The letter itself was quite amusing so I shared it on my FB timeline. A few musician friends of mine from the surrounding areas started to chime in and it became a pretty interesting conversation. So, I thought I would post the whole thing and see if anyone else would like to chime in. Or, at the very least, have a quick read from someone standing up for herself and other musicians.

Facebook Conversation————-

Patrick B- Also I can’t stand it when musicians will play for nearly nothing. It ruins the pay scale for all other musicians.

Adam S- Huge problem in Montgomery. I know full bands that play for what a single person would, and word has spread and that is now what the venues are offering. Adam Strickland Huge problem in Montgomery. I know full bands that play for what a single person would, and word has spread and that is now what the venues are offering.

Patrick McCurry- I feel differently about event gigs than I do club gigs. I’ll play for much less at a public venue where I can strengthen my brand and build a fan base. Next step is selling records and merchandise, which is I think where most successful artists make their money. We are not exempt from market forces and don’t have unions around here, so we have to act like small-business owners.

Chris Hodges- We totally are small businesses. We employ people, pay taxes, etc. I’m with you Patrick McCurry on playing for less in places where merchandise sales can make up for the loss. We are providing a service and should be expected to require money for that service. People want to skirt that fact by bringing up the art side of it.

Patrick B- All bars pay too little. Because we the artists play for less than we are worth. If a band if not good and they want to play for experience and marketing than the bar owner will get what they pay for. But when musicians cut the base price because they want to get out there and be heard it lowers the pay for working musicians in that market. It is sad when one agrees to pay for less than he or she is worth. Sad.

Chris Hodges- Right on. You have to honor the rest of the scene and the musicians in it. Undercutting prices for public or private events just screws everybody else.

Patrick McCurry But turning down a gig for any reason reduces your opportunities to perform in public, which is just as vital as practicing. How about putting dollar values on exposure and experience for a given cheap gig, add that to the money, and then if the number is reasonable, take the gig?

Adam S- I understand that. I really want to reject a place that hired some guys who strum three chords because they were 50 bucks cheaper on a night that I had already been offered, but I know I’ll give in the next time they call. The market is so limited, and so little is expected of guitar players because they are a dime a dozen. I get musically depressed over the crap in Montgomery, but I know it has to be even worse for Chris down in Dothan.

Chris Hodges I keep myself afloat with private gigs. It may sound arrogant but I have a pay threshold set for gigs. If it’s under that, I won’t take it (unless I’m helping someone out or something). If you notice, though, there aren’t a lot of public gigs on my calendar. I would like to increase that, sure, but I’m not going to unless the pay is good. I can not make money sitting at home; no need to be away from the family and not make any. That’s just where I’m at now, though. I used to take all kinds of gigs for horrible pay. I understand but I think you have to balance the need with your worth as a musician. If you let people rob you, they will just keep on coming…then they will bring friends.

Patrick B- Dollar value on exposure only lowers the amount we all can make and deserve. I turn down gigs because my time, talent and professional quality music is worth a certain amount to me. A cheap gig only lowers the amount we can all make. I’d be careful about cutting prices, people will not hire a low- baller for other not cheap gigs.

Patrick McCurry PB, address the value of a public performance.

Patrick B- PM it depends on the size and number of people hearing me. Also if I have stuff to sell and promote myself. If I don’t have merc than it is just “for fun”.

Patrick McCurry Ok, but I think I mean the value, and not necessarily the dollar value, of a public performance as a tool for improving our craft. The more we perform in public with intent toward quality, the better we become–more focused, more skilled, more sensitive. At what point does the stand against natural market forces become more important than our need to share our art with our communities and to hone our skills through performance?

Patrick B- I have performed enough to feel good about performing. I haven’t arrived but I am comfortable with myself in public. I have spent 1000′s of hours practicing and preparing. Now pay me for my talent, work and discipline.  Also art is not free. It is a craft or art to engineer a car. They don’t give cars away for exposure to everyone in a public setting.  Charity events I am open to playing for. But free music for an event is not cool and never will be I am done.

Patrick McCurry I actually think that if you looked at how we ran our businesses, that you would see that PB and I are a lot closer together than it might seem on this thread. Also, PB has been working in this market a lot longer than I have and perhaps knows better what fruits can be gained from cheap/free gigs

The latest example is the Robert Glasper Experiment‘s album, Black Radio. Glasper mixes influences from Hip Hop and Jazz (a feat The Roots have been undertaking for a long time but no one seems to notice. Granted, they don’t have a pianist like Glasper… Maybe if they were on Blue Note instead of Def Jam… Who knows). The album is great and has blown up since its release in February of this year. While this post isn’t intended to promote or recommend Black Radio, you should definitely check it out.

For one, I honestly don’t see the point in claiming jazz will be saved by this album (or any other single album, for that matter). Sure, it will peak interest in other jazz artists (Just like when Esperanza won Best New Artist and Bublé beat Bieber) but that kind of expectations on one artist is not fair to the genre or the artist.

