Can A New Salsa Band Make It?

BullitproofSoul

BullitproofSoul

Son Montuno
So I've made some new friends lately through the jam sessions I've written about on other threads.

A few of us are really intrigued by the idea of putting together a new band. We're having conversations about how it would look. Me being the kind of person who likes to write his ideas down (and also a person who tends to get ahead of himself), I took some time yesterday to draw up a few docs: Rules of the Band, The Mission and Early Goals of the Band; stuff like that.

But I have my doubts. Here are a few...

- The titutar question: can a new band make it?

- Is it financially viable? People want to pay so little for live bands these days. After paying the different musicians, can you even turn a profit?

- The best way, it seems to be, to get paid for doing shows is to get some kind of hit record. Recording a hit record is a lifelong dream of mine: nowadays its seems more a means to an end, getting good paying shows. But creating a hit record is an extremely difficult task, if only for the huge promotion costs involved in getting your music on the air.

- Would us setting up shop in NYC be an advantage or a disadvantage?

- What would we play? I like learning old material. But I don't want to be a strictly covers band. I'm eager to do stuff I've written, or new stuff others have written.
 
There are a couple of new Salsa bands on the New York scene that you may want to check out that have done pretty well. Grupo Arcano and Avenida B. Both play original Salsa Dura and both have released albums.

Definitely need to perform and record original material. You can mix in some nice covers on gigs but NY doesn't need yet another cover band playing Rebelion, Escencia del Guaguanco, El Cantante, Pa' Bravo Yo, etc....... way too much of that as it is.
 
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Lol, that's the stuff I'll be playing with this Jersey band on the 22nd. Song for song that's almost our exact repertoire. How'd you know? :P

Learning covers is good for me right now. I need that discipline and background. Its just not where I want to stay forever
 
BullitproofSoul said:
Lol, that's the stuff I'll be playing with this Jersey band on the 22nd. Song for song that's almost our exact repertoire. How'd you know? :p

Learning covers is good for me right now. I need that discipline and background. Its just not where I want to stay forever
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Not hard to predict. I do it all the time. Oh, I forgot Lloraras and Trucutu. lol

Yeah definitely learn the standards but down the road you will want to record and perform original material to make any kind of impact as a new band on the scene.
 
Its funny how Salsa, almost exactly like Jazz, has developed a body of standards that one is expected to know as a musician. In fact, somebody like you or I should compile them all into some list, and post them in a thread. I imagine it'd be about half as long as the Jazz Standards list.

We'll also be doing "El Preso," "Ojos Chinos" and "Quitate La Mascara."
 
BullitproofSoul said:
Lol, that's the stuff I'll be playing with this Jersey band on the 22nd. Song for song that's almost our exact repertoire. How'd you know? :p

Learning covers is good for me right now. I need that discipline and background. Its just not where I want to stay forever
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where are you playing?
 
It's a funny situation. It's probably easy to get heard on the salsa dance scene, if you market yourself to the DJ's and they like your stuff. But getting to the larger audience you need bigger marketing budget which is harder to make happen nowadays.

But I'm all for new good bands making original salsa dura and other good stuff.
 
NY is always an advantage. i can't recall many salsa bands in this generation that has made it big but it's not impossible. a hit record could change everything.

Aventura type big? that's not easy,they were the ones who took bachata to where it is today in my opinion.
 
premier said:
It's a funny situation. It's probably easy to get heard on the salsa dance scene, if you market yourself to the DJ's and they like your stuff. But getting to the larger audience you need bigger marketing budget which is harder to make happen nowadays.

But I'm all for new good bands making original salsa dura and other good stuff.
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I will be Salsa, though it may not be Salsa dura. I'm a middle of the road kind of composer and arranger anyway :)

michelle8 said:
NY is always an advantage. i can't recall many salsa bands in this generation that has made it big but it's not impossible. a hit record could change everything.

Aventura type big? that's not easy,they were the ones who took bachata to where it is today in my opinion.
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There's a lot of truth to that. One of the things I was telling one of the guys yesterday is that we need to find a young, charismatic, and good looking singer as one of our first priorities.
 
Maybe not on the mainstream market, but building up a live-reputation is always possible with the right support; and having some familiar faces in the band doesn't do bad either. I haven't been part of a salsa-band so far, aside from annual (cover-ups at) workshops and minor guest-appearances (Que Manera being a favourite); if I was in the position to put a salsa- or latin-funk-band together I'd knew how to pick the line-up and the repertoire. Got no plans to make it big, only to play as good as possible.
 
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