re: How much do local cover bands make?

Do cover bands have to pay royalties to the artists they cover in a paid performance?

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Do cover bands have to pay royalties to the artists they cover in a paid performance?

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No, the royalties come from the venue owner's ASCAP/BMI subscription. All commercial businesses are required to have this to have any non-public domain music playing for their customers. Even your local gas station playing Eagle 98.1 on the radio under the overhang is likely paying for a monthly subscription to those services to avoid some ASCAP arse-hat threatening to shut them down.

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I want to sing or play drums or something where I don’t have to learn a bunch of songs

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A proper cover band needs to be very tight and rehearsed on at least 40 songs, so I guess you're SOOL.

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I wanna get up on stage and play full albums

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That is something you can do. That's a whole different level. Once you're playing full albums, you go from being a "cover" band to being a "tribute" band. There is a market for that as well on the cover band/wedding/casino circuit, especially if the group your tributing has largely stopped touring or has multiple dead members. Beatles tribute bands make a lot of money if they're good. To make a lot of money as a tribute band, you've got to do your homework. Not only do you have to be super tight as a band, but you have to know how to perform that band's songs on stage to sound as much like their studio work as possible, AND you have to copy their looks/mannerisms on stage as much as possible. The whole purpose of a tribute band is for the audience to get a taste of what it would have been like to see the real band in their prime since that's an experience that's no longer possible. You have to be good enough and convincing enough to make the audience forget (or stop caring) that that's not really Led Zeppelin or Sammy Hagar or Janis Joplin.

Those who do that can make a pretty good living at it if they're playing often enough. ZOSO is a great example as are groups like the Atomic Punks.

Now, if you just want to do it as a once-off, what you do is you rent a venue out and sell it as an event. For example, Minos the Saint (along with some of their friends from other bands like Burris and Captain Green) did an event where they covered one of the Beatles albums in its entirety. It was such a success that they then later did another one where they covered a different album.

One of the reasons I wish Chelsea's was still around was they use to do a regular concert series where bands would come in and perform an entire album like that. My band was in talks with them to come in and do "Are You Experienced" before the venue shut down, but that was back when we had a Hendrix clone on guitar and me singing. Today, we have an Eddie wannabe on lead, so if we were to do that, we'd be more like to cover Van Halen's 1984 album.

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I’m at the point where I’d pay a band to let me play with them

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That's something rich parents will do for their rock star-wannabe kids so they can play in a band. They'll find a couple has-been veteran touring rock stars and pay them to be the backing band for their kid for a year or so.

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I’d rather just get local people that would let me join for like 100 bucks and bringing beer

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Baton Rouge Adult Music Club. And it's $20 per practice. You don't need anything but a desire to learn an instrument.

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average ones make $100-$200/man/performance

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This is pretty much it. It also explains why I made $50+ free drinks

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Whatever the amount is, it’s too much

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This. Don't encourage them.