Is this How to get Gigs?

I was talking to a friend this week who recently joined a band as lead singer. He was excitedly telling me about their 2nd gig which they're playing tomorrow (Saturday) night. It's a corporate booking for a household-name branded company which he confessed they'd secured through a "friend of a friend".

"Fair enough" I thought, and congratulated him on a getting a lucrative company gig so early in the band's time together. It was then that he let the bombshell slip.

"We're not in this this for money" he told me.

"We've all got good jobs so we're not charging a fee for playing".

Wow. I'm glad I wasn't driving when I heard that. I asked him whether his band ever intended to charge for playing live. He said they did. I asked him how they expected to get people to pay when it become known they had be hired for $0/£0.

He didn't have an answer for that one.

There's another point here though.

What does it do to every other band's chances of charging a decent fee when there are bands around who'll play at events for nothing?

There expenses associated with running any band. Time taken rehearsing, maybe travelling to and from rehearsals. The petrol to get there and back. Similar on gig night itself and not to mention the cost of the gear.

I wouldn't expect a IT person or a plumber to drive out to my house or office and spend 5-6 hours working for me at night for nothing. Especially if it had taken him several more hours work in preparation for what he did when he got here. Even if he was my brother -never mind a "friend of a friend".

Sorry, but I feel strongly about this one.

This is no way to get gigs. No band should play for nothing. It devalues you and every other band.