Stuff like this is upsetting

[Robert****]

Saw this "opportunity" posted. Things like these piss me off. Ottawa's Business Elite are to cheap to pay for entertainment? I'd like to take the gig and play Motorhead songs all night... now that would be entertaining...

Ottawa Chamber of Commerce ->

Opportunity to play for Ottawa’s Business Elite! The Ottawa Chamber of Commerce is seeking a trio or quartet to provide cocktail/dinner music for their upcoming 2008 Ottawa Business Achievement Awardson Thursday, Nov 20th at Tudor Hall. This is an excellent opportunity for a local jazz or Latin trio or quartet to gain enormous visibility in front of 600 of Ottawa’s corporate decision makers. An in-kind contribution from a talented group of musicians would be recognized as "Entertainment Sponsors" and would be eligible for many brand-placement opportunities including: name in evening’s program, logo (if applicable) on PowerPoint presentation of Sponsors looped throughout the evening, thanks and recognition during the Awards ceremony and the chance to place business cards or promotional items at each table or place setting. If interested, please contact Alison Wilson, Sales and Marketing at awilson@ottawachamber.ca with a EPK including demos (mp3 format link or attachments) or mail/drop off your promo pack to: Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, 1701 Woodward Drive, Suite LL-20, Ottawa, ON K2C 0R4. Submissions must be received no later than Monday, November 3rd.

Link: http://www.theottawamusician.com/band.htm

[Algonquin]

I'd like to take the gig and play Motorhead songs all night... now that would be entertaining...

Oh man... now you've gone and insulted the Fret.Net "Motorhead' demographic.

Boy is the sh~t gonna hit the fan around here!


Truthfully is does seem ridiculous. Are they asking the Alcohol companies for free booze, and up and coming catering business's to provide free food too?

[Rocket]

Take the gig and then don't show up... a subtle lesson in, "ya get what ya pay for!"

[Robert****]

Don't get me wrong - I love Motorhead!! I just meant they wouldn't be expected such kind of music, based on the ad! Surprise, surprise.

This below is oh so impressive, ain't it?

[...]the chance to place business cards or promotional items at each table or place setting.

The "chance"!??

[Algonquin]

Truthfully, this is almost worthy of an email to my local MP (this is not a political post) questioning this undesirable behavior. I voted for the Gent, and he got in so why not? He did come by my house prior to the recent election, so I guess he's looking for input... right?

[Robert****]

David, you totally should. It's a slap in the face to any musician to read such a lame "opportunity" posted.

[hagarfreak33]

What is your chance of placing promotional items on the table?They don'y even guarantee that

[luvmyshiner]

I hear you Robert. I get emails weekly from people looking for a "pro bono" lawyer. I know it sounds weird, but this is what I do for a living folks. This is how I put food on my table, this is how I put my kids through college. We'll see if you're still looking for amateurs willing to work for free when your doctor tells you ya' need brain surgery.

[Rocket]

We'll see if you're still looking for amateurs willing to work for free when your doctor tells you ya' need brain surgery.

Count me in!

[Spudman***]

Take the gig and then don't show up... a subtle lesson in, "ya get what ya pay for!"

Perfect.:

[ShortBuSX]

Sounds like an oppritunity to play at 600 different office parties, weddings, etc...what am I missing? Aside from the lack of pay...for ONE night?

Ive never been to any Chambers functions...but isnt it ALL about the connections??? The Chamber Of Commerce????

Admittedly, Im not at yalls level...but for a good new band looking for gigs(any gigs), with the prospect of MANY future gigs(paying gigs)?
You guys are seasoned veterans, maybe you just arent that hungry or willing?

How much do church gigs pay?

Who do you think provides the food for these events?

[markb]

Isn't this how rich people get rich? By not paying for anything

[/RANT]I'm involved with a local music promotion organisation and we're always getting offers to provide entertainment for things like this. Usually they want a cheap deal because we're a non-profit outfit. We reply that our charter doesn't allow us to undercut the local professionals, largely because what they'll get are the local pros and semi-pros. That's rather the point of promoting local musicians, seeing that they get the going rates. I've done enough "opportunities to play" for this lifetime. [/RANT OFF]

[Ch0jin]

Sounds like an oppritunity to play at 600 different office parties, weddings, etc...what am I missing? Aside from the lack of pay...for ONE night?

Ive never been to any Chambers functions...but isnt it ALL about the connections??? The Chamber Of Commerce????

