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Aug
21
Playing For Free
Filed Under blog
Here’s the problem with playing for free. It doesn’t work for me. I need to feel like someone gives a shit enough about what I do to pay me something for my time. And I should be paid. Regardless if you think music should be free in it’s recorded form which of course is fucking ludicrous, driving to the gig, setting up one’s gear, playing and singing for multiple hours, breaking down, and driving home are all alot of work and thus, an artist should be paid for his time. You don’t ask a waiter to come to work for free. You don’t ask a Doctor to work for free. The fact is, I’ve put 30 years into playing musical instruments, writing songs, singing and performing and my entire life revolves around music. That said, playing for free is demeaning. It’s like the bar owner saying, “oh well of course I get paid, my staff have to be paid, in fact everyone has to be paid for their time, but you should come here and play but NOT be paid”. WTF? Now, I do see alot of so called musicians who are amateur and thus should not expect to be paid. They are essentially lucky someone lets them come out and get the experience they need until they develop the professional level skills that warrant them being paid as such. I don’t have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when I’m lumped in with the smelly hippy blowing into a didgeridoo that he just got a week earlier. That sucks and I can’t deal with it anymore. I’m fucking sick of being expected to play for free. This is what I do. Music. It’s my vocation. You pay a Lawyer. You pay a Doctor. But artists are continually taken advantage of and I sincerely believe much of it stems from Jealousy from people who have no talent or artistic skill. Music is life!! People know this, it affects them just like good Visual art or art of any kind! Why is that artists are shit on? Made to feel inadequate because we do not operate by the same conformity of society as other people. My theory is people know this, are jealous and they want to keep the artist down; in their place as an outcast not worthy of any reverence or special treatment. In fact they seek to subjugate the artist to prop themselves up so that they can compensate for their feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. It really is quite sad. In any case this seems to be how the world works from my perspective and It seriously sucks! I want no part of that world.
Oh ya..I so agree with you on this point Sean. You should not even bother when it is for free unless you choose to do it. That is the key word here. If you choose to and you do then more people expect you to. So DON’T! Playing is work oh it may be work you love but you should get paid. I like my job but I don’t do it for free. So don’t do it UNLESS YOU CHOOSE it. enough said.
Marietta
Heya Sean…
While I agree, I also would have to put forth that in most artists there is a burning desire to “get their art out” to the masses. The evil regime (exploitative club owners) is aware of this, and uses it to their advantage.
Another problem is the audience. Who knows what makes an audience tick? I’ve seen incredible performers do a set to “polite muted applause” while far lesser talents get up, play a few simple (but apparently popular) songs, to receive thunderous acclaim.
There was an experiment in New York City a few years ago. A renowned classical violinist was hired by some researchers to perform a “free busking concert” in a NYC subway station…the same concert he had performed at a venue like Carnegie Hall only a few nights prior. To up the ante, he was performing on a priceless Stradivarius violin. Only a few nights before, tickets had gone for incredible amounts to attend his show. Now, he was standing in a corner of the subway station, wearing jeans and a Nike t-shirt, playing for free.
Of all the people walking by on that crowded afternoon, only 1 or 2 paused briefly to listen, and only one lady recognized him. Hardly anyone even tipped him.
Yea Ted, I read about the violin experiment as well. What does it tell us? That whatever perception we put out of ourselves or that is put out of us, that’s the one people will buy. If we paint ourselves as having high value then people will perceive it as such but if we are busking in a subway, they will not pay us mind. No wonder I have never tried busking, although I must admit, I’ve seen some buskers seriously cash in.
Different topic, consider registering your blog on blog catalog. It’s one of the best networking sites for blogs, and has a few music groups. When I saw you’d drop by with an Entrecard drop, I checked to see if you were on BC. LinkedIn is another networking site where there are some music groups for networking about the music business.