Slashed Tires In Goldy’s Corner

The title of this article was a toss-up between “hating music” in Goldy’s Corner or “Slashed Tires” In Goldy’s Corner. Both titles apply but I went with the slash for better clickbait. 

Do you love or hate music? (We will get to the slashed tires) Most people will “say” they LOVE music, but many’s actions will default to hate. Read on.

Ask anyone, “do you love music?” Without hesitation, they would say “yes!” “Music has saved me!” “Music is my life!” Then they would proceed to tell you about the artists and bands they adore. They would tell you about the songs they can’t make through the day without hearing. They would also tell you about an album they listen to when they need to talk themselves off of a ledge. We all have that soundtrack that plays through our lives we need sometimes more than life itself.

So why the headline? Because the reality of it is most of us act like we hate music because are killing it. Slowly, stream by stream, we are all causing massive damage. If we keep up at the pace we’re going we’ll have the oldies and classics, but there won’t be any up-and-coming stars and talents to continue the creating the legacy of songs we desperately need.

Remember the upset with Lars Alrich and Napster? Back in 2000, Lars Ulrich was heavily criticized for delivering the user IDs of over 335,000 people who illegally downloaded Metallica music to Napster HQ. The publicity stunt gave Ulrich the reputation of a snitch, overriding the many legitimate points the drummer had made about stealing music. He knew. That dude is so far ahead of the game it’s ridiculous. Corey Taylor Says Lars Ulrich Was ‘Right on So Many Levels’ About Napster

Read More: Corey Taylor – Lars Was Right on So Many Levels About Napster | https://loudwire.com/corey-taylor-lars-ulrich-right-about-napster/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

If you think streaming is helping any artist think again. It’s a joke and a sham and it’s not doing anything for anybody except the companies that distribute the music. You don’t even make a penny for stream. And it takes millions of streams to see any revenue when the reality is most of the stream counts we see are nothing more than “paid-for perception.” Companies figure out ways to make it look like there are way more streams than there really are so their artist looks like the biggest and the best ballas. At the end of the day, that band or talent isn’t seeing “Jack Squat.”

Adding insult to injury and contributing to the general population “hating” on music I attribute the drum roll please… constant bitching about a “cover charge”. I hear a lot of rumbling and complaining every time a venue we play has one. Get a clue dingle dongs.  Let me break it down and show you how this works since you obviously have no idea.

A $5 cover charge with 100 people coming through the door makes the bar $500 bucks. Whatever comes through the door is supposed to fund the entertainment. But how many times do we REALLY see 100 people eat our local watering hole supplying live music? Ask yourself if you think that’s fair to give to the band? All of it? Some of it? Double it and pay out of pocket? Should the bar just pay another $500 from the food and beverage revenue? Is $1,000 too much to pay a band? So many questions. Who would pay a BAND 1000k? That’s cheap and should be the standard. Let’s dissect.

In Nashville Tennessee, 1000k is unheard of. Unless it’s some freak accident or something you’ve got In Nashville Tennessee, 1000k is unheard of. Unless it’s some freak accident or something you’ve got arranged with the place most musicians on Broadway and 2nd avenue are paid $50 for a 4-Hour shift plus tips. So you might make $50 or you might make $150 for 4 hours. That’s not counting the possible parking that you have to pay for, it’s not counting the time that it takes to get downtown which is probably 30 minutes to an hour for most. It’s not counting your fuel. It’s not counting the insurance of the vehicle that it takes to get there. It’s not counting many things. Strings, picks, gear, and so many other disposable things for the night come into play. (Our drummer spends an additional $16-$20.00 on electrolyte drinks to help with cramping.) So ask yourself if $50 is really a good price for approximately 6 hours of work. I’ll add an honorable mention that many people in Nashville play for free. So maybe you get $30 in tips or maybe you make that $50 for the evening but it’s not a $50 guarantee. We don’t play Nashville. “Exposure” just doesn’t pay my electric, water, phone bill, and rent. We need to make more.

