Steve Hoeg, full-time Rockpile booker, formerly of the Big Bop, talks a lot about helping young bands “get over,” i.e., “make it” in the music industry. Six years ago, he started S&S Promotions as a way of helping his teenage son’s band, Futures Past, secure better shows and avoid getting exploited. Back then, battle-of-the-bands industry showcases were in their heyday, and he saw 15-year-olds having to sign contracts, sell large numbers of tickets to secure decent time slots and get paid nothing.
“It seemed like the way other companies did it, the more tickets you sold the better your chances were for winning the battle. It wasn’t fair. It was more of a money grab than a chance for bands to get the experience they needed to go to the next level.”
Matt Aldred, the 22-year-old guitarist for Modern Superstitions, has seen the underbelly of pay-to-play shows.
“I did it once with a band in high school, and that was enough. There are 10 to 12 bands in one night, and you have to give the promoter a certain amount of money. Then he gives you, say, 20 or 30 tickets that you try to sell to your friends. And they’re expensive, like $10. The length of your set depends on how many you sell.
“You’re just intimidated when you’re 15, 16. You can’t play in bars. You don’t know anybody. What are you going to do? You feel like the only way you can play is at one of these weird pay-to-play-type things. It’s pretty unsavoury.”
These types of shows still exist, though in smaller numbers. Toronto-based Supernova, for example, holds band battles throughout Canada and in parts of the States. While it avoids the term “pay-to-play,” its website openly states that under-19 bands don’t get paid and that those that sell the most tickets (and therefore bring out the biggest crowd) secure the best set times. Prizes vary from city to city, and often include studio time and gear.
Hoeg says he offers an alternative, though he’s still come under fire on message boards for putting Futures Past on most of his bills (they’ve since broken up, but not before a stint on MuchMusic’s DisBAND and opening slots with the Black Crowes, Simple Plan and Hedley) and for his pay-to-play system, which was in place at the Big Bop and continues at the Rockpile.
But he says he’d never get young bands to sign contracts or kick them off a bill if they couldn’t sell enough tickets. And his shows aren’t band battles. He limits bills to about five bands of similar genres and lets them keep the money after the first 20 tickets.
“I go on more of a trust level,” Hoeg explains. “If the bands don’t do the job they’re asked to do, they’re still going to get their time onstage. But when the bigger shows come up, of course I’m going to have to go with the bands that are taking it more seriously.”
Aldred, however, says the best thing kids can do is take a DIY approach: rent a local Legion hall for $100, borrow or rent a P.A., learn how to run the board and then fill the place with your friends.
“That’ll be way more fun.”
