This is a list of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area, music groups founded in the San Francisco Bay Area or closely associated with the region. Individual musicians who formed bands under their own name there are included, but not if they are solo artists. The list is grouped in three sections: San Francisco Peninsula/North Bay, East Bay, and South Bay
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Deal points are the basics of the contract: the advance, number of albums and royalty rate. However, the devil is in the details.
In many contracts, the financial terms will run over 15 pages. The rule in record contracts is what the record company gives you with one hand, it takes away with the other. The fundamental touchstone of record contracts are "points." Points refer to how many percentage points a band will receive as their royalty rate. On a major label, this will run between 10 and 15 percent and typically 9 to 12 percent on a smaller label. The percent royalty rate is just the beginning however. The first question you should ask is, "a percentage of what?"
In all record contracts, you will be signing an exclusive agreement. This means that you will not be able to record for anyone else other than the record company during the "term" of your contract. The term is how long the contract lasts. Contrary to popular belief, record companies do not sign you and guarantee you seven albums. It may be a seven album deal, but nothing obligates the label to record seven albums. The seven albums means that the record label has the option to record seven albums. Typically, a record company will record one album and see how it does. If it sells well, they will exercise their option to record a second album. If the first album does not do well, the label usually drops you. Record companies require long term option contracts because if the band does do well, the label wants to make sure that the band stays with their company. Since they invested so much and signed the band in the first place, they want to be able to share the success of the band over a long period of time. For example, REM recently finished out the last of their options with their record company. REM's new contract guarantees a $10 million advance per album in the future. Try getting that advance for your first contract! Finally, the "territory" of most contracts is world-wide meaning that the record company has exclusive rights to your services as a band throughout the world.
Generally, the royalty rate is based on a percentage of the standard retail selling price. You will get your full royalty rate for each full price CD or tape you sell through normal retail channels. Normal retail channels are usually record stores like Tower Records or Sam Goody. What about other places you sell your CD's? Record companies will pay you a fraction of your royalty rate for sales not through normal retail channels. For example, you may receive 75% of your royalty rate for sales outside the United States, 60% of your royalty rate for CD's sold below standard retail price (i.e. albums sold at a discount) and 50% of your royalty rate for sales through record clubs. In fact, most of your CD's will not be sold through normal retail channels. Although you may have a 12% royalty rate, you will only get a 6% royalty rate on record club sales. Confused yet?
However, you soon realize that it is written in a manner which defies grammatical english. Sentences run on for 14 lines, with little if any punctuation. There are terms and words which you have never encountered. Finally, the sentences constantly make reference to each other ("pursuant to 1 (A)3 (c) (ii)"). Where do you begin? The first place is with someone familiar with record contracts. This is usually an entertainment attorney, though not all of the time.
The Music Law Offices offer a full range of services to individuals, partnerships and corporations in the music industry. Michael P. McCready and the staff of the Music Law Offices provide the highest quality representation.
I find that almost all bands initially form to make music, as opposed to make money. Think back to when you began, it was for the love of music and not money that was the motivating factor. However, when it comes to a record contract, it is about money. A record company puts a record out to make money. Creativity and integrity play a part, but it is a financial relationship.
And then there were the bands who never got a record deal, never had a hit single, never broke through: The Vejtables, Notes From The Underground, Savage Resurrection, Country Weather, Luther Pendragon, and Mourning Reign are just a few of those who nonetheless have a lasting place in the history of the San Francisco Sound.
Dan Hicks was a member of the Bay Area's first psych rock band, The Charlatans, before leaving to form Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks in 1968. His own band's sound was based on folk music but also incorporated elements of jazz and country. 1973's Last Train To Hicksville was the band's fourth album but was the one that finally brought them recognition well beyond San Francisco. And just as the band was on the rise, Hicks shut it down, eventually pursuing an off-and-on solo career and developing a cult following of devotees of his often eccentric brand of music.