Admittedly, Im not at yalls level...but for a good new band looking for gigs(any gigs), with the prospect of MANY future gigs(paying gigs)?
You guys are seasoned veterans, maybe you just arent that hungry or willing?

How much do church gigs pay?

Who do you think provides the food for these events?

Dude I'm with you.

This is going to come off as super cliche' but what ever happened to the music?
If you got into guitar to get paid, then that's cool, I understand why you'd be upset about this kind of thing, but if you are in this because of the music then does this -not- represent an opportunity to bring your music, your passion, your art if you will, to hundreds of people who might otherwise never hear it?

Maybe we don't have many Jazz fans here, I'm not one for starters, but if you -were- all about the jazz guitar and you and your 2 mates have some tasty little individual tweaks on the old jazz standards they'd no doubt be expecting to hear all ready from your normal "cool" paid gig in the local Jazz bar, wouldn't it be worth a few hours of your time to check out the reaction from this captive audience? What if amongst the crowd one person told a colleague the next day that they dug your cover of "I've Got You Under My Skin" and maybe we should check them out at the local jazz bar?

And then as Short said, if you rock (err or Jazz or Latin) them and distribute loads of cards you'll get paid gigs.

Hell you could even just totally rock star it up and get hammered and make ***'s of yourselves.

[SuperSwede]

"Entertainment Sponsors"

99,9998% of all musicians worldwide cannot live on their music!
I bet that these people could afford to pay for their entertainment and still afford to fill up their Rolls Royce with gas after the show.

[Rocket]

This is going to come off as super cliche' but what ever happened to the music?

The point is... it's underhanded, unprofessional, and cheap!
Nobody asks THEM to do THEIR job pro bono. How audacious to ask anyone else to. This is what it says to a working band, "You lowlifes should just be grateful for the opportunity to play for the privileged."

[Jipes***]

Unfortunately this type of things becomes more and more popular
They pretend to offer you a very promissing "free promotion" which sould fill up your Gigs agenda but most of teh time you play in a dark corner without a stage or decent light and of course no ones is getting interested in what you play because they all cam efor the free lunch

This is just so disgusting I really think there's no respoect for musicians anymore (if they was some before.... not sure)

[Brian Krashpad]

Jeez, it's one thing for a charity to look for handouts, but the rich "elite" can suck my guitar cable, trying to get something for nothing.

It's not about the dosh, hell, I've played for nothing and next to nothing innumerable times. But that was for people who loved music and were just getting by themselves, or for charity. Not for people who want trained chimps to provide background noise to their gladhanding circle jerk. These bastards are swimming in money and refuse to pay musicians a decent pay? Oh man, I'd love to take that gig and play some loud fast stuff.

Bastards.

PS-- sorry if any of that was too understated or subtle

[Brian Krashpad]

Unfortunately this type of things becomes more and more popular
They pretend to offer you a very promising "free promotion" which sould fill up your Gigs agenda but most of teh time you play in a dark corner without a stage or decent light and of course no ones is getting interested in what you play because they all cam efor the free lunch

This is just so disgusting I really think there's no respect for musicians anymore (if they was some before.... not sure)

I just remembered a funny story about one of these "promo" deals Crash Pad did once. It involved a chain mega-store called Media Play. Not our idea, came from an unsolicited e-mail.

They had approached us about playing for free in their store on a Monday night. We figured it'd be a good excuse to play in lieu of a practice, and we could get some good pics and basically make asses of ourselves in a nice, well-lit store. We made sure they knew we were a punk rock band, brought them a CD, did some promo, brought our own PA, the whole nine yards, and the scum shut us down after the first song because they couldn’t hear their idiotic instore pagers.

This did not sit too well with anyone in the band, and a few choice words from my other guitarist about the store’s commitment to local music went out over the PA (to the bemusement of several shoppers) before I could shut it off. I explained to the manageress that we had a deal to play for a promotional opportunity, and that if they deprived us of that they had breached our agreement and needed to pay us for our time and expenses in setting up the show and carting everything out there for nothing.

So she called the cops.

We proceeded to strike the “stage” and load out, to be greeted by 3 deputies’ cars out in the parking lot. I explained the sitch to them and they had a good laugh about how stupid the store had been in hiring a punk band in the first place. I later demanded a hundred bucks for our time and effort in trying to perform our end of the agreement, and argued about it on the phone with their corporate counsel up north somewhere. They ended up paying us rather than look foolish in the local press. Plus I wrote a song called “One Hundred Dollars” about the incident.

[Robert****]

Great story, Brian! :

I commend you on that ...