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  #16  
Old 06-19-2020, 07:35 PM
Shepsdad Shepsdad is offline
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Originally Posted by mercy View Post
Its my experience that audiences like what they are familiar with even if its a super group like Rolling Stones. You can throw some of your stuff in there but if its all originals, Im walking out.
That seems kinda sorta closed minded. I get what you’re saying, and I’m capable of, or have been capable of the same thinking, but in the last few years, I’ve discovered quite a few great original bands by not “walking out”. Ever heard of Jackson Stokes? He was warm up act for the Allman Betts band last year when I saw them, wasn’t interested in anybody but the Allman Betts band that night, but was blown away by Stokes! Great guitarist/songwriter, and his band was fantastic.

I’m sure Hendrix played somewhere in his early days that nobody had heard of him, and probably played a few of his own songs, I would hate to think I walked out of that show.
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  #17  
Old 06-19-2020, 11:18 PM
jseth jseth is offline
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For a long time, I would ONLY play my original tunes when I played out... then sometime in the 80's, I realized that:

1) I have been influenced by EVERY sound I've heard throughout my life...

and, 2) There is a LOT of great music that I love and have the utmost respect for the composers of...

So, I do my best to honor both sides of that "fence"... I play my own stuff and I play songs that I truly love... and I let folks know WHO WROTE THOSE SONGS!

By the way, I have NEVER been one of those players who "play what people want to hear"... just not willing to subjugate something as important to me as music for the whims of the general public... I never wanted to be an "Entertainer'...
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  #18  
Old 06-20-2020, 05:15 AM
capefisherman capefisherman is offline
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Originally Posted by Goat Mick View Post
I have a lot of original music and currently have 4 CDs in distribution. When I play a show I play mostly cover songs because people want to hear music that is familiar to them. Occasionally I'll throw in some of mine and I'm finding now that people actually request to hear my songs. I think that because I work hard to play the cover songs they love, it makes them want to hear my songs too. I started playing guitar and singing because of all of the great songs out there that I love. I don't see a reason to abandon those songs just because I've written a few that are pretty good.
Well said. "You are there but for the grace of the audience." Not sure who said it but one of my professors in college where I was a music major drilled that into us and it has been proven to me time and time again in my 40+ years as a professional musician. If you are lucky enough to play venues (probably listening venues, not bars or restaurants) where original music is expected, by all means go for it. But most of us are not that lucky. Slipping in an original very occasionally is OK but you very well may lose whatever engagement you had with the audience when you do it - and it's often very hard to re-establish that.

Taken to the extreme, a brief story. Back in high school a friend of mine was the most talented singer and guitar player among our circle of friends. Everyone knew it, he knew it, many of us secretly envied his abilities. Well, soon after high school he began writing music and stated that not only would he only perform his own songs, he had no intention of even listening to anyone else. His favorite artist at the time (before he stopped listening) was Gordon Lightfoot. His own songs were quite good, some of them anyway, but he struggled to find an audience and even went to extreme lengths to sell his songs, with no success. To this day, as far as I know, nothing has changed. The upshot is that all his songs sound like Gordon Lightfoot tunes, circa 1972. Sad. He could have been very successful I think if he'd just opened his mind a bit......

Gene
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  #19  
Old 06-20-2020, 02:12 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by capefisherman View Post
Well said. "You are there but for the grace of the audience." Not sure who said it but one of my professors in college where I was a music major drilled that into us and it has been proven to me time and time again in my 40+ years as a professional musician. If you are lucky enough to play venues (probably listening venues, not bars or restaurants) where original music is expected, by all means go for it. But most of us are not that lucky. Slipping in an original very occasionally is OK but you very well may lose whatever engagement you had with the audience when you do it - and it's often very hard to re-establish that.

Taken to the extreme, a brief story. Back in high school a friend of mine was the most talented singer and guitar player among our circle of friends. Everyone knew it, he knew it, many of us secretly envied his abilities. Well, soon after high school he began writing music and stated that not only would he only perform his own songs, he had no intention of even listening to anyone else. His favorite artist at the time (before he stopped listening) was Gordon Lightfoot. His own songs were quite good, some of them anyway, but he struggled to find an audience and even went to extreme lengths to sell his songs, with no success. To this day, as far as I know, nothing has changed. The upshot is that all his songs sound like Gordon Lightfoot tunes, circa 1972. Sad. He could have been very successful I think if he'd just opened his mind a bit......

Gene
If your friends idea of success was to be playing only original music, and being recognized for his songs, opening his mind to playing covers would most likely not be his idea of success. There have many been great musicians like your friend, and some found success many years later when a new generation tuned into their songs (ie Nick Drake).
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  #20  
Old 06-25-2020, 09:24 PM
The Bard Rocks The Bard Rocks is online now
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I mostly play VERY old music, so technically they are covers (even though they might not have been played in 50 years). I like reviving the old stuff. But I also write and am a bit embarrassed to play them in front of others as it seems to self-serving to me. Not implying that I think others who do this are self-serving, just that I have too much modesty for my own good.

My next CD will be all original material. As I get older, modesty gets cast aside some by a need I have to know that some of my music will survive me.
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  #21  
Old 06-26-2020, 10:28 AM
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rick-slo rick-slo is offline
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Every tune is the composer's original. So how did most well know individuals and/or groups get going? Many had to start out doing mainly covers with an original slipped in here and there before they could get any traction ... the Rolling Stones, Beatles, James Taylor, etc.? Is it harder shift to doing mainly originals harder today than back in the day? For example the Beatles used B sides of 45s, and today everyone and their brother is putting originals out there. Youtube has hundreds of hours of music uploaded every minute.
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  #22  
Old 06-26-2020, 11:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjbigfly View Post
…Not really trolling, but would like opinions.
Making any music is special, that’s my opinion. Would like to hear yours.
Hi Jj-etc…

We found that the ratio attendees would stay engaged with (when we were playing restaurants, coffee-houses etc) and playing full sets was about 3-4 well known tunes to each original.

Beyond that, they either started talking to each other during originals, or started digging in their phones. They liked our originals, but had definite songs/writers they preferred.

And we did about 80% instrumentals, so Beatles were popular, and Dylan. Also songs like 'Crazy', California Dreamin', BoJangles, Somewhere over the Rainbow, Summertime, Sweet Georgia Brown etc.




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  #23  
Old 06-30-2020, 11:28 PM
thomasn thomasn is offline
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Depends on the venue. Broadly speaking, paying audiences usually expect covers, especially when there's vocals, and will only tolerate the occasional original. More stretch for instrumental music, as long as it's sufficiently catchy, as far as anybody knows you might as well be playing some obscure repertoire. Like, nobody knows if that I-IV-V bluegrass stomper you were playing was some cover of an obscure eighty year old recording, or something you came up with two months ago.

Quote:
Originally Posted by russchapman View Post
Without original music we are doomed to classic rock hell.
So true! Playing covers of lesser known songs is pretty much like playing your own music anyway.

I do agree it's very special to have an audience connect with your own original music.
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  #24  
Old 07-01-2020, 05:24 AM
T.Lime T.Lime is offline
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Back in the day, when gigs were happening- seems like so long ago!- I played pretty much all originals with the very rare and occasional cover of Townes Van Zandt or Little Feat. Just about every festival I played had a requirement of no/ very few covers. As a Sentric Music artist and PRS member I inform them of every gig and the set list at that gig. I therefore get paid by PRS as well as the venue, and presumably if I played a cover there is a royalty paid to the original songwriter. We were once asked to come and play country rock covers, but we did not really get the same thrill so only did it the once.
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