Musicians Are Not Staff
As far as most jobs go, musicians have it fairly good. I’ve mentioned before that if you are able to make a living from performing, you should be relatively happy with yourself, as well as counting yourself lucky.
I’ve been playing music for mostly pitiful pay since I was 13 and have worked professionally as a musician for the last seven years. During these seven years, there has been a big change in how the band that I work with are being treated by the venues where we perform, some of which we’ve had contracts with for years.
For those of you who might have come across this post as a none-musician, what is about to follow might seem like whinging or at least as a very first world problem. I can assure you though that it isn’t and I’ll try to explain why. If you happen to be a hotel/bar/cruise manager, please take note.
Like most musicians starting out in the UK my first gigs were in pubs. Being from the north west of England, the pay was never particularly good (although actually a lot better than it is today). In addition to the money, food and drink were always part of the pay. If you agreed to a gig, it went without saying that food and drink, including alcohol were always included. If you were not a complete arsehole and wanted to work there again, you were sure to not drink the place dry, out of both courtesy to the venue and the fear of sounding like utter shite.
My first job after becoming a full time musician was a big step up from the pubs and clubs I’d performed at before. My previous highlight was playing original music with a band at the O2 academy in Manchester, so to be fair it wasn’t going to take much beating. But a residency at a hotel in the centre of Monaco, as a session musician for a South African “star”, signed to a Monegasque label was at the time a big deal.
I won’t name the hotel because we still work there. But it’s a nice one. Most of guests that either stay there or just come into the bar for a drink at night have money to burn and expect the best of everything. Normally for staff in these kinds of places it seems working life can be a little unpleasant at times, mainly due to the management style. Although rare, you can sometimes hear waiters being given a severe dressing down, sometimes in front of the guests. It’s as if the customer wants to see the person they complained about getting a telling off.
As musicians however it was always different. You weren’t treated as a guest, but not too far off. We were each given a room in the hotel and although we couldn’t use facilities like the pool or spa, as most musicians on hotel gigs get to do, we were allowed into the bar anytime to get free drinks. Food was provided in the staff canteen as unfortunately, not too long before we started working there, one of the other bands decided that it would be a good idea to take their partners and friends into the restaurants where the entertainment used to be able to eat for free. Why people take liberties like this and ruin things for themselves and everyone else I’ll never know. Musicians seem to be really short-sighted.
At night during work, we were allowed to have as many drinks and snacks as we liked. During our breaks we could sit at the bar and mix with the guests, which is how we used to get more work from private functions. We could also sit in the lobby which is normally very quiet and there are maybe one hundred available seats. All pretty normal for this type of gig. Until things started to change.
The first thing to go came after some renovation work at the hotel. The rooms we had stayed in previously were turned into temporary offices, so we got put up in alternative accommodation about half an hour walk from the hotel. It was annoying but understandable. After the work was completed, we heard that the hotel no longer wished to give accommodation to the bands. It’s one of the only cases I’ve heard of even now, as most people I know working in Dubai or China always get a hotel room. Fortunately, we are liked enough as an act that we are getting an allowance for accommodation. We have however no choice but to use on Airbnb, as anything else is just too expensive. It’s worked out so far but is not ideal as there will come a time I’m sure when a host cancels on us last minute and we have no alternatives.
Next to go was the free drinks. It went from an unlimited amount to a maximum of two. Shortly after that it changed to those two drinks being either wine or beer only. Slightly annoying but not too bad. About a year later two drinks became one and only after work. That changed one contract later to being zero drinks or snacks.
When it comes to alcohol, none-musicians probably think either it shouldn’t be an issue as it’s not a big deal or that you shouldn’t be drinking at work anyway. Both are wrong and here’s why.
Alcohol sales are what makes the bar money. The band aren’t there as just some interesting piece of furniture. They are there to keep people in the bar buying drinks. No one wants to go to a bar, sit down and watch a band put a shift in. Would anyone want to spend good money to watch a band in an office environment? Or in a rehearsal? Obviously not. Guests want the bands to be part of the party and that’s why you are constantly being bought champagne and shots at these types of gigs. But that no longer happens.
This is how a night used to be. We would play the first two sets for aperitif then went on a break. When we came back, before playing we’d all get a drink from the bar. During our set those would gradually be consumed in full view. Someone in the crowd would notice this and by us another round to top us up. One round is a lot of money for the bar in this place.
The same thing would happen over and over. The atmosphere would go up a notch or two as people wanted to start a real party. More drinks are bought, lots more money is made for the bar and then in the breaks people want to talk to us. As we are allowed to stay in the bar, business cards are exchanged and the really well paid private functions get organised.
The only downside to how things used to be is that our livers were probably taking a hammering, so at least we’ll probably live longer with the new rules. But we’ll certainly be poorer as we are no longer allowed to stay in the bar during our breaks unless invited. That doesn’t really happen as much anymore as people are seeing us drinking water on stage, presume we either don’t want or are not allowed a champagne and understandably don’t want to spend their time or money with or on a bunch of “boring” sober people.
