I think it is fine when artists and musicians decide that they want to do work at low rates and pro-bono for charity. It is our privilege and our right to be altruistic or charitable even though, truth be told, if you are not part of the 1-2% top earning artists, chances are, we also have excruciating periods of suffering, even as people see our exciting publicity and have the impression that we are doing financially very well. We musicians, we are very visible, we often look glamorous, as though we are living some magical life. While the work and the art-making is indeed quite magical and satisfying in and of itself, real world issues are often another thing altogether. We spend days, weeks and even months practicing and writing or arranging music without any actual salary. The salary often comes only for the actual concert or if people have hired and paid you to write music. But when we are creating for ourselves in order to create a presentation or concert, all that work and time is done with no actual financial reward on the outset. When we are working a regular office or other job and if we fall sick, unlike the rest of the world that applies for a medical certificate, show it to the employer and still gets paid, for us musicians/artists, we pay for the doctor, we musicians have to pay for a sub to cover us at the gig and then we also earn nothing....so we are in financial deficit when we fall sick. When we need a vacation, unlike others who often have paid vacation time where they only pay for the vacation but still get their salaries, for musicians and many artists, if you go on vacation, you have no income and you also pay for the vacation and so again, we have a deficit. When the economy fails, no one hires musicians and artists, so we just live on love, our art and fresh air. So while I think that while it is ok for artists to choose to occasionally be altruistic, people ( like organisers and hirers) should never ask an artist to do things for free. Its like robbing from the poor to help the other poor people so that you look good. Always have a budget for entertainment and production for your charity event and offer the artist/musician a fee or ask them what they can do to help a good cause. Eventhough we artists may sometimes struggle, we have a heart and we will usually offer to do the gig for 30-50% of normal fee. Without even thinking about the periods of famine in a typical artistss feast or famine way of live, we might even agree to do something for free as we all have, if the charity touches us. But never ask an artist to do something for free, or if an artist has already given you a discount of 30-70%, dont go back and bargain over and over again. To me, thats just obscene. Because, robbing from the poor to help the poor is really not what Robin Hood had in mind. The total amount amount of charity shows that my musician partners and I have done averaging the three or so pro-bono shows, three 70% discount shows, three 50% discount shows and seven or eight 30% discount shows we do annually, have yielded more than $3 million for charity in the past 10 years alone. So yes, my friends and I have done our part and will continue to do our part. But please, dont come and stick it to us just because we have been and continue to be charitable. Again, just like you, the level and scope of our altruism is our personal choice based on our personal capacities. Meanwhile, tomorrow, my friends and I are very happily doing something some underprivileged childrens charity and we are doing it with a genuine smile because we are returning a previous kind consideration from the organiser and because its really a worthwhile charity.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:39:42 +0000
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