In the last six months I have researched many shows. I’ve combed through facebook posts, done massive google searches, and recently directly emailed the bands themselves to see how great these opportunities turned out. It doesn’t take much to find a common thread. Even though it seems like a pretty sweet deal at the start, most of these musicians are busting their asses to make it happen. Does the effort outweigh the payoff?

I’m not going to mention any names here. I’m not going to get into specifics of who is offering what. And I’m certainly not going to call out the bands who are constantly begging their friends for ticket sales (sometimes for months on end). These contests and prizes tend to change often and trying to list all the new information is almost futile. That’s why I think maybe we should just concentrate on the prizes themselves, rather than who is offering them. Many companies and promoters offer the same big breaks to new bands from custom posters, to cash, to tours, to major label interest, to record contracts. It all sounds great until you start to figure up what you are really getting and how hard you are working to get it. On every one of these prizes, there’s always a catch. Let’s check out the most common (or click on each prize to jump to that subject). I've done screen shots off real websites and forums to give you an idea. I've purposely left out who's running them and the bands that posted them.

This one begs kids, parents and grandparents to buy those tickets!


This band doesn't care if you've never heard them before. They still need that "big break"!

Here's a band that knows they are getting ripped off but still begs for ticket sales! Turning in $500 for what? They don't even know!

CLICK ON EACH PRIZE TO JUMP DOWN OR SCROLL THROUGH THE WHOLE THING:
CASH - RECORDING TIME - DEMOS SENT - INDIE RECORD CONTRACT - HEADLINING SHOW -
TOUR - FESTIVAL - MEETING W/ INDUSTRY REP - BONUS: ON-LINE VOTING

THE PRIZE: Cash on the barrel-head. How can that be bad?! The actual cash prizes you’ll expect to receive run from a couple hundred dollars to as high as $800. Most companies cough up with the bread eventually.

THE CATCH: In any contest you enter, you will never see this prize in the first round of shows. It always takes getting to at least one final and sometimes two or three before you can get to the point where you can expect to win an actual cash payment. The tally is either by audience applause or judges watching how big a crowd you can get. With either scenario the only way to achieve it is to sell more tickets than the other 8 - 12 bands on the bill. Of all the bands I have written to, I have not found one that didn’t sell at least double the cash prize in tickets. Most of them had to admit that turning in over $1000 to win $500 seemed much less exciting than they originally thought. Some didn’t realize that it would take more rounds than one to win. They expected to receive the prize money right away. It took them awhile to finally do the math. In addition the ticket prices for the next rounds usually increase.

Once you are involved you’ve got two choices:
1. You can abandon all your hard work selling tickets from the first show and end up with nothing, or
2. You can just continue, try selling even more expensive tickets to the next round(s) and hope you’ll claim the prize.
Either way, you will not be coming out ahead on this deal.

This band sold 171 tickets...in a final round (they'd already sold almost as many in the first round). If the tickets were $8, for this show they turned in $1,368. If the tickets were $10 (some finals are more expensive), they turned in $1,710. And they are thrilled! Multiply this by the shitload of bands usually signed up for battles of the bands and you can see why companies love hosting battles.


How much money did they collect in ticket money to get this $500 prize?

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THE PRIZE: Your band will receive a certain amount of “free” hours in a recording studio. This can range from 10 to 20 depending on the contest.

THE CATCH: It always seems like studio time would be a fantastic opportunity. Unfortunately, the hours won are not really enough to get much accomplished, especially for newcomers who aren’t used to being prepared for studio work. Working efficiently in a studio takes some learning. With studios as with most everything else, you get what you pay for. In this situation as a contest winner, you are not likely to get the best room, the top engineer, or the best equipment. Can you really imagine a high quality busy studio devoting much time to some band who won a small amount of recording time? In addition, much of the time allotted will only get you a partially finished project. Actually recording is a small part of a process that includes fixing mistakes and overdubs. The process of mixing can take longer than the actual recording. The studio will probably be willing to complete your project, but it will no doubt be at their normal hourly studio rate. This has been more than some bands can afford. I’ve talked to some bands who just came away with a project half finished. Some former reps have written that the studio time is often donated to the company for publicity purposes in exchange for listing them on a flier and hoping that the winning bands will choose that studio for more work.

