[Dixielandjazz] Re: Where is the music going?

[Steve barbone]

LARRY at sign.guy at charter.net wrote: (polite snip)

> I completely understand but the daytime competition here are some pretty
> good people with Karaoke machines and a bunch of really bad  piano players
> who are willing to take $50 - $75 to play.  It's really difficult to find
> day gigs here that will budget more than $200.   There are no jobs here that I
> know of that pays $350 during the day.  We work an extremely high end sr. home
> $6k per month) and get $50 for a sideman but they usually have 5 piece groups.
> for a sideman but they usually have 5 piece groups.

My point is that there ARE gigs there in St Louis for more money. All you
have got to go out and either find them or create them. I was told the same
thing when I started in Philadelphia. I didn't go for it then and we now do
as many gigs as we can handle. We get $100/hr each for 5 sidemen at Low End
senior facilities more at High End ones, plus leader fee.
 
> I choose to work rather than set at home.  I would personally like to work
> with good musicians it's just a whole lot better all the way around and
> there's another thing I just won't pay less than $50 and often I pay more
> with $60 being the average for an hour.  When I work for groups that are
> playing in the same market I get $35 and truthfully I make a whole lot more
> staring at my computer here at home.  The guys that I hire are better than
> $35. I was making that in 1960.

Agree, with the choice to work. I've been there. When I started to play
again in 1990 I took gigs for as little as $30, wore stupid costumes, etc.,
etc . But then I said if there isn't a better deal then this, I'll quit
playing again. I figured out how to raise the bar and in doing so proved a
lot of musicians, friends, and so called musical experts wrong. Actually, I
became a band leader when I got pissed off at playing cheap gigs in
ridiculous outfits, for leaders who said that's the way it is in OKOM.
 
> The thread is "Where is music going" well here it is.  By choosing to work
> at $200 I have closed out some of the groups that charge more.  I have done
> it by providing a better more attractive service at a lower cost.  That's
> the American system across the board.  It's called free enterprise.  By the
> same token the groups that go around and perform for free or for not much
> cut me out.  The DJ's did a job on musicians and many just dropped off the
> playing field.  I think it was worse here in St. Louis.  Every band got hurt
> by it.  I played with a wedding band that eventually just folded up because
> of it.  Them's the breaks.

I've been there too, but didn't accept the "fact" that those are the breaks.
I went out and made my own breaks. Price alone is meaningless. Product
differentiation is the key. If my musical presentation wasn't different from
all the others out there, I'd still be working for $30, or not playing.
Heck, we now play weddings with a JAZZ BAND. Because I created the demand
when it was/is not apparent to others in the music business.
 
> I'm all for art but if it comes down to lasting in the business or setting
> home and playing for myself, I'd rather last.

Completely agree, only ask that you get pro-active. Our "Art" is functional.
At some senior facilities that produce 4 activities a month, their budget is
$1300 for the four activities. We get a MINIMUM of $650 for a one hour gig,
thus using half their budget. And they ask us back. Why, because what we do
is worth it to them and their residents. I suspect the Karaoke guys absorb
the rest of the budget in the other 3 gigs @ $200 a gig.

Yeah, I know, I'm pompous and I'm condescending etc., etc., etc. Why?
Because I've done it when others said it couldn't be done. That's what I did
all through my day gig business life as well. No big deal. Shame of it is
that every band leader/musician on the DJML is capable of doing it to. They
just don't realize it yet.

Mine is not a travelling band. I don't publish our success stories to get
OKOM festival gigs at some far off corner of the USA, or the world. They
don't pay enough either. I have a message, a mission, like those Gospel
Thumpers, only slightly different. Simply to get the WORD out to others that
it is possible to enjoy the monetary rewards of OKOM while passing the
torch, but converts need not contribute to my coffers.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone