Music Showcases?

[drummer_jay]

Anyone play at these?? I know you usually have to pay to play... Just wondering if it's worth it at all?

[fastplant]

I played one back in April. No one had to pay to play though. It was a cool time. Everyone got about a 25 minute set and most bands got some good gigs booked because of it.

[cherri]

We've done a couple of them, but never payed to play. Played for a room and dinner once because it was a long ways from home; but we met some great musicians and associated folks, and made contacts that brought us good exposure and paid gigs in the area (Detroit). An unpaid showcase is a good vehicle to introduce your band to a new market.

Don't pay to play. You'll be ripped off.

[guitarmook]

as long as you're only playing for free, think of it as an audition for people you don't know. If you're good, you'll make contacts, and get other gigs.

[riffdaddy]

I played a showcase for my old band. They thought it would help them get corporate gigs. Instead, they signed on for representation with a company that offered to book corporate gigs for them. The showcase was January 8th. They're still waiting for the first gig.

[srsfallriver]

My band does a showcase once a month or so. We organized it with a Boston pub and advertise it ourselves. Doing it ourselves means that we don't pay and we're in control of when and how long we play. It works out well and the pub enjoys the extra bodies that we bring in.

[Brian Krashpad]

We have a "local music showcase" every year in our college town as the students come back in the Fall for school, and both bands I'm in have played them each year whenever we were able. The promoter is a good guy and gives some of the money to charity and even though we don't make any money (it is NOT pay-to-play, we'd never do that) the promoter really doesn't either (in fact last year I helped by adding some PA gear to the punk venue and the promoter slipped me some cash on the side) . It's basically a good way to introduce the students to the local music scene. It's not big like NxNw or SxSW or the New Music Seminar but is set up the same way: for 4 or 5 nights there are several shows running simultaneously, and people can buy a multi-venue or single-venue pass each night.

This year my punk band is playing Friday night at the "punk venue" and my side roots rock band is playing at the BBQ on Sunday afternoon that wraps everything up, where the alt-country and roots bands are playing.

Here's the flyer for our show, to give you some idea of the sponsorship and stuff:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/BrianKrashpad/Moefest05InterimFlyer.jpg

BK