Jake Pegg
Fair Trade Music
Graham has been meeting with several representative of the Mayor's office. It turns out that they have an arts wing that's already working on related projects, and Travel Portland is excited and supportive of the campaign.
That's very good news for us!
We'll be checking back in with them as things continue to formalize on our end.
Travel: My take is that they may well be into this because it would provide a brand that would further enhance Portland's reputation as a premier destination for live music fans. This fits in perfectly with our goal of making Portland the best city for live music in the country!
Related: It's not hard to see why good musicians would want to move to a town where 'guarantee' is not a dirty word!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Hostile Q & A - almost done!
We are almost done with the 'Hostile Q & A!'
Basically, club owners are naturally a little hesitant about this, and musicians are generally kind of cynical as to whether or not this can work.
Every time we post a Craigslist ad about the campaign, there is a storm - mostly from musicians - about why they think making $4 an hour for providing a service is OK!
The good news is that many or most of these objections are based on myths and misinformation, much of which is throwback to the Reagan Years! Also, since they're pretty much the same objections, over and over, they're utterly predictable.
In fact, Graham fielded a call from a local press agent who called to play 'devils advocate.' basically, every one of his objections was right out of our Q & A, so Graham was able to dispatch with them deftly and efficiently, with an excellent chance to be able to so do again in future.
Time permitting, we'll have it done at this Wednesday's meeting. Let me know if you'd like to see them.
Basically, club owners are naturally a little hesitant about this, and musicians are generally kind of cynical as to whether or not this can work.
Every time we post a Craigslist ad about the campaign, there is a storm - mostly from musicians - about why they think making $4 an hour for providing a service is OK!
The good news is that many or most of these objections are based on myths and misinformation, much of which is throwback to the Reagan Years! Also, since they're pretty much the same objections, over and over, they're utterly predictable.
In fact, Graham fielded a call from a local press agent who called to play 'devils advocate.' basically, every one of his objections was right out of our Q & A, so Graham was able to dispatch with them deftly and efficiently, with an excellent chance to be able to so do again in future.
Time permitting, we'll have it done at this Wednesday's meeting. Let me know if you'd like to see them.
Bidding out-of-town shows: using the star rating system
There's a lot of guesswork in bidding out-of-town shows.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the multi-tiered 'star system' we've worked up was really helpful in bidding a show the other day.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise: although it doesn't help in clubs (any more,) the good ol' union scale book helps take a lot of guesswork out of decisions like this, and it even helped me make a few extra bucks at a senior prom last week.
Since the Union book doesn't really work for clubs, we worked up our own: one of the cornerstones of the Fair Pay to Play campaign is a tiered pay scale that reflects the earning potential of clubs. This recognizes clubs who pay musicians better, and it also allows small venues to participate. (see http://wwwfairpaytoplay.com)
Next question: How many stars?
There are a few ways to do this. We are in the final, number-crunching (and reality-checking) stages of testing several calculators. One of them is based on the 'Calgary' style model (so named after a group of AFM musicians who did this before in that city.) Based on that model, I asked the presenter/purchaser/organizer a few questions about the club:
Full bar? Yes. (this means, unless it's tiny, it's at least a two-star)
Capacity? about 150. (it's not tiny.)
Ave food price? (average... upscale bar food)
Sounds like a two-star venue to me. I bid a three-star price for negotiating purposes, and added travel time and expense. The number sounded perfectly reasonable, possibly even doable by the venue! Headache averted.
With any luck, we'll be finishing the star level calculator in the next few weeks.
With a lot more luck and some help, we'll start signing on venues in October.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the multi-tiered 'star system' we've worked up was really helpful in bidding a show the other day.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise: although it doesn't help in clubs (any more,) the good ol' union scale book helps take a lot of guesswork out of decisions like this, and it even helped me make a few extra bucks at a senior prom last week.
Since the Union book doesn't really work for clubs, we worked up our own: one of the cornerstones of the Fair Pay to Play campaign is a tiered pay scale that reflects the earning potential of clubs. This recognizes clubs who pay musicians better, and it also allows small venues to participate. (see http://wwwfairpaytoplay.com)
Next question: How many stars?
There are a few ways to do this. We are in the final, number-crunching (and reality-checking) stages of testing several calculators. One of them is based on the 'Calgary' style model (so named after a group of AFM musicians who did this before in that city.) Based on that model, I asked the presenter/purchaser/organizer a few questions about the club:
Full bar? Yes. (this means, unless it's tiny, it's at least a two-star)
Capacity? about 150. (it's not tiny.)
Ave food price? (average... upscale bar food)
Sounds like a two-star venue to me. I bid a three-star price for negotiating purposes, and added travel time and expense. The number sounded perfectly reasonable, possibly even doable by the venue! Headache averted.
With any luck, we'll be finishing the star level calculator in the next few weeks.
With a lot more luck and some help, we'll start signing on venues in October.
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