Now this is a hotly and greatly debated topic already but it got me thinking and seeing as people felt the need to be mean to her about it I thought I'd throw in my thoughts as well.
Now first and foremost, at the end of the day everything is always your own choice. If you don't like the idea, don't accept. If you do then got for it with all your heart and soul.
That should really be the end of the story but of course it's not.
The premise of the issue of course is the belief that you should get paid for your time. It's only fair right?
Because it's work and you get paid for your work and that's being paid for your time.
Well guess what? No one gets paid for their time.
It might be nice concept and maybe some people have jobs where they just have to show and they get paid. But I've never seen one.
You get paid for the value you bring to a person or business. Where the values lies is infinitesimal but there it is.
You do not get paid for your time. That's just the easiest way to break down the days and allocate monetary value in an easily calculable system.
So now that we've clarified that, why should you choose to do or not to do an unpaid gig?
Again it's all about value.
If someone is paying you it's because they value something can do for them. In the context of playing music live for payment, again it's because you bring value. Either people value your performance and the experience and they pay for it. Or they value the fact that you'll bring people to their venue and generate drink and ticket sales.
If, in this case, it's a restaurant then perhaps they value the ambience or brand reputation that it brings them by having local live entertainment. It's highly unlikely that a restaurant would be banking on this however. After all their core offering is food, obviously.
So if they think there is enough value in them having you there then they will undoubtedly pay.
If however the value to them is minimal then it's possible to look at it another way.
The value for the performer could be found in getting up experience, the opportunity to sell your music, or promote yourself. If this doesn't seem valuable enough to you as a performer then perhaps we need to come back to the original point. It will only be valuable to you if the audience perceives it to be valuable to them. If they see enough value in your performance to seek you out again, support you financially or socially, or purchase your music.
If this isn't happening then keep on working your arse off until you get to the point where people will do so.
Bottom line is if people want and value you enough then someone else taking a free gig is not going to stop them from paying you. If they want you they'll pay.
And if you want to take a free gig to work up to that point then seize away and to hell with what other people think.
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