Musicians Revolt, It is about time. END MUSICIAN ABUSE NOW
by ItalianBred - November 6, 2008 2:10pm
This came my way musicrevolt.org. It is good to see some musician’s active on the idea of fair compensation for their hard work, years of training, equipment overhead and music service. Musician’s are exploited at many levels, including from the record industry and the large and smaller venues.
The following was on Craig’s list. What musician hasn’t experienced what you are abut to read? I decided to post it here because things disappear after a while on the ol’ C list:
MUSICIAN ABUSE STARTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY.
If you have experienced any of the following you have been victimized:
Not being appreciated for your craft.
Break your back, often up flights of stairs and through drunk crowds, lugging around expensive heavy high quality instruments and amplifiers and then perform for two to four hours for something that amounts to one hours pay in the real world.
Your wife is constantly pissed because you have to go out and “play” music,and there is no pay off to support the household. You feel the crushing guilt because you know she is right.
Cheap Club owners making you play for nothing while your music brings in customers to buy booze. Clubs who make ten times the cost of every singel bottle they sell, expect the band to bring a crowd ( not realizing that if the band had the crowd they should open their own club), Door guys who let all the babes and their friends skip the band cover charge. Club owners expecting you to play right at ten, only after they move the tables out of the way (which happens at about five of ten).
Half assed wanna be musicians are out there whoring their music for a free beer, or to impress their drinking buddies, instead of fighting for a musician’s right to fair compensation.
You can not earn the cost of your overhead unless your gear and weekly gigs last for at least twenty years.
Pass a hat and walk away with ten bucks after you spent thousands on your music gear, thousands of hours practicing and rehearsing and music training, pay for the parking ticket out side of the club you just played at ( the ticket is twice as much as you made playing), gave away band 12 T shirts that you paid $7 a pop for (way less than you make for the night from the gig), and took 6 hours away from your family to play a three hour gig you drove two hours away for and paid for the gas too. Have a bar maid give your band a hard time because your break was too long ( even though your not getting paid), You are going deaf because your band mates insist that they blast their stage amps (usually making up for a lack of talent), causing irreparable ear damage. A club managers says “You can play, but don’t turn the TV set volume off, my customers got to watch the game”. You are not sleeping at a healthy rate because have to work a crappy day job because the venues will not support professional musicians. a slime bag promoter ask your band to “BUY” tickets in a PAY TO PLAY scam. Some anal pump in the audience says your band sucks because you actually took time to create an original arrangement that utilizes more than 3 chords and incorporates a sharp 9 or a 13th harmonic tensions in the chord or you deviate from the homogeneous radio crap version the crowd is used to hearing fifty times a day.
When you do sign with a record label, which you believe will only be in your dreams, you make less than 8% of the net.
Let’s get together on this, take it to the streets. Think about it. Do Doctors, Politicians,Teachers, Lawyers, Office workers, Firemen, Plumbers, bakers, retailers, etc. work for nothing or pass the hat for their services? Why are musicians?
END MUSICIAN ABUSE TODAY
There is hope. DEMAND a minimal of $200 per man per gig. Read websites such as musicrevolt.org, futureofmusicbook.com . Stop the abuse today. A musician’s life depends upon it.
Spread the word to END MUSICIAN ABUSE. MUSIC ON THE MUSICAN’s TERMS it’s way over due. Keep hope alive!