Recently, I came upon a post on Facebook in which a local restaurant owner suggested that musicians could come and perform. While the restaurant owner “couldn’t pay,” he said the musicians would get a meal and could collect tips.
I countered this man’s post and said no musician should play for free, and I got a lot of flack – not only from the restaurant owner but also from some other locals who said it was perfectly find and it was the musicians’ “choice” whether to accept a gig that only paid food and tips.
No matter what I said, they continued to argue, even saying that musicians should consider it “building community.”
So, I decided to flesh out all my thoughts here in this post, making my points to other musicians, so they have a clear understanding of why they should not play for “food and tips” and the far-reaching implications if they do.
Musicians, you are worth far more than food, beer, and tips.
Recorded music is ubiquitous.
In my opinion, recorded music has cheapened music. Unfortunately, this problem started long before any of us was even alive, and there is nothing we can do about it. Not only do we have the radio, but now music is streamed online and musicians only earn a fraction of a cent for each stream.
What does that have to do with restaurants?
If they want music to add ambiance to their dining room, all they have to do is pipe it in through the speaker system. And it is cheap.
Plain old, recorded music piped in is easy to get and cheap.
Live music is special.
It is NOT easy to get, and it should NOT be cheap.
If someone is playing music in public, I am assuming they have learned how to perform. That means years of practice. They have probably spent money on lessons. They have definitely invested money in instruments and gear. If a band is playing, they have spent hours of their own time rehearsing without pay.
Musicians have already spent their own money to become musicians, the same way any other business invests money to start up.
And business owners expect to make money from their business.
The problem is that other people – like this restaurant owner and the other locals -are not seeing musicians as the businesspeople they are. Instead, they are seeing them as doing something “fun” that doesn’t deserve real payment.
Below are some arguments I have heard about why musicians “should” play for free, and my response.
Argument 1: Musicians can “get practice” performing for an audience
My response:
As I said above, musicians have already invested time and money into learning their craft and rehearsing together. Most musicians have probably already performed in front of friends and family, whether at private parties or recitals or other community events.
If a musician/band needs to get more public practice, that is what open mics are for. Open mics don’t pay, and that is fine, because they are for practice. And they are also not an entire three-hour gig. At an open mic, you only get fifteen minutes to do your thing.
My husband will sometimes play open mics for two reasons. First, he is trying out new material. Second, he is essentially “auditioning” at a new place and wants to get to know the person in charge of music at a venue.
You should never carry the weight of a full gig for “tips.”
Think about this: don’t most employers pay their employees during training? Why are musicians different?
Even so, it is better to compare musicians to tradespeople who have gone to school and paid for their training before starting in their field. Hairdressers and auto mechanics do not graduate and then expect to work for free as if they are still “training.” Neither should musicians.
Argument 2: Musicians should perform for the sake of “community.”
My response:
Community is important. But, in a community everyone should be taken care of, including the musicians. Which means paying them fairly. Community should not happen at the expense of musicians.
Sure, there are times when musicians may decide to play for free, such as at a fundraiser. My husband and I have both performed for free at such events.
But be careful.
If an organization is going to pay its employees to be at an event, the musicians should also be paid! It’s one thing if everyone is volunteering and donating time and resources. It’s quite another when the musicians are expected to play for free while others are paid to be there.
Argument 3: Musicians will get “exposure.”
My response:
People will claim that musicians will get “exposure” and will somehow “make it” because a random person discovers them in some random no-name venue.
Bullshit.
That is some serious pie-in-the-sky thinking on the venue’s part that somehow they are special.
(Sure, there are some places that might have a reputation for being the hot spot where people are noticed. But, there it is – they have a reputation. AND – guess what – musicians are often noticed during open mics. If I was a scout looking for talent, I’d go to a lot of open mics where I can hear many different acts in one night in one place!)
Meanwhile, the musicians looking for “exposure” are providing a real service to the venue, adding to the atmosphere and enjoyment of the clientele, and increasing the traffic – and the revenue – of the venue.
Thus, musicians are putting money into the wallets of the restaurant/venue owner, but they are not lining their own pockets.
Don’t fall for these arguments.
Now, lets talk about the reality of food, drinks, and tips.
I have worked in food service. My very first job was as a busser at a seafood restaurant when I was thirteen, and in college I was a shift manager at a cafeteria on campus.
I’m not going to claim that restaurants are a high-margin business. They are not. There is a lot to consider besides the cost of ingredients and paying the staff. There’s a lot of costs in the building, licensing, insurance and liability, etc.
But the cost of food is, comparatively, not very high.
Even at retail prices, a restaurant meal costs about 3x what it would cost you to make it at home. And restaurants buy ingredients at wholesale prices, which makes the cost even lower.
That means, if you are given a $15 sandwich with fries, it cost the restaurant less than $5 in ingredients.
Drinks – even alcoholic ones – have an even bigger margin. Sodas cost pennies. Beer is cheap.
So, you get a meal and a couple of drinks? Congratulations, you were paid $10 for your three-hour gig.
Does that sound worth it to you?
Now, for the realities about tips.
The amount of tips doesn’t change depending on the number of people in the band. It depends on the number of tables and customers in the dining room.
Servers at a restaurant normally get a percentage of the bill as their tip. The current average is 18-20%. It is not unusual for a meal out for 2 to come to $50 or more. So, a server can reasonably expect to earn $10 or so in tips from serving that couple.
Musicians don’t make that much. They get a few dollars, if they get tipped at all.
Restuarant and even bar customers don’t automatically expect – or feel the need – to tip the musicians. Rightly, they believe that the venue is actually paying the people they are bringing in to perform.
Even if customers do tip, they are not tipping based on the bill. They tip according to whatever they feel like or whatever they might have leftover in their pocket.
When I was a busser in 1989, I got a percentage of the tips of the waitstaff. But waitstaff do not share their tips with musicians.
It is a complete “luck of the draw” if the customers will tip the musicians.
Often, they don’t.
In my husband’s experience, many people will request specific songs for him to play. After which, they don’t tip.
The other night, my husband learned that a couple at the venue had gotten married earlier that day by a Justice of the Peace. He played the Wedding Song to celebrate them. No tip.
This is how it is.
Some people will love you and give you $20. Other people don’t give a damn that you did anything special. And there’s no predicting it.
Based on the last year, in our area, tips max out around $70 a gig, regardless of the number of musicians performing.
Someone might think that is OK pay, but it is not.
When you think about the time setting up, the time playing, and the time breaking down – ALL of which is work, not just the performing part – tips alone will not pay $15 an hour. A musician would be better off working at a retail store.
It’s even worse when that $70 is split among four band members!
This is all while the venue is making more money because the live music is drawing in more people.
It’s not acceptable! Tips alone are insufficient.
In summary, it is abusive to ask musicians to play for just “food, drinks, and tips.”
If musicians take these types of gigs, they ruin it for every other musician.
Let’s imagine that a band believes they are “in training” and should only accept tips.
Restaurant A gets them to come play.
Restaurant B finds out and says, “hey, I don’t have to pay for musicians, I can just get bands-in-training to come play.” So, they stop paying musicians.
Word gets around, and the trend spreads to all the other restaurants in the area. Soon enough, only “bands in training” get work, and all the professional musicians can’t earn money.
Then, when all those “bands-in-training” think they’ve gotten good enough to the point of asking for money, there are no paying gigs. They ruined it for themselves, too.
Then, it’s no longer a “choice” to play for tips. It becomes that, or nothing at all.
Musicians, it’s time to demand real payment and stop accepting only “food, drinks, and tips” for services rendered.
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