Selling out

It was the blog's 7th birthday the other day, it documented a madcap weekend of underpaid gigs, so long ago now it was pre-drummer and the bass player had only just joined. I wrote it as a one-off snap-shot fly-on-the-wall insight into life in an average semi-professional band and I had no idea it would roll on for 7 years and I'd now be sitting down to write the 80th instalment. Much has changed since I began this, and I don't mean the lineup and direction we've taken, that goes without saying, but the blog has grown enormously; the overall site visits are 20,846 and the readership is just over 10,000 which means that half of you come back for more which is nice but it's also meant that this platform actually brings in a small income now, something I would never have imagined in the days of yore. Those first instalments were written randomly whenever something humorous had occurred; a bizarre wedding in the arse-end of nowhere, a strange encounter with a over-zealous pub landlord, or that time when the piano player turned up to a gig two days early! 

In the latter years I kept getting a notification saying we were eligible for income from AdSense which I thought was some scam and ignored it and settled down to write another chapter about when the guitar player employed three quarters of the band in his gardening company. And so it rolled on but so did the notifications and so one day I clicked it, filled out the form and hoped it wouldn't ruin the flow of the writing, and it didn't, the basic package has done very little to disrupt the page, we have been able to continue writing, albeit in greater volume, once a month now, and in doing so take a little bit of pocket money for our time. I say we, because, as our regular readers will know, I have opened it up to my band mates to have their say and tell their side of the story and that has increased the readership more. By the way I have no idea if this is an interesting blog, it suddenly dawned on me that writing about the financial gains of Blogger is probably about as dull as a boiled codfish and instead of enticing readers in it will just as quickly lose them to the instant gains of Facebook and Instagram. You'd much rather read of our latest misadventure, like that time when the piano forgot to put any clothes on, or when we toured Gloucester in a horse and cart. And that's the trouble, when you're bound to a monthly monetary gain it's hard to find the content to keep everyone happy, especially when there are no gigs to write home about. That's why the bandmates freshened it up a little and why probably the wives and girlfriends should next; cause that really would be interesting, to hear their side of the story; how they feel when we leave them for 10 days to jolly around Europe in our latest woefully inadequate vehicle two weeks before their due date, and all in the name the art. 

But the reality is a little part of this has inevitably become about money I don't think we should hide from that, just like we weren't scared to admit we'd made a pigs ear with our finances in Financial Fair Play, because at the end of the day this is How NOT to be in a Band, this is a honest account of a group of friends making music and then trying to make a living from it, in that order, and if we can educate just one person about the pitfalls of being in a band then I will be happy and it will have served it's purpose.

Lately there's been a new notification saying we're eligible for the next level of AdSense which would increase our revenue and include shiny new ads on the page at random intervals and that I fear really would disrupt the flow, and I guess that is why I am writing this as a warning that one day you might have to skip over adverts for Harry's Razor Blades, or Foot Hammocks or Norwegian Sausages. We seem to have a penchant for writing about stuff that hasn't happened yet and in doing so, carefully predicting out fate. But there is of course a chance we never will sign up and sell-out for money, we are romantics after all and how things look and sound is actually more important to us than income, or at least we pretend it is. I hate adverts as much as anyone,  but I understand their use. It's a tough one; turning away from potential income is something that very few can do. Can you? We have resisted the urge so far; writing about the death our first car, or the bass player's beautifully poignant blog during lockdown hardly seemed the right place to advertise a decaf energy drink. In fact the perfect place to do it would be right now, with a instalment about just that, but I haven't signed up yet and the internet connection out here in Brittany isn't adequate. And plus I wasn't even supposed to be writing this August blog, the piano player was, but his is late, which isn't like him at all, he's normally the most punctual of us all! ;) 

Thanks for reading, not just this slightly boring post, about our moral dilemma of including adverts on our page (please your feedback is most welcome!?), but all of them, and I hope in the future we can get back to what we love, which is performing for you guys, and traveling to find you and all the misadventure that goes with it, for that's what makes this platform successful. There's been many times over the years when we have got things horribly wrong, made illogical decisions and missed a great opportunity, and when the dust settles we think, 'oh well, at least it'll make a good blog!' 

Chin up

Always :)