When I started this blog, one of our early participants reminded us, and I especially took notice, that we need to praise the people who treat musicians with respect - as well as expose the ones who don't. Happily, we have a recent example.
Sugarhouse Coffee (1045 E. 2100 South) is starting a new project called "Acoustic Cafe", which will spotlight some of the best acoustic musicians in the area. They have not only put some considerable work and money into a good sound system, lights and room for the event, they plan to pay their musicians. To quote their craigslist ad:
The Acoustic Cafe at SugarHouse Coffee is now auditioning musicians to perform on our new stage. Our intention is to create an intimate venue where musicians can perform all genres of music acoustically. All musicians will have their performance showcased with professional lighting, (spotlights) acoustics (sound system) and a managed audience (background noise). We are developing a venue/restaurant that focuses entirely on the musician during their performance and shows them the respect they deserve. If you are interested in performing please call our booking agent at 801-645-0499 or send an email with contact information to sugarhousemusic@inbox.com. Together we can create Salt Lake City's premiere acoustic venue.
I just confirmed that the establishment is not only shaping up to be a paying one, but has the over all goal of bringing good acoustic music to prominence. Please check them out, and be sure and bring your best game. This looks like a win for everybody, and will hopefully serve as a model for other businesses and clients of professional musicians to see how it's supposed to be done.
Kudos to Acoustic Cafe, and thanks for paying the band.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday, November 27, 2008
This is how it's done...
I want to share with you an email I just received from Jerry Rosen, a local jazz guitarist. Apparently he just got solicited by a company who was doing a Christmas party and wanted his music for the event - and wonder of wonders, they asked him to do it for "exposure", with no compensation (translation, for free). Rather than blow a gasket and tell them where to get off, I really liked how he handled this situation and I think it's an example we can all learn from. Not only did he end up resolving it to his interests, he created one more business owner out there who had a change of heart when it comes to paying for live music.
"My name is Jerry Rosen, and I play jazz guitar. I've been following the Pay The Band thing for a while now, and have to say it's caused me to question alot of my normal practices when it comes to dealing with the public and getting gigs. Anyway, I want to tell you about what just happened to me when a small company approached me to play their Christmas party. They were really nice and enthusiastic about it, and then the other shoe dropped. Yep, they wanted me to play for free, while energetically trying to prime me about all the great exposure I would get. My first impulse was, seriously, to tell them to shove it. I have a significant amount of equipment to haul around, the party was a considerable distance from home. Instead I bit my lip and rethought it. Here was an opportunity not only to at least try to get paid, but to educate someone who evidently had no idea that what I do (as a living) is a service that deserves the same consideration and respect as someone elses.
I first told them that I would love to play their event and was flattered they asked me (stoked their own importance first, how diplomatic!). Then I quickly followed with asking them why they didn't consider using music on CD. They said they much prefer a live person for the "feel" that cannot be replaced by canned music. Aha! There's my in. I told them I agree, there is nothing like live music and there is so much time, practice, equipment upkeep, blood sweat and tears that go into being a performer at their best. I followed that with the fact that our bills don't get paid any faster than theirs do, without compensation to do it. I stopped pressing there, and said if they like I could give them the names of a few other musicians who might be willing to play this event for free. There, my contact surprised me by saying no, they wanted me and she would see what she could do about compensating me. I couple of days later, they called back and said they came up with $350 in their party budget to pay me. I took the gig and thanked them once again.
What I learned from this were a few crucial things. One, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. Say what needs to be said. Two, keep the focus on the positive when you are negotiating, like play up on how honored you are by the offer etc. Three, and this might be the most important: If you succeed in getting paid, you have just turned another heart and mind for the cause of "revaluing" live music.
I hope this serves some purpose, and hope its some kind of testament about how we can change minds as well as come our richer. Happy Holidays to you and yours,
J. Rosen
I think that about says it all.
"My name is Jerry Rosen, and I play jazz guitar. I've been following the Pay The Band thing for a while now, and have to say it's caused me to question alot of my normal practices when it comes to dealing with the public and getting gigs. Anyway, I want to tell you about what just happened to me when a small company approached me to play their Christmas party. They were really nice and enthusiastic about it, and then the other shoe dropped. Yep, they wanted me to play for free, while energetically trying to prime me about all the great exposure I would get. My first impulse was, seriously, to tell them to shove it. I have a significant amount of equipment to haul around, the party was a considerable distance from home. Instead I bit my lip and rethought it. Here was an opportunity not only to at least try to get paid, but to educate someone who evidently had no idea that what I do (as a living) is a service that deserves the same consideration and respect as someone elses.