For two, I think we need to take a second to remember what jazz is…Jazz is a mix of cultures. A giant part of its root is blues. What is blues? It’s the music that was used to express the deep sorrow of oppressed people (namely first and second generation African-Americans from the South). Now, lets think for a minute about rap and hip-hop… What is it? It’s music that was used to express injustice and oppression. Just like the blues (only to a greater extent), rap and hip-hop became trivialized by artists who started writing about sex, money, killing people and all that BS. Plus, both jazz and hip-hop are based on rhythms. Isn’t it only natural to mix rap and hip-hop with jazz? In fact, it’s the nature of jazz to begin with.

A couple weeks ago, a good friend and band mate of mine said something that made me put this together. He said, and I semi quote – “back in the day, cats used to walk around talking bebop. Now they walk around talking hip hop.”

Think about this, too… If Miles Davis was still kickin’, would he be playing The Doo-Bop Song every night? No. He would have already moved on to the next mutation. The next annexation. He knew that jazz is about growth and freedom. It’s about pain and sorrow. It’s about expression. It’s about moving on. It gobbles up influences and adjacent aspects of life and uses them to express the undefinable. It’s about life; not a title.

In more conversations than I can count, the topic has been brought up. Discussions with self employed people in and out of this profession seem amazed when I say I claim every dime I get. They feel like skimming is ok since we often get paid in cash and they think nobody will ever know or even notice. They are probably right. There is just one little issue…  No matter how you feel about the government or taxes, the fundamental truth is, you are required to pay them for a reason. The money may be mishandled but that doesn’t matter because it’s your responsibility as a citizen.

Let me elaborate.

Say you are taking a class and the professor misses days or chooses to… Let’s just say Skype into class instead of physically showing up. We might think, “if he doesn’t have to show up then neither do I.”  I can’t say that’s not justified but when the final grades come in and we’ve missed a lot of classes, we may not be happy with what we get. It may not be fair but the fact is, we agreed to be there when we signed up. He did too, obviously but that’s his bag of chips; not ours. We are still responsible for holding up our part of the deal even if he didn’t.

It’s the same way with taxes. By living here, you agree to hold up your end of the bargin. Not only is it a legal issue but it’s also a moral one. Whether it’s Karma, God, Buddah, or another cosmic force you hold to, you know it’s something that will come back to you and it may or may not even be recognizable to you.

I know you are thinking that there are just soooooooooooooooooo many ways the government takes your money. This is true. However, there are two sides to the coin. There are lots of ways they cut you slack, too. This is where you should pay attention…while YOU NEED TO COUNT every cent you bring in, you also NEED TO COUNT every cent you send out. It’s important to know what you can count. Keep track of mileage, food on business trips, tips and fees for services, home office space (you count the percentage of your home that you use for work as an expense), office supplies, equipment (strings, reeds, amps, mics, and so on), contract labor, etc, etc, etc. If you pay musicians for a gig, that’s an expense (if you pay any one of them over $600 for the year, you need to send them a 1099). So do some research and learn what you can deduct. If you use a tax prep software then it will (more times than not but always double check) do the percentages for you. I looked up a couple links - Here and Here - that has some good, general information on them. I can’t speak for the sites they are a part of but these pages are useful. Again this info is generic. Don’t neglect the research; the time spent is well worth the money you can save.

In the musicians field (as well as every other freelance/contractor occupation) tax time can be overwhelming and audit risks can get pretty high. Why not just know that all your information is accurate and truthful? That way, there is no anxiety about an IRS call. If it happens, you pull out the proof and the most you have is an inconvenience.

On this particular show, she decided to help out the feeble minded and undiciplined parents of the world by sharing her insight into a topic of which her experience is extensive… And by extensive, I mean null.

Mrs Orman (for whom I have much respect for) proceeded to let her viewing public know that their retirement fund and portfolio is not worth risking in order to stay home with their children. It was even presented under her “Can I Afford It” topic. She went on to discount the idea as a whole and equated it to little more than a fuzzy warm feeling.

Since this world is already full of opinions, I shall insert mine… Ready? Here it is… That’s crap. I know that most people would have the sense to know that but I also know there are a lot of people that put those people on pedestals and take their words as gospel. The glaring omission on her part is that she has no frame of reference. No kid (biological or otherwise) that she raises on her own (nothing I found in my research, at least).

I just want to say that if I have to work my fingers to the bone for my wife to stay at home with my son…no problem. Until the day I die? No problem. Life’s not about money. It makes things easier, sure, but there is something you can never make more of; something you can never get back. It’s not printed but there is a lot of counterfeit thrown at us everyday. You probably won’t be on your death bed wishing for more money. You will most likely be wishing for more time or to have some of the time you used unwisely back.

If you can stay at home, do it. My wife and I lived the fast paced, make money life. Then, we cut 2/3 of our income out and learned how to Give first, Save second, and Live on the rest- all while the wife stays at home with our precious son. Guess what season of life has been the happiest for us… THIS ONE.

Just saying.

Overall, it was a good year for the sales side of the industry. Album sales were up and soulful trumped poppy. If you pay any attention to music, that’s no real surprise. People are leaning towards a more organic sound nowadays. Sure, you’ve got the teeny boppers keeping the over processed cra…music on the air and up the charts but a lot of buyers want some sort of a connection with the artist. That’s happening in many industries, though. It’s one good thing that come from the economic downturn in ’08.

