Once upon a time in a land far away, lived a very talented musician who longed for the opportunity to play his instrument and actually get paid to do so. Oh what visions of grandeur passed through his/her head as he/she dedicated his/her every waking hour to practicing his/her favorite instrument. Years past and slowly his/her ambition became a reality.
“This is why I have dedicated me life to my instrument. This is finally the payback I have dreamed of”.
Then, while performing with one of the Holiday On Ice show, he/she was asked if he/she ( don’t you get tired of all this political correctness?) needed a break which surprised the young and naive musician. “What do you mean”, he asked? The dedicated musician was then told that what he and the audience heard was actually prerecorded tracks being pumped through the house speakers! Welcome to track music. That was around 1965.
After making an eventual move to Branson, Missouri, “The Live Music Capital of the World”, the musician found that tracks had again infiltrated the music scene. Bands were continually reducing their personnel and making more and more room for prerecorded instrumental tracks. When first performing in Branson fifteen years ago, the backing ensembles were populated by three to four and sometimes five trumpets in several theaters. Also in the bands were complete sax and trombone sections. Each year more and more musicians were given their pink slips and more and more recorded backgrounds made their way into orchestra pits and stages. This is all history and the security and availability of performing musician jobs has continued to diminish. At this time in Branson there are approximately two shows using full time trumpet players as compared to the fifteen full time trumpet positions fifteen years ago.
You may now ask, “Who is now stealing the gigs?
The answer may shock you…..
There seems to be a trend in the live music industry which pits musician against other musicians. This trend is perpetrated by fellow musicians who voluntarily offer to perform for “free” and make their money by selling their CD’s to the patrons! With the downward trend of unionized representation it seems that the average law abiding musician has no certainty of continued employment. We once feared the recording industry and now we are being attacked by our own fellow musicians.
An example of this thoughtless and selfish practice is the fact that some of our local bands are now playing in clubs free of charge and their income is based on the sale of their CD’s. How stupid can you get? The club owners are elated for they incur no expense for the live entertainment and only have to furnish the stage, lights and sound system. These musical pirates can sometimes make a sizable amount each night selling their CDs and everyone wins, right? Of course the working musician is now out of work and in many cases is forced to move his/her families to another area. How can real musicians compete with free bands? This is just another example of what we used to call “scabes”; workers agreeing to work for far less than the market is currently paying.
The question is this; is there anything we can do to curtail this legal yet disgusting practice? Unfortunately the only thing we can do is first become aware of this practice and then spread the word that musicians are stealing from other musicians. I’m sure that a musician (term used very loosely) making $200 a night selling CDs is not going to complain, especially when a true musician is usually given one-fourth that amount for the same amount of time. These CD, under the counter, lowballing, scabs are making more but need be viewed as a real threat to live music and the reason that most musicians dedicated their years to improving this art form.
If you have any questions about this practice, please send me your thoughts.
If you are one of those CD super stars. I would also enjoy visiting with you about this topic..
