It's all for a good cause ...

I was interested to hear a piece on the news today on the Musicians Union (MU) and its members doing charity gigs. The contention is that professional musicians are often "emotionally blackmailed" into performing for free in the service of a "good cause" or charitable event.

I'm not quite sure how the MU plans to take this further, but I'm glad it's raised the issue. Too often, it's assumed that a musician won't mind playing for free - perhaps due to a lack of understanding of what's involved, or maybe the thinking is that because they enjoy what they do, it's no skin off their nose. The plethora of reality television shows with starstruck hopefuls queuing up to perform doesn't help, either.

Unfortunately, for a whole string of reasons, musicians all too often work for free - maybe it's a promotional opportunity, a showcase, it's for a friend, or you're starting out and you want the experience ... In fact we all (not just musicians) donate our skills and services at various points in the service of some cause or other. It's just that, for professionals in the creative industries, the practice is pretty much endemic.

The MU's complaint about charity gigs is that often, other people associated with such events - the caterers, bar staff, lawyers etc - are paid, while musicians aren't. I now have my own strict criteria on whether I will or won't play for free, but if you asked somebody in another profession whether they'd be prepared to do a day's work unpaid out of goodwill, or for some other cause, they'd probably say no, and nobody would think to question it. Celebrities like to make a big show out of their work for charity because they can afford to - for most of us mere mortals, however, we need to work (and get paid) to live.