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Just found out my band was...

I suspect with 50k raised it was a professionally run fundraiser and the waiters etc got theirs, just the band left off the payroll because people feel fine about not paying for live music.

Yeah -- we had no stake in their cause. I can't remember why we did it -- it was so long ago, but afterwards we insisted that if they were to use us again, that we would have to be paid....we got a paid gig about 3 months later from them.
 
I suspect with 50k raised it was a professionally run fundraiser and the waiters etc got theirs, just the band left off the payroll because people feel fine about not paying for live music.
And he agreed to do it for free, knowing it was a professionally run fundraiser. You make an agreement, you make an agreement.
 
And he agreed to do it for free, knowing it was a professionally run fundraiser. You make an agreement, you make an agreement.
And he agreed to do it for free, knowing it was a professionally run fundraiser. You make an agreement, you make an agreement.

Agreed -- you follow through on your agreements. I get that. But I object to when they say "if you play for free then it means someone else could go on a mission to Africa" or something like that, or claim they have no money. In the latter case, when you find they raised $50,000 it kills the volunteer goose who lays the golden egg.

I'm very discriminating about who I do free gigs for now. Most often my own non-profit and few others.

I knew a photographer who had a great phase "I get 3 requests a week to take pictures for free". Share the volume of requests you get so they know they are not alone in trying to extract something for nothing.
 
I'm not an accountant, but I think you can just fill out the online form.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099msc.pdf
Also, you can get your subs to fill out a W-9 the first time you pay them, and then you've got their SSN.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

I have seen that link above (the first one) before. You can print and hand-fill out the black and white components of the form (the copies) but they won't accept a black and white or presumably colored or printed version of the Red copy. They also assign penalties for it.

Also, note the tax year of the form you've posted above. It's 2018 but 2007 is the year everyone is concerned about now. I had to do an internet wide search to find the 2017 forms. Silly government. They asked me for a customer service survey response after I left their site and I let them have it. Why is it so hard to find the 2017 1099-MISC form?

I don't get how government can be so silly and inefficient sometimes. It's a case for competition and embedding some fo the imperatives private companies face to make government "behave".

Yes, you can fill it out online, but when I researched that, you need special software to do it -- you can't just do it through an online form and submit it. You can use turbo tax, one of my accounting and finance colleagues at the university told me, or you can order the native form from the IRS through their website.

I did the latter -- hoping they don't go stupid like they did in 2015 and send me 10 copies of the instructions rather than the forms themselves as I requested. Phone calls to the IRS on these issues only result in meaningless conversations with, as my accountant put it twice "stupid people". So he suggests getting my own forms and filling them out.

One year, he said he'd just do it for me. Naive me, I thought he was just going to do it gratis as he doesnt' bill for piddly work. Later I got a bill for $90 from him to fill out 6 1099's. Never again.

Not too interested in getting the w-9 from musicians -- don't want to store their social number, don't want the paperwork. I'd rather just get their full name address and social number as they give it to me verbally, write it into the form, and then send it off. There are "fillable PDF's" online where you can do 1099's apparently, but I don't trust them as legitimate. For all you know, they are created by criminals trying to steal the identities of your musician friends, and I won't have that!
 
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When I was in a cover band, my rule was to never play a gig for a business if the band wasn't paid. I had no problems playing a gig for a friend's party or a cause i supported for free. Like a lot of you, I'm a weekend warrior and don't need to make any money off of playing music (I ended up "donating" most my cut back to the band so that we could get band gear).

I get why some are willing to play bar or corporate gigs for free because they love playing. But I wouldn't do it because I love live music and playing those gigs for free screws over musicians who are trying to make a living at this. Musicians have to support each other. Anyway, that's my two cents.
 
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I've played for free as a wedding gift. We once loaded ourselves onto a flatbed and played in a parade for a small town celebration. I've played for beer and will do so again. We've flopped open a guitar case and played for tips. Our current guitar player brought his old band and played my wedding for a very reduced cost, considering the hour drive to the location.

But these things were decided in unison. It wasn't sprung on anyone as a surprise. There certainly shouldn't be arrangements made where someone is left out.
 
When I was in a cover band, my rule was to never play a gig for a business if the band wasn't paid. I had no problems playing a gig for a friend's party or a cause i supported for free. Like a lot of you, I'm a weekend warrior and don't need to make any money off of playing music (I ended up "donating" most my cut back to the band so that we could get band gear).

