Playing for Exposure

My friend Kevin says, "man, people die from exposure…"

A lot of times musicians will be asked to play a free gig, being told they won't be paid, but "it's good exposure." My short answer is never play for free, you devalue yourself, your music, and other artists. That being said, there are situations that make sense and everyone has to judge whether it is worth it. I think one important thing to remember is that many times people expect musicians to play for free or cheap, while others such as caterers and other staff get full pay. This is a topic that often leads to much debate that I'm not going to enter here.

Aside from that, I have three things I want to post in response to the playing for free or exposure question. The first is my friend Kevin's response above.

The second is the writer Harlan Ellison's response to when he was asked to do something for free for a DVD. (Note that this is NSFW and may be rough for sensitive ears.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Third is this post that was recently found on a Massachusetts-area Craigslist. Unfortunately, I do not know who wrote it so I cannot give credit.

Hi,

We are a group of professional musicians who will be street performing this coming Sunday afternoon in Cambridge. We would like to offer our event as an avenue for a local restaurant or club to come and provide food for us, and our audience. We will play for about 2 hours, and the traffic count will be at least 100 people, more if the weather is sunny. We would prefer food that is healthy, good tasting and versatile as our audience has a wide variety of tastes.

Also, we would prefer that you send at least 2 pretty waitresses to help serve the food, this is negotiable as not everyone has the same definition of pretty. I'm actually fine if they are at least "friendly", because honestly I'm not that good looking myself.

Sorry we won't be able to pay you any money, our budget is tight. But, you will be able to hand out your brochures and get some great exposure for your restaurant. If things go well, we will invite you back for our next performance, and possibly include a gift coupon that you may use to attend one of our future shows. Come on down, you will have FUN feeding people, and again you will have great exposure for your restaurant.

If interested, please respond quickly with your menu, as we would like to make our selections and complete our summer schedule.

Posted 2010 04 19 at 6:56 AM

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