The following rant was originally directed at a hometown problem, but I post it here because I want to see if there is a similiar difficulty in your locale. Pipe up and tell us your story if it is.
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Playing For Free - Again
The leaves are turning, the wind is getting colder, and before you know it the train wreck of events we bundle into a period we call "The Holidays" will be upon us. As musicians, thats a good thing because that means performances, and more money in our pockets.
That is, unless you are once again finding yourself playing for free.
As a kid I sat through "A Christmas Carol" a hundred times. Dickens' timeless classic about the spirit of Holiday giving never gets old, and always seems to have such a huge audience. But in "Play for free" Utah, it's slipping through the cracks. Hogle Zoo, for instance, is having a lavish Christmas light show and is asking area musicians to come out and be a part of holiday cheer. They want to pay for the lights, the plumbing, their employees from counter help to the top administrative brass; but ye of the musical instrument, they want you to play for free. Oh, wait, yes, they promised the usual "but its great exposure!" trip. People die from exposure, don't they?
I contacted Hogle Zoo about my concerns, and was promptly answered with one of those curt, fakely polite "well you don't have to play here then" letters, sarcastically signed off with "Happy Holidays". A nicely veiled "f**k you" I must say, that only seasoned PR professionals can bang out on a regular basis. Truly, I was going to leave this issue alone after writing them once. But their response made me realize there is much more going wrong in the Utah music scene than just chronic and widespread refusal to pay musicians. It is topped now with a hubris, an arrogance from some businesses that communicates to musicians that, not only are they not worth paying, but there is nothing ethically wrong with screwing them and they should take the anal probe happily.
Before this rant gets out of hand, a few things. No, this sad phenomenon is not limited to Utah. Yes, some Utah businesses are very conscientious about paying musicians for their events. Yes, it is ok to play for free sometimes, at the musician's choosing. I set aside a certain amount of hours per year that I decide to devote to charity playing, as do most other professionals I know. But what's the line? When should I ask for pay, and why does it matter if li'l ol' me does some free gigs?
That's a tough one, because businesses and organizations don't usually open their books to you and show you why they "can't pay". You have to make a subjective judgement on a case by case basis. For instance I limit my charity work to real charities or humane causes (homeless benefits events, etc) and not businesses that make money and plead poverty when it comes time to hire a musician. All it takes is a little observation. When you walk into a place that is expensive looking, has a pretty lavish carterer and the like, and they don't want to pay you, there is a high likelihood you're getting screwed.
And what about that, if its just me? Surely my isolated experience isn't going to affect the big picture, right? Wrong. Not to get into quantum physics here, but everything we do does indeed affect everyone else, in some way. When a musician plays for free all the time, not only will she or he get the rep of being a freebie, but that idea will spread around the commercial community. When a business successfully gets a musician to play for free, once or many times, they tell others amongst them. Their network will of course pull the same stunt, to save money. Word of mouth gets around. Next thing you know, my little 'isolated incident' chisels ten or a hundred other musicians out of a paying gig, or gets untold others rejected because they asked for a decent fee. In a nutshell, if you let yourself get clobbered, we all get clobbered.
Ultimately, this gets down to a question of ethics. We can argue ability to pay back and forth as the day is long, but the salient point here is that musicians deserve to make a living. When you become one, you have just committed to uncountable hours days and years of practice and study. Lugging heavy equipment around. Often very expensive instruments and their upkeep. Why then, is it moral to have your checkbook out with no question, when you need a plumber or lawyer...but close it when it comes to hire a player? How fast would a building contractor fold up shop if you asked them to work for free?
We can change this nonsense, but it first comes with changing a mindset. That mindset arguably gets a huge boost from the local culture, which teaches that music is a gift from God, and therefore should be given freely no matter what it takes out of the musician. We stop this by, first and foremost, reeducating businesses and organizations who may have it in their head that what we do is always free. Let them know. Most of the time, Hogle Zoo notwithstanding, they are amazingly open to changing their attitudes. Secondly, we need to apply pressure to those who refuse to pay an honorable fee to musicians. That's done by spreading the word about their practices in the community. When they see it is harder and harder to find musicians, and they dont want to ask cousin Tiffany to sing off key at the company Christmas party anymore, they may likely change their ways.
So to businesses and organizations who pay their musicians, we thank you. We won't forget you, either. To those entities who do not, and will not, do the right thing, remember that a bad rep is like syphlis - easy to get and almost impossible to eradicate. And, to musicians who continually play for free even when they dont need to, remember that you are keeping money out of more pockets than just your own.
