[Dixielandjazz] Free Music/ Truly upsetting

[Gary Kiser]

Jim and Kevin are too right. We pro-musos gotta hustle harder than other career choices because we are not really essential. When the world economy tanked in 2007, my gig count was considerably reduced. People still got married and still had 75th birthdays, but budgets didn't always permit jazz bands. Even rolling DJs cut their prices (which still haven't gone back up), making things even harder for musicians. It is cold hearted to say but if you are a musician and can't pay the bills, you should probably add or change something.

That said, I play a free gig every year during the week of the Fête de la Musique in the pediatric ward of the hospital here in Clermont-Ferrand. It is one of the most rewarding, but most heart wrenching gigs I play. To put a smile on a child's face is a wonderful thing. To put a smile on the face of a child that may not be with us a month later, is as troubling as it is gratifying. We are usually silent as we put our instruments away and we rush home to hug our own kids. As much as this gig shakes us up, I'll be there again next year. Not all free music is destructive.

All the best, Gary

Jim Allen <jim.allen at longhornband.net> wrote:

>It's like baseball.  Tens of millions love it, millions play it, relatively
>few earn money at it, still fewer make a living doing it, and only the very
>top few make really big money.
>
>I never understood why the very best bandsmen in the Longhorn Band play for
>free for 4 years, then aren't drafted and forced to play for a few million
>a year in the worst band in Kansas City.  The economics of it just doesn't
>work as a business model, I guess.
>
>You keep playing because you love it and are good at it, and if you can
>earn money from it, so much the better.  If you end up in The Rolling
>Stones, cool.
>
>Best
>
>Jim Allen
>
>
>
>On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Kevin Yeates <kyeates at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> At the risk of over-extending the life of this thread I dare to suggest
>> the following.
>>
>> Comparing musicians to doctors or plumbers is not a valid comparison. When
>> the pipes in your house are leaking, you NEED a plumber. When you have a
>> broken leg, you NEED a doctor. When you have a social event you DON'T NEED
>> musicians. We are the icing on the cake. It is simply supply and demand.
>> There are a lot of people who are willing to play music, but not that much
>> demand. We are not absolutely needed for life to go on, thus the price
>> people are willing to pay us vs a doctor is quite understandable.
>>
>> The idea that we have to make a living so people should pay us well is
>> also bogus. The customer does not owe us a living. We owe it to ourselves.
>> If you aren't making enough money as a musician, you may have made a poor
>> career choice.
>>
>> I can go on and on but I am trying to keep it succinct.
>>
>> Kevin Yeates
>> Vancouver, Canada
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