About the Guild

The Mythic Guild is a membership organisation for working musicians in Austin, with a live music series attached to it. Members get their instruments looked after, get into shows free, and get access to a network of players, venues and businesses. Artists who play Guild shows are paid a guarantee and leave with professional footage they own.

That is the whole description. Everything below is detail.

Who runs it

The Guild is operated by LMBHC LLC. Membership dues, ticket sales, sponsorship and artist payments all settle to that entity, and LMBHC signs the artist agreements, the venue deals and the sponsor contracts.

Mythic Guitar Company is the anchor partner. Mythic is the reason the Guild has any credibility with musicians at all — it is the bench that member instruments go to, the room above the shop where the smallest events happen, and the business that has spent years dealing with Austin players one repair at a time. It is not the entity taking the money, and the distinction is kept clean on purpose. The professional setup included in a membership is bought by the Guild from Mythic at a real price, booked as a real transaction. Anything else would flatter one set of books and understate the other.

Why Austin needs one

Austin has more working musicians per head than almost anywhere in the country, and one of the least forgiving cost bases they have ever faced. Rent has moved. Venues have closed or changed hands. The number of rooms paying a real fee has fallen, while the number of people willing to play for the door has not.

The result is a scene where the music is as good as it has ever been and the economics are worse. Musicians here are not short of talent, opportunity or an audience. They are short of arrangements that treat playing as work.

Most attempts to fix that start by asking the audience to care more. This one starts by fixing the arrangements.

What that means in practice

• Bands are paid. Every artist on a Guild bill receives a guarantee, between $500 and $1,500, agreed before the show is announced and unchanged by the turnout. Exposure is not a form of payment and the Guild does not offer it as one.
• Members are looked after. Membership includes a professional setup each year, member repair pricing, priority and emergency service, and access to custom work.
• Shows are free to members. Guild Live runs roughly twice a month. Members walk in; the public pays $15 to $30.
• Everything is filmed. Multi-camera capture at every show. The artist keeps the footage and retains ownership of their music.
• Work is circulated. A gig board and a substitution network, open to members, where every posting carries a fee.
• The scene is connected. A verified artist directory, partner businesses offering member terms, and venues that know a Guild booking is a safe booking.

The mission, stated once

To make it materially easier to be a working musician in Austin — by paying properly, maintaining the instruments, filling the rooms, and connecting the people who need each other.

Not to discover anyone. Not to represent anyone. Not to take a percentage of anyone's music. The Guild does not sign artists, does not manage them, and does not acquire rights in their work. It books them, pays them, films them, and hands them the footage.

How it holds together

A member joins and gets a setup. They discover the partner discounts and start using the bench properly. They come to shows because admission is included, and they meet people there. Some of those people call them for work. They bring a friend on a guest pass; the friend has a good night and asks what the Guild is. Businesses notice that a room full of exactly the right people meets twice a month, and sponsor it. More sponsorship means bigger shows, and bigger shows mean better bills.

None of that works if the shows are bad, and shows are bad when the bands are not paid. Which is where this started.

Start somewhere

If you are a musician, the membership page has the tiers and the arithmetic. If you want to be booked, read what the Guild provides and asks for. If you run a room, the venue page is the shortest route in. If you have a business that wants to reach this audience, start here. If you just want to come to a show, the calendar is public and always will be.