Weekend Review: Battle over cover bands
Love them or hate them, cover bands play a vital role in the South Sound music scene – even if the tunes they play are not their own.
I had an interesting discussion with a Tacoma musician about cover bands. He is not a fan, and he voiced his hatred for them quite robustly. I am generally ambivalent on the issue, but would say I see no reason for cover bands to cease existing. I am curious what our readers think.
My anonymous musician buddy lamented that cover bands are taking away prime spots in live music venues for “real bands” that write and play original songs. While that might be true, I retorted that running a bar with live music is a business, and bars book whatever gets butts in seats and drinks in hands. Cover bands do that. If “real bands” had bigger draws, bars would have no issue booking them. But original bands must come with a built-in fan base or generate one over time, which often leaves them at disadvantage to bands who need only attract fans of familiar material.
While the music they play might not be their own, cover bands still largely draw a crowd and put on a good show. Anyone who has seen Hell’s Belles,. www.hellsbelles.info the all-female AC/DC tribute band can give an “a-men” to that. Those women rock.
But often at the center of the cover-band bashing argument is the band KRY. This band plays regularly at Jazzbones and The Swiss and is known for its covers of current rock hits. Crowds often line outside the bar to get in not just to listen to the music but watch the show. And yes, that show always includes well-libationed attractions gyrating on stage. Heck, it is a proven formula for a full house and high bar tabs, so there is nothing much else a bar could ask for.
And knowing a bit about the stacks of cash cover bands bring in for both themselves and their host bars, one could argue that the high-profit nights of cover music might in a way give bars more freedom to take chances on lesser-known bands or no-profit “open mic” nights.
So, with those thoughts in mind, what do you think about the role of cover bands in Tacoma’s music scene?
7 comments
A Andrew Bacon April 13, 2011
It’s impossible to enforce, of course, but unless you pay the publisher of the song, you actually can’t legally play any of that music. I would be interested in seeing the numbers and determining, if everything was paid for properly, whether original music was really at such a disadvantage. People who write big hit songs like to, and should, get paid for them.
One of the reasons cover bands are reviled is that most of them take original music they didn’t write, make money off of it, and screw the original artist out of their share of the proceeds from their songs.
My original bands are constantly shopping songs for use in movies and tv, and if one of these songs became really popular, does that mean that everyone gets to play it and not pay us for it? Nope.
S snoopy April 13, 2011
Kry is awesome. I’m a musician and I respect these guys. Better a live band than a DJ, right? And whoever said cover bands take spots away from original bands? The fact of the matter is there is just a bigger demand for (good) cover bands like Kry.
T Tom April 14, 2011
Actually Andrew all musicians usually are or can be part of a performers rights organization which collects those payments for performances of their songs. ascap and bmi being the most famous. They even join for free. All bars that feature live music pay licensing fees to those organizations, which in turn pay the artists. And they are famous for going after venues. So no one is getting ripped off by any means. And in fact its another cost of business bars need to cover which makes bands with folllowings so critical.
J Jen April 18, 2011
Open mic and jam session at the Hub is fabulous!
L low bar April 18, 2011
kry helps stupid people get drunk and breed. kry is so stupid they have to stick pages of crap onto the monitor speakers on that stage so they don’t lose their already minuscule train of thought while playing musical instruments. but you gotta give it to them because singing cover tunes is an easier way to make rent money because brawndo has electrolytes.
T Trashtown April 19, 2011
Cover bands are for idiots, But no one playing good music in Tacoma gets paid.
L low bar April 19, 2011
good music doesn’t need tacoma to get paid. it just needs to be good. radiohead aren’t from tacoma and no one can argue that they’re aren’t getting paid like a mfker.