The music scene in the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem, Pa. in particular.

OK, I will most likely get some flack for this and I'm ok with that. The music scene is pretty barren for original music, if you're a musician and want to get paid, much less make a living out of it.

Are there places to play out, yes. Can you get paid, maybe. There are a few places that actually do pay the band/musician. Some pay on the draw, eg., some places will give you a $100 guarantee if you can draw 50 people and you can keep the door, others may pay simply by the door such as, $2 from everyone who pays to get in. Still others, simply tell you that you need to draw 100 people in order to get paid. If you can't get that many people in the door, you can't play.

To a certain extent, I understand this. Many of these places are restaraunts or bars where they need to sell food or booze to make money. The issue I have with some of these places is just that though, if you're a food establishment or a bar, no one is coming for the band. They're coming for the food or the booze, the band may be an annoyance.

The worst places, are the places that make the artist sell tickets. The artist is supposed to keep a portion of the money, this doesn't always happen, and give the balance to the venue/promoter. The issue is that if you don't sell enough tickets, you usually forfeit the money for the tickets you did sell and you do not get to play.

Now, on the other hand, if you're a cover band, you can play almost anywhere. Pretty much any bar or club will let you perform and you have a better chance of getting paid. Not guaranteed, of course, but you have a better chance.

Back to original music, so a venue wants a band to play for free. This wouldn't be such a problem if the band could sell their merchandise to make some money but, many places won't even allow that. So the band spent many hours away from family and friends or even work for zero income.

I have heard this argument more than once, "So what. They make up some songs and play them in public. That should be enough. What else do they want, it's not like it cost them anything to play."

So here are the costs for a 4 peice rock band:

• Guitar ($600)
• Guitar Amp ($1000)
• Bass ($600)
• Bass Amp ($1200)
• Drum Kit ($1500)
• Microphone ($400)
• Mic Cable ($100)
• PA ($3000)
• Misc. - Guitar pics, drum sticks, guitar/bass cables, etc. ($300)
• Rehearsals (if each member makes only $10/hr at a real job = $40/hr)
• Fuel to get to the show (Depends on distance)

Are these numbers complete or exact, of course not. A guitar can run as little as $100 to $5000+ as can all the other items. The spread is pretty wide as far as costs go, but the point is still valid... any band or musical artist of almost any kind will have several hundred dollars to several thousands of dollars in expenses before setting foot on stage.

So if you like independent and original music, please start requesting it from your favorite venue and ask them to pay the artists who may perform there.

Guy S. Hoops

PRG Music

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