We could just sit in the lobby and see if anyone would come and meet us there. But that got banned too. As soon as we finish, unless someone wants to invite us to their table, we must leave immediately to our green room. The reason? Because we are apparently staff.
There has always been a general dislike by ordinary staff in most venues towards entertainment and I’ve written about it before with our experiences on the ships. But now things seem to be getting worse as new, younger people are getting promoted into management roles. They are all so corporate and business minded. Which I guess in a lot of ways might be a good thing for the venues as a whole. But there are some professions which do not fit into a corporate setting and one of those is the professional musician. If these managers don’t realise this, they will lose their best acts and it’ll serve them right. The problem with a lot of these new managers is that they seem desperate to tell other people what to do and give out orders. Maybe they’ve been watching too much of The Apprentice.
During our last contract, a manager that we have never met before requested to speak with our singer. She told him that some of the band members had been spotted sitting in the lobby and that they must never do this again. She then went on to say that cleaners had come into our green room during the day and found empty alcohol bottles in the bin. Since the new rules came in, we have been bringing our own drinks bought from the supermarket to help liven up the weekend sets. This was apparently unacceptable as, because musicians are now considered staff by the management, drinking at work is not allowed. When asked what to do if a guest buys us a drink, she replied “you can cheers with them, take a sip and hand it to the bar”. Obviously this is crazy. I can’t imagine a guest paying €150 for a round being particularly happy watching us take a sip before the rest gets thrown down the sink behind the bar. This was just the perfect example of this new generation of managers not having a clue how a bar or entertainment is run. Our singer had had enough at this point and explained to her that she is not our manager, we are not staff and we will drink whatever we like. She backed down and suggested we come to a compromise for the next contract. After this, we complained about what was said to the bar manager, who is fortunately from the older generation of hotel staff. He said to ignore the other managers, and bought us all gin and tonics to make up for it.
What has happened at this hotel in Monaco isn’t an isolated case either. Obviously the ships were a bit of a problem, but also a hotel we used to work in Courchevel. It’s a very similar place to the hotel in Monaco, with a lot of the same clients coming for their annual skiing and Christmas holidays. Everything was perfect until a new, younger manager turned up. Drinks were restricted to wine and beer, we had to start eating in the staff canteen as opposed to the restaurant and then we were told to take our breaks there too, all but ending our chances of getting private work. In the end, we chose to stop working there. They’ve asked for us to come back but it’s unlikely we’ll go unless they change their attitude towards us.
As I said earlier, to some this will seem like whinging, but one of the barmen described this type of hotel contract work the best. He said it was like a factory for finding work. The pay is not bad but is definitely not the best. However being able to mix with the type of clients that come here provides a lot of well-paid functions. You can only get that work by mixing with guests and being on a similar level to them. You cannot do that if you are made to act like staff and made to feel like you shouldn’t hang around in-between sets or after the gig.
All things being well, we’ll be in Monaco again in September which I’m actually looking forward to. The venue itself is stunning, the bar staff are great and the guests are a lot of fun which makes for a lot of great evenings. As for the compromise, there won’t be one. If they like us enough they can start to show it by giving things back instead of taking them away.
What annoys me most is what seems like bitterness and jealousy from people in more conventional jobs. I’m not the best bass player in the world but I’m certainly not so bad. Whilst it’s not necessary to be at my level to perform at these venues, it does require a lot of work in one’s free time, usually when a lot younger. Whilst others were out getting drunk or playing sports socially with friends, I was indoors learning my craft every day from 13 years of age and it’s the same for the vast majority of entertainers. It wasn’t all bad as I mostly enjoyed learning to play music but I did miss out on stuff. My view now is that if you are in a conventional job, or if you are one of these managers that deals with entertainers and you take a dislike to their working life, you have two choices. Either remain bitter and jealous about how entertainers can live their lives and regret your own life choices when you had the opportunity to do something. Or if possible, go out and change your own now. Maybe it’s not too late. Or probably it is. Either way, stop trying to get rid of the perks of a profession that most people have worked hard for in their own time just because it doesn’t fit into the normal rules of most normal occupations. It doesn’t fit because it isn’t normal. Musicians are not staff. In fact being a professional musician is mostly stressful. Work is hard to find, contracts get cancelled last minute, and pay is late or sometimes doesn’t get paid at all. Then there’s the travelling about. Sure it can be fun but it does mess up long term plans. It certainly isn’t the easy ride, money for nothing, jet setting lifestyle most people seem to think it is, so what’s wrong with a few perks?
I’m going to stop now before I talk myself into a career change. Plus I need to spend some time on Airbnb. Remember how I said earlier that having to find our own accommodation is going to screw up someday? Well it just did in the middle of writing this. The September contract was only just fully confirmed and now everywhere is booked up. Looks like we’ll be hiring a car and staying a little further out this time. Still, I bet whichever manager came up with the idea of scrapping band accommodation is really pleased with themselves.
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