Do your prep work beforehand, and we’ll love you for it
Various jokes and memes about musician gigs have circulated throughout social media for years. As a gigging musician with 30+ years under my belt, I can tell you that some jokes are silly and mostly harmless. Other jokes drive their point home, like this gem:
A guy calls the musicians’ guild to get a quote on a 6-piece band for a wedding.
The rep says, “Off the top of my head, about $2000.”
The guy says, “What? For MUSIC?”
The rep responds, “I’ll tell you what. Call the plumbers’ union and ask for six plumbers to work from 6 ‘til midnight on a Saturday night. Whatever they charge you, we’ll work for half.”
(I didn’t include the actual image because I can’t give credit if I can’t find who created it.)
Most of the time, any musician, actor, comedian, or other performer you might hire has studied, trained, and worked their ass off to give you a high-quality product or service, just like any other professional.
Just because we entertain our customers instead of fix their leaky faucets or manage their money doesn’t mean our services are worth any less. You want live music at your party? Cool. That’s a professional service. Please be prepared to pay for it.
Aretha said it best
It’s a matter of respect, folks.
Sadly, some people believe bringing live music into their event is a luxury that’s worth little (or no) payment. The notion that we musicians should rejoice when offered “exposure” instead of payment is ridiculous and insulting.
We are happy to provide the important service of performing live music, but we should be suitably compensated.
Crunch the numbers
Music performance is like most other business transactions – you get what you pay for. If you or your event planner has a small music budget and the musicians you contact keep declining your offer, perhaps you should raise it a bit. Ask yourself: how much is it worth to have quality live music at your event?
If your music budget is truly maxed out, so be it. Musicians want your event to be as nice as possible without breaking your piggy bank, and many of us are willing to negotiate, within reason.
Put some prep in your step
An excellent way to make things easy on yourself is to prepare your event details before contacting a performing group. Even the tiniest elements. This is especially true if you’re not using an experienced event planner, but instead doing everything on your own.
A few examples:
- For a wedding, create a music playlist for the processional and recessional.
- For a Bar/Bat mitzvah, make a color-coded spreadsheet of requested music styles.
- For a company holiday party, draw a map of where the musician’s chairs should be.
These are all paramount details that you shouldn’t ignore. But it’s just as vital to give the musicians (and other folks you want to hire) your best, most accurate information so we can have a timely, informed, professional conversation with you.
Everyone’s time and finances are important, yours and ours. So, to cut down on the emails with follow-up questions, try to confirm as many event details as possible before reaching out to potential musicians.
What details do we want? Glad you asked.
We like it when you do this
Start the hiring process months ahead by researching potential performers’ websites, videos, and other media that could be used as audition material. Then contact them one at a time, according to your priority list.
- Who do you want first? Are they local? Where else have they performed?
- When do you want them to reply? 48 hours? Three days? A week?
These two recommendations cannot come early enough in the process. Remember, you might need that extra time if your first, second, and third choice ensembles can’t do the gig. And of course, once you book your group, the more time you allow them to rehearse and prepare, the better their performance will be. Win-win.
If you contact many musicians at once, please let us know, so we’re aware that there’s competition. It’s common courtesy.
I once made the mistake of asking two different brass quintets—at the same time—if they were available for a gig. Let’s just say when the dust settled, there were hurt feelings. I apologized and we patched things up, but wow. Never again!
When deciding whether to accept your gig offer, we want to know these details:
- Contact Information (name, cell #, email) – Having more than one way to contact you is fantastic, especially when we know which one you check most often (text, voice message, or email).
- Expected music style(s) – No matter what your occasion is, telling us the styles/pieces you want gives us an excellent heads-up on what music to pull from our library. A friend once came to my brass quintet rehearsal to listen to us play potential pieces for her wedding ceremony. We started with traditional tunes, but the less mainstream we got, the more she liked it. We went from Bach to The Beatles!
- Other performers – Do you want us to perform along with an organist, vocalist, or other musician? Will we need to maybe play the music in a different key?
- Expected performance duties – Are we the main attraction or background music? Do you expect us to make any announcements or perform other emcee duties?
- Physical Performance Area – What’s the square footage? Is there room for us and our instruments and other equipment? Is it well-lighted? Is electrical power available?
- Amount of pay – No-brainer. Tell us your budget, and we’ll quote our fees. Remember, some intermediary booking agencies will take a percentage.
