Free Gigs

If you're an artist I'm sure you are approached to do free gigs more than you probably want. If you're new, you may only be able to find gigs that are unpaid. Even as a veteran in the music game, you are still asked to do 'free gigs'. The promoters will say 'oh, it will be good exposure!" And you on the other hand are thinking, 'music is my job... why work for free?" There are pros and cons to both actually.. and I'm going to go over of few of them here.

Pros of doing free gigs:

1. It's exposure. To determine whether it is 'good' exposure, ask the following: Is this a new crowd you're performing for? Are they the kind of crowd that would like your music? Is this gig in a place you have never performed before? Is the gig in a new city? If the answer is yes to most of these, then it's probably good exposure.

2. It's free marketing. Your performance is the best way to market your music. You can plug your website to the crowd, and offer your CD's for sale after the show. Also if they have printed media for the event, having your face and name on the media is great marketing as well.

3. It's the best way to work on your craft. We all have heard that experience in the field is better than being in the classroom. Well the same applies to being an artist and performer.

4. It's the easiest way to build your resume. You can find a lot of opening act opportunities that are unpaid but nice notes to add to your presskit. Who wouldn't want an opener with Stevie Wonder or Mariah Carey on their resume?

Cons of doing free gigs:

1. It's unpaid. No explanation needed for that.

2. It's unpaid. I'll explain this time. If a club is throwing a concert where a major artist comes in, they are definitely paying that major artist. And 99 percent of the time, the club is paying the bartenders, stage crew, marketing, and any other service needed for the event to take place. So why not pay you? Also, they are making money off of the lineup of performers... and if you are in the lineup, shouldn't you be paid as well? Music is a job... and you would never go to your job and work for free.

3. It devalues your brand. If you have a solid artist name and brand, doing a free show can really devalue your brand. You want to instill in the promoters that hire you that they must pay for what they get. This will lead to long term stability and quality that both promoters and the public will appreciate.

So you really just have to weigh the options. Typically a new artist should take more free gigs than an established artist. Also consider costs of getting to the gig, and whether your band is willing to perform for free to build your name. Hopefully this will help you when the next promoter facebook's you saying 'hey.. got this show I want you to do.. I don't have a budget to give you, but it's great exposure!!" LOL.. Happy Recording.

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