The Best of Local Spins: Raising the bar for under-paid West Michigan bands

This Local Spins column originally ran on Labor Day, and it bears repeating: Do you know how little your favorite local musician or band is probably being paid? Pipe in with your own thoughts.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: To celebrate the end of another year, Local Spins over the next week will re-post some of the most popular columns and stories from the past year based on reader comments, overall traffic and reader reaction. This column which first ran in September generated the most comments from readers — some as far away as California — at Local Spins in 2013. Click here to read all the comments from the original posting.

On Labor Day 2013, consider this disturbing fact: I know plenty of hard-gigging West Michigan bands paid less for performances today than rock groups and solo artists of a similar ilk who played bars and parties in the ’70s and ’80s.

I’m not even talking about part-time musicians who are mostly in it as a hobby, but rather, immensely talented players who strive to do this for a living – playing five or six nights a week for what often falls well short of minimum wage when one considers the hours devoted to loading in, sound-checking, performing and tearing down again.

And this doesn’t even count all the hours of practice and rehearsals, or the time spent in the highly creative – and taxing – process of writing original songs.

A few years ago, while still at The Grand Rapids Press, I wrote about a popular local band that played three energetic gigs in three different locations on a single night, racing between venues, loading and unloading equipment, entertaining diverse audiences. Because they officially only got paid for one of the three (selling merchandise and CDs at the other two), their take for the night totaled $212 and five pitchers of beer. Split five ways, that’s $42.40 and a pitcher each, not counting the fact that the drummer had to replace various drum heads for about $82 before the marathon began. And it was, indeed, a marathon: They loaded in for their first performance at 2 p.m. and arrived home at 2:30 a.m.

An extreme example? Maybe, maybe not.

KEEPING A VIBRANT MUSIC SCENE THRIVING … AND SOLVENT

Don’t get me wrong: A fair number of upstanding West Michigan venues and corporate-sponsored events pay a fair wage for top-flight musical entertainment, but others don’t; some simply haven’t kept pace with inflation over the past three decades. Put it this way, according to a standard inflation calculator, a band paid $300 for a performance in 1980 should be earning about $850 for that same gig today – which I’m guessing is a rare occurrence.

I understand that it’s a competitive landscape for bars and live music venues these days and profit margins are slim. Many advertise and help promote band performances, provide food and beer, and otherwise give musicians a platform for their art. (And some musicians probably don’t do a great job of helping their cause when it comes to promoting their own shows.)

Still, there’s a disconnect when artists in one of America’s fastest-emerging music scenes – boasting an astounding trove of talent – have real difficulty getting by as musicians and can’t even afford health insurance. Many take other jobs or depend on spouses to make it work. Despite that, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more generous bunch, with a host of West Michigan bands regularly donating their time for benefits and worthy causes.

But a working musician is just that, and the financial burdens can be overwhelming. One area musician recently told me how he and his band played regularly for years at a certain venue for little more than “gas money and free food” before they finally walked away, clearly frustrated by the situation.

He longs to eventually raise the bar “to respectful levels so we don’t have to hang our heads in shame while clubs are using us. It’s happening a lot in West Michigan, but a lot of guys stay hush because they gotta make a living.”

Indeed, it’s not unusual to find local performers – especially, younger up-and-coming artists – willing to play for free just to get a chance to open for national acts in front of big crowds at area nightclubs, festivals and outdoor amphitheaters, even if it’s counter-productive to other bands’ efforts to “raise that bar.”

COMPELLING MUSICAL ART DESERVES A FAIR WAGE

Clearly, the love and passion for music keeps these artists going, but most deserve better: They deserve to be acknowledged – and paid a reasonable wage – for the compelling art they produce.

In a landscape filled with karaoke, recorded music and other entertainment options, we’ve somehow devalued live local music in the new millennium. Ultimately, audience habits are as much to blame as anything, with fans often willing to pay $80 or $100 or even $200 per ticket for a touring pop act, but balking at a $3 or $5 admission for a night of bracing entertainment by a hard-working local band.