There is an old Gaelic saying that goes "A thank you doesn't pay the fiddler." Please, remember to pay the fiddler.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Playing For Free - Again
The leaves are turning, the wind is getting colder, and before you know it the train wreck of events we bundle into a period we call "The Holidays" will be upon us. As musicians, thats a good thing because that means performances, and more money in our pockets.
That is, unless you are once again finding yourself playing for free.
As a kid I sat through "A Christmas Carol" a hundred times. Dickens' timeless classic about the spirit of Holiday giving never gets old, and always seems to have such a huge audience. But in "Play for free" Utah, it's slipping through the cracks. Hogle Zoo, for instance, is having a lavish Christmas light show and is asking area musicians to come out and be a part of holiday cheer. They want to pay for the lights, the plumbing, their employees from counter help to the top administrative brass; but ye of the musical instrument, they want you to play for free. Oh, wait, yes, they promised the usual "but its great exposure!" trip. People die from exposure, don't they?
I contacted Hogle Zoo about my concerns, and was promptly answered with one of those curt, fakely polite "well you don't have to play here then" letters, sarcastically signed off with "Happy Holidays". A nicely veiled "f**k you" I must say, that only seasoned PR professionals can bang out on a regular basis. Truly, I was going to leave this issue alone after writing them once. But their response made me realize there is much more going wrong in the Utah music scene than just chronic and widespread refusal to pay musicians. It is topped now with a hubris, an arrogance from some businesses that communicates to musicians that, not only are they not worth paying, but there is nothing ethically wrong with screwing them and they should take the anal probe happily.
Before this rant gets out of hand, a few things. No, this sad phenomenon is not limited to Utah. Yes, some Utah businesses are very conscientious about paying musicians for their events. Yes, it is ok to play for free sometimes, at the musician's choosing. I set aside a certain amount of hours per year that I decide to devote to charity playing, as do most other professionals I know. But what's the line? When should I ask for pay, and why does it matter if li'l ol' me does some free gigs?
That's a tough one, because businesses and organizations don't usually open their books to you and show you why they "can't pay". You have to make a subjective judgement on a case by case basis. For instance I limit my charity work to real charities or humane causes (homeless benefits events, etc) and not businesses that make money and plead poverty when it comes time to hire a musician. All it takes is a little observation. When you walk into a place that is expensive looking, has a pretty lavish carterer and the like, and they don't want to pay you, there is a high likelihood you're getting screwed.
And what about that, if its just me? Surely my isolated experience isn't going to affect the big picture, right? Wrong. Not to get into quantum physics here, but everything we do does indeed affect everyone else, in some way. When a musician plays for free all the time, not only will she or he get the rep of being a freebie, but that idea will spread around the commercial community. When a business successfully gets a musician to play for free, once or many times, they tell others amongst them. Their network will of course pull the same stunt, to save money. Word of mouth gets around. Next thing you know, my little 'isolated incident' chisels ten or a hundred other musicians out of a paying gig, or gets untold others rejected because they asked for a decent fee. In a nutshell, if you let yourself get clobbered, we all get clobbered.
Ultimately, this gets down to a question of ethics. We can argue ability to pay back and forth as the day is long, but the salient point here is that musicians deserve to make a living. When you become one, you have just committed to uncountable hours days and years of practice and study. Lugging heavy equipment around. Often very expensive instruments and their upkeep. Why then, is it moral to have your checkbook out with no question, when you need a plumber or lawyer...but close it when it comes to hire a player? How fast would a building contractor fold up shop if you asked them to work for free?
We can change this nonsense, but it first comes with changing a mindset. That mindset arguably gets a huge boost from the local culture, which teaches that music is a gift from God, and therefore should be given freely no matter what it takes out of the musician. We stop this by, first and foremost, reeducating businesses and organizations who may have it in their head that what we do is always free. Let them know. Most of the time, Hogle Zoo notwithstanding, they are amazingly open to changing their attitudes. Secondly, we need to apply pressure to those who refuse to pay an honorable fee to musicians. That's done by spreading the word about their practices in the community. When they see it is harder and harder to find musicians, and they dont want to ask cousin Tiffany to sing off key at the company Christmas party anymore, they may likely change their ways.
So to businesses and organizations who pay their musicians, we thank you. We won't forget you, either. To those entities who do not, and will not, do the right thing, remember that a bad rep is like syphlis - easy to get and almost impossible to eradicate. And, to musicians who continually play for free even when they dont need to, remember that you are keeping money out of more pockets than just your own.
There is an old Gaelic saying that goes "A thank you doesn't pay the fiddler." Please, remember to pay the fiddler.
_______________________________________________________