I don't think shooting on spec says I am scronging at all. It provides an opportunnity for new contacts and a new group of people to take notice of your work. As far as shooting on spec and then showing them something that they cant't resist, well this is highly likely i my opinion. Alot of the bands in I see have just aweful photos on their website that are taken by a point and shoot camera, blurry, red eye, washed out from flash, ect. If someone comes along and shows interest in your band and can provide professional photos, when before it was the lead singers girlfriend snapping with a crappy point and shoot from the audience, I think they would jump at the chance. Shooting on spec is a neccesity sometimes. Especially right now, eI have been doing photography for 15 years, but only now am branching out into band photography, so I can't approach bands and say book me without an extensive portfolio. So I shoot on spec and then see what comes.
As a side note, can someone tell me how to quote a few sentences from a post? I can only seem to quote the whole thing. Thanks