Fox wrote:Corwen wrote:I do have a problem with people playing live for free, aside from obviously free formats like sessions, folk club floor spots or open mics. Every time someone plays for free then they are both taking bread off the table of another musician (or at least their own) and it also contributes to the devaluing of music. Music takes huge amounts of time and money (for equipment etc) to play to a reasonable standard and musicians deserve to be rewarded for their efforts. Because there are so many hobby musicians there is often someone who will play a gig for nothing so event organisers think that 'nothing' is all live music is worth. Some musicians even think it will in some way help their career- yes you might get the opportunity to play more gigs for no money! Asking musicians to play for nothing peaked last year when the Olympics asked people to play for nothing, which sparked the Musicians union to start a campaign about the issue:
http://www.worknotplay.co.uk/
The more I read this the more I'm curious about cases where professional musicians have been done out of work by hobbyists - Olympics aside. Corwen, can you give us an example of where this has become a real issue?
It happens many times. The last time it happened to us was last year when a festival, which sells tickets at £120+ and has a total budget of around £70,000 asked us if we wanted to play "in exchange for a delicious vegetarian meal". So they expect me to take around £5000 of audio equipment and instruments, and perform for nothing? This festival
ought to pay its musicians, and can certainly afford to, but because it can recruit a few keen locals to play for nothing, well it doesn't have to pay anyone. If no-one would play for free then they would have to pay someone and a musician somewhere would be better off. They wouldn't expect to hire a £5000 generator from a hire company in exchange for a delicious meal, nor would you ask a skilled plumber to do your plumbing in exchange for free entry to your house!
Also, the idea of needing loads of money to put into equipment so that you can play to a "reasonable standard"... I've heard beggars in Edinburgh vennels playing penny whistles to what I would suggest is a more than reasonable standard. And as energy sources become more scarce and expensive, we should be moving away from the idea we need expensive electric equipment anyway and back to more live acoustic musicifying, both paid and unpaid. The whole paradigm of electrified music will shortly undergo a major shift (I predict) and become a smaller scale affair altogether, apart from concerts where big instruments clumped together make a big sound, like a symphony orchestra. A single person with a guitar will no longer be playing to a stadium full of people.
Okay, a bit off topic, but there you go ....
Funnily enough I do actually play penny whistle. People don't usually want two hours of solo penny whistle though. A professional standard guitar will cost at least £500. My three sets of Bagpipes collectively are worth £1500. I could go on, the instruments alone we might take to a gig will be worth £3500+, and we are just a duo, most band's kit costs far more. Then of course these venues often don't provide a PA, so even if the gig is a two hour solo penny whistle slot I have to bring a £1500 PA system so people can actually hear me. It adds up. Its a nice thought that all gigs should be acoustic, and I wish they were, but people have lost the art of listening and while people can't listen the PAs will be necessary
As Malcolm said, it is those gigs that really ought to pay for musicians but choose not to because some local amateur will play for free that I am annoyed with. The fact is that many amateur musicians are really good, better than many professionals, but because they have other day jobs they can afford to play for free, which literally takes bread out of the mouths of their fellow musicians. Thats why the MUs campaign is aimed at musicians, obviously venues will always get people in for nothing if they can, its the musicians who need to value their own craft.
Playing for free when you should be paid devalues music as a whole. If you are good enough that people actually want you to play in front of people who are paying for some other service (like a meal or an event) then you are good enough to be paid. When I lived in Canada the Musicians Union is really strong and would blacklist venues that didn't pay union rates. This meant that there was an amazing music scene as people could play 4 or 5 gigs a week and actually make a living at it. The quality of musicianship was really high, audiences were happy and musicians weren't as poor as they are here...
This has nothing to do with all those occasions like folk clubs and open mics though, those are community things and no-one is benefiting commercially.
We need a good scolding sometimes to keep us right! 
Just kidding!
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! I have even had pieces played on FM Radio and the daughter of a Cherokee Shaman sings some of my songs in the US. Free is good!
But I would still require them to make an appropriate payment to a charity. I have a case in point at the moment where a script writer has asked to include one of my songs in his forthcoming new musical. Wow! He tells me that it is likely to be staged in the London West End and there is a possibility of a film. Wow! Do I believe him? I leave that to your imagination! We shall see. But if it does happen, he is clear there must be a contract. That is what copyright is all about.
