Paying dues

The more I work with artists on all levels in the music business the more I am seeing the downfall of the industry.  Far too many rappers bring the street mentality to business.  By this I mean they handle their music career like they would handle a drug deal on the street.  Established artists continually fail to remember that they once were opening shows in their local areas and struggling to make ends meet.  They use their position in the business to abuse, intimidate, and use local acts to pad their bank accounts.  Popular performers in local cities are charging nationwide touring prices for a show in their home cities.  And up and coming artists are no longer willing to put in work to get known and advance their careers beyond the local level.

Each of these things is killing the business locally and nationally.  I am going to break each one down so I can expand on the problems I see and ways we can overcome these issues and once again make live music exciting, profitable, and most of all trustworthy.

First the big name acts.  These people have paid their dues.  They deserve to get paid above the cost of their tours to do a show.  They have earned the right to ask people to pay a reasonable ticket price to see their shows.  They have marketed themselves, have national exposure and following, and have earned their spot on the ladder.  The problem comes in when these acts use that position to not only exploit promoters and local acts but abuse their position and prevent others from making moves up the ladder after them, thus killing competition.  I have personally seen "street tactics" used to exploit promoters for money that they were not entitled because shows had been cancelled.  These shows usually do not have a non-refundable deposit (Which would protect that shows cost for the artist) and normally do not have a signed contract to back up their claims.  So the artists end up making verbal threats and resorting to these "street tactics" to exploit money they are not entitled.  The other way they kill up and coming artists is by charging thousands of dollars to do a verse for the newer artists.  Most of the time the big name artist does little to no actual thinking about the verse they record.  They give a canned verse to a beat or a verse they had recorded for something else.  There are some out there that do not do these things and those people have earned my respect.

Next we have the big local name act.  These guys may be known in the city, state, or region they are in and are entitled to get paid a small amount to do shows in these areas.  They have earned the right to charge a few hundred dollars and travel expenses to do shows but not more than that.  These guys usually are easier to deal with but some can still have the ego issues and have been known to back out of shows at the last minute and not give the booker/promoter anything back for the time, energy, and money invested in promoting these guys for those shows.  A lot of these guys promote their own shows and then fall into the habit of charging openers high amounts to fill slots on their shows knowing their notoriety locally will "encourage" the smaller local acts to pay just to have the right to say they were selected by the artist to open their shows.  Once again not all of the bigger local names are like this and you can find trustworthy people to work with.

Lastly is the local guys who have paid to open shows for these big local or national names and now feel entitled to be paid for their performance, not have to sell tickets, or be treated like a big fish when they are not.  These people usually resort to "street tactics" because that is all they know.  Some sell drugs, are in gangs, and are too young to have any business experience or knowledge.  Those reasons are why "beef" gets brought into shows causing violence and making venues not host any hip hop or rap shows.  Cities that have been huge support cities for major artists have been crippled by these things.  These artists have yet to earn their stripes.  They haven’t paid their dues.  They have no right to charge a promoter to open the show with no guaranteed ticket sales or assistance in promotion.  In my blog "what-exactly-is-pay-to-play" I outline how a show should be booked and promoted.  This format makes everyone some profit for every show.  This is the format these types of people should be following when they do local shows.

I have quite a few low and mid-level artists in the business that I speak with frequently and they agree that this format is the best one for everyone.  Many of the mid-level guys still only charge a small appearance fee and travel costs to go anywhere and do a show.  They do this not because they can’t get paid more money but they understand they haven’t earned that right yet.  They are still grinding and hustling to get known nationwide.  They know how to properly work up in this business.  These types of artists give me hope that live music isn't and will not be dead in the near future.

There was a time in this business it was like a family.  We all looked out for one another and supported each other because we had to in order to survive.  We all went to shows, stayed for everyone’s sets, bought merchandise from others, and stood by one another to make every show a kick ass time.  I truly believe this mentality isn’t dead.  I believe that honest hard working artists still exist and know that by grinding, paying their dues, and supporting others will pay off in the end.  Yes there will always be snakes who take advantage of this.  That is why we must stand up and stop these abuses from happening.  Stop paying high value for minimal effort.  Stop letting these abusers get away with it.  This is a BUSINESS and should be handled as such.  Live music should be an event.  It should make people not want to leave because for several hours they were able to leave their problems and worries at the door and cut loose.  In the end everyone should leave with something, whether that is money, memories, or new friends.

MMFWFL,

Juggalotus