Show Me the Money

Many (many) years ago my brother made a joke.  “What talks but can’t sing and dance and doesn’t walk?”  He was referring to money in the context of the lyrics to “Forever in Blue Jeans” by Neil Diamond.

There are all kinds of expressions similar to “money talks.”  There was a movie called “Money Ball.”  Actually, “All About the Benjamins” is both an expression and a movie title.  I could do an entire blog consisting solely of songs about money or movie titles with some reference in it to money.

Oddly enough, in the entertainment business, no one wants to openly talk about money.  Getting a musician to reveal how much they get paid for a certain booking is like asking the CIA something that is top secret.  Okay, maybe not that intense, but, sadly, close!

How are young, up-and-comers supposed to know what to charge?  For that matter, I even had someone who didn’t get started performing until very late in life say that they too didn’t know what to charge.

There’s also the issue of some young performers who are just happy to be out playing and will settle for tips and a bar tab in exchange for the opportunity to get booked somewhere.  To those folks I say, as a public service, please stop that.  You’re making it much (much) more difficult on the “pros” to get what they deserve.

Meanwhile, there are others who are just flat out charging way too much.

I’m not going to bring New Year’s Eve into the conversation because we all know that’s the biggest night of the year for a performer to get paid.

But the other 364 days of the year, you really do have to know your worth, know the venue, know the audience, know the budget, and know as many more details as you can before you let your ego spit out a price that just isn’t going to fly.

In the past four weeks alone I’ve had at least two occasions where a performer (one a solo act, one a band) tell me what they needed to get, relative to booking opportunities I brought to them.  If I almost fell off my chair, you can imagine how the inquiring party reacted.  One of the latter said the price was, “outrageous.”

If your name is Katy Perry or John Mayer or others in that global superstar category, yes, they can name their own price.  But they’re not the ones reading this blog or needing this type of advice.  The rest of you need to look in the mirror and see who you are and where your career is at.  Start a conversation with colleagues, venues, and others in the know.  And then charge what is fair.  And remember that what you think you’re worth and what honestly is fair are not the same thing.