I’ve listened to many arguments on why musicians should not play for no pay.
I myself pay the bills as a self employed software consultant. At other times I play with bands, practice, and develop my own works. I give priority to the occasional paid gigs, but it’s never near enough to pay the rent. I’ll play anywhere they’ll have me, paid or not. I’m working hard to rebalance myself into becoming at least a partially working musician, but the software paychecks are tough to give up. Am I a scab for breaking the union lines and working for less than scale at gigs? Often by playing for free, I am bringing live music to a space which otherwise would not have it. Is that a crime? I am looking for answers to these questions.
I’ve heard the argument plenty of times that by playing for free, I am yanking one more desperate paycheck from the hands of a professional, full time musician. From my perspective, the contracts of a professional musician have little difference from those of a professional software developer. I have spent a decade developing skills in the software trade, and am able to locate clients who are willing to pay out for those skills. I charge enough to meet my requirements, and don’t work for free unless it’s for my friends. There are thousands of other contractors out there who are willing to work for less or even for free, and some clients will use them. My objective then is to continually elevate my skills and output such that my value remains higher than the low and no pay developers. If I did a job for free, I would not feel that I was taking a paycheck away from another developer. No, I would feel like a sucker for doing work for free when I could have been paid by someone else for similar work which is not mine. Such is the demand out there when I am willing to adapt my work output to the needs of the market.
If a venue is not concerned about the style of music or the quality of musicians they are hiring, they will go with the cheap or free ones since there are thousands of outstreched hands screaming for a gig. If they want high quality musicians playing music with a big draw, they have to pay for it because there is a balance of demand. So it is the objective of the working musician to spend time in the woodshed developing music with market demand, either current or future. Past demand does not map to demand today!
If the musician plays only what he or she likes, it may be high art but doesn’t necessarily have economic value. If it does, great. I am convinced that many artists working in acts with big draws are doing exactly this these days. Maybe it was so with jazz big bands back in the day. But in that day, these new forms of music did not exist, and swing was the new exciting thing.
Otherwise it is time to go back to the drawing board. If clients are not paying a rate you think fair, it might be worth considering whether the product has value to the target audience. I myself pay good (??) U.S. dollars to listen to the performances of local and touring acts and often thought I wasn’t paying enough. I eagerly awaiting an opportunity to do it again!
In considering the musicians’ work against my software work, I think of the software and websites I have created for myself. I have created a great many things for no pay which I consider to have artistic value. But most of the work I do to create paychecks is relatively dry. I find ways to express myself in the paid work, and strive to produce the highest quality I can. But in the end, I am creating something for someone else, and I try to give them exactly what they want whether I enjoy it or not.
I have heard the cries of many that people just don’t pay for music anymore. This is not true. Concert goers are buying $5-$30 tickets for shows at multiple venues every single night of the week in this city, often at packed houses. Audiences aren’t so easily swayed, they pay for music they like. The don’t drop cash often enough, perhaps, but they do choose based on their own preferences. We live in an age where it is easier than ever to deliver your unique musical offering into the ears of potential listeners. If you make something with appeal, they will come. Whether people have musical preference based on what they are spoon fed by commercial enterprises is another posting altogether.
It is reality that economic forces have shaped the development of music, and it is important not to ignore them if you want to extract money out of the system. It is not enough to spend one’s whole life working on something without consideration for the market and have the expectation to be paid for it. In some ways, I consider my current musical output to be more pure than that created by someone who is trying to feed his family. I create music to express my own thoughts and feelings and not to satisfy any other requirements. If I continue working hard, I hope that some day I will be able to drop my day job and devote even more time into this project. I do not have the expectation that I will, but I will continue working as hard as I can at both. The guy feeding his family will do fine as long as he adapts his professional work to the market.
So my whole point is that one cannot just create something and expect to be paid for it. Music needs to adapted to the markets available to it if a monetary return is expected. I wish musicians were being paid healthy wages with benefits at every single club, restaurant, and street corner. If the market wanted that it would get it. Unfortunately it doesn’t. But fortunately, music is being created for free every night in garages, basements, bedrooms, underground nightclubs, and even the occasional nonpaid gig in a club. I feel great privilege when clients want to pay what I ask for my professional services. Just because I have spent time developing my craft though doesn’t mean I should expect to do exactly what I want to do all the time. I’m doing the software equivalent of designing ringtone melodies or creating the soundtrack for some crappy ass low budget movie I hate. But I’m doing it to the best of my abilities, and funneling all remaining creative energy into projects I care about regardless of the economic payback.
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