Performing for Free? Note to Club Owners - Article by Dave Goldberg

A common issue across all performing and artistic communities is the struggle of performers to actually get paid for their art, their work, their time, and their talent.

I am firmly, and occasionally viciously, against performing for free. There are very very few cases in which I think it's acceptable. Especially in burlesque, in which you are stripping. Call it what you like, but you are stripping. There is absolutely no excuse to be giving that away for free.

Don't event use the word 'exposure.' After I'm done shuddering I might just expose you to a blunt object.

This article lays out the 'why' very well. Mind you, it's specifically directed at LA club owners, and from the point of view of a musicians, but the concepts cover all artists and club owners. The next time someone wants you to perform for free, think back to this.

Click here to read it.

Do you want some good points to convince you to click over?

"...it is no longer good enough for the musician to be willing to perform for little compensation...The expectations are that the band will not only provide great music, but also bring lots of people to their venue. It is now the band’s responsibility to make this happen, not the club owner."

"When a venue opens it’s doors, it has to market itself….Do you really want to leave something so important up to a musician?…I’ve played places where for whatever reason only a few people have walked in the door on a Saturday night.The club owner got mad at me, asking where are the people? I turned it around on him asking the same thing: Where are all the people? It’s Saturday night and your venue is empty. Doesn’t that concern you? What are you going to do about it?"

"...explain to the club owner that it’s not in their best interest to operate their business like this. There is too much at stake for them not to be truly invested in the music presented in their venue. Convince them that if they think that live music is important to the demographic that they are trying to reach, then they need to reach out to that demographic in a professional way. "          ~Dave Goldberg

There are many more ideas for how to get this point across tothe clob owners in your area. If this becomes a bit more commonplace maybe we'll start to see a change across the artistic community as a whole.

~Red