If you are a real musician who knows the value of your music, you won't stoop down to these productions. No band in their right mind should pay to play. Or support anything related to it. It will DEFINITELY kill your scene, our scene.
Do you know what happens when money talks? Integrity gets fucked from behind.
This disgusting practice of forcing bands pay to play by lazy, no-good productions has been going on for ages and it's getting worse. It's time to make your stand. Fence sitting is for morons. It is time to draw the line. This is corruption for the music scene. These are productions that are corrupt and give bad impressions to the bands who want to join our industry. Good productions are getting slapped in their faces even if the good ones do it for the sake of music, for the sake of keeping pinoy music alive. It is time to put a stop to it.
Don't be IGNORANT.
Don't be STUPID.
Don't be a "willing" VICTIM
NEVER COMPROMISE. CHOOSE INTEGRITY.
What is Pay to Play?
[wiki]
Pay to Play, sometimes pay for play, is a phrase which has been used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage (play) in certain activities. Some uses refer to illicit activities, such as the exchange of money for influence in politics, while others can be normal, even expected, practices. An example of the latter is the concept of No Pay No Play in auto insurance law: an uninsured driver is not permitted to recover money for property damage or bodily injury damages caused by an auto accident, even if the uninsured driver is not at fault, because the lack of pay into the system results in the revocation of the uninsured driver's right to play when compensation is collected.
And when it is applied to music, we get this:
The term also refers to a growing trend, where venue owners charge an up-front fee to performing artists for the use of their facilities. The practice began in Los Angeles, CA, during the 1980s. It has become common in many U.S cities at low-turnout all-ages shows where performers are required to guarantee a minimum attendance through pre-show ticket sales. reference, article
Pay-to-play gigs are a contentious practice in the UK, and some of the largest pay-to-play gig organisers have generated large amounts of discussion and criticism.
The term "Pay to Play" is also used as the title to a song by the band Nirvana and as the title to a song by the band Cringer, in which they denounce the practice.
While payola involves payments for the playing of recorded music, the related practice of "pay[ing] to play" involves payments by bands to promoters or club owners to play live at a live venue, club, or auditorium. Most often a band does this to get increased exposure to a large audience.
The promoter is usually looking to minimise the financial risk involved in putting on an unknown band by asking them to help ensure the cost of the event are covered somewhat by their own efforts, rather than leave it all to the promoter. This usually involves the band pre-selling tickets, publicising the event etc. In return they get a platform for their artistry. As a band builds a following the risks are diminished.
In rock and metal music, some clubs and bars ask some bands to pay to perform. Metal/rock drummer Richie Rivera states that the best clubs to play "...are usually pay-to-play (or what the clubs call 'pre-selling tickets'". Rivera says that while his band has done "pay to play" to perform at venues, in the future, the band will "...only do it for a support slot for a national act."[4]
In the US, there are "pay-to-play" "Battle of the Bands" contests where bands pay to perform on stage.[5] Billboard Magazine's Oct. 21, 2006 article "Pay to Get Played" described how a "third-party booking agency in New Jersey" called Audible Spectrum Records was "charging bands up to $350 per show, promising services and opportunities that were never delivered."
Jazz trumpeter Marvin Stamm has described a similar "pay to play" issue in New York city jazz clubs. Stamm says that if a jazz "...artist or group is new or unknown, some clubs - even the larger clubs - will ask that the artist or group’s record company guarantee that the club will break even. If there is no record company to back the artist, then he will probably have to guarantee this himself." If there is a poor turnout at the club, the jazz band leader may have to pay hundreds of dollars to the club.
An increasingly common practice in both the U.S.A. and Europe, particularly the U.K., is a "Battle of the Bands" contest. Typically, each band that enters the "battle" will pay a fee, returnable only if a minimum number of tickets is sold for the first round of the contest. Progress in the contest is dependent on "votes". A prize is usually given to the winner.