I first told them that I would love to play their event and was flattered they asked me (stoked their own importance first, how diplomatic!). Then I quickly followed with asking them why they didn't consider using music on CD. They said they much prefer a live person for the "feel" that cannot be replaced by canned music. Aha! There's my in. I told them I agree, there is nothing like live music and there is so much time, practice, equipment upkeep, blood sweat and tears that go into being a performer at their best. I followed that with the fact that our bills don't get paid any faster than theirs do, without compensation to do it. I stopped pressing there, and said if they like I could give them the names of a few other musicians who might be willing to play this event for free. There, my contact surprised me by saying no, they wanted me and she would see what she could do about compensating me. I couple of days later, they called back and said they came up with $350 in their party budget to pay me. I took the gig and thanked them once again.
What I learned from this were a few crucial things. One, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. Say what needs to be said. Two, keep the focus on the positive when you are negotiating, like play up on how honored you are by the offer etc. Three, and this might be the most important: If you succeed in getting paid, you have just turned another heart and mind for the cause of "revaluing" live music.
I hope this serves some purpose, and hope its some kind of testament about how we can change minds as well as come our richer. Happy Holidays to you and yours,
J. Rosen
I think that about says it all.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Holiday gigs - Are you getting your due?
It seems like they move Christmas earlier every year. Now we don't simply have a Christmas holiday begin, but months of "hey Christmas is coming" before the actual period hits. If you are like me, on one level you want to scream if you see one more little white fur lined red cap on a counter clerk. But as musicians, this is supposed to be one of the cash crops of the year.
If you are, you know, getting paid.
As we saw with the Hogle Zoo ZooLights debacle (congrats to us for shutting that one down!), just because the Season of Giving is upon us does not necessarily mean wallets are open for performing musicians. In fact, our local history is that there are far more Scrooges around at that time, and the rest of the year, than not. Add to that the stinky economic times we are facing and it could really put the north pole cold on your Christmas revenues.
If you haven't already, you should be out scrambling for Christmas gigs yesterday. Many office and departmental Holiday parties have already booked their musicians by now, but you could still find some who haven't firmed them up. And here is the important part about booking gigs this year - do not let them plead poverty to you because of the economic downturn as an excuse to not pay you. Remind them politely that you are a part of the hurting economy as well, and the Christmas goose isn't magically put on your table just because you agreed to play for free at their office party. Most people will be surprisingly reasonable and accomodating if you reason with them as "one of the working multitudes". That way they can relate to your plight, because being business people, that is their plight too.
Oh, and don't forget to have your Holiday CDs in order. I've never played a private holiday event that didn't allow me to sell my CDs as well.
And lastly, here is another call to send me your candidates for listing on either The Worst of The Worst businesses and people for paying musicians, or The Best. I will be compiling both lists and making them a permanent feature here as soon as I get a few recommendations.
If you are, you know, getting paid.
As we saw with the Hogle Zoo ZooLights debacle (congrats to us for shutting that one down!), just because the Season of Giving is upon us does not necessarily mean wallets are open for performing musicians. In fact, our local history is that there are far more Scrooges around at that time, and the rest of the year, than not. Add to that the stinky economic times we are facing and it could really put the north pole cold on your Christmas revenues.
If you haven't already, you should be out scrambling for Christmas gigs yesterday. Many office and departmental Holiday parties have already booked their musicians by now, but you could still find some who haven't firmed them up. And here is the important part about booking gigs this year - do not let them plead poverty to you because of the economic downturn as an excuse to not pay you. Remind them politely that you are a part of the hurting economy as well, and the Christmas goose isn't magically put on your table just because you agreed to play for free at their office party. Most people will be surprisingly reasonable and accomodating if you reason with them as "one of the working multitudes". That way they can relate to your plight, because being business people, that is their plight too.
Oh, and don't forget to have your Holiday CDs in order. I've never played a private holiday event that didn't allow me to sell my CDs as well.
And lastly, here is another call to send me your candidates for listing on either The Worst of The Worst businesses and people for paying musicians, or The Best. I will be compiling both lists and making them a permanent feature here as soon as I get a few recommendations.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
"Fundraiser" ripping off musicians again
Recently I ran across an ad for a "fundraising event" that caught my eye because - you guessed it - it is trolling for free live music. What made this one stand out is some of the big numbers floating around an event that is posing as so cash poor that they can't pay the musicians. For instance, they are charging $50 at the door. They are expecting 350+ people, and think they can raise $25,000. They are advertising gambling (which made me laugh because they are doing this thing in Provo, Utah).
Anyway, it smelled fishier than even I first thought. So thanks to a supporter of ours at Northern Lights Radio Society, I got on to the website of the organization putting this thing on, called The Great Life Foundation - which from all appearances looked like one of those new agey "life coach" scams. I knew if I dug around I could find what they were actually peddling, and how much they were soaking people for it. Eureka. If you go into the "classes" that they offer, take a gander at the fees. One class was $1685 per person.
Is this passing your sniff test? All this cash they are bringing in (and we have no idea how much of it actually will go to any charity, do we?) and they cannot cough up a few hundred bucks or so for a band?
Anyway, if you are interested:
Living Christmas Benefit
The Great Life Foundation
November 14th 7-11 pm
APX Headquarters 5132 North 300 West, Provo UT.
