Re: [Harp-L] Fair Trade Music

[Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 1:21 PM, Steve Power <stevepower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 wrote:

>  Fair Trade Music.


I read through this group's website when I first heard about them.

"Fair" and "Trade" here are arbitrary value judgments. Who will you trust
to establish "fair" pay? One size fits all? (Fair is what you can get
when negotiating the gig!)

I'd like to earn better pay and play [work] better rooms, too. But wanting
and wishing doesn't make reality.

Harmonica players earn "what the market will bear" regardless of how
delightful and talented we think we art. I don't fundamentally "deserve" a
minimum wage from anyone.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Club owners may agree to participate for a time, yet faced with higher
per-night costs, will cut somewhere else to maintain their profit. Maybe
fewer nights... maybe shorter hours, 2 and 3 hour gigs instead of 4. Or cut
corners elsewhere in the business.

Less desirable gigs are where musicians sharpen their skills, and prepare
to play [work] better ones. Take away those opportunities, and we actually
stunt the growth of new harmonica players.

SUCCESSES?
Where can I read about those successes in Portland?

Robert Hale
Spiral Advocate
Learn Harmonica by Webcam
Low Rates, High Success
http://www.youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL
http://www.dukeofwail.com
https://www.facebook.com/DUKEofWAIL