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To ALL working bass players...

soong

soong

May 10, 2007
1,913
1,861
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Sydney
www.facebook.com
#1
Some thoughts of mine and a reshare of the MU's flowchart...

1. Don't be afraid to say no, or to ask what the gig pays.
2. Music students and weekend warriors: STOP taking $50 and a meal gigs. It'll hurt you in the end and KILLS our industry.
3. Don't feel guilty about saying no to a charity you don't support.
4. For the P&W guys: 'It's for ministry' DOESN'T necessarily mean you do the gig for free. The worker deserves his wages.
5. 'Exposure' will not pay your rent or put food on the table.
6. KNOW your worth.

A gig will be worth doing if it has at least 2/3 of these 'M's:

Good music
Good money
Good musicians

 
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#2
soong said:
Some thoughts of mine and a reshare of the MU's flowchart...

1. Don't be afraid to say no, or to ask what the gig pays.
2. Music students and weekend warriors: STOP taking $50 and a meal gigs. It'll hurt you in the end and KILLS our industry.
3. Don't feel guilty about saying no to a charity you don't support.
4. For the P&W guys: 'It's for ministry' DOESN'T necessarily mean you do the gig for free. The worker deserves his wages.
5. 'Exposure' will not pay your rent or put food on the table.
6. KNOW your worth.
Click to expand...
DJs and karaoke have taken an uncountable number of gigs "away" from professional musicians and musicians in general.

Someone playing for $50 and a meal is not the cause of the state of the live music industry.

Here's a pic of the "entertainment" for a birthday party I recently attended.

One guy with one girlfriend, one sub, one tower, one mixer, one microphone and a few CDs. And, he was a terrible DJ, unintelligible, the volume was extremely loud with crappy tone, wires were shorting, no mixing, breaks between songs, all mid-bass.

Side notes: Based on other recent experiences, I think a lot of these DJs are going deaf because they don't wear ear plugs.

Oh, as I was leaving, it actually sounded better outside the building, about 50 feet way.

How many kids do you know that are putting in the practice time to become professional musicians?

Especially when you see and hear of people making millions on YouTube as life style hosts and commentators.

WP_20180701_15_29_14_Pro.jpg
 
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#12
mongo2 said:
I couldn't care less about pay. I play gigs because I like to make music with others for others. Someday I won't able to do so. Until then, I'm going to play as much as I can.
Click to expand...

Which is of course the point the OP and many others are making.

It's not that I don't understand your motivation. I do. But your "hobby" isn't helping others get paid fairly for their efforts. There are also many opportunities to play for tips alone that don't compete with venues where bands book.
 
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#15
It's 2018 (um, not 2017 as I originally posted lol), sorry, as far as pay goes the guys 20 years ago who would work for the same amount they did 30 years ago already blew it. The whole "ruin it for the full timers" is invalid, unless you consider crappy bar gigs the upper echelon of work. The industry is already ruined.
 
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#19
soong said:
Some thoughts of mine and a reshare of the MU's flowchart...

1. Don't be afraid to say no, or to ask what the gig pays.
2. Music students and weekend warriors: STOP taking $50 and a meal gigs. It'll hurt you in the end and KILLS our industry.
3. Don't feel guilty about saying no to a charity you don't support.
4. For the P&W guys: 'It's for ministry' DOESN'T necessarily mean you do the gig for free. The worker deserves his wages.
5. 'Exposure' will not pay your rent or put food on the table.
6. KNOW your worth.

A gig will be worth doing if it has at least 2/3 of these 'M's:

Good music
Good money
Good musicians

Click to expand...

I agree with most of this except the killing the industry part.

It’s already dead
 
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#20
soong said:
Some thoughts of mine and a reshare of the MU's flowchart...

1. Don't be afraid to say no, or to ask what the gig pays.
2. Music students and weekend warriors: STOP taking $50 and a meal gigs. It'll hurt you in the end and KILLS our industry.
3. Don't feel guilty about saying no to a charity you don't support.
4. For the P&W guys: 'It's for ministry' DOESN'T necessarily mean you do the gig for free. The worker deserves his wages.
5. 'Exposure' will not pay your rent or put food on the table.
6. KNOW your worth.

A gig will be worth doing if it has at least 2/3 of these 'M's:

Good music
Good money
Good musicians

Click to expand...


Wholeheartedly agree on all points but #2: I believe that what's killing "our" industry is the dramatic fall of income revenue from recorded music and the assumed solution to rest the lion's share of music income on live performances and merch. Whether it'll eventually be the end of the financial side of the music industry or rather just a re-orientation to a new normal remains to be seen. However, hobbyists and weekend warriors taking insultingly low pay for weekend gigs doesn't really help establish precedent of getting paid a normal pay scale for shows.
 
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