I get why some are willing to play bar or corporate gigs for free because they love playing. But I wouldn't do it because I love live music and playing those gigs for free screws over musicians who are trying to make a living at this. Musicians have to support each other. Anyway, that's my two cents.


I agree. Even if you all have good professional careers and don't care about the money, as he says above, you're screwing it for people trying to make a living if you play in a commercial venue for free. I see eager young bands doing this all the time. It's been going on for the past 32 years that I've been in Vancouver, BC, that's for sure.

I was even in a group once where the guitar player was an ex bar manager and he admitted it was too bad and exploitative, but as a manager he was required to do it and the owner loved it when they had "Showcase" nights where groups came and played, brought all their friends who bought tons of drinks and the band didn't have to get paid.
 
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Just imagine that scenario, you're playing for free, using some generators in the middle of nowhere, if your gear gets fried you're on your own. A stage? Nope, if you want one bring your own. But you're getting exposure! :rage:
 
Nobody needs this, not even in a paying band.



Were the other band members involved in this discussion? Have you spoken to any of them since?

No, I have not, they stick with him, cut me from Facebook, etc. They posted on Craigslist looking for a bass player but according to a friend in common, nobody answered, probably when they found it was a Pro bono band they flew away.


So you knew that this was mostly a band to provide entertainment for the BL's family and friends.

We had a gig (non paid) for a friend of BL, since then I was wondering if he got paid for it. Not a word about it from him.
I know I should have asked him directly, but I did not, my bad. Okay, probably next time we'll get even, I thought then.



So in the 6 months you were involved with this band the talk of paying gigs never came up?
Yes, it came, the rest of us agreed to that, not a word from him.

I can imagine the BL was not very happy when you quit the band. How did that go over with him?
 
If not being paid is not acceptable to you, quit. You're not his employee.

I too would be suspicious of whether the BL was pocketing the money himself. Not a very good way for him to conduct himself. A big red flag.

when a show is being booked, before I say yes, I always ask 1) When, 2) where, and 3) how much, including extras?

I never agree to a show without hearing the terms.

some freebies are perfectly fine, but EVERYONE should know and agree to them up front. the BL sounds shady.

Run, Forrest, run
 
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Sort of know how you feel - and I may have posted that in this thread. Couple of years ago I joined a "wedding style" band. Good musicians, good selection of songs and I figured the pay would be divided "as it always is with every band." Yeah, no. First gig was a freebee for local radio so I went along with it - still have some nice recordings from that session.

Next gig, I had arrived by 3PM (afternoon) upon request of the BL. This was a 1 hour drive. We set up, hung around, got food ... and started playing by 10PM (evening). Long day ... Gig went well, someone wanted my autograph cos they'd heard us on the radio (...) and I went home. Couple of days later I ask about my part of the money. BL replies: "Oh, all proceeds go towards the band fund, as agreed."

No one ever ran that by me. Not during the audition, nor at any point after that. No one also ever explained what happened with the money which the BL took from side-gigs where he contracted himself and one of the singers for 2-song wedding occasions. I figured that at least the hang was good and so was the music, so I sat it out for a while. But I did learn one valuable lesson: ask, don't assume.
 
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Sort of know how you feel - and I may have posted that in this thread. Couple of years ago I joined a "wedding style" band. Good musicians, good selection of songs and I figured the pay would be divided "as it always is with every band." Yeah, no. First gig was a freebee for local radio so I went along with it - still have some nice recordings from that session.

Next gig, I had arrived by 3PM (afternoon) upon request of the BL. This was a 1 hour drive. We set up, hung around, got food ... and started playing by 10PM (evening). Long day ... Gig went well, someone wanted my autograph cos they'd heard us on the radio (...) and I went home. Couple of days later I ask about my part of the money. BL replies: "Oh, all proceeds go towards the band fund, as agreed."

No one ever ran that by me. Not during the audition, nor at any point after that. No one also ever explained what happened with the money which the BL took from side-gigs where he contracted himself and one of the singers for 2-song wedding occasions. I figured that at least the hang was good and so was the music, so I sat it out for a while. But I did learn one valuable lesson: ask, don't assume.

so how long before you quit?