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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3014 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for November 7, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Any city is going to have hundreds of musicians who write their own material, practice in their spare time, play in bars in the weekends, and are good enough that most of the people in attendance enjoy the performance

I know that this is something of a digression, but are you sure that's true? In my town, and the nearest two cities of any meaningful size, it feels like the live music scene has absolutely cratered in the last decade.

We used to have at least a half dozen acts playing on any given weekend. These groups would range from local cover bands all the way up to national acts playing at the college sports arena. These days you're not even guaranteed to find one act booked on a given weekend.

I play an instrument and dabble on harmonies and songwriting, and finding a new act is also harder than it used to be. In 2018, you'd usually have three or for "ISO $(INSTRUMENT)" posts on Craigslist and at least as many on Facebook (though there might be some overlap) at any given time. Nowadays you'll go days or even weeks without seeing one.

Maybe it's a local problem. Maybe I'm just too old to be hip to the scene these days.

But from where I'm standing, it sure feels like something is sucking all the oxygen out of live music.

I don't know how big of a town you're talking about but I checked Pittsburgh's (2 million metro) alternative weekly and, filtering out DJs, cover bands, and open mic, there are 136 music events in town this week. Some of these will be from elsewhere, and some of the stuff like Banjo Night at the Elks isn't really applicable, but most bands aren't going to be playing in a given weeks, so I would assume that it isn't an exaggeration to say that 200 bands in Pittsburgh would record an album with a major if given the opportunity. The point I'm making is that it's not like labels are having trouble finding people willing to sign.

I'm not that far from Pittsburgh. Maybe I should take another trip up sometime.

What's the name of the weekly?

The Pittsburgh City Paper.

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