pay to play is the most desperate pathetic thing i can think of doing, and lets for a moment examine the excuses sheisty cheapskates give to justify this:

1: "oh you're an unknown band and this is a chance to get some precious exposure"

yea, you're unknown, the best way to get known is to WRITE SOME GOOD FUCKING MUSIC AND RECORD AND RELEASE IT EITHER YOURSELF OR ON A LABEL IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE ONE ASK YOU TO DO A RECORD, and playing a lot of shows where you don't get total bitch timeslots, you don't get big by paying to open for some huge headliner because guess what, people couldn't give a shit about your band and most won't even show up till you're done playing because %99.9999999 of the time opening bands suck and people are there to see headliners, not you, if you happen to kick so much ass that you WOULD get anywhere off playing that ONE show opening for a national, then you can also make a name for yourself playing smaller shows on a regular basis and getting your records out there, and that $375 or $1000 or whatever ridiculous ammount buys some decent studio time and or pays for cd pressing, so you decide which is better to spend your money on

2: "oh well you can just sell tickets and make your money back"

what schmuck buys tickets to a show from some random band? people buy them from the venue or ticketmaster or whatever the fuck, no ones gonna give YOU the same ammount of money they'd pay the venue itself, you are going to get stuck with the tickets, count it as a loss, the best you can do is offer them at half price or some goddamn incentive for your friends to buy them from you vs. the venue itself