Response to article: WE LOVE JAZZ MUSICIANS

(Published in the Toronto Musicians' Association's Crescendo Spring 2008)

Here is my take on the article titled "We Love Jazz Musicians" (because they play for free and subsidize our businesses) signed Anonymous in the recent TMA Crescendo (AFM local 149 newsletter). Published in TMA Crescendo Spring 2008.

First, no truer words were spoken. Every bit of this is 100% true and if anyone thinks that the facts stated in this article are not true or that this article should not have been published then they are sticking their heads deeply in the sand. I applaud the TMA for actually publishing this article. Topics like these have become a constant source of conversation between my peers and me although nowadays we have to walk on eggshells when bringing these things up. No one wants to be seen as being negative about things, and everyone is so focused on "trying to be positive" that we are starting to avoid these discussions altogether.

Before I moved to Toronto I had never even heard of the word "guarantee" and when someone asked "are you getting a guarantee" I didn't know what they were talking about. I had always been paid for what I did, jazz or otherwise. I used to play 6 nights (and days) a week playing jazz and we always got paid. I’m not talking “old fart” here, I’m talking about just 10 years ago. Up until a couple of years ago, you could at least count on going into the "905" or other area codes to make some money but now, club owners everywhere have clued into this the play for free thing, and (with some exceptions) you can't make money anywhere any more (exaggeration for emphasis). The reason is that musicians are exporting this thinking. Festivals are our last hope, but even they know what scale is now, and offer us only scale. So when the writer of the article cites that musicians think scale is MAXIMUM, I say, scale IS maximum. I was recently involved in a situation where the musicians, only after an arduous ordeal by one or two, were able to get paid scale, at one of Toronto major concerts halls! Before, the "arduous ordeal" the musicians were NOT even getting paid scale, and none of the musicians said a word about it! You just shut up and keep smiling or you’ll loose your gig. This thinking pervades every aspect of our working lives. Jazz musicians are afraid to ask for scale, or anything above, because one's job is always in jeopardy. You can't say anything about anything. If musicians speak up, even to their peers, they are often perceived as "troublemakers". It's the old "freedom fighter" versus "terrorist" perceptual problem.

The writer is totally correct in noting that no other business is like this. In what other business do "professionals" fight so desperately hard to keep themselves down! The club owners and others are obviously hip to this, but we're not! Everyone is making money but us! The liquor salesman doesn't get paid if club "likes the booze". Musicians are more than willing to subsidize clubs, to help their business grow, while going deeper and deeper in the hole themselves. When the club owner says "what can you guarantee me", I say we should say "what can *you* guarantee *me*?" How many people can *you*, the club owner, guarantee *me* who will come in, listen, spend money, give me tips, and buy cds..if this is to be my pay? We are always expected to pack the place, and we've given the club owners the impression that we're responsible if their business fails! Even if a club in in a terrible location, has bad ambience, and bad food, they expect US to save their asses and fill their seats. And we go along with it! And even when they're doing well, they still complain! Recently a (successful) club owner cried the blues to me because there were only 150 people in the club. Give me a break!

