The DC Music Scene

Some say its dying. Some say its thriving. I'm guessing you can tell the success of the band by the comment chosen by the individual members. The one thing for sure is that your band is not thriving if you aren't out there making it happen. I was just reading an ad on the Arlington Music Scene where one band said "The best new band out of DC, looking for paying gigs". How sad is that? Now I know that Diacritical meant well and everything, but new band and paying gigs are not terms that belong together. A band needs to draw fans to get paid. No decent promoter or club owner will give a new band a guaranteed paycheck for their first show. I'll book you, but I'll pay you on your draw at a very low rate. Then if you do it again two or three times, I might offer you a guarantee. MIGHT.

I find this is the biggest problem with DC bands. Everyone is out for the almighty buck. Nobody cares about drawing fans, promoting shows, or supporting other bands. They just want to get paid. But it doesn't work that way. If you want to get paid, you have to work. And like in any income earning structure, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. I remember back when the band Sev once drew 400 people to a show at the 9:30 Club and got paid about $50. Why? Because they were opening for a major act. The bands I see in DC today would demand $500 for this at least. What's the difference? Sev went on to get a national TV commercial and a record deal with Geffen Records. Sure, it turned out the deal sucked and they went back to playing clubs, but I'd much rather have a little success than none at all

So listen.....I know you're great and you know you're great. But if you have an attitude and refuse to do the groundwork before you build the house, you'll never have fans that think you're great.