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Event 12/26 / Amateur Band Wanted for Studio Live at Shimokitazawa, Tokyo

Shige

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9 Dec 2015
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We hold the studio live event in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo on December 26 and wanted bands / musicians who want to play there.
Date: December 26th (Sat), 2015, 19:00 -
Venue: Studio Bayd, Shimokitazawa
http://www.studio-bayd.com/map/index.html

Fee: 9,000 JPY / band
30min. / band
Any genres of music are welcomed.

Please contact me if you are interested in this event !

Let's have fun !

Shige
 
We hold the studio live event in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo on December 26 and wanted bands / musicians who want to play there.
Date: December 26th (Sat), 2015, 19:00 -
Venue: Studio Bayd, Shimokitazawa
http://www.studio-bayd.com/map/index.html

Fee: 9,000 JPY / band
30min. / band
Any genres of music are welcomed.

Please contact me if you are interested in this event !

Let's have fun !

Shige
I'm not sure I understand, you're charging 9,000¥ to the band?

Did you mean you're paying 9,000¥?
 
Yes the band has to pay if they want to play for 30 minutes at this event.

Huh! I was in quite a few bands growing up and I never heard of this type of arrangement. It was always that the bands got paid for their work.

Is this new, or Japan specific?
 
No idea, I was just going by what he said (and what the web site says). I think maybe it's targeted for bands who want to get some exposure or experience playing live. If the bands are good enough and are selling CDs they could maybe make the entrance fee back. Probably they need to cover some costs somehow and that was the way they settled upon (as opposed to charging spectators). Plus it says you get 5 minutes of session time at no extra cost. (Whatever that means... I'm not a musician.)
 
Thanks for your comments.
We charge 9,000JPY to the band.
As mdchachi mentioned, this is the event for amateur bands for their exposures / experiences.
 
Huh! I was in quite a few bands growing up and I never heard of this type of arrangement. It was always that the bands got paid for their work.

Is this new, or Japan specific?

It is common practice here for amateur/aspiring bands. Sometimes there are arrangements whereby the bands offset the cost (or maybe even make a buck) by selling tickets to their fans. Something like the "bringer show" that aspiring comedians have in the US. (You don't get paid, but if you bring a certain number of paying guests with you to the club you get some mike time).
 
I see, very different practice as compared to what I grew up with.

In the US, sometimes bands would perform for free on open mic nights. Otherwise, they always got paid since they were performing a service and helping bring business to a venue. Sometimes a flat fee, often a percentage of the door. Part of their job was to advertise the show and get friends, fans, etc. to show up. By giving them a cut of the door it gave them the incentive to get more people to come.

Very interesting to see it's done differently here.

How does the band make money in the Japanese system?
 
How does the band make money in the Japanese system?

By having a large enough fan base that they can contract a venue and sell enough tickets/merch to cover costs and have something left over.

When they start having enough left over to make stealing some of it worthwhile then the industry vultures show up with contracts in hand and transform them into established artists.

The pay-for-stage-time gigs are a way to get themselves in front of a ready-made audience which while not there specifically to see them does expect to spend part of the time listening to some bands that are rough around the edges (or which totally stink). The audiences are going to be more forgiving. And by their very presence you know they're supportive of acts still in the "aspiring" stage and that from them is likely to come that initial core group of early fans who will actually come to see your particular band at some gig other than an open-stage hodgepodge bill.

When you think about it, it's a very democratizing approach to the whole process. Bands which otherwise couldn't get booked even in the worst places for a paying gig can get the opportunity to stand up before an audience and give it their best shot just like anybody else. The chance to be heard depends on money rather than the booker's subjective tastes: all that counts is the color of your dough, not the quality of your do re mi.
 
Never heard of it before, but a very interesting phenomenon.

Hiring a band to attract customers VS. Paying the bar a fee to gain exposure to the bar's customers.

Next time I'm in Japan and I'm enjoying the performance of a live band, I'll make sure to buy some of their merchandise.

From a bar owner's perspective, this seems to be very lucrative. If you can get two bands per night for 9000 Yen per gig (should not be impossible in a place like Tokyo), the monthly income of this alone could be the owner's salary. All the other income of drinks and food can go straight back to the bar. Definitely worth looking into 👍
 
In the states the live music biz continues to decline, esp. for acoustic solo/duo acts--no money at all in it. You might get food/drink and "exposure"--there's no way you could survive on it as a living.

example (a beautiful cover of "rainbow" btw)
 
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