The Charlatans. The Charlatans were one of the very first psychedelic rock bands to emerge from the Haight-Ashbury district. They had a significant influence on those that followed, albeit as much because of their unconventional outfits and behavior as their music, which tended more toward jug band blues.
Fifty Foot Hose stood out among San Francisco psychedelic rock bands because it really wasn't one. It was more an avant-garde, experimental, electronic band. Writes Richie Unterberger in All Music Guide, band founder Cork Marcheschi "constructed his own electronic instrument from a combination of elements like theremins, fuzzboxes, a cardboard tube, and a speaker from a World War II aircraft bomber." Even though they couldn't get radio airplay even on underground stations, they were embraced by psychedelic fans because they took chances, experimented, and were seriously unconventional. Their only album, Cauldron was released in 1968.
The Sopwith Camel established itself by being the first of the 60s San Francisco bands to score a national Top 40 hit, the novelty tune, Hello, Hello. Their sound was far from psychedelic, running to light folk-rock. The band's self-titled debut album was released in 1967. They broke up that same year when they weren't able to duplicate the success of the single. Reforming in 1971, they released one more album before breaking up again in 1974.
A-list bands like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and The Fish, Santana and Steve Miller Band are among the best known and most successful examples of the San Francisco Sound of rock in the '60s. Just beneath that tier were the likes of Moby Grape, Beau Brummels, Youngbloods, Blue Cheer and Quicksilver Messenger Service who got ...
Principal songwriter, Gary Lee Yoder, went on to perform with San Francisco bands Kak, and the better known Blue Cheer. Oxford Circle released just one single, but a live performance at the Avalon Ballroom was released in 1997.
And then there were the bands who never got a record deal, never had a hit single, never broke through: The Vejtables, Notes From The Underground, Savage Resurrection, Country Weather, Luther Pendragon, and Mourning Reign are just a few of those who nonetheless have a lasting place in the history of the San Francisco Sound.
Dan Hicks was a member of the Bay Area's first psych rock band, The Charlatans, before leaving to form Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks in 1968. His own band's sound was based on folk music but also incorporated elements of jazz and country. 1973's Last Train To Hicksville was the band's fourth album but was the one that finally brought them recognition well beyond San Francisco. And just as the band was on the rise, Hicks shut it down, eventually pursuing an off-and-on solo career and developing a cult following of devotees of his often eccentric brand of music.
The Charlatans. The Charlatans were one of the very first psychedelic rock bands to emerge from the Haight-Ashbury district. They had a significant influence on those that followed, albeit as much because of their unconventional outfits and behavior as their music, which tended more toward jug band blues.
Fifty Foot Hose stood out among San Francisco psychedelic rock bands because it really wasn't one. It was more an avant-garde, experimental, electronic band. Writes Richie Unterberger in All Music Guide, band founder Cork Marcheschi "constructed his own electronic instrument from a combination of elements like theremins, fuzzboxes, a cardboard tube, and a speaker from a World War II aircraft bomber." Even though they couldn't get radio airplay even on underground stations, they were embraced by psychedelic fans because they took chances, experimented, and were seriously unconventional. Their only album, Cauldron was released in 1968.
The Sopwith Camel established itself by being the first of the 60s San Francisco bands to score a national Top 40 hit, the novelty tune, Hello, Hello. Their sound was far from psychedelic, running to light folk-rock. The band's self-titled debut album was released in 1967. They broke up that same year when they weren't able to duplicate the success of the single. Reforming in 1971, they released one more album before breaking up again in 1974.
A-list bands like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and The Fish, Santana and Steve Miller Band are among the best known and most successful examples of the San Francisco Sound of rock in the '60s. Just beneath that tier were the likes of Moby Grape, Beau Brummels, Youngbloods, Blue Cheer and Quicksilver Messenger Service who got ...
Principal songwriter, Gary Lee Yoder, went on to perform with San Francisco bands Kak, and the better known Blue Cheer. Oxford Circle released just one single, but a live performance at the Avalon Ballroom was released in 1997.