The state of the music business
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Why not go somewhere in between?
Whatever happened to playing the gigs on a Fri or Sat night at the bar? Sure you might have to do some covers but money is money.
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Why not go somewhere in between?
Whatever happened to playing the gigs on a Fri or Sat night at the bar? Sure you might have to do some covers but money is money.
Why not go somewhere in between?
Whatever happened to playing the gigs on a Fri or Sat night at the bar? Sure you might have to do some covers but money is money.
Did that for what seems like several lifetimes back in the day
We will never take the "Ariel's Attic" project live because I am in Florida and the other 3 are in Canada.. That, and the fact we'd have to hire two keyboard players and a Drummer.. AND,, there's the voice,, Stefano, the gentleman that does voice overs for radio and television in Montreal who is even older than we are. He's not traveling.
Our musical works to date http://www.arielsatticmusic.com/ -
Why not go somewhere in between?
Whatever happened to playing the gigs on a Fri or Sat night at the bar? Sure you might have to do some covers but money is money.
Did that for what seems like several lifetimes back in the day
We will never take the "Ariel's Attic" project live because I am in Florida and the other 3 are in Canada.. That, and the fact we'd have to hire two keyboard players and a Drummer.. AND,, there's the voice,, Stefano, the gentleman that does voice overs for radio and television in Montreal who is even older than we are. He's not traveling.
Ok.Did that for what seems like several lifetimes back in the day
We will never take the "Ariel's Attic" project live because I am in Florida and the other 3 are in Canada.. That, and the fact we'd have to hire two keyboard players and a Drummer.. AND,, there's the voice,, Stefano, the gentleman that does voice overs for radio and television in Montreal who is even older than we are. He's not traveling.
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Plus I would imagine it would be an uphill climb trying to tour an all original prog metal band.
We did a lot of cover material, the band was our day job.
Still in the latter years without the 18 and 19 and 20 year olds drinking the money got worse and it wasn't really profitable or fun anymore.
As a solo performer my paycheck is a hell of a lot better than having to pay 4 or 5 guys and a crew.
Still just about the only place to sell hard copies of the CD is that a live gig. Since my solo CDs are different from the live show people are often surprised. Most of them, at least the ones that tell me, pleasantly.
WSS .
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
Music is tough. File sharing has made selling music impossible. The other difficult thing is trying to make music people enjoy that doesn't remind them of another act.
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Plus I would imagine it would be an uphill climb trying to tour an all original prog metal band.
We did a lot of cover material, the band was our day job.
Still in the latter years without the 18 and 19 and 20 year olds drinking the money got worse and it wasn't really profitable or fun anymore.
As a solo performer my paycheck is a hell of a lot better than having to pay 4 or 5 guys and a crew.
Still just about the only place to sell hard copies of the CD is that a live gig. Since my solo CDs are different from the live show people are often surprised. Most of them, at least the ones that tell me, pleasantly.
WSS .
Plus I would imagine it would be an uphill climb trying to tour an all original prog metal band.
Let's be honest... IMPOSSIBLE
You see us as prog?
Interesting
We did a lot of cover material, the band was our day job.
Back when,, we called it Out on the Circuit.. Touring, as everyone calls it today is way too glamorous of a word for what it was.. I survived it once.. I don't care to push my luck
As a solo performer my paycheck is a hell of a lot better than having to pay 4 or 5 guys and a crew.
Still just about the only place to sell hard copies of the CD is that a live gig. Since my solo CDs are different from the live show people are often surprised. Most of them, at least the ones that tell me, pleasantly.
And we're an international act so it gets even more complicated.. The crowd that wants the physical cd, the artwork and to read the liner notes is dying off..
But you're right, selling cds at gigs is better than cdBaby,Amazon and all the others..
We're focused on radio play in certain regions of the blue marble where we think our material will be better received.. The US and Canada aren't top 3
Music is tough. File sharing has made selling music impossible. The other difficult thing is trying to make music people enjoy that doesn't remind them of another act.
We ALL borrow
from someone.. We've been accused of sounding like everyone from RUSH to Savatage to Nightwish to Judas Priest to Metallica.. 
I'm honored to be compared to any of the 5 
Back to the central theme.. 37,112 streams thru 13 days.. $250 MOL Yeah, we're rock stars
It's a labor of love..
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Hey Steve. Are you playing playing at the ix center this weekend? I thought I saw your name next to Alex Bevan?
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Hey Steve. Are you playing playing at the ix center this weekend? I thought I saw your name next to Alex Bevan?
