It’s About Respect
Is it art, or is it a business? One of the challenges musicians face is convincing people that music is a business and that we deserve to make a reasonable living for our work. It is not uncommon to hear, “wow, that gig sounds fun, but what do you do for a day job?” A lot of hard work and preparation go into our work, and we deserve to be treated fairly like any other worker. We shouldn’t have to wait a month to get paid. We shouldn’t have to perform in unsafe environments. We shouldn’t have unreasonable demands put on us. That is where union contracts come in. They are an opportunity to explain to our employers the challenges of working as a musicians and get them to treat us with respect, like any other employee. And the first step is for us to value our own work and expect that we always be treated not just as an artist, but as a business person as well. Respected musicians are happy musicians with less stress and more vibrant performances. If you are unhappy or stressed at your gigs, let us know and we’ll work together to see if we can get you some respect.