I get asked to play a lot of free gigs for nonprofit groups I’m friendly with. I finally had to establish ground rules. I have a page where they can see my standard rates. I then tell them that I’m happy to play for nothing, but I won’t work for free- And what can they offer me.
9 times out of 10, I’d be willing to do the show for nothing, but I want some kind of acknowledgement that I’m providing a professional service that I normally get paid for. I don’t care if it’s $10 for gas and a ham sandwich- It’s the principle of the thing.
The most common arrangement is that if they’re a registered 501(c), I just give them an invoice for my full rate plus travel expenses, marked “Performance fee waived as charitable donation”. They give me a few dollars for gas, I take several hundred dollars as a tax writeoff. More importantly, they then have a hard number to point at and say “this is what this normally costs”.
I’m just in it for the art. I’m going to make art and release it out into the world regardless of whether I ever make a dime at it or not.
THAT SAID, if I have to spend 60 hours a week working two jobs, I’m going to put out an album every 5 or 8 years, because that’s what I can afford. If I can make enough money from music to only work a regular 40 hour week, I have more time and energy to make music. If I can make enough money selling downloads to not need a day job, I can put out a single twice a week.
This is where the subtle underlying economics come into play. It’s not about money per se, it’s that MONEY = TIME = ART. If my art matters to someone, I expect them to pay to have more of it.
It’s the principle of the thing that there’s art, and there’s business. Making art is pure joy. I do that for free every day. Loading and setting up and breaking down gear, booking shows, maintaining a website, marketing myself, submitting CDs for review, hiring people to back me up or design my CD cover or run sound, driving back and forth to gigs, trying to build an audience on Reverbnation or Facebook- THAT’S WORK. I expect to be paid for that, ESPECIALLY if I’m doing it on request.
