THE SHOW MUST GO ON......RIGHT????

Have you ever wondered why there seems to be SOOOOO many “rappers” and “Hip hop artists” out there, but you NEVER see the large majority of them do something like, I don’t know, PERFORM somewhere? Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, too. There are some many people walking around claiming to be rappers and claiming to be that fire, but can’t or won’t do it live. Can’t book. Can’t promote. But steadily want to talk about how great they are.

One promoter said he was “disappointed” in the fact that he was at a local show, but didn’t see ANY of the “13,975 artists in the Fox Valley/Green Bay area.” A local show without local artists. Make sense to you? Not to me either.  The actual promoter of the show said she CONTACTED several local artists for the show, but “they weren’t ready for it.” My question is WHY aren’t they ready? They are quick to get on Facebook and Twitter and other social media sites talking about how great they are. They are sending out the link to their Soundcloud and other music sites that they have uploaded their songs to. BUT, they aren’t ready to actually PERFORM their songs in public? Where they do THAT at?

You look at any number of big time artists, and you will see that their money wasn’t made in album sales. It was made in PERFORMANCES. On the road, touring. Getting out in front of people and performing their music for the masses. And for a lot of them, their start was before VERY small crowds. Country superstars Diamond Rio played their first gig for 10 people.

Another thing I hear and see (again, social media) these local artists say are things like “If you want me to perform, I need to go on at such and such a time.” Or “It needs to be turned up before I hit the stage.” To this I say, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? You are in APPLETON, WI, and you aren’t a superstar. You are trying to GET to that point, but TRUST, you ain’t there yet. We went to a show at a friend’s bar one night. Flyers and advertising for the show said the SHOW started at 10 pm. Please. The FIRST artist didn’t go on until damn near 12:30. SERIOUSLY? That is ridiculous. My friend also told me that some of the artists told her that they needed their drinks for free, and needed their PEOPLE to get in for free. WHAT? Again, WHO ARE YOU? You ain’t bringing in hundreds of people, so how you think you are in a position to demand people get in FREE? And if those people are there to support you, don’t you think you should have them SPENDING money in the place you are performing in? That can only make you look good.

And I don’t want to hear about YouTube views or likes on Facebook or SoundCloud or any other social media site. Or did I miss where those things turn into MONEY? Cause last time I checked, being the most popular artists on Facebook or SoundCloud or Twitter hasn’t paid a bill for anyone, unless you are a Kim K. She has MILLIONS of followers on twitter, and gets paid X amount of dollars from companies for simply mentioning their name on her twitter feed. She reaches MILLIONS of people. That makes sense. HER likes turn into money. If you do a show, how many of your LIKES turn into people thru the door?

The bottom line for most venues is just that: the Bottom Line. A bar will book a monkey passing out popcorn if it means people thru the door and money in their tills. So the question goes back to: can YOUR act bring people thru the door? Does what you do translate to money in the venue’s till AND your pocket? If it doesn’t, then you need to figure what you need to do so it does.