Comments on: Independent Music Manifesto

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:34:22 +0000

Really glad you like it – happy for you to use the article, with full credit and a link back to here.

Good luck on your quest!

By: Michael Antonio

Michael Antonio — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:32:06 +0000

Hey man…this is great stuff…I am actually working to gather up a momentum in the Hip Hop scene towards independent production…working together as a community of artists and not money makers for people who couldn’t care less about the content of our music.

I would like your permission to use your article in my own “Article of Independents”. I will certainly refer your site..I have posted a link on my blog…mind you the site is down because we are adding lots of content to help artist produce their own music…. my film is basically a call to action for indie artists…

Thank you for being a beacon in the dark…one of the first lights from the dawn of a new day.

By: Digital Economy Bill – My Relevant Posts In One Handy List « SoloBassSteve.com: Shiny Happy People Blogging…

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:48:27 +0000

[...] and the one I sent last night, http://www.stevelawson.net/2009/09/independent-music-manifesto/ [...]

By: Mike E

Mike E — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:40:42 +0000

An excellent post Steve. Really sums up the working musician’s take on the current state of affairs in general, and why the Digital Economy Bill in particular, is such a threat to those who actually make the music. More power to you.

By: eaon

eaon — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:29:09 +0000

fantastic article.
I stumbled in here while scouring the web for a some nuggets on a new music ‘business’ model,
everything i need is in here. excellent.

By: A Creative Living (Version 2.0): The Man (hat on) Tour - A Literal Girl

A Creative Living (Version 2.0): The Man (hat on) Tour - A Literal Girl — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:02:08 +0000

[...] or drawing, or playing with ideas, in the first place. Innovative solo bass player Steve Lawson writes prolifically, and very well, about this: “I no longer need to pretend to be a rock-star. The mythology of rock ‘n’ roll is nowhere [...]

By: A Creative Living (Version 2.0): The Man (hat on) Tour « My Wandering Days

A Creative Living (Version 2.0): The Man (hat on) Tour « My Wandering Days — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:24:50 +0000

By: steve

steve — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:54:51 +0000

One of the best things about House Concerts is how bespoke every event is. You can be as flexible or as fixed on how you do it as you like, and the host can then either book it or not.

Some people are happy to invite strangers, some are happy to have people they don’t know turn up if they are known to someone else that’s there. Others just want to invite their friends.

All the house concerts we do have a guarantee, but it’s pretty low usually. Sometimes there’s an arrangement to use some of the ticket money for the food, and that’s written into the budgeting for the event…

It’s all good

By: Gordon

Gordon — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:11:24 +0000

No problem Steve, I had forgotten that I had commented, to be honest!

Any house gigs I would do would be acoustic, so volume wouldn’t be a problem.

Payment and licensing is a little different though and I see from your answer that being creative with the mechanics of the event is the way to handle it and make it viable for the host, who may not want to be out of pocket.

Thinking it through more, which is helpful to me:

Assuming that the gig is not advertised as open to the public and it is a private affair (not sure who would wish to invite strangers into their houses for gigs anyway), then we step away from the license to put on music/ dancing etc issue.
This then puts the onus on the host to handle the finances, a bit like hiring a DJ for a party (or a magician to a kids one even).

The host can then recoup the money in other ways as you say e.g. donations. A bar can be run this way too.

I really like the idea. So is there a new venue manifesto as well?

By: steve

steve — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:17:09 +0000

Hi Gordon, I’ve just noticed that I didn’t answer this – sorry about that!

I’ve never heard anything about house concerts needing to be licensed in the UK. Given that the exchange of cash can easily be framed as a ‘minimum donation’ or even ‘suggested contribution’ – it shouldn’t fall foul of any laws on such things.

I’m sure if you were playing at silly volume and the Police were called, you’d still get into trouble, but for our show, we play at about the same volume that most people with a decent surround system would watch a film at

Try it, see what happens