Cover Band Confidential's Podcast (Music Business, Gigging Tips & Making Money as a Musician)

This week, Adam recaps a nearly perfect live band karaoke night, including a packed room, a prospective wedding client who actually showed up, singing with his dad, and a sound engineer powering through a broken foot.

The guys also introduce a new look back at this week in Cover Band Confidential history before abandoning the planned topic entirely to address Fender CEO Bud Cole’s comparison of cover bands to “analog AI.”

It is an analogy that manages to misunderstand cover musicians, generative AI, copyright, royalties, musicianship, and a significant portion of Fender’s own customer base all at once.

Adam and Dan break down why performing an existing song is not remotely the same as generating content from uncredited source material, how working bands help sustain the music economy, and why Fender probably should not diminish the musicians buying its instruments.

Cover bands are not artificial intelligence. We are actual intelligence.

Most of us, anyway.

Episode Links:

-Block Parties, Bombshells, and Bloody Knuckles- 08-01-25
-Music, Politics (and the art of keeping your mouth shut)- 07-25-24
-The Three Things You Need To Succeed- 07-27-23
-Weaponizing The Audience's Nostalgia- 07-28-22
-The Magic Word 07-29-2021
-Nick Niespodziani of Yacht Rock Revue (Vulture Article this week) 07-2020
-061 (Running your Band like a Business)- 07-29-19
-018 (Finding bandmates and building relationships with venues) 07-26-2018

Sweetwater Affilate Link: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/xJE4rk 

 BACTrack Affiliate Link: https://www.bactrack.com/coverbandconfidential  

MaestroDMX (10% off discount link): https://maestrodmx.com/discount/DISCOUNT4CBC?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fmaestrodmx

Blank Contracts & Riders: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/store/performance-contracts

Backing Track Resources: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/store/backing-track-resources

Thank you so much for tuning in!  If you want to help be sure to like, subscribe and share with your friends!  

BANDLEADER RESOURCES: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/links 

Consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/coverbandconfidential

Every working musician eventually has the post-gig drive home where they wonder, “Can I keep doing this?”

But are you actually done with music—or are you exhausted by the schedule, the load-ins, the late nights, the weather cancellations, the band management and everything else surrounding the hour you spend onstage?

This week, Adam and Dan try to separate burnout from genuinely no longer wanting the musician lifestyle. They discuss how resentment toward the logistics can bury your love of performing, why taking a weekend off cannot fix a dysfunctional band, and how your identity as “the music person” can make stepping back feel like failure.

Dan also opens up about his extended break from gigging after foot surgery, the difficulty of rebuilding momentum and the possibility that returning to music may not mean rebuilding the exact same version of his old band.

Also discussed:
* Adam’s epic backstage hang at the Chicago and Styx show
* Adam’s new Behringer Flow 8 solo setup with Jamzone
* Automating live band karaoke with BandLeader and AbleSet
* The “good music, good money, good people” test
* Rediscovering music without trying to monetize it
* When stepping away is healthier—and more professional—than staying
* Dan accepts a six-week challenge to get back into a room and make some noise

The better question may not be, “Should I quit?”

It may be: What exactly am I tired of—and would I still want this if that part changed?

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Thank you so much for tuning in!  If you want to help be sure to like, subscribe and share with your friends!  

BANDLEADER RESOURCES: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/links 

Follow us on Instagram!
@coverbandconfidential
@adampatrickjohnson
@danraymusician

If you have any questions please email at:
Coverbandconfidential@gmail.com

Consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/coverbandconfidential

Or buy us a cup of coffee!
paypal.me/cbconfidential

And for more info check out 
www.coverbandconfidential.com

Adam arrives at this week’s episode suffering from meat sweats and a pair of thoroughly abused shins. Dan is helping his daughter learn bass, Adam’s son has discovered what a $3,500 Dingwall feels like, and Chicago bassist Eric Baines would really like Adam to learn how to sight-read.

Then we get into the considerably less wholesome subject of musicians getting hurt at work.

After Adam took a fall backstage at a July 4th event, we asked the Cover Band Central community for their worst gig-injury stories. Nearly 600 responses revealed everything from cuts and bad backs to electrocution, heat illness, collapsing equipment, crowd violence and musicians attempting to finish sets during medical emergencies.

We sort those stories into the hazards musicians may be able to mitigate themselves and the dangers created by venues, promoters, production companies and unsafe working conditions.