Hey Steve. Are you playing playing at the ix center this weekend? I thought I saw your name next to Alex Bevan?
I was there last night but not the rest of the weekend. Sorry bud.
WSS
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Anyway the business is probably change a shit load since I was on the road axe. I'm guessing you're about 10 years younger than me? Through the late seventies and the eighties the band used to do the hotel circuit in Canada 3 or 6 months of the year. Also played on the road through the Southeast Texas and as far west as Colorado. In those days you could play a place for 3 days or six days of the week. I don't see anything like that today. I play multiple days at Put-In-Bay and when I played Key West but those are tourist spots with a different crowd everyday.
There were also gigs at the lounge circuits, and the Holiday Inns et cetera where 5 piece show bands could make a living all year long.
Different style of music then the hotel circuit but there was work. Now? I don't see it.
WSS
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Anyway the business is probably change a shit load since I was on the road axe. I'm guessing you're about 10 years younger than me? Through the late seventies and the eighties the band used to do the hotel circuit in Canada 3 or 6 months of the year. Also played on the road through the Southeast Texas and as far west as Colorado. In those days you could play a place for 3 days or six days of the week. I don't see anything like that today. I play multiple days at Put-In-Bay and when I played Key West but those are tourist spots with a different crowd everyday.
There were also gigs at the lounge circuits, and the Holiday Inns et cetera where 5 piece show bands could make a living all year long.
Different style of music then the hotel circuit but there was work. Now? I don't see it.
WSS
Anyway the business is probably change a shit load since I was on the road axe. I'm guessing you're about 10 years younger than me?
WSS
I wish
You can't be that old..Anyway the business is probably change a shit load since I was on the road axe. I'm guessing you're about 10 years younger than me? Through the late seventies and the eighties the band used to do the hotel circuit in Canada 3 or 6 months of the year. Also played on the road through the Southeast Texas and as far west as Colorado. In those days you could play a place for 3 days or six days of the week. I don't see anything like that today. I play multiple days at Put-In-Bay and when I played Key West but those are tourist spots with a different crowd everyday.
There were also gigs at the lounge circuits, and the Holiday Inns et cetera where 5 piece show bands could make a living all year long.
Different style of music then the hotel circuit but there was work. Now? I don't see it.
WSS
Two of the other members of our project had a regional Ottawa based circuit band until a couple weeks ago. What seems to happen now is way different than how we operated. We sometimes did 2 nites, sometimes 3 in a club and we did 4 hrs. 45 on, 15 off. If the club closed at 1:00am we went on at 9:00 PM.. If it closed at 2:00 we started at 10:00 except the New Orleans area. If we were the headliners of the 2 band ticket, we went on LATE and didn't walk out till after sunrise
Now, what they seem to do for shows in clubs is have a 4-5 band lineup so you do one set only.. I'm sure the load ins and load outs are pure anarchy
And of course you are then splitting the door 4 -5 ways.. Not necessarily equal but split a pre negotiated 4-5 ways none the less. To me, that's not worth the time and effort.. It seems like everyone is trying to catch lightning in a bottle, I mean a youtube video
We even have a couple in process.. Our strategy is getting our name and brand out there in the areas we think we'll do well out ahead of the cd dropping.. -
Axe I'm 64, been playing steadily since I graduated high school in 1970.
Played a little bit in the 8th grade and High School but non-stop since 70.
( couple short-term day jobs, nothing I cared above when I got fired or quit
)How old are you?
WSS
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Ya got me by 4 and change Steve. I work very hard at staying in decent shape and looking younger than I am..
I started young. My Mom of all people was a professional guitarist in the 60s..and I got to sit in now and then and play simple chord arrangements.. I've been in, and out of the biz ever since.. And it never seems to change in so much that "legalized slavery" is a very good description.. The correspondence lately between us, our distributor and Sony music has been surreal..
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Not really a metal guy but pretty good sound from Ariel's Attic on the website
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Hipsters think vinyl LPS sound better but they are shit. More low-end Distortion makes it seem like that.
You can reproduce sound that say 128 (orsubstantially less) bit perfectly.
Vinyl is a fad.
WSS
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Also Steely Dan oh, like Todd Rundgren or Tom Petty Etc, a big big axe who's streaming Revenue is in the millions rather than be hundreds of thousands.
Local or otherwise smaller apps don't make much money unless they sell CDs and the only place people buy those pretty much izzat live performances.
This business has changed.
WSS
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