- Geographic location – Travel time is nothing to sneeze at. For example, some groups might be willing to drive three hours to play for 20 minutes. Others won’t. Are you willing to pay for travel/parking expenses on top of the base performance fee?
If we accept your gig, we want to know these details as soon as possible before your event:
- Physical stage data – How do we access the stage? Will you provide chairs, music stands, lighting, percussion equipment, microphones, water, or snacks? How early do you need us there for a sound check? (More time = higher fee.) Is there a green room/backstage area where we can warm up, tune up, and safely store our cases and personal belongings?
- Expected payment method – In person or mailed? Cash? Check? Electronic deposit?
- Expected dress – Orange Hawaiian shirts or black tuxes? If you have a specific dress code for us, let us know.
- Building address, name, and suite or ballroom name – This detail is vital, especially when you want us to navigate a large hotel, convention center, or your company’s multi-building campus.
- Parking information – Same as above. Is parking free or not? Do we need to check-in at a gate? How do we get into the lot?
- Expected building entrance – Which door do we go in? Main entrance? Back? Side? The bright red door under the awning? If it’s dark, will the area be lit? Will someone meet us inside/outside? Will it be unlocked? And how do we get to the stage area from there?
Now create and study the contract
If you’ve asked us to play and we agree, at this point let’s get everything written down so there are no misunderstandings.
It’s important for you and your musicians to read the contract, specifications, agreement, email, or other written document if you haven’t done so. Don’t just breeze through it. Study it well so everyone knows what’s expected – not many people enjoy surprises at their carefully-planned event!
All of the details in this blog should be addressed in the contract. If they aren’t, either you or your musicians can ask for a documented explanation/change. Then you can either negotiate the sticking point if necessary, or update the contract and move on.
(DISCLAIMER: I am not an entertainment contract lawyer. Any contract recommendations in this blog come purely from the viewpoint of my professional music experience. If you have legal questions, please consult a professional contract lawyer.)
On the day/week before your event:
- Cancellations – This may be your last chance to cancel our agreement/contract and get back any down payment, depending on the agreed-upon cancelation policy. Some performers require you to cancel no later than 24 hours before the gig. For others, it may be earlier. We’ve worked hard to prepare for your gig and may have turned down conflicting offers, so please respect our preparation time.
- Contacts – Who’s our onsite contact/event planner? This may be a different person than the one who initially contacted/hired us. How do we contact them if something goes wrong during the event? Call? Text? Unobstructed eye contact across the room?
A performer friend of mine always requires a non-refundable deposit. If you must cancel for a good reason, or perhaps you’re a repeat customer, they might let you rebook and apply the deposit or a portion of it. But don’t count on that from everyone.
My ensemble recently prepared for a cold outdoor gig. We carpooled 45 minutes from the suburbs to a downtown hotel. When we were a few minutes from arriving at the venue, our contact called to tell us their boss canceled the event because they felt it was too cold for the residents to listen from their balconies.
On the day of your event:
- Event flow – Will we be playing a prelude, postlude, or both? Will someone be making announcements before, after, or during any of our sets? When? How long will they be speaking? What’s our cue to continue playing?
- Tech check – Has your sound system or recording technology been tested? Will there be a sound check? Is the sound technician familiar with the hardware/software? I’ve been to gigs where it was the sound guy’s first time “on the board.”
- Temperature – If your event isn’t outdoors (like my story above), will the room temperature be comfortable for performers? Another fellow musician ended up with a cracked clarinet because the theater had turned off the heat during a winter show. Why? The actors on stage were too warm. Extreme temperatures are dangerous for both people and instruments.
No detail is too small.
We know life happens
All that said, we’re aware that sometimes you find a fly in the chardonnay and must change a detail of your event. We get it. All we ask is that you communicate with us ASAP.
Review summary:
- Be respectful and prepared.
- Know your music budget. Some performers will happily negotiate, but “exposure” is never an acceptable substitute for payment.
- Reach out to only one group/performer at a time. If you’re short on time or insist on comparison shopping, tell the performers you’re contacting multiple groups at once.
- For outdoor events, know the forecast. Does the contract address bad weather?
The more we know about your gig, the more we’ll be able to give quick, informative replies and efficiently serve your needs. And we’ll perform our best for you!
Originally published on Medium.com.