Then these folks need to resort to what has worked in previous days, a bus tour. There are plenty of folks out there who choose not to fly for a variety of reasons, and somebody with a (rare musical instrument|artifact|test equipment|cool NFA weapons) would do well to also become a "not-flyer" type. Hey, it works for John Madden, right?
Plenty of not-major-leage sports teams and not-quite-MTV bands live off of the ol' Bus Tour. Musicians and traveling performers simply need to coodinate their tours in a circuit that works with a travel-by-road schedule, that's all. Might lead to a less hectic lifestyle, too. Less stressful.
I dont know about that i tried to take a bus to europe once and almost drown. I decided then and there to fly across oceans. Maybe these musicians feel the same way?
"Then these folks need to resort to what has worked in previous days, a bus tour. There are plenty of folks out there who choose not to fly for a variety of reasons, and somebody with a (rare musical instrument|artifact|test equipment|cool NFA weapons) would do well to also become a "not-flyer" type. Hey, it works for John Madden, right?"
For some, yes, this is an obvious answer - a lot of the big rock and pop bands travel by bus, and stow their gear in trucks and haul it around.
However, this does not address the issue of international performers. Many artists, especially in the classical and jazz field, travel around the globe without a full band as an entourage, and need to bring their intruments with them. I would'nt check my $300 Ibenez guitar when I traveled (before the ban), I can completely understand why the musicians are upset.
Add on top of that, you cannot LOCK checked baggage, so you add the risk of theft to the issue. When you have a $100,000 dollar violin, you do not want to imagine one of the thugs at JFK at a pawn shop asking 'How much is dis wort?"
I work in the music industry, and this ban HAS effected many musicians negatively. Tours are not going forward, peformances are being canceled, and top notch musicians are choosing to sit at home rather than risk their priceless and necessary tools of their trade to the gorillas that load and unload airplanes.
"Plenty of not-major-leage sports teams and not-quite-MTV bands live off of the ol' Bus Tour. Musicians and traveling performers simply need to coodinate their tours in a circuit that works with a travel-by-road schedule, that's all. Might lead to a less hectic lifestyle, too. Less stressful."
Again, that's fine, if you just play in THIS country. Any rock or metal band of any repute plays the festivals in Europe, or just Europe in general. In this modern world, such circuits are virtually impossible with current state of bookings and schedules - very few performers can simply pick a date when they play, it's set up months in advance, and even then, booking musicians of ANY genre is one of the hardest jobs in the industry. Sometimes, you just HAVE to fly.
Some bands solved this problem years ago, by maintaining seperate sets of equipment - one for the US, and one for Europe/Japan.
As for less hectic...have you ever been on a tour bus? Words that would NOT describe the conditions is "less stressful". Unless you're Madonna or the top 1% of the industry, you share a bus with 12 other people. Your bunk is about 6'-7' x 3 x 3. It's noisy. It's stale conditioned air. Everything and everyone is on top of each other. If several people don't bathe, you can tell, quickly. A groupie or fan threw up in the WC? You get to smell that for 10 hours. Oh, and rule #1 on tour buses - you NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, use the toilet on a tour bus for anything but liquids, and even then, try not to.
Tour buses are also expensive. Many bands simply cannot afford them, or have two bands, crew, and management on one bus.
Traveling by tour bus is not like RV living. Trust me. The first thing people do when the bus hits the next destination, is they get OFF the buss for as long as possible.
Also, many musicians, who work in the classical and jazz fields, also travel for more than just performance. Often, they go from LA for studio work to NY for a performance to London for a symposium to Vienna for more studio work back to NYC to perform again and meet with the agent...it's not that simple for them, to just travel by bus. In this modern music industry, you MUST diversify, and travel is very much part of the job. We're not talking about a once a month inconvenience, we're talking daily.
Also, when you work as a musician, you are an independant contractor, most of the time. To get gigs, you have to travel. Sometimes your gigs are on opposite sides of the country, or in other countries. This ban is effecting people's livelyhoods, especially in the jazz and classical fields where they make virtually no money from album sales or merchandising or ticket sales.
I'll even sell tickets.
Professional musicians often work on a tight schedule. They don't have the time to spend days on a bus from LA to NYC.
And anybody who would put a $500,000 cello at the tender mercies of the baggage handlers is nuts (or it isn't their cello.)