Let’s say you make that $1,000 somewhere willing to pay it. The show probably was booked by a booking agent so right off the top take 10, 15, or 20%. Let’s leave ourselves with $800. Most of the places we play at cost us $150 to $250 or more in fuel for the run. So let’s go down to $550. What kind of hotel do you want to stay in? Do you want a roach motel or something decent? Well with taxes and fees you’re looking probably at 100 bucks x 2 rooms, so let’s take it down to earning $350 for that show. Every few shows we need to do an oil change and on a diesel Sprinter, it’s not cheap. Let’s depreciate and just take $25 from this show to put in the pot for when we need it. Now we are at $325.00. Insurance for vehicles like that is pretty steep. Let’s take out $50 from this show to put in that pot for the monthly insurance fee. I’m being generous with that we’re at $275. Most of the places we play at it’s an all-day drive we play stay the night and then it’s another all-day drive so you’re looking at another 48 hours of work where most people don’t think twice about not factoring in pay. We also need to stop and eat and do that dance as well. Crazy, but people do need to eat, and that costs money on the road even when you pack and bring your own lunches. There are also things like I mentioned, batteries even the rechargeable are expensive to buy and maintain, pics, strings, gaff tape, this stuff usually adds approximately $25 to $30 per show so now we are left with $245.00

Most bands have four members so take your $245.00 and divide it by 4 and that’s for 3 days of work.

$61.25 for THREE full days of work
72 hours
$61.25 divided by 72 is .85 cents an hour for some of us who have spent over $150,000k for our education.

Wow!!! Sounds great to me! Sign me up!

If you’ve made it this far this is literally the icing on the cake for being a musician, entertainer, or independent contractor. There are so many factors I haven’t mentioned that come into play that when all is said and done you basically pay to play. But that’s just too sad of an article for even me to swallow so we’ll keep it at a dollar per hour. 😉

This is why it is so important to show support and love for your favorite bands and artists. It can come in the shape and form of the tip jar at a local show, it can be buying a physical copy of their CD, vinyl, or a digital download that they have listed somewhere. If you want to stream that’s great but please follow up with some sort of monetary support. Something physical a band they can actually use to continue to tour.

Many bands have 8x10s, posters, t-shirts, koozies, cool merch or many of them just list their payment options online. Some even have Patreon sites like we do where people consistently give three bucks or more a month just so we have funds allocated to create videos, record songs, and music, and even do things to give back to the community charity-wise. That’s all brought to the world by generous patrons.

Please don’t be that person where the only time you talk about somebody that you love or show any support is when they die and you post the same “rest in peace” meme that everybody else does. It’s an insult. Many artists die from mental health-related issues or suicide. They are depressed and frankly if people were showing them more love while they were alive they probably would still be here today. Why do so many of us WAIT to say we love someone until it’s too late? Don’t be that person. Don’t pretend to care about people who die who create art when you haven’t shown them any support while they were alive. It’s gross.

If I still have your attention this far I want to bring up one more point. I mention it because of our recent release Misunderstood. I posted that I need some help because something very unpleasant happened to us. This needs to be addressed not to bring attention to something negative, but because people need to know why supporting an artist and band is so needed; for the things you don’t see. It’s for reasons like this I usually wouldn’t talk about.

Our band meets a lot of people on the road. I know a lot of people from wrestling or other TV that I’ve done. We meet a vast array of many different walks of life. Many many beautiful people come to our shows and have a great time. There are also some now that slip through the cracks that are mentally unstable. I do my best to be kind and cool to everyone but when people get too far out of whack I have to set my boundaries and cut ties. The block button can only go so far. When strange supporters start showing up at our live shows it can be really uncomfortable for not only me but the rest of my bandmates.

I’ve had many people come to Nashville to find me and want to hang out. I don’t even live in Nashville. I’m out of town for most of my life doing shoots, filming, or touring and when I get back, I stay in different places and none are in Nashville. I am a private person who works a lot. Some people come to tow and just expect because they know me that I’m going to “hang out” Goldy never just hangs out. If you really knew me, you’d know I work 24/7. 

