[Dixielandjazz] Playing for free vs undermining the pros

Sun Feb 11 18:00:22 PST 2007

RO--(I refer to my irregular gigs, not to my my physical appearances, which 
are irregular enough). My coming in is a little langiappe for the residents 
and, IMHO, hurts nobody.

LW---That might not be entirely true.  How do you know that they didn't 
count you in their paperwork back to corporate as an hour of entertainment. 
Entertainment directors are under the gun to provide so many hours of 
entertainment each week.  The more free the better.  As I understand it 
entertainment is now a requirement (could be wrong).  You may just have 
added another $60-$100 profit to the corporate guys that they didn't have to 
pay for.  Sounds cynical but business is business.

RO--I would never dream of offering my services free of charge to a venue 
which normally pays for the very same service.

LW-- I work nursing and Senior homes all the time and would do a whole lot 
better if there weren't so many people standing in line to entertain for 
free or for practically nothing.  Several people I work with also do Senior 
homes.  My piano man does several every week and it's a good add on for 
musicians during the day.

Most of the nursing and Senior homes are not non profit deals.  There are 
some however.  Before I play for a home at a lesser rate I ask them the 
percentage of people who are on Medicaid.  These people are basically not 
big money makers for the homes and some of them are almost 100% Medicaid. 
The second type of home is the subsidized housing apartments.  We have 
several here where the residents pay 25% of their income.  That allows a 
person who has a very low income to have a fairly nice home.  They have very 
little money for entertainment and the sponsoring bodies are usually 
churches.  Personally I will cut them a break.  People who are entertaining 
for free or very little should be seeking out those type of homes.

Look in the yellow pages and see if they are advertising regular 
entertainment - quite a few here do.  My thinking is if they are advertising 
it and it is helping their corporation shouldn't they pay for it.  People 
who own and run these places are way above my pay grade and I don't feel 
sorry for them.

Several I play at are charging $6000 a month up.  I'm sorry but I just can't 
see giving them a break.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rorel at aol.com>
To: <NANCYink at surewest.net>
Cc: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 7:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Playing for free vs undermining the pros

>
> Hello Nancy -- a pleasure to meet you, if only online.
>
> I agree with you wholeheartedly, up to a point. I would never dream of 
> offering my services free of charge to a venue which normally pays for the 
> very same service. It would be very wrong of me to appraoch, let's say a 
> restaurant or country club that hires a band and offer to play regularly 
> for nothing. THat would personify the phrase "unethical in the extreme." 
> As a working musician myself, that is not in my repertoire.
>
> However, a nursing home has, as you rightly pointed out, a budget. Whether 
> it be for the month or the year they have a budget with, I am guessing, a 
> certain amoutn for arts & crafts, a certain amount for field trips and a 
> certain amount for music. If I call a facility on a Saturday morning and 
> ask if they'd like me to come in later that afternoon and play for an 
> hour, I am not taking a gig away from anybody. The regular musicians are 
> booked well in advance and their income is not jeopordized by my spotty 
> appearances. (I refer to my irregular gigs, not to my my physical 
> appearances, which are irregular enough). My coming in is a little 
> langiappe for the residents and, IMHO, hurts nobody. Parenthetically, 
> quite often I am told, "I am sorry, we have a group coming in today." And 
> I hang up the phone knowing that the old folks will be entertained. For 
> me, that's even better than playing myself for I know they are being 
> entertained regularly. Rest assured, i am not taking anything from anyone. 
> If I thought I was, I certainly would stop right away.
>
> Regarding fundraisers: I am in the midst of preparing one right now -- the 
> second such event for a little boy with neurofibromatosis (Elephant Man 
> Disease). It is not in my nature to ask people who use their music money 
> as income to play for nothing. As Steve Barbone says he does, I pay them 
> out of my own pocket. I add that I am up-front with the musicians, telling 
> them the cause and where their funds are coming from. Many waive or reduce 
> their fee, but that is their choice. I dislike being asked to play for 
> nothing myself, why should I ask a crony to do so?
>
> Case in point: I found myself a guest at a hoy-palloy party one time and 
> as the dinner plates were being cleared the hostess announced, "And now 
> Mr. Osnato will favor us with a selection at the piano." I blushed and 
> said thank you but I came as a guest and I was really not prepared to 
> play. "Oh Mr. Osnato," insisted the hostess," you must play -- I've 
> already announced you."
>
> So I played. And played. And played. For forty-five minutes I played to 
> the best of my modest ability. The hostess was most appreciative after the 
> impromptu concert and told me I made her and her party a huge success.
>
> The next day I sent her a bill for $450.
>
> She paid. But for some reason I have never been invited back.
>
> Ray Osnato
>
> From: NANCYink at surewest.net
> To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Sent: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 3:44 PM
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Playing for free vs undermining the pros
>
>  REPLY TO RAY:
>
> Hello, Ray,
>
> While I admire what you¹re doing for the residents of the nursing homes, I
> would only suggest that rather than calling a ³nursing home at random,² 
> you
> might only call nursing homes that never, ever hire professional musicians
> to perform at their location. There are serious, full-time or part-time
> musicians who look to nursing homes for much-needed income, and they can¹t
> compete with kindly folks like you who give your talent away in exchange 
> for
> the satisfaction it gives you to do community service. Likewise, as a
> graphic designer for both print and the Web, I cannot compete with artists
> who give away their work for the satisfaction of seeing their work in 
> print.
> I certainly do my fair share of pro-bono work for the local jazz society,
> but that is work that the STJS would not pay anyone to do. (Instead, the
> STJS will find the most qualified volunteer for the job.) And certainly
> there are professional musicians who will work for free while starting out
> and needing to promote themselves and network (establish new contacts for
> future paying jobs).
>
> All this to say that ³warm fuzzies² are well and good (and I love them,
> too), but nice people like Ray can unwittingly make life harder for 
> working
> musicians by limiting the amount of money they can charge or by taking 
> their
> work away completely in some locations. So, while it many be our
> ³responsibility to share freely with those in need² (as Ray says), let us
> first make sure they are really ³in need² and not just looking for a way 
> to
> avoid using money that was already set aside in their ³entertainment 
> budget²
> for a talented professional with bills to pay.
>
> Respectfully submitted,
> Nancy Giffin
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