I really can be. To understand why is understanding first how paying to play is an investment. If the payoff is more than the cost to play then this model can be advantageous to the artist. Often times I see musicians who think that pay to play is always bad, but, in reality, it doesn’t have to be. Imagine the following:
A promoter says they want a band to pay $10,000 to play a show. The show will have 1000 people in the audience. If the band is able to gain 500 fans from the show (by fans I mean people who somehow put money in the pockets of the band either through later ticket sales for another show or they buy t-shirts or CDs or whatever), then from those fans they make $50,000 then the net gain is $40,000 profit (minus, of course, what the government will steal, but I digress). However, if the band pays the $10,000 and then they suck and make no new fans and sell no merch or tickets, then that $10,000 was waste (unless the band learns something, but hey we’re talking about money here).
Whenever pay to play comes us, I implore you to really think if the specific circumstances of the opportunity makes monetary sense. If you’d like some help with a particular question related to whether or not something makes sense for your unique case, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help.
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