Our local scene was decimated by pay to play promoters and it's never really recovered. We would have to pay in to presell tickets and then try to sell them just to try to break even when opening at 4:30 on a Wednesday. Not exactly a good way to gain new fans.

The actual promoters did nothing to really promote the gig since they were preselling to local bands they made their money that way.

If you're popular enough it's not tough to sell tickets once and awhile but if you want to play monthly, your pool of potential ticket buyers shrinks since not everyone can go to a show that often.