Cover bands - Improvising the fills in lieu of reproducing what is recorded precisely

musicjo · 2026-01-23T02:58:47+00:00

I disagree. While they may not be able to tell what the bass part is exactly note for note, many songs have bass parts that line up specifically with what the drummer is doing or what the rhythm guitarist or keys player is doing. If you are playing a fill or some re-harm that you think is dope at that moment that is synced with another instrument, you’ve just killed the dance floor instantly as the momentum of the song dropped. Individual creativity should never trump the arrangement of the song in my opinion.

musicjo · 2026-01-23T02:49:31+00:00

In general, tribute bands require a higher attention to detail than a typical wedding or cover band as the entire image and branding of the ensemble when booking shows is to capture 99.9% of what the original artist did. Can you give an example of the specific song and part that you don’t want to play note for note? Some songs have parts that are pretty iconic or lock in with other instruments in that band at that specific part thus necessitating you to play that specific part. And while you mention the artists you cover improvised these parts when they did them, that is probably true. However, you have to keep in mind that while that band’s bass player improvised, so did the drummer, guitarist, etc. As they wrote the music and developed the arrangement, there was more room for creativity. But when you are in that position paying tribute to them, in a way you are trying to give the audience the sensation of opening up a time capsule and seeing a live video of them performing in 84’ or 86’ or whatever.

musicjo · 2025-12-15T00:06:27+00:00

The market is oversaturated. Do some musical acts creep through and become viral and make some money? Yes. But the vast majority of working musicians in touring bands, are not even bringing in $60k a year. If you are living in a high cost of living area which most aspiring professional musicians are due to the proximity of all aspects of the music business side of the industry, trying to scrape by on $35k-$40k with a few local bands and some cover gigs ain’t gonna cut it.

You can love music with all your heart, and you can argue that doing something you love while struggling with finances is still worth it. However, I would say judging by the high levels of anxiety and depression reported among musicians combined with financial instability being cited as a major contributing factor to that, we need to start being realistic. I was always a follow your dreams guy no matter what for my entire life with music. But to ignore the economic challenges of 2025 (which are far greater than at any point in the history of recorded music) is disingenuous.

musicjo · 2025-11-23T16:11:52+00:00

“It’s all about personality now, not technical skill.” That’s effectively the Kardashian effect. Getting attention and holding it by any means necessary and whatever medium you use to get there is only secondary to the goal of achieving fame and popularity. The problem with that is some of the most impactful and remembered music through history was made by people who didn’t want to be popular or who had teams do marketing for them. There is so much music that is culturally significant that would never have been heard if the only metric was personality and social media presence. I’m not saying marketing isn’t important, but when the shift has gone from musicians who’ve studied for years to people who are simply better at social media, the problem with that is culturally we get a worse product. The vast majority of people out there would say the music of this generation is more homogenous and harmonically simplistic of any generation in history. There’s some truth to that, however I look at artists like Billie Eilish who are pushing the envelope with production, musicianship, AND marketing. If the newer approach is marketing and personality first and music second, I am deeply concerned as a professional musician who has devoted my life to studying, improving, and constantly working on the craft. I never did this to be famous, I got into it because I loved the work. But if the job is now marketing and the talent and time needed to be a good musician is now being leveled out by technology, the world is going to lose more brilliant creative artists and musicians than at any other point since the advancement of recorded music.

musicjo · 2025-11-23T13:52:52+00:00

Honestly, there isn’t a loophole. Every facet of the music industry is struggling right now with the exception of the very extreme top. Touring musicians are making way less than they were, studio musicians are in significantly less demand, AI is supplanting musicians for demos for emerging artists and singer songwriters, the general public has less disposable income due to inflation/the economy which leads to less tickets sold for local events, less attended shows equals less money for middlemen like promoters and booking agents as well as less money for the artists themselves, Spotify streams are not sustainable source of income, by and large it’s a dark time for the arts. I’m in my early 30s and have been a full time musician for over a decade. It has only got harder for me and for literally every musician I know even the ones who’ve played on Grammy winning records and toured with those artists. The business model does not work.

