Venue: “There’s no pay for this gig, but it will provide you tremendous exposure.”
Artist: “Oh that’s great, because it takes eight exposures to pay my rent.”
When should you play for free? Almost never.
There is tremendous concern about playing for free these days. That’s why, under normal conditions, I always say “almost never” when I’m asked by others. There are too many reasons and situations where it’s not a good idea to play for free.
Remember…the work you are doing is important and meaningful: you deserve to be paid; you should be paid.
But what about now? Is this a time when it’s okay to play for free online?
Maybe.
During this quarantine, if performing for free makes you feel good, if it feels like the right thing to do and you have no expectations, this might be the right time to play for free.
Here are three stories from the trenches.
1. My Yoga Studio in Annapolis started offering online classes in March. The charged $8.00 per class. The regular fee is $17+ per class. I think they did the right thing, but when we all return to business as usual, will people be willing to start paying $17 again?
I seriously doubt that many of those 8-dollar yoga class members will go back to paying the regular $17.00 per class. People get used to paying a certain amount for something, and tend to push back when the fee is increased – even if they were paying that higher rate 3 months ago.
2. A Radio Producer created an innovative program service for classical music radio stations. It was offered for free for a 3-month period, and 150 radio stations subscribed and aired the program. The strategy was that once stations started using the service, they would become fans and continue to use the service and pay for it after the trial period.
The response to the service was positive; 93% of the survey takers described their overall impression of the series as “enthusiastic.”
The service transitioned to a fee structure (where the producer did not come close to breaking even.) How many of the 150 “subscribing” stations opted to continue airing the program when it had a cost?
12.
“Free” is a value for your audience. Almost any time you offer something for free, that’s the value, meaning it could be a leading reason people take advantage of the offer. Maybe in the end, stations didn’t see the value of the content, but they did see the value of getting it for free.
This experience is one of the main reasons I’m usually against any artist playing for free.
3. One of my friends played on several recitals for a composition major at a large west coast university. No one in the ensembles got paid. That composer went on to become one of the most prolific film composers in the industry, scoring more than 100 films. My friend played on most of the films where the music was recorded in Los Angeles and made a fortune
This is a wonderful story of loyalty, integrity and doing the right thing. Many people are loyal and defined by their loyalty to others, but that doesn’t mean it also translates to getting paid down the road. This story is the wonderful exception.
Again, please keep in mind, and always remember, the work you are doing is important and meaningful: you deserve to be paid. You should be paid.
But, if playing for free makes you feel good, if it feels like the right thing to do and you have no expectations, this might be the right time to play for free.
While some will disagree, I believe there is very little difference between a live concert before a live audience and an online concert stream. Perhaps I am overreacting, but one way to ensure that audiences return to the concert hall – and pay full price for their tickets – is to apply all of the same artistic and technical standards to your online concert streams as you would with your “business as usual” performances.
If you are looking for ways to up ensure online concert streaming presentations are at the highest levers, here are a couple of checklists.
