Singer criticises unpaid mall performance offer

Tommy Walsh is the singer of retro Derby rock band Sura Laynes

A call for musicians to perform for free at a shopping centre hit a bum note with a singer who said the promised exposure "is not going to pay the bills".

Derbion made a plea for "up-and-coming" acts to volunteer for an "unpaid opportunity" to perform at the Derby city centre shopping complex.

But Tommy Walsh said artists would be "priced out" by having to play for free, having to provide sound equipment suitable for the open spaces of the Derbion, and not being able to sell merch or music alongside their performance.

A spokesperson for Derbion said the appeal had been clear about being an unpaid opportunity, had been met with a positive reaction and more than 40 acts had made contact already.

The centre said performers would have an audience of thousands of visitors providing "a great chance to build experience and showcase your talent".

Mr Walsh, of Derby band Sura Laynes, said: "It looked on the face of it to be a good opportunity for local musicians.

"There's plenty of great venues to play in Derby, but to play at the Derbion would be an opportunity to possibly gather people who wouldn't necessarily normally just go to a gig."

But Mr Walsh said the offer was not the opportunity it first appeared to be and he was one of dozens of musicians to voice criticisms of it online.

Scores of people took to Derbion's social media to criticise the offer

He said: "It gave a kind of list of things that you can't do - for example, you can't sell any merch so there's no way of recouping some of your expenses.

"Most of the musicians I know locally won't have the equipment to put a show on that will be loud enough for people to hear. To hire the equipment and probably a sound engineer as well would cost them a minimum of a couple of hundred quid.

"It's effectively going to price a lot of people out of performing.

"I think there's a bit of an issue in society with this with music and the arts that they're just a hobby that people would do for free. If people want live music, they kind of need to invest in it.

"Independent artists are being asked quite often to do shows just for the exposure, which is great, but it's not going to pay the bills."

Carly Salisbury, head of marketing at Derbion, said: "We're always trying to support the local community in as many ways as possible.

"We get thousands, hundreds of thousands of shoppers through our doors and what we wanted to do was give an opportunity for local upcoming performers and give them a chance to showcase their talent right in the heart of the city centre, free of charge.

"We completely understand that this opportunity isn't going to be right for everybody, and that's OK.

"This is around non-professional artists wanting to grow their exposure."