Along the way, we ask why musicians are so willing to prioritize finishing the set over their own health—and why legitimate workplace injuries are so often repackaged as funny gig war stories.

Also discussed:

• The difficulty of explaining skills stored in muscle memory
• Expensive instruments and irresponsible parenting
• Load-in being harder than the actual performance
• The alarming absence of first-aid and safety planning
• Knowing when “the show must go on” has gone too far
• Stage falls, risers and unmarked hazards
• The dreaded electrified microphone
• Outdoor shows with no shade or heat plan
• Security failures and unwanted people onstage
• The role of contracts, insurance and collective bargaining

Resources for working bands: coverbandconfidential.com/links

This week, Adam and Dan recap a Fourth of July gig in Newnan, GA—heat, big municipal-event logistics, a few new/old songs, and lingering monitor gremlins—then pivot into a bigger industry issue: a Bloomberg article arguing a real “fun shortage,” with fewer places to hang out and higher costs, hurting venues and performance opportunities. 

But this isn’t just another “venues are closing and everything is terrible” conversation. The bigger question is whether there are fewer gigs… or just fewer easy gigs.

If bars, clubs, and casual hangout spots are disappearing, bands have to rethink how they create opportunities. That means better marketing, clearer branding, stronger promo assets, faster communication, and finding ways to turn “a gig” into an actual event people want to leave the house for.

We also get into public gigs, private events, DIY scenes, themed shows, and why the bands that can reliably create fun may be the ones that survive the shift.

Topics include:
– Why “extra” spending is usually the first thing to go
– What bands can do instead of waiting on venues and promoters
– Whether the market is worse, different, or just harder to fake your way through

Is having fun actually harder than it used to be?

Are you seeing fewer gigs in your market? 

Or are the opportunities just moving somewhere else?

Let us know: coverbandconfidential@gmail.com

Sweetwater Affilate Link: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/xJE4rk 

 BACTrack Affiliate Link: https://www.bactrack.com/coverbandconfidential  

MaestroDMX (10% off discount link): https://maestrodmx.com/discount/DISCOUNT4CBC?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fmaestrodmx

Blank Contracts & Riders: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/store/performance-contracts

Backing Track Resources: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/store/backing-track-resources

Thank you so much for tuning in!  If you want to help be sure to like, subscribe and share with your friends!  

Linktree: linktr.ee/adampatrickjohnson
                linktr.ee/coverbandconfidential

Follow us on Instagram!
@coverbandconfidential
@adampatrickjohnson
@danraymusician

Consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/coverbandconfidential

Or buy us a cup of coffee!
paypal.me/cbconfidential

And for more info check out 
www.coverbandconfidential.com

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Dan is joined by honorary co-host Mike Schulte for a loose, funny, and surprisingly useful conversation about what happens when cover bands stop getting treated like “just the local guys” and start operating like the professional entertainment businesses they actually are.

Mike shares the long-game story of a hometown festival, a shady gatekeeper, years of being told to play for “exposure,” and the eventual full-circle moment of returning to that same town to play for 10,000 people on a proper stage with proper production.

From there, the conversation turns into a bigger discussion about building a real following: why being good is only the starting line, how fans become regulars, why personality matters as much as polish, and how bands can create moments people actually want to come back for.

Also: kitchen renovation horror stories, hidden house weirdness, horror movies, Mike Flanagan, kids discovering music, and a few current songs that are absolutely destroying in live sets.

This one is about playing the long game, staying human, and remembering that the audience connects with people—not just perfect performances.

Check out Mike's podcast! https://confusedbreakfast.com/ 

Sweetwater Affilate Link: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/xJE4rk 

 BACTrack Affiliate Link: https://www.bactrack.com/coverbandconfidential  

MaestroDMX (10% off discount link): https://maestrodmx.com/discount/DISCOUNT4CBC?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fmaestrodmx

Blank Contracts & Riders: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/store/performance-contracts

Backing Track Resources: https://www.coverbandconfidential.com/store/backing-track-resources

Thank you so much for tuning in!  If you want to help be sure to like, subscribe and share with your friends!  

If you have any questions please email at:
Coverbandconfidential@gmail.com

Consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/coverbandconfidential

Or buy us a cup of coffee!
paypal.me/cbconfidential

And for more info check out 
www.coverbandconfidential.com

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