If you want to give these folks your feeling on asking for free live music, you can contact them at:
801-466-1222 or www.TheGreatLifeFoundation.org
Anyway, it smelled fishier than even I first thought. So thanks to a supporter of ours at Northern Lights Radio Society, I got on to the website of the organization putting this thing on, called The Great Life Foundation - which from all appearances looked like one of those new agey "life coach" scams. I knew if I dug around I could find what they were actually peddling, and how much they were soaking people for it. Eureka. If you go into the "classes" that they offer, take a gander at the fees. One class was $1685 per person.
Is this passing your sniff test? All this cash they are bringing in (and we have no idea how much of it actually will go to any charity, do we?) and they cannot cough up a few hundred bucks or so for a band?
Anyway, if you are interested:
Living Christmas Benefit
The Great Life Foundation
November 14th 7-11 pm
APX Headquarters 5132 North 300 West, Provo UT.
If you want to give these folks your feeling on asking for free live music, you can contact them at:
801-466-1222 or www.TheGreatLifeFoundation.org
Saturday, October 25, 2008
SaltAir - A real stinker?
I just got notified about the venue "SaltAir". I've been to this place as a concert goer (clear back when KMFDM played there) but never as a performer. It didn't seem bad to me at the time, but apparently there are numerous complaints from performers there about the policies of the place. To wit -
They tag a "service fee" to the concert ticket. What 'service' is that about?
They charge you for parking and are eagerly waiting to tow your car if you don't leave in a big enough hurry.
Once you manage to get in they charge you a membership fee to get to the drinking area.
And, if I am not mistaken, they are a Pay to Play venue.
Now when I tabulate all these charges, I'm trying hard to come up with reasons that customers would go all the way down to that lake smelling place just to get robbed.
If anyone has had experiences like this, or to the contrary, please post in the comments or email me directly and we'll follow this one.
They tag a "service fee" to the concert ticket. What 'service' is that about?
They charge you for parking and are eagerly waiting to tow your car if you don't leave in a big enough hurry.
Once you manage to get in they charge you a membership fee to get to the drinking area.
And, if I am not mistaken, they are a Pay to Play venue.
Now when I tabulate all these charges, I'm trying hard to come up with reasons that customers would go all the way down to that lake smelling place just to get robbed.
If anyone has had experiences like this, or to the contrary, please post in the comments or email me directly and we'll follow this one.
Friday, October 24, 2008
We've had our first success!
The final chapter in the Hogle Zoo ZooLights! debacle. A savvy participant on the talkbass.com forum has informed me that Hogle Zoo has cancelled its free live music at the event - thanks in large part to this blog and mostly those of you who called in or wrote in your complaints of how the musicians are treated. The director of this event who you have come to know is Cagney Smullen, abruptly delivered this information to a musician calling in to ask about the event. She said live music has been canceled due to too many complaints about musicians not being paid, and then hung up.
Congratulate yourselves!
The only down side of this is that I wish they had not erred on the side of greed and canceled the event completely, but used those university educated financial managers to figure out a way to get the performing musicians some sort of fee. But hey, it's a victory nonethless.
On the same talkbass.com forum I saw that we had a hand in canceling yet another free music event, but that wasn't specified. If I can get the particulars on that, I'll post about it.
Once again, great job, people. This is what organization and unity of purpose is all about. Now, we are known, and a force to be reckoned with.
Keep up the pressure!
Congratulate yourselves!
The only down side of this is that I wish they had not erred on the side of greed and canceled the event completely, but used those university educated financial managers to figure out a way to get the performing musicians some sort of fee. But hey, it's a victory nonethless.
On the same talkbass.com forum I saw that we had a hand in canceling yet another free music event, but that wasn't specified. If I can get the particulars on that, I'll post about it.
Once again, great job, people. This is what organization and unity of purpose is all about. Now, we are known, and a force to be reckoned with.
Keep up the pressure!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Been thinking about "The List"
Some of you have written to me that it would be a good idea to come up with a list of places in their locale that make a habit of not paying musicians or requiring them to pay to play. I think it's a damn good idea we need to pounce on.
So, if you would be so kind, send me a list of such venues, and add to each one a personal experience or reason that they should be on the list. I will collect these and then post it as a sidebar on this blog for easy access. I'm thinking that if it gets filled out enough, we can start physically printing that list and posting around town, or handed out to the clientele of the venues themselves.
Remember the offenders need not be a nightclub alone, but a business or even a person. Please back it up with some specifics so we don't get in trouble with libel/slander.
Thanks for the great idea!
So, if you would be so kind, send me a list of such venues, and add to each one a personal experience or reason that they should be on the list. I will collect these and then post it as a sidebar on this blog for easy access. I'm thinking that if it gets filled out enough, we can start physically printing that list and posting around town, or handed out to the clientele of the venues themselves.
Remember the offenders need not be a nightclub alone, but a business or even a person. Please back it up with some specifics so we don't get in trouble with libel/slander.
Thanks for the great idea!
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