The price of the priceless
Entra aquí para la versión en español.
At my young 22 years I still haven’t heard of anyone who doesn’t enjoy music. Yes, I’m including reggaeton (don’t hate me). However, it hasn’t been uncommon to find people who appreciate it, but don’t put a price on it.
“As if I didn’t have other free options for this.”
This is what I imagine passing through the mind of the organizer of the event while reading the message of our acceptance and fees for Budget to be the opening band for their imported artist from the United States. Apparently, he forgot to add in his invitation that the event was unpaid. His almost immediate response, paraphrased, was:
“We understand your fee. But as you can see, we charge very little for the entrance. And with the artist’s plane, meals, transfers, hotel, and interpretation expenses, we regret not being able to fulfill your demands. Thank you very much.”
I don’t know about you. But taking into account that our quote was really modest (charging my city’s standard minimum), I see two main problems — and many other secondary ones — with this :
1.Art devaluation
While downloading music and movies informally is like brushing your teeth for many here in Mexico, I find it incredible it is still well seen to request free live performances. This is where the musician gets most of his revenue. Even John Mayer was “giving away” the album with the ticket for his show, arguing that he earns from tours and merchandise sold, not so much from selling music.
Lets consider some common arguments to leave the musician payless:
“Right now you’re nobody, but when you become somebody, you can start charging.”
Maybe that would be the case if we knocked on doors to be able to show our repertoire in different scenarios (“begging to play”). But when someone looks for us — whether by references or by having listened to us before — and decides that we are suitable for their show, for that person, we already are someone. In the same way that the chef that our friend recommended us, the waiter we hired for the wedding, or the graphic designer that we found in Instagram already caught our attention and caused us to want to ask for a service. Or would you consider it right to look for a programmer to make a page and tell him that since he is not Mark Zuckerberg yet, he can not expect to earn from it?
“But it’s different. The chef spends on ingredients. Te musicians already have the instruments they use for my event. They just get on the stage and play.”
Believe me, us musicians would love for our instruments to have consumption and wear as easy to estimate as tortillas. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to quantify and collect what it takes to buy, care for, maintain, and replace instruments. Of course, paying attention to the expenses in the instrument is easy to document costs; but this takes time, and there are many causes of unpredictable variations. Moreover, even achieving a fair number, it is another task to justify it to those who are unaware or indifferent to it.
Have you seen drummers break drumsticks, cymbals or drum patches? Have you seen guitarists / bassists break strings and spoil cables, or take their guitar to maintenance? Yes, that also has its cost. And the instruments do not just wear out; some become useless and need to be replaced.
“Believe me, I’d love to pay for your service! It’s just that the budget doesn’t cut it because (we don’t know the attendance we’ll have)/(we have other expenses)/(we’ve just started this business).”
This is a bit offensive. If all the project expenses were considered, and they were able to enlist them to estimate the viability of the project, how did they forget the “small detail” of the cost of the band that opens, before putting their ticket price? If they don’t take us in count for the budget, they will never afford this service. Why would you have this amenity then? Listen: it’s okay to spare the music sometimes. We as musicians did not tell our teachers: “I don’t have to pay for classes right now, but if I become famous, I’ll pay my dues.” Either we payed for the classes, or had to manage on our own.
Now, it is understood that the organizer may not always be able to afford it, but he does want to try to. What to do then? He/she can always invite musicians as partners in the project, to give them a proportionately pre-established share of the earnings, as in any business and just about any other industry.
2.The likely interpretation of our fee as arrogance
My grandfather used to say: “Don’t do me favors I don’t ask.”
Let’s stop considering our venue as “a favor” for the musician / artist. If you get a profit from the performance, that’s good for you. And as they say, nothing good comes without a cost.
Of course, being musicians doesn’t imply we’re selfish; it’s okay to ask for a favor every once in a while from someone close. But in my case, this person I didn’t even know took less than 5 minutes to cancel his offer, despite our openness to negotiate and our low fee. He didn’t want to bother with the band’s “demands” (his word, not mine), and he surely moved on with his task of finding someone willing to do it for free.
Being a musician is the only source of revenue for many; and for others, one of the sources. But in both cases, when you’re hiring someone with thoughts of getting an economic benefit from their service, this is a professional service. We’re not looking forward to show off our earnings, nor feeding our ego, there are costs involved. Musicians spend in:
- Important amounts of money in classes and instruments.
- Hours of dedication to improve to be able to learn and perform the requested songs. Time is money.
- Gas, Uber, truck, taxi money. As well as soundcheck time for the event.
- Rehearsal rooms and transportation to them.
This is just to name a few stuff that the musician invests in. Any artist could be doing many other simpler and more “money making” things instead of performing for free. If what we’re looking for is to sell our venue as an opportunity to earn experience, we must be clear on this, and look for artists la actually lack the experience.
Conclusion
In Mexico, a country where it’s not unusual to hear complaints of the artistic offer, I’m surprised to see the lack of support the arts receive. “Law of offer” some will say, while they struggle to even give drinks on the house for the band. I guess it’s alright for other countries to exploit their people to produce clothes in inhumane conditions? I mean, they all want to do it too, they’re not slaves, right? I’m talking about the way thing should be, I’m already aware of the reality of things.
If you have the chance to talk with artists who’ve “made it” or tried but failed to in the arts in your country, you’ll realize how complicated it really is, and the respect it must be given to them to have that level of amazing offer found in foreign countries. We have talent, but the environment is really limiting.
If you ever exploit an artist’s work:
When the artist asks for a profesional favor, will you do it? Will you be their manager, event planner, or marketing agent for free? If the answer is “yes”, then I invite you to offer this as payment, without waiting for the artist to ask. If the answer is “no”, then what are you even doing?
If you want to grow as a pro artist:
Your discipline, your time and your dedication are worth something. You too play a role in the fair pricing of the service you offer. Just like in any business, it’s healthy to analyze costs and expenses to know the price your service should have. It’s also usual to ask and search about the standard fees in your city too, to have a well informed idea of the revenue you can obtain from it.
I know it may be hard to “corrupt” something as priceless as music with fees and costs sometimes. But it’s a reality that helps the arts, and having these types of incentives creates a lot of growth of talent and economy. Music industry is very profitable, but only a fraction of the revenue generally goes to the musician. A full time musician can have a lot more development and reach than someone playing on his/her out of work time (like me). And this reach will plant a lot more healthier seeds that, in the right environment, can catalyze culture, economy and even ourselves.
Imagine being deprived from art in your life. How much would you pay to get it back?
***Artists: I invite you to comment about your experience. Write down the phrases people said to you on this matter (like my band’s fee rejection message).***
If you enjoyed this entry, please share and promote its message.
Love,
Santi.
To know more about the author’s intentions with his entries, read the first entry: What is the intention of this blog?
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