Tribute Bands

[Alan Prudhoe]

Came across this on an unconnected forum on the subject of Tribute Bands and theft of copyright

If someone claims to be a good musician (and they certainly can play the notes) surely one should rise above such copying. We are not just taking about playing one arrangement but an entire band and its performance is geared to being note for note of the originals. This is not paying a tribute to the original band it is about making money out of them by climbing on their backs.

I thought it might make a good topic for discussion.

[MartcasterJunior]

Interesting theory, and I'm sure in some cases (and I'm thinking particularly of pro and semi-pro tribute bands here), there's certainly an argument to be made that they're making money of the back of established artists, especially where the "tribute" is to a band that's still a going concern. Having said that, if you live in Stockton, it's unlikely that you're going to be able to see U2 without significant expense and travel arrangements, so if a semi-pro tribute band are playing a gig in a pub in town for £6 a ticket, why wouldn't you go? I certainly don't think that they could be accused of taking money out of Bono's pockets!

A more interesting case would be that of bands containing one or more original members. I'm following a lot of negative feedback around the band Yes at the moment, who are touring North America with 3 long-established "founder" group members, and a new keyboard player and vocalist. They're using the name Yes, which they're legally entitled to do, but there's a big backlash amongst even formerly loyal fans that this is nothing more than a Yes "tribute band". I can see both sides of the argument, although in this case it centres more around the vocal abilities of the new singer, but when does a band stop being the band (just how many of the original Drifters are now touring under that name?!) And, to bring this a bit more on-topic, if you follow the argument about tribute bands being nothing more than musicians wasting talent on impersonation, where does that leave Mr Welch and his Moonlight Shadows?! There's not many people who can say they're in a tribute band to themself

Matt

[ecca]

Yes, Hang them !
( Buttles ? never heard of em )

[Alan Prudhoe]

In

A more interesting case would be that of bands containing one or more original members.

Now there's a dimension that hadn't occurred to me.

I suppose you would have to include Queen with Paul Rodgers
(Incidentally, I believe he originally came from Stockton so you could probably have seen him for £6 at some time duringhis earlier career )

You would also have to include both Searchers spin-offs.

[John M]

I would think that most "tributes" are playing in licensed clubs/pubs etc.
That being the case I believe that most of them are paying the relevent monies to one of the several performing rights groups.
So, if everything is above board, royalties in some form are being paid (assuming the original posting was about money and not just the band or its members using a specific name).

[Pedro]

Don't care too much for tribute bands. If you want to hear a guy who has captured 'The Sound' whilst maintaining his own individualty browse You Tube for a Kevin Romang. The Answer etc.

[ecca]

We used to play in pubs and clubs and if the place didn't have a PRS license then we would happily pay it for the night.
I was on good terms with the PRS people in Brum once upon a time.

[neil2726]

At least you usually know when your going to see a tribute band. What is worse in my opinion is the bands that use the original name and yet have no original members in that band! One well know drummer from Birmingham has twice been told to watch his step by going out using his ex band original names, when he didnt have permission from the founder members who still have the right to that name.

[Squier Ken]

So, if Hank Marvin plays a Shads tune in one of his concerts - he's a tribute artist? And if The Shadows play an old tune from the Jet & Tony days, do they temporarily become a tribute band?

Ken

[Mark Burton]

Not sure about the making money bit ...... I certainly spend more on gear than I make.

for example - we played at a Theatre recently which charged us £1,750 for the privilege, world cup weekend, now we had a reasonable crowd (about 130) but after paying sound engineer, fuel & expenses (including PRS which we ALWAYS pay) we barely broke even, got home at 2am and had to unload all of the gear - but so what ?? We play this music because it's what we enjoy not to make money .....

interesting debate !