Allen Tate a Facebook friend posted this today and I just wanted to share with everyone. Maybe this story is not true, but I am sure we all can identify with it.
Craigslist Ad:
We are a new casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD’s. No pay will be involved.
This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More Jazz, Rock, & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.
A Musician’s Reply:
Happy New Year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restauranteur to come to my house to promote his/her restaurant by making dinner for me and my friends. No pay will be involved. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get a positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals and mixed Ethnic Fusion cuisine. Are you interested to promote your restaurant?
Please reply back ASAP.
I first heard it from Vancouver jazz singer Jennifer Scott. People ask us why we don’t play that much around town. This attitude is pretty much why.
right on – sarcastic bastard musician wins!!
actually heres another scenario – TAKE THE GIG, be better than anyone expects, dont be late, dont drink too much and puke in the lentils, dont try and fuck the owners daughter or perform a 15 minute new song you have been working on – become a huge reason the restaurant is succeeding – thats when you get paid or you take your audience across the street to the other restaurant that has NOTICED how amazingly good for business you are! you either have leverage or you DONT.
Free is the new black.
You always have the option of sitting in your bedroom playing.
Agreed. I just like the example of what would a restaurant think if the same offer was presented to them.
That response was quite possibly the greatest reply ever. I DESPISE seeing “jobs” on craigslist that demand a ton of work for no pay. Gigs too, but then again those aren’t jobs, which require PAYING someone.
Honestly, you’d think that at the least the Restaurant would offer them free food, you know?
Martin is right on. It’s the musician who takes the gig and figures out a way to make it pay that wins. The one who shows up on time and aggressively over-delivers. It might not be ideal, but it’s the reality right now.
I would take the gig myself, except for the fact that it would be cruel to subject diners to my attempts at playing “mixed cultural music” at a solo gig…
But, yes, J.T., the management would have to be assholes not to offer dinner and PBR.
Pretty funny…I will say, having done some booking for different places, nothing gets me madder than when bands or performers over price themselves. You have four people in your band and you don’t have a demo or a CD and only 100 likes on facebook and you want to get paid $300 a member for a gig in a town of only 200,000 people? Yeah right. I play for free all the time, just set up a tip jar and a few CD’s, you can do all right at any venue and if the venue wants to give a little on top of the tips and CD’s that’s just a bonus.
Yeah… as a touring musician, I’ve heard pretty much every end of this you can imagine. Whether or not it’s “right” isn’t really the question anymore, because it just “is” at this point in time, and it will be until we musicians act like businesses and demand to be recognized as a business.
I go with this approach: go in there ONCE, kick the gig’s @$$ to where their clientele for the night is asking when the next night you’ll play will be. If you can’t arrange a paid setup for the next gig, don’t play it again. I find venues that operate against that manner don’t last long as they’re constantly turning away good entertainers AND possible clients with their poor entertainment.
This reminds me of this article as well. Michael, have you seen this? :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/78468650/La-Club-Owners
~ Michael Shoup
Singer / Songwriter