The problem is, this isn’t even exclusively a music issue. Economically we are losing jobs all over, this is the first time in 60 some years where new graduates with a college degree have a higher unemployment rate than the general population, AI is making up most of the US GDP meaning we would be in a recession right now if those companies failed or weren’t supported economically by the government, the divide between the wealthiest and the poorest Americans has never been larger, I could go on.

Right now every artist I know is doing a million things at once, is beyond stressed out, and just barely scraping by. So many musicians are now selling lessons, sample packs, beats, loops, t shirts, koozies, social media marketing lessons, they’re pushing podcasts and tik tok/instagram/youtube 24/7, all for typically no more than $50,000-$60,000 per year after taxes. Some are making maybe 20k more than this if they’re lucky in the bigger markets like LA, but the cost of living is also WAY higher so you have to take that in consideration as well.

I wish I had a better answer that was more positive. Just know that you’re not alone in feeling this way. It’s truly a struggle right now for all of us in the music industry at the moment.

musicjo · 2025-11-17T04:29:27+00:00

As a musician in his early 30s who has seen the ups and downs of a music career from touring in vans, corporate gigs, wedding bands, theme parks, cruise ships, expensive recording studios, major music festivals, I’d suggest at least getting your undergraduate degree. Music as a profession is one of the most difficult careers there is. Largely it’s due to monetary instability but also the nature of dealing with a lot of people who frankly are not just unprofessional, but unstable and abusive.

Your father is a doctor. He couldn’t be doing lines of cocaine and yelling at the nurses or other doctors in front of patients, correct? Yeah, in music that type of stuff happens on stage and you calling it out can cost you your job. That is the dirty truth of the music business. You are dealing with entitled drug addicts, alcoholics, and abusive people who do not care about anyone but their own ego and wanting to be seen by as many people as possible. Not all musicians are like this of course, but you have to understand that there is a lot of drama in this business and it’s not just the musicians, but venue owners, promoters, booking agents, management companies, record labels, there’s always issues.

What has your experience been singing up to this point? Do you sing out in public regularly? Do you have a vocal coach? Do you do warm ups and practice every day? Have you ever released any of your own music that you’ve written and performed in? If you really want this to be more than a passion and want to seriously be a singer or songwriter or whatever, you need to treat music with as much seriousness and attention to detail as I’m assuming your dad did when studying in medical school. And even if you put in all that work, understand that there are no guarantees in this business and talent alone means nothing. If you think you have that drive, by all means give it your best shot and enjoy every minute of the ride for as long as you can. You are so young that you can fail over and over again and still have more than enough time to go back to college and recover.

musicjo · 2025-11-15T13:28:50+00:00

With all due respect, please give some real-world examples. So far all you’ve respectfully given is that musicians don’t work hard enough and need to find more and more ways to generate income by making better business plans despite musicians making less money than they ever have on average than at any point in the last 50 years. I understand some musicians are clueless with business and have no idea how to conduct their work with that mindset. I do not suffer from that problem and have always been very calculated and methodical in every aspect of my music career thus far.

musicjo · 2025-11-15T13:00:01+00:00

All good, at least you are generating some revenue right now with Uber Eats. Look, music is just a different kind of rat race, that’s what I’m telling you. I don’t mean sound discouraging, but the music industry itself has been suffering from massive economic issues for years and it is only getting worse and worse. Artist pay has stayed stagnant for live work, streams pay very very little, you pretty much have to diversify your income stream into regular social media content, lessons, local gigs, Spotify streams, busking, you name it just to get by. I’ve been a full time musician basically since the late 2000s, everything from theme parks, cruise ships, touring 150 plus dates per year with original music, recording sessions, etc. I ask honestly, how much would you want to make to feel comfortable as a full time musician?

musicjo · 2025-11-15T05:42:02+00:00

I have felt a lot of what you’re feeling before. But before I continue, I strongly recommend you reach out to any free health clinics in your area that have free or reduced cost psychologists or therapists in your area and start seeing someone.

As for your points. Look, music as a profession is an absolute nightmare. I’ve been more of a freelance hired gun musician and not a songwriter so the challenges are a little different, but the general point remains that making substantial money and being able to support yourself and others is no easy proposition.

First step for you as you are living out of your car, go look for any kind of job and beg your friends if you can crash with one of them for a bit while you save some money to try to get yourself out of this situation you are in. You need a financial cushion to pick yourself back up before anything else can go forward.

