Music Video Lesson: Should you Play for Free?

Hi, I'm Robert Estrin here at virtualsheetmusic.com and livingpianos.com. The question today is, should you play for free? Wow! What is... Should you? You know, a lot of people have very strong feelings about this one way or another. It's a very important topic we're gonna cover today, and there's a reason why it's important that I'm gonna tell you right out of the gate.

You know that being a musician, whether it's a classical musician, a jazz musician, rock, anything, is so fiercely competitive that there are many places that are not only looking for people to play for free, but they're even paid to play clubs and venues. That's right. Did you know that people who play New York recitals pay to play just so they can get reviewed, and they hope to sell enough tickets to break even if they're lucky. And the fact is, unless they're a world famous artist, it's very difficult to get a hall...to get people to come to a hall, even if you pay for the hall, even if you give away the tickets.

So a lot of these are money-losing events that people do just for the notoriety and the attention. Same thing is true for rock bands, struggling rock bands, trying to play at the local club. Well, the club owner might say, "Yeah, you can come and play, but here, here's tickets." You gotta sell a certain number of tickets just so you can play there. Essentially, you're paying to play. You're going out there. You're getting the crowd for them.

So, should you do this? Well, you have to look deep within yourself, and you also have to look at what the specifics are of the situation. How much is there to gain? Sometimes, it could be worthwhile if it's a benefit concert or something of that nature. Getting involved in something where it really helps to raise money for worthy causes, you might not feel so badly about giving your time and pouring out your heart in a public performance. But be very careful, there's a fine line between doing something that opens opportunities for yourself and promote yourself, and where you're being exploited. And I think you have to be very cognizant of this.

So I would not completely discount the idea of playing for free if there's enough notoriety, attention, press, and things you can gain from it that are of value, but make sure that you draw the line for something. For example, playing at a party where it's more of a function rather than artistic expression, you have to really ask yourself, "Is this worth it?"

Thanks for the great questions, and keep them coming in. I'm Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com. See you next time.

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