My suggestion? On Labor Day 2013, hug some musicians you know – and better yet, gladly pay those cover charges, buy their CDs and T-shirts, and toss a few extra bucks into the tip jar.

Here are excerpts from just a few comments left by readers and musicians after the original column ran in September.
For more, go online here.

Deni Hunter: I’ve been a vocalist in one band or another since 1975. I am much more talented today than I was back then and I often make much less than I did back then. Just thought I would throw in that the equipment that the bands have to transport, maintain, set up and tear down costs thousands more than they usually make in a year. Clubs and even larger venues either don’t provide PA and/or lights or what they do have is in such bad shape you can’t use it.

Carlton Macksam: Your opening statement was right on the money (so to speak), John. I was in a five-piece band in the early ’70s, and each of us could make $50.00 per man, per night, in local clubs. Today, a trio is hard-pressed to get that much. Forty years later. What happened? Disco. Club owners found out they could hire one guy to play records and pack the house.

John Krogman: The east side of the state is bad as well. I have been performing for almost 40 years and have never seen it this bad. It’s tough to have your craft taken so lightly.

Jim Mattingly: Great and sadly a very true article. “Devalued” is certainly the word that sums it up. Compared to the 80′s it is certainly a joke at where the pay scale is today for both hobby musicians and even more sadly for the professional musicians. Way to many bands out there who are more than willing to play for the almost next to nothing pay scale which makes it difficult for everyone, and the venue/bars owners are certainly aware of this fact and know that if a certain band will not pay for what they are offering they can always find a band that will.

Anon Imus: I have been in the music business for over 25 years. Two points. Carlton Macksam mentioned musician’s unions. Want to be treated fairly? There is strength in numbers. Second, too many bands do not run their band as a business. Operating in the black market without a contract, they are asking to be underpaid and cheated, as they have no legal recourse.

Donny Rocker: Interesting comments. I have been pondering this topic for a long time. My navel gazing thus far:
1) Musicians need to quit giving it away. “Excuse me, but that’s not enough” is a useful phrase.
2) Musicians ARE in business if they are contractors providing a service in a for-profit situation. Being aware of this basic fact could certainly help bolster #1 above.
3) There is nothing wrong with playing for free or paying to play: that’s what softball and bowling leagues are for.
4) How much do plumbers or hairdressers charge for their services?
5) If a venue can’t afford having a band: don’t have a band!
6) Supply and demand works for commodities: some musicians are great, some musicians are OK and some musicians outright suck—none are equal to each other and are therefore not exact substitutes for one another. The market would work to weed out the suckier musicians in a hurry if #1 were applied more regularly.
7) If #6 were instead true—that is, all musicians ARE equally substituted—it would be very easy for ALL musicians to get a raise: simultaneously say, “That’s not good enough.”
8) Venues need to understand that they have to promote their venues to the public as much as the bands should, and probably more since they have the same address all the time.
9) Musicians’ overhead is just as important as venues’ overhead.

Terry L.: I have been fortunate to have elevated to a different level in the music business, but I paid my dues in the circumstances you describe for a number of lean years. A point that you brought up struck me; that being the disparity between buying a major touring act ticket and paying a nominal cover. This is a real problem in the current music climate. A member of music royalty pointed out to me some 15 years ago that recorded music has lost its value, being so easily and moral-lessly stolen and becoming the background music while we are on the stairstepper. His point was that the only value left in music to the songwriter is the live performance. Your article certainly points this out, but I am not optimistic about a big change coming. In my own area of California, many bands are making the same amount they did in the ’70s because they are playing the same music that they did in those years. I try to educate my children to the value of music by giving them a music allowance to deter any bootlegging, I prohibit music services like Spotify and others that don’t pay the songwriter adequately, and try to teach by example the pure joy of listening to music in the home and in live settings – always supporting the local act’s CDs and swag. I appreciate the supportive mindset you shared. Thank you from musicians everywhere.

                                                                                                                       — John Sinkevics

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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