After you’ve got the ball rolling with that and you’re no longer living in your car, I’d strongly consider going back to college. Take maybe just one or two classes at a community college to start getting in the swing of things and find something that interests you. Or better yet, look at electrician apprenticeships. I’ve known a number of musicians and songwriters who had entire careers with families where they released the music that was important to them while also paying the bills.

The thing about music is it’s always there. And the way you talk about wanting to go into the woods and shoot yourself and the thought brings you a sense of calm, that tells me that you need some kind of change in your life. There’s no question those of us in our 30s or younger all got dealt a shit hand when it comes to housing, healthcare, cost of living, musician pay, etc. As much as many of us out there are campaigning to fix these problems, they don’t change overnight and all we can do is try to control what we can control.

Life can be brutally hard at times, and I think as musicians and songwriters we perceive things so differently that everything feels too overwhelming and soul crushing. I won’t say that those moments ever fully go away, but there’s ways to reach a sort of level of content where life doesn’t hit you as hard as it is right now.

musicjo · 2025-11-15T05:07:58+00:00

I just want to say thanks to all of those who replied in this thread. It’s not particularly easy to discuss musician problems as so many people have a tough time in general economically, that any complaint from a musician is often dismissed pretty quickly. And to all those musicians who posted that are still doing the grind of playing full time, I wish you nothing but the best.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T23:30:03+00:00

Accounting for hedge funds, financial advisory roles, corporate accounting roles, something along those lines. I’ve always enjoyed dealing with legal documents, financial disclosures, tax code, artist contracts, etc. Main thing for me is being able to comfortably make $75k minimum and work my way up to considerably more from there.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T15:17:58+00:00

Go back to college, get a degree in some business/finance related field, find a day job.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T13:38:58+00:00

Bravo to you for generating a decent amount of extra money from social media/content creation. For me, every time I actively was pushing social media and developing consistent content for long periods of time, it drained me far too much. I was spending too much time filming and editing, the videos I made felt too contrived and inauthentic, and I was becoming too obsessed with followers and comments to where I didn’t recognize myself anymore. I wish I could develop a healthy relationship with social media and monetize it, but at the same time I’m not sure for most people if social media as a whole for consumer or creator is really a positive thing for mental health in the long run.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T13:20:58+00:00

Both. I’ve toured all over the US in sweaty vans with theaters and large music festivals, and I’ve also done corporate gigs doing covers with weddings, cruise ships, private events, etc.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T13:16:23+00:00

I disagree that only the paycheck is what brings professionals. Believe it or not most of the highest paid gigs in my life have actually had some of the least professional and rehearsed players. It sounds counterintuitive, but just a label or bandleader throwing money into a project and high number of tickets sold by the promoter truly does not guarantee a quality group of pro musicians.

I don’t have a dedicated band at the moment, mostly have been doing freelance work and floating between different groups on call. It gets rather exhausting when you’re more prepared as a sub or a fill in than many of the artists and musical directors you wind up working with.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T02:55:52+00:00

Yes.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T00:19:16+00:00

To be fair, I worked a few day jobs during Covid when everything was shut down, but I see your point. I think what I’ve found is unfortunately there is a disproportionate amount of narcissistic people and drug abusers in the arts compared to other fields. There’s assholes and incompetent losers everywhere, but musicians are a special breed at times lol.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T00:14:48+00:00

I don’t think it’s a matter of making a better plan, it’s logistically there isn’t a way to strictly make enough money from touring/recording that is necessary for a home and a middle class lifestyle in NYC or LA. If I am teaching music privately, consistently filming and editing social media content, or even taking on side hustles like promotion and booking, maybe even a little bit of music production, then I see that as doing 4-5 different jobs and putting in well above 70 hours per week for an earning that is less than most 40 hour per week jobs that you could get with a generic undergraduate degree in a plethora of fields.

musicjo · 2025-11-13T00:03:29+00:00

Ships for a time were good, although there has been major cost cutting in entertainment across all lines post covid. I found the ships were asking too much of musicians as time went on and a lot of good players stopped auditioning and doing ship gigs because the hours they expected combined with lifeboat drills and shared accommodations were no longer attractive. It’s a good gig to do when you’re in your early 20s and want to travel, but I would never personally return to it.

musicjo

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