Does being an "opening act" for a bigger act really provide as much valuable exposure as is assumed?

Isn't the deal on those Ozzfests that all of the smaller bands pretty much either had to pay or get no pay to be on that tour?

But shouldn't it be pretty much the same deal opening for the Stones as it is for pretty much any other big-name arena rock acts, like U2, Coldplay, Springsteen, etc.?

Never had the misfortune of seeing U2 or Coldplay, but whenever I've seen Springsteen he's never had a support act. Doesn't believe in them, apparently. With his own shows running 3hrs plus, there isn't time for one anyway.

Peter Hammill is another one who doesn't do support acts. Back in 1983, for some unfathomable reason, he chose to accept an offer from Hammill fan Fish to open for Marillion. He got booed for his trouble.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark got hugely valuable exposure by supporting Gary Numan on his first headline tour. It's always rankled with him – rightly in my view – that they've never acknowledged this debt to him.

I may be remembering wrong, but wasn't there something about Sonic Youth, when they were opening for Neil Young...his soundmen wouldn't give them full volume during their set, so they were kind of automatically blown off the stage by Young. Who was a fan of them, to be sure...

Yep! There's more detail here...from SY's perspective mostly. http://www.thrasherswheat.org/jammin/sonic_youth_noise.htm

As far as general thread topic: first time I ever saw Drive By Truckers was when they were opening for the Black Crowes. Hardly anyone in the audience, but the people who were there were NUTS for the DBT's (ie on their feet for the very first song, sang every word, etc etc), and it was their enthusiasm that made me hang around to see what the big deal was. Glad I did. Found out about Dead Confederate when they opened for the Truckers a couple of years ago here in Sacramento. I really think it does provide good exposure...not tons, but if you're good enough you might get a few new fans in each city. Those small numbers add up.

"I really think it does provide good exposure...not tons, but if you're good enough you might get a few new fans in each city. Those small numbers add up."

word. there's always a few music nerds who come to check out the opening act (like, maybe even a thousand!) that it's probably worth the indifference/hostility of everyone else... specially since it's those opening act checker outers that are buying 10 albums for every one the lon ghai rin mullethead dude buys...

Hoe boy. The old "buy-on" trick. It's actually shockingly routine, not so much with really big bands with those middling-level bands that still need some up-front cash injection to get them on a proper headline tour.

Usually support bands are matched by sharing a record company or management - but don't assume there hasn't been a buy-on even if they do share. (Even if it's books-fiddling of moving money from one account to another. So much of the money shuttled around at major labels doesn't actually exist, it's "to be recouped" and added to the band's bill.)

Does being a support act provide valuable exposure? If your music is compatible and the fanbase likely to overlap, hell yeah. We sold more CDs on 2 dates of a big-name tour than our record company sold officially through distribution channels (well, according to their books, that is.) But that wasn't a buy-on, that was a friends of a friend that invited us to do it.

xpost to Anagram - I saw Hammill supporting Marillion. I was just a kid. Was bored shitless (as was entire crowd). Rather suspect I'd find him infinitely preferable if I attended the same show now.