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On 1/30/2013 12:24 PM, Daniel Thomas wrote:
Local musicians cannot do all that much about fat cat greed. But we can stop playing out for dirt wages. No pearls before swine.I really agree with you on this, Daniel, but as someone who's still out there in the trenches trying to make a living wage as a performing musician (with a small amount from the dwindling number or people who pay to take music lessons)
there are very, very few decent paying gigs any more.In the 80's, it was a point of pride to me not to take less that a couple of hundred bucks for a gig. In 2012, I had one gig that paid $60............all others were paid less than that.
I am really interested in playing jazz (one of the historically worst paying forms of music there is, admittedly, but also representing one of the few remaining ways of getting in front of an audience where, ostensibly, other gigs
and potential students and studio work can be generated).In our area the places who pay for jazz musicians to play with offer tips and a meal or up to $30 and a meal. I'm struggling to find out some way to keep living doing what I've done professionally for
the last 35 straight years so I've elected to take those low paying gigs.There are still higher paying gigs (in the $100/person range) in Monterey and Carmel, but there are very, very few of them and the people who have those gigs are jealously holding onto them. Wedding, Parties and Bars that have
constant, employable live music have just dwindled to very, very little.But as unfair as the sub-liveable wages are, the restaurant where I play, weekly, couldn't possibly afford to pay more.............for them, it's a labor of love to have Jazz at their establishment and they are also struggling financially.
So, I'm with you but at this point where we live, I wouldn't play ever in public if I insisted on a liveable wage.
It's a tough nut to crack and I'm not wild about it, to be honest. respectfully, Rick