Recently I had someone come and message me asking when we were going to “meet up?” I said I wasn’t here. They persisted. They got angry and violent I wasn’t at their beacon call waiting for them. It got weird. So many times it does. I can finish these people’s sentences. I’ve had a lot of experience, studied psychology, and am the daughter of a parol officer. I’m schooled. So I blocked them and let them know that I no longer wanted any contact. 

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop them from showing up at one of our live shows, following me around, Unfortunately, that didn’t stop them from showing up at one of our live shows, following me around, walking behind me into the public restroom, waiting for me in a stall, and trailing me into the only restaurant they had to eat. They basically stalked me making their presents known and being just an overall nuisance. The cops were eventually called and asked if I wanted the perpetrator removed from the property. I said no. That is exactly the sort of interaction in which they thrive. I just wanted their protection so that I could pack up my stuff and load out with my band pulling my own weight. I watched them watch me the whole night. Unsettling. Even more so, this is someone’s way of showing they “care” about me.

After we loaded all our gear, which takes hours, by the way, we were in for another fun surprise. All the air was let out of our tires. I don’t know who did it but obviously have a hunch. It could have been anyone, but with the evening’s events, it didn’t seem like a coincidence. It wasn’t until we got back to Nashville that I realized there was damage to all of the tires. I didn’t even tell my bandmates how bad it was because what’s the point. It was really disturbing. Needless to say, all new tires were needed immediately.

These were already new tires and new ones are really expensive. If I did the math for you basically I would be paying to pay for the next year and a half because of some psycho. Basically, I’m paying for two sets of tires this month. Not fair and not cool.

I’m not alone. This sort of thing happens all the time when you put yourself out there. It’s part of the job unfortunately and just how it is. I watched a recent interview clip of Taylor Swift talking about how she and her team carry stab bandages with them just in case something bad happens. That’s right, Army-Grade Supplies for Gunshot Wounds. Ask yourself if for your job you need to have bandages with you at all times in case you get stabbed and attacked? Kind of sick kind of sad but a reality. 

Taylor Swift says she takes bandages for gun and stab wounds everywhere she goes

We just put out our single Misunderstood as I stated earlier in the article. Lastly, I want to show you a brief outline of what putting out a song looks like.

A band writes a song. Sometimes they cowrite with others and those people charge for their experience, wisdom, and time. That can be $100, to $500 or more. I’ve spent up to $10k per song when I had my 1st record deal.

In this case, we hired background singers and very legendary ones that were fairly priced at $100 to $150 and up a person. We had several singers so do your own math.

We also needed to hire a steel guitar player whose pay scale is about similar to the above.

After I sing and the band does their “stuff” the song is sent off to be mixed and mastered. A decent mix these days ranges between $500 and $1,000. Mastering can add a few hundred dollars extra on top of that. Yes, I know you have a “friend” that “mixes” in their bedroom but they still charge trust me.

When all is said and done a single could be done for around a grand but it never is. By the time you get done with everything for many artists and bands, we spend 2k or more. Think about a classic album from the ’80s, ’90s, ‘2000s, or today. Somewhere over 200k to 500k plus to record. Things are a lot different now because of modern technology and being able to record anywhere. But it still costs money to get it done right.

So when a band has a new single, record, or album out, support! Share the post, comment, and retweet it! YouTube subs and comments are SO important as it boosts the algorithms. Share every chance you can. That’s FREE to do. And don’t just stream it,  go out and actually physically grab a copy or a digital download. Pay for it. Help them pay back how much it costs to make that art that you enjoy, listen to, and continue to live a happy life to whatever soundtrack you need playing in your life. We need the new peeps to be able to want to be entertainers and musicians. Help give them a reason and a purpose. 

Please check out our new single “Misunderstood” on our own website, www.TheFactoryByGoldyLocks.com. It took a lot of effort to build this. So thank you for stopping by and showing support. 

Our new video can be seen here:

Please leave a comment. We always try and return them all. 🙂

For those who want to go the extra mile, www.Patreon.com/GoldyLocks

Thank you, your Golden Girl, Goldy