WATCH OUT FOR THIS ONE: I’ve also contacted bands who claim that some promoters seem to be more interested in work for a particular studio than getting the best studio for their winners. This practice gets new clients for friends who own studios. Some companies will convince winning bands that they will need to travel hundreds of miles to record at a recommended studio. It’s the old trick: The engineer “worked with Pearl Jam, or Nirvana, or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, etc. Here’s a little tip: EVERYBODY has worked with Pearl Jam, and Nirvana, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. In the recording world, that doesn’t mean much. Statements like that are hard to prove or disprove so they get tossed around plenty. And of course, it certainly doesn’t mean that you’ll sound like these bands or have any success because you worked with a "famous" engineer. If you are Pearl Jam, then you will sound like Pearl Jam. If you are not, don’t be too impressed with random name dropping.

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THE PRIZE: Your band will receive 100 posters or a small amount of designer T-shirts with your photo and band name. These are usually reserved for second and third place winners.

THE CATCH: Be sure to calculate how much these cost locally and how many dollars you’ll be turning over to win them. What city doesn’t have good graphic printers and T-shirt makers? This prize is just something you can make yourselves and probably better than would be delivered to you. We know bands who turned in thousands of dollars to win the second/third prizes of posters and/or T-shirts. Do the math!

THE PRIZE: The company will send the winning band’s demo to a number of major labels for consideration and possible contract signing. Some of the names tossed around are HUGE labels.

THE CATCH: This one kills me. We’ll talk about the current state of record labels elsewhere, but the record industry is not exactly at the point where they are scouting new talent. I’m not saying that your demo won’t be sent. I’m saying it will fall on deaf ears. In this day and age, no record execs are eagerly awaiting the mail delivery or checking their email inboxes for song attachments from the latest winner of some Battle or showcase. It just doesn’t happen like this. In fact, I would be willing to bet that some of these battle/showcase/festival companies aren’t even known by the real industry professionals.

And another thing: I personally watched this process happen during the grunge days in Seattle. Now you can say that was too many years ago and I’m out of touch, but I believe that even today the majors are not willing to look at somebody until they’ve made a name for themselves locally. If your only claim to fame is winning some showcase or battle, that is not enough. A band needs to already have a big solid local following and something already released independently before the majors are even interested in checking them out. All those bands who made it big from Seattle had extremely strong followings here in the Northwest and releases on labels like Sub Pop before the major labels took notice. You have to lay the groundwork for somebody to think you have what it takes. Think about it. The majors are not going to randomly sink thousands of dollars into some band who just played their first show, even if they can sell 200 tickets to their family and friends.
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THE PRIZE: The top band who’s won at least two battles and then goes on to win through an on-line voting process will be eligible to be signed to an indie record label. This prize normally has an estimated value in the thousands.

THE CATCH: This is a scary one. I know lots of bands who are practically bending over backwards to win a contract, any contract, but be careful! This might sound like your ticket to fame, but it could be your ticket to Hell. The label you will be on is often times owned by the company who set up the showcase or contest, or their friend. You will be signing a legally binding contract with the company who sponsored the event. Often times the label is just another branch of the company. DO NOT SIGN anything until you have the contract examined by an entertainment attorney. This will be the best money you could ever spend. He/she will be able to see any problems that might bind you to something you’ll wish you could get out of if things go wrong. I’ve seen bands stuck in a contract that can’t be broken and it is heartbreaking. Normally it breaks up the band.

Research the label to see how they are doing with their other releases. Get on search engines to see how dominant their sales is. Contact other bands and see what they’ve done for them. If the label is new, make sure you will not be the guinea pig for all the mistakes they might make. You might find out that the “Record Contract Prize” is not much of a prize afterall. And be sure to see if there is a big lineup of other acts that have also won this prize. If you win the contest this year, how long will it take before your CD is released? Some band have complained that it took years to finally get their project released because they were waiting in line with other bands who won before them.

And finally remember that a value on a record contract is just that. It’s only a projected value that is determined by the contest organizers and will be impossible to verify. Don’t forget that the projected worth of a record contract is normally just code for what you’ll owe the label after the record/CD is released. These guys don’t do this for their health. They expect to make money from all your album sales. If they don’t, you might end up owing them! Don’t confuse this with winning actual big amounts of money either, like many bands have done. Think of it as a loan that you’ll be paying off with a successful album. Make sure you are ready for the challenge!

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