations such as not being allowed to perform more than once a month!
Back when I was a young bloke, bands used roll up to the pub and give the manager a tape of thier stuff, if he/she liked it they got the gig.
The rest was up to the band, if they rocked the joint they got more gigs..

[Mr Fox69]

I used to work in the Live music scene in Sydney. There are some horrible promoters out there. One I had dealings with used to charge the venue for the PA and booking bands, then charged the bands to play in the venue. The bands had to charge at the door and hope enough people turn up just to break even. These were generally young bands, just out of school and looking to get a following.

[dave.king1]

I used to work in the Live music scene in Sydney. There are some horrible promoters out there. One I had dealings with used to charge the venue for the PA and booking bands, then charged the bands to play in the venue. The bands had to charge at the door and hope enough people turn up just to break even. These were generally young bands, just out of school and looking to get a following.

That is truly ugly, I have only ever worked through a management agency here in Sydney through the 70s and early 80s and he had a bunch of bands working 6 shows a week minimum so we happily paid his 10%.

When I gave the band away he also looked after my fill in work getting me the two nights a week I wanted, bass player for hire ( don't read very well these days )

Wally was an older guy back then and I just googled him and the agency is still listed, he's got to be 90

[DrNomis_44]

The live band scene up here in Darwin is a bit dead, not that many good venues, and all the great venues tend to get bands from down south rather than do any supporting of local acts, Bass In The Grass is a good example, there's a non-profit venue called the Happy Yess Club that's in Brownsmart in the Darwin CBD, I sometimes go there on Thursday night because that's when they have their open mic/jam nights, then there's the First Sunday Blues gig at the Pints Club in Mararra, been there a few times but my last time was a bit of a disaster because my mate who drove me there wasn't very organized, and I didn't get a chance to get my gear set up or do any soundchecks.

[dingobass]

So the question is, how the actual f#ck do young bands get a break these days?

[stan]

Since when does a band need PLI?
So if a light fitting falls on someone's head does the venue try and pass than on to the band.
The whole thing is ridiculous , DB is right, how do acts even get to start?

[tonyw]

If a fight starts while the band is playing and someone gets seriously hurt, some venues deem them as your audience, not a pub patron, its more than ridiculous these days, i am glad to be out of it.

When i was with Premier we were doing 11 shows a week sometimes, lucky to do 11 a year when i finished.

Was offered a tour of Europe by a German company, everything was done for you, you just had to turn up pretty much.