A couple of months ago I was contacted by a state run veterans home to perform for their group. They were super upfront with a very low budget, and for veterans, I’m OK with that. I consider this type of gig “volunteering”, however every time you volunteer, there has to be an exchange of some sort. Otherwise you’ll frequently be treated as a volunteer and not talent. They’ll change dates or times or scope of work on you at the last minute or worse without letting you know! Once they are invested in the show, they stop treating you like a volunteer.
Once I agreed to the show they emailed me a lot of paperwork to do to get paid a fraction of the fee that I would normally get. One of these things involved me setting up an account as a vendor, waiting 7-10 business days to get a vendor number, then once I get that number I need to send it into the veterans home. This wasn’t simply a fill out paper work and send it in. It was send it in, then wait and follow up about the status of my vendor number, then I needed to forward that. Sure that doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s work that takes place over multiple days…and that’s assuming they are no delays or problems with my paper work. All of the following up is on ME to do. I have to remember to check the status in a week, I need to make calls if there’s a delay.
Oh, then they say that I submit an invoice the day of the show and they mail me a check. So for me when that happens, they get moved into my “payments not made” system and I automatically have points in time that I follow up to figure out the status of the payment.
In my experience the only payments that are mailed to me that I need to chase are from low paying gig. Rarely (I can only think of once, and it was a crazy circumstance with the organization) do I ever have to hunt down a check 30 days after a gig at my normal rate.
I was told that all of this was mandatory. The paper work, the sending of the check after the gig. Here’s what I emailed them:
Within an hour after sending that email they replied stating that they would like to book the show and they’ll have cash waiting for me.
It’s crazy how mandatory, and the only way we do it can change.
Here’s advice to anyone who is trying to get a performer for lower than their normal rate or a charity, or whatever: Make it easy for the performer!
I’m not going to do more work for less money…and the more work which isn’t even the fun part of the gig!
Oh and in a fun side note, in the time between when I sent the above email and when they replied, I booked a gig for another date at my full rate. This communication was that I answered an incoming email with a price quote and needed info to book the gig. They replied with the info. I replied with a square link and they paid it! It took about 10 minutes start to finish to book and get paid for a gig at literally 10 times what I was getting paid for the veterans home!
Don’t let people make it hard for you do be nice to them. Once they make it more work for you to do a discounted show, lay out what you’re willing to do and be willing to walk away from the gig!
-Louie