Everyone has their hand out to musicians, Sonicbids etc etc etc. And we keep paying, because we have no choice. The "carrots" held out in front of our faces are NON EXISTENT. We're not all going to make it big, it just ain't going to happen. Cd sales are down, not up. Getting airplay is almost meaningless because 1)cd sales are down 2)you’re only tracked if you’re played by the majors (a big problem…despite all of the negotiations and “new deals”, NOTHING has changed to get the rest of us money for airplay, a perfectly valid “use” of our music). So playing for free has NO rewards, except for “face time” (see below). Top groups, or "darling" groups will argue against much of this but it's easy to spout from their vantage point. In this "fame mad world" (copyright - a phrase from one of my songs) you're either at the top, spouting off about how great things are, or you're at the bottom, with everyone else. There doesn’t seem to be any in between. Those who are working love to spout off. "Just go out and get some corporate gigs" I heard one of them say recently. That's a whole other topic, but I will tell you that 1)corporate gigs aren't as plentiful as in the past and they don't pay as much. 2)corporate gigs seem to be sewn up by a few who seem to do them all. I personally have made regular efforts at this to no avail. I, along with 3 other top Toronto musicians/groups, pooled our resources to do a major corporate campaign. We made 3 attempts, including a hard copy mailout. None of us got ONE SINGLE LEAD or GIG out of our efforts. And it’s not because this groups of artists isn’t good…as I said, some of the top “jazz musicians”. Just go out and get a corporate gig"...ya piece of cake! The lesson from this is that 1) the rich are getting greedier and 2)"live" music has become irrelevant, 3) musicians are offering more for less, 4)there are now hundreds (thousands) of musicians competing for the same gigs and there is always someone ahead of you who will work for cheaper (as the writer points out "we don't give a rat's ass about your art"..they just don't want to pay you). This seems to be part of the growing number of side effects created by the syndrome that is discussed in the Crescendo article. (jazz) Musicians are their own worst enemies.

Face time: Musicians need to be "seen". If you're not seen, you quickly become history. If you've got a lineup of gigs at all of those places where you play for free (I won't name them because we all know where they are), then you're perceived as someone who's "happening". So only those who are willing to play for free get a shot at trying to build anything. And there is such a lineup of musicians to play at these places that unless you can guarantee the club that you'll bring in all your friends, you can't even get a gig there. I recently tried to get a gig at one of them and the first question was “can you guarantee me 100 people through the door?” I said NO, and the conversation was OVER. I couldn’t get any further. So where does that leave me? I already spend 12 hours a day trying to promote myself. How much more can I give? Continual diminishing returns. "Youthful enthusiasm" does play a role in all of this too. When you're young you just can't foresee the consequences of your actions, and the world of playing “jazz” is your oyster. For some it is, but the topic of this discussion is realizing the consequences of our actions. It concerns us all, all of the jazz musicians (and other genres too!), young and old, who should be "all" allowed to participate in the culture which is their livelihood, and survive without fear, creating a healthier society for everyone! A utopian idea maybe, as it has become obvious that doing anything for sake of itself (as in playing jazz) is anti-capitalist and anti-business. Club owners and others are not doing anything “out of the goodness of their heart”, they’re doing it for one reason ONLY, to make money. I have no doubt that (jazz) musicians will continue to keep doing the same things. And for what?... As I mentioned, the "carrots" just don't exist. If you're a "darling", you're doing fine, if you're not, you're just part of the floundering masses of musicians. The colleges are cranking out hundreds and hundreds more each year, graciously given rights of passage by their teachers (many of whom are unemployed jazz musicians), making it even more of a young people’s game. I'm not slagging these teachers, you gotta survive!!...however it is a snowball rolling down a hill. Where are 4th year Humber students going to get their hundreds of hours of required "field experience"?....you guessed it. Say no more.

The problems are complex and require much discussion. The cause of the problem is shared between musicians themselves and society as a whole (including the club owners) The “idol”, “go big or gohome” mentality that has infused every aspect of our life, may seem like fun in the beginning but it is unhealthy for society as a whole, and we are paying the price already! I don’t blame club owner x, the writer of the article, for thinking we’re all a bunch of idiots, no wonder they "love jazz musicians" because the facts speak for themselves, and given that no one does anything out of the goodness of their hearts (except jazz musicians of course), club owners will continue to take advantage of us and get our product for free. Plus we’ll continue do all the work for them! I want to thank club owner x for his/her insights. I hope some people wake up as a result. ….and all those old and young industry white guys will keep telling us that’s there’s “no better time to be in the music business” and we’ll keep eating up their crap and making them millionaires ($39.95 times 10 million= “how much?”). …and we don’t even DEMAND our 25 cents per airplay!!! What a bunch of idiots we are.

Sincerely, anonymous jazz musician :)