[Dixielandjazz] Your fee

[Jim Kashishian]

All this talk about working for little or no money, etc....

Years ago I made up my mind as to what I valued my work as & stuck to it all
these years.
It happened when I was offered a tour with Julio Iglesias throughout South
America in the early 1970's.  I was working as a session musician & played
on all of his recordings.  I was probabaly the youngest of all the musicians
in the studios here, but when I was offered half of what the other brass
were getting (one hears the price going around!), I turned it down.  And, I
really, really could have used the work!! 

Although I was the only non-Spanish working in the studios at the time, the
lower price had nothing to do with that.  It had to do with my being
younger, and not having "paid my dues"...I was told.  Well, if I have to sit
& honk off of the same chart as the guy next to me, I better be getting
close to the same pay, in my opinion!

I treat the band the same way (I do the bookings), and always make sure we
get what I reckon is the going rate, or better.  One sort of finds the niche
after feeling out the market.  Then, it's a matter of sticking to it.

Ok, so if I give a price, and someone says "Oh, I expected something about
half that price", then that's the end of the conversation. Nothing much to
do about that. Now, if they say, "I respect your price & realice the value
of the band, but my budget (this time) only permits so much"...and that "so
much" is a small drop in what I was asking, I'll usually make an attempt at
going half way between "his" price & "my price".  When you get the one that
says "are you crazy...so much money?", well, the conversation doesn't go
much further than that.

I have never "cased" the situation with other bands.  I have a general idea
what others are getting, but our price has nothing to do with others. I came
up with a price for the band by finding just how much we could get without
losing gigs.  I'm not really interested in what others get, 'cause "others"
aren't "us".  As it turns out we are at the top of the heap as pricing goes,
and rarely lose gigs for being over the top.  

We don't play for free, period.  We don't swallow the "oh, you'll get such
good pr", either.  

And, most important of all, our particular situation has nothing whatsoever
to do with the situation another musician or another band may be in, so
there is no way I can say someone else is doing it wrong.  Diffent
circumstances, geographics, competition vary so much in each occassion.

Jim
Ps, I still get a Christmas card each year from Julio!   :>