The value of a musician

[Stevebol]

I have a cell phone too.

[Mike Anderson]

Ripped pants are more expensive. This is quite normal according to the Marxist critic of the political economy, which defines the value of commodities by the working time required to manufacture them: in this case, it is necessary to add, to the manufacturing time, that for tear the pants

That’s twice in one thread you’ve quoted Marx – the one man in history I would most like to bring back to life...


...So I could kill him myself.

[grahambop]

These must cost a fortune:

[Marinero]

These must cost a fortune:

Hi, Graham,
"Mirroring" is a trait we have learned well from our simian ancestors. Good playing . . . Marinero

[don_oz]

Posts about money seem to come up often. I contemplate the ideas discussed often. In my town, low gigs pay about $20/hr, high about $1000/hr. I've seen quite a few people play for free. And I've seen others get mad about that. The puzzling thing for me is that there is no analogy to this in other fields. Engineers don't build bridges for free. Therapists don't therap for free. Teachers don't teach for free. Custodians don't clean for free.
I think the difference is that playing music is fun. More fun than the vast majority of jobs. So much fun that most musicians will train for that job for decades without ever having an expectation of making money from it. They will actually pay other people to train them for that job that they will never make money from.
This problem will never go away unless playing guitar becomes no fun anymore.

I think that it's easier to not take musicians seriously in society. More often than not, live music isn't a necessity anymore for bars and other possible venues for performance. Where I currently live, a lot of musicians like to talk about getting paid the right amount etc, but at the same time often come underdressed (IMO) to the gig. I think if musicians took more care of how they appear, and also how they act whilst playing music, people might actually look and think "wow this guy means business". That's how I feel about the scene where I live right now. Some people act like the place they are playing at are blessed to have them there, when in reality they can get rid of you in a split second and someone will always provide a similar service for cheaper. That's my two cents.

[Christian Miller]

Haha don’t go into the entitlement of musicians… I think quite a few would benefit from working a few years in a non music job….

but then I’m one to talk!

[emanresu]

In these woods here. An actor who sells for too low for appearance is shunned from the community.
Musicians have no such thing. So they sell themselves way too cheap .