The main reason I wanted to share this was – along with (possibly due in part to) Miss Spalding’s Grammy win last year- jazz as a whole saw an increase in sales. Not just a couple percent, either! The genre was up 26% in total sales with Michael Bublė’s Christmas album beating out Beiber’s by almost double (2.45 million to 1.25 million). This is a big deal… Here’s why I think so…

If you think about it, the majority of Bublė’s sales probably weren’t from  jazz heads. I would say at least half were people who have a limited amount of exposure to the genre. That means, conservatively, 1.2 million people who don’t listen to or purchase jazz regularly now have a big band jazz album in their library. Just say 5% of those are even remotely interested in finding something similar to listen to… That’s 60,000 people who might find themselves perusing previous Bublė or old Sinatra albums.

Whatever you think about their music, cats like Bublė, and Harry Connick Jr make jazz reachable to the masses. It gives a large group of people a starting point from which to delve into our music. They’ll never get to Vijay, Allison, or Redman if they don’t get started.

Anyhow, that’s my take. Feel free to leave yours.

I know some super talented people (in several areas) who sit at home and wish for a better life… Is that God’s desire for them? No. God’s desire is for them is to exploit and leverage their talents and live a fulfilled life.

Now that we’ve covered the religious factor from not following your dreams, let’s talk about the human aspect. Namely, other humans.

It is human nature to pass judgements on people and situations based on our own experiences. Whether you think you do it or not, you do. We all do. It’s one of the things that has helped our species progress. Just think – what if the first cat that learned to use a rock to kill an animal for food had not shared his knowledge with a starving neighbor…Sure, he may have figured it out in time to eat but then…maybe not… Anyhow, the point is, it’s not a bad thing. Most of the time, drawing from other people’s experiences and knowledge is the wise thing to do. Even if you don’t agree with it or implement their advice, it’s something to reference.

The problem comes when that information is not conveyed in a proper way. When the person behind it is biased.

Allow me to expound…

Several years ago, I was a Music Education major. Everybody assured me that there would be no steady income that I could count on without that degree. The problem was, I had gotten to the point where my skin would literally crawl when I saw a school bus. I HATED the idea of teaching. I knew it wasn’t for me. About three weeks into my umpteenth semester, I dropped all my Ed related classes and my instructors seemed to take it personally. One even told me that the “new” car I recently bought (which was not new… in fact, it was almost four years old) would be an unbearable expense as a musician without that degree.

At the time, I didn’t have an exact plan. I just knew I would rather take off each of my toes with a cigar cutter than teach a single week in a public (or private) school. After a while in the Music Industry program (a so-called worthless degree by one professor), I started to put things together. I eventually figured it out.

You know what I do for a living? You know what pays my bills? Music and production. By the way, I do alright. I play jazz, rock, country, classical, and anything else someone hires me to play. I have a day job, too, and it jus happens to be working with music, videos, lights, etc…I love it. It’s what I am supposed to be doing and it’s what that “worthless degree” taught me to do.

Please don’t misunderstand, I have nothing against teachers (a lot of my friends teach) but it’s not what I want or need to be doing.

My point is (yes, I have one) that you can’t let people keep you from your dreams and you shouldn’t blame dreams not coming true on God. You gifts are just that- gifts and they are yours to enjoy.

The thing is, we never stop to think about why things are the way they are. It’s not law-abiding people that cause nasty security procedures at airports; it’s the cats that do stupid things with a plane. It IS the law-abiding people who want the concerned agencies to stop the crazies. It’s not people like me that caused stores to check I.D. when someone uses a debit card but rather the crooks who steal identities. It’s not the illegal immigrant that comes to the U.S. and goes to work that makes the government make laws against them (though taxes are a concern). It’s the ones who come here and commit crimes and can’t be traced.

Do the printed warnings on the lids of coffee cups saying ‘content may be hot’ bother you? Then blame the opportunists who spilled it on themselves and decided to sue for the damages. Hate being video recorded at a store? Blame the klepto who went “shopping” before you. Are you mad at immigrants or are you upset with the way the government deals with the situation as a whole?

Next time you are held up or inconvenienced, stop and think about who you should thank for it. A lot of times the trail will lead you far, far away from the person you are about to take it out on.

We want freedom and not to be bothered when we are minding our own business but we want security. We want jobs to stay in the U.S. but we want to maintain our wages and not compromise our lifestyle. We want our food and service to be just right but we don’t want the manager of the restaurant to bother us or fill out that silly card on the table. We want to be fit but we don’t intend on putting down that soda. We want the guy that runs the red light to get a ticket but we don’t want those cameras taking our pictures.

What we really want is to have things our own way; for people to read our minds. Then, however, we would hate the fact that people could see our thoughts.

We want rules to keep everybody in line but we don’t want the enforcing of those rules to touch us. Believe me, I am not excluding myself from this. While typing the second paragraph, I was drinking a Pepsi. Sad, but true. I think, though, that if we keep this in mind, we may just become a little more understanding towards some of these social malfunctions.