I had a discussion over breakfast the other day with several musicians bemoaning the local ‘gigging’ market. Many musicians earn part of their income from gigs – playing for weddings, receptions, events etc – and the pay for this work can vary significantly from one engagement to another (and the typical rate varies significantly by location).
They were telling horror stories of people asking for 3 hours of quartet music for a total of $100 (i.e. about $8 per person, per hour), and were lamenting the low value many people put on their skills.
I don’t want to write about why people should pay musicians well for their skills (although they should, and I’m expecting Erica to write about that in due course), what struck me about our conversation is this:
In order for the “going rate” to be very low, someone must be taking these gigs at the low rate… effectively undercutting all those musicians who are holding out for a decent pay-check.
As I ponder this, part of me says: so what?
This is the free market at work. People want a product (in this case a performance), and they have the choice to pay $40 to some kid in high school, $400 for someone with more experience, or $4000+ for someone near the top of their field. I do this when I buy a car. I could spend $500 on the beat-up car down the street with the “for sale” sign scribbled in large letters on the back window, I could spend $10,000 on a used Honda Civic with low mileage and a warranty from the dealer, or I could spend $186,450 on an Aston Martin DB-9. Now, there’s no doubt that the Aston Martin is the nicest car, and there’s no doubt that the beat-up car down the street is the cheapest car, but in this particular (real-life) example, after checking my bank account hopefully (but unsuccessfully) for a “bank error in my favour”, I decided that the Honda was my best bet.
However, when I was looking for a car, I had a lot more information than most people have who are looking for a harpist for their wedding. Since nearly all gigs seem to work on referrals or cold-calls to the performers, the person booking the gig often has no way of knowing the quality of the performer… even assuming it’s important to them. And let’s face it, many people can’t tell the difference between the kid in high school and the better players, so they pick the cheapest option and they’re happy. Or maybe they’re not happy, but they only get married once (hopefully) so they can’t go back and change their mind. And anyway, since they didn’t have a chance to hear the players in advance, how were they supposed to make a good decision anyway?
So what is an enterprising musician to do about this? I see two options:
1. Charge less than other people, and get lots of low-paid work. [An alternative: apply to work at MacDonald’s, and get a dependable supply of low-paid work, and as many burgers as you can eat.]
2. Become unique in some way, so that people don’t see you as interchangeable with another musician. If you have no direct competition then you can’t be beaten on price.
I’m going to assume that you opted for option two.
How to be unique?
First the good news. You already are. Everyone is. You just need to figure out how you want to express that in your performing, and then get the word out. Sounds easy, huh? No… not really.
Perhaps by definition, there are many different ways to be unique. Here are a few that spring to mind:
- By being famous. If your name is Joshua Bell, you can charge quite a lot of money to play the violin for people, and they’ll happily pay it, even if they could get an excellent alternative for half-the-price. Unfortunately for you, your name is not Joshua Bell, and if it is, then chances are you’re not really interested in playing wedding gigs every weekend, and so you’re probably not reading this. Let’s move on.
- Through references. If someone got your name from their friend, and they spoke very highly of you, then that is a small point in your favor. It distinguishes you from all the other musicians out there, and (crucially) you probably get called first. So that’s good – but we can do better.
- Through recordings. It’s not easy to make a good recording, but (as I’ve talked about in another post) it’s a great marketing tool. It allows people to hear you in advance – perhaps even before they contact you – and allows you to make an impression on people; or at least prove to them that you know which end of the trumpet to blow into. So make use of your recordings: put them on your website, or send a CD to prospective clients (or other vendors who might be able to recommend you). You could even make a ‘gig-specific’ recording to help clients choose what music they’d like to hear.
- Through your appearance. Many people who book a musician to perform at their event, won’t actually notice the difference between an average quality and a top quality artist (if you don’t believe me – look at who the public votes for on American Idol). So in order to make a big impression you need to stand out in some non-musical way. So if you’re a small child (or look like a small child), or if you’re incredibly beautiful (or look like you’re incredibly beautiful), or even if you’re incredibly tall – then make the most of that. It will help people remember you. If you don’t have any spectacular gifts in this area, then you can use props – wear a funny hat, wear a costume, paint your face like a leopard… you get the idea. Obviously this might not be appropriate in all situations, but the more memorable your appearance the more people will talk about you to their friends, and the more likely their friends will call you and not someone else, when they need a musician.
- By doing more than just make music. As with your appearance, this depends very much on the circumstances of the performance, but consider what you can do to make your performance unique – to put on a show. I remember attending a private function (Christmas party at work) where we had hired some opera singers who dressed up as waiters. They then created this whole scenario where they wanted to sing happy birthday to the chef (or something), and from there it turned into this huge unexpected performance. It was wonderful, and everyone loved it – even though most of my coworkers wouldn’t be seen dead in an opera. I still remember it now – 6 years later, and it makes me smile. So do something in addition to “just” the music – put on a light-show, include dancers, include comedy, include acrobatics, take requests, swap instruments with your colleagues. Be creative.
Obviously, not all of these techniques are possible for everyone, and certainly they’re not all possible in all situations – but if you can become “the pianist that did magic tricks between pieces”, rather than just “the pianist”, then you’ve instantly made yourself more memorable, and made it very hard for you to be seen as a commodity, who can easily be replaced by a cheaper alternative.
In closing, think of Igudesman and Joo. They’ve become an internet sensation, and I’m confident that if someone wants them to perform, then they’re not going to be happy with “another piano and violin duo” – even if the other duo is charging $8/hour. They’re unique, and hence don’t suffer from price competition.
Now perhaps I’m taking this a bit too far to make my point. I don’t really mean that all musicians should become circus acts to secure better paying gigs – but I do think that if you’re a gigging musician, then you would be wise to think about what makes you unique, and why a client should be interested in hiring you specifically, rather than anyone else.
What do other people think? I have no real experience in this area (although we did hire a musician to play at our wedding reception – and we wanted someone very specific based on a recording we found on the web), so it would be great to hear some comments from people who actually do this regularly.
Tags: Aston Martin, Aston Martin Db 9, Bank Error, Best Bet, Buy A Car, Buy Car, Car Down, Car Lot, Commodity, Favour, Honda, Honda Civic, Horror Stories, Mileage, Musicians, No Doubt, Quartet Music, Typical Rate, Warranty, Weddings Receptions
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and she indicates that it typically costs in the region of $6-10K to create a professional CD. If that’s for a run of 1000 CDs then the performer would need to sell each CD for $6-10 just to recoup the investment. And of course for many musicians selling 1000 CDs is something of a tall order.