5/22/2017 Jazz Musician: I See the Gap Between the Haves and Have-Nots - In These Times

In These Times http://www.inthesetimes.com

WorkingJune16,2014

JazzMusician:ISeetheGap
BetweentheHavesandHave
Nots
BY Jeremy Gantz

Forthreeyearsintheearly1970s,journalistStudsTerkelgatheredstoriesfromavarietyof
Americanworkers.HethencompiledthemintoWorking,anoralhistorycollectionthatwent
ontobecomeaclassic.Fourdecadesafteritspublication,Workingismorerelevantthanever.
Terkel,whoregularlycontributedtoIn These Times,oncewrote,Iknowthegoodfightthe
fightfordemocracy,forcivilrights,fortherightsofworkershasafuture,forthesevalueswill
liveoninthepagesofIn These Times.InhonorofthatsentimentandofWorkings40th
anniversary,ITTwritershaveinvitedabroadrangeofAmericanworkerstodescribewhat
theydo,intheirownwords.More"Workingat40"storiescanbefoundhere.

BudFreeman,atenorsaxophoneplayerfor47years,spoketoTerkelforWorkingaboutthe
shockhefrequentlyencounteredwhenhetoldstrangersheplayedmusicforaliving.Thoughhe
admittedtofrequentlysleepinginuntilnoon,healsotoldTerkelaboutthedisciplinerequiredto
fostermusicalcreativitywhilesurvivingasafulltimemusicianashesaid,Thedreamofall
jazzartistsistohaveenoughtimetothinkabouttheirworkandplayandtodevelop.

AsthesonofanAfricanAmericanjazzdrummerandaHungarianvocalist,fromhisearliest
yearsChicagobaseddrummerMakayaMcCravensawupclosehowhardprofessional
musicianshadtowork.Becauseofthis,hesays,ImnotdisillusionedaboutthelifeIvechosen.

McCraven,whomovedtoChicagofromMassachusettsin2006,hasplayedsomeofChicagos
biggeststages,touredtheUnitedStatesandEurope,andrecordedalbumswithvariousbands,
includinghisown.Heplayedhisfirstpayinggigatage12now30,hehasbeenafulltime
musicianfornearlyadecade.Today,McCravenexperiencesthefrustratingparadoxfacingall
musicianstryingtoearnaliving:thoughmusicismoreubiquitousthanever,consumersare
lesswillingtopayforwhattheyhear.Evenso,hesays,glamorousstereotypespersist.This
interviewhasbeenabridgedandedited.

People think we just jam out and get free drinks. Some people think were not working, because
they dont think about how much you have to practice, the amount of work it takes to play your
instrument well.

People think music is just a gift and its born out of nothingthat its in your genes. No:
Musicians work hard. You practice for hours and hours and hours. For me, with my parents
being musicians, it wasnt that they genetically bestowed on me the gift of music, but that they
were willing to let me put many, many hours of my life into it.

Now, I can be working with 10 to 12 bands at a time, and its a lot of music to learn. You have to
do your homework; you cant just show up to the show without learning the music first. So theres
a lot of work that I do at home.

And then theres business side: the scheduling of tour dates, the work to get more work, the
emailing, the back-and-forth, travel arrangements, all the logistics that go behind it. You dont
have a team of assistants doing that for you unless youre pulling in a good, considerable amount
of money. And then those people end up making more money than the musicians!

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My wife will sometimes say to me, You work all the time. Its a nighttime business, so I can get
a text about a gig anytime from eight in the morning to two or three in the morning. You try to
respond to people quickly because they might be calling a lot of people at once. There are a lot of
ups and downs. Just because you have a great gig or youre successful for a moment, that doesnt
mean you have any sort of security, because theres no retirement or anything.

There are a lot of different ways of going about making a career in music. You can be in a band,
which is risky because a lot of bands arent making much moneyyoure working for money
brought in at the door. Youre waiting for the big break.

Then theres the working musician method, where you refuse to play for under a certain amount
but you approach it as labor: Youre going to play a gig at a hotel and youll be in the corner, for
example. When the gigs over, youre done. Thats very different from the idea of being in a band.

What Ive learned during my time in the industry is to diversify my income and to be proactive. If
youre waiting for some big artist to give you a call with a life-changing opportunity, or if youre
the band waiting for the big break, youll keep on waiting.

But if youre constantly trying to create opportunities for yourself, its very possible to have a
career in music. You dont even necessarily have to be that great, unfortunately, if youve got good
business skills.

There are two sides to it, for me. One is, what am I doing as an artist? Am I creating my own
product to sell, to become known and draw people to my shows? The other important side is
becoming known by other musicians as someone whos reliable, as someone who can play the
music well and show up on timeyou want to be professional and to not cause any rifts.

Hastherecordindustryscollapseimpactedyourcareer?

Ive never had a livelihood that was based off of record salesthe only people who made lots of
money off of records were selling huge numbers. But one of the things I see in the music industry
now is the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and the disappearing middle class of
musicians.

These days, big labels put a lot of money into promoting big-name artists whom they know will
sell. In doing so, theyve taken more and more money out of artist development. So you have
fewer mid-level artists who are signed and making a living.

Weve seen a lot of industries for working musicians disappear. The advertising industry once
provided a lot of work for musicians. Now ad songs can be easily done by one person at a
computer.

And then you see, with regular local gigs, that the pay scale hasnt changed in 30 years. These
older guys, they used to make good money playing a jingle in the studio before going to play a
club gig that night. They got paid the same rate that Im getting paid to play. So you can see how
tough it can bethe cost of living has changed.

Part of it is younger musicians who are not as talented accepting less money for gigs. They just
want to play to get their name out there. I understand that, but it hurts the industry.

But part of it also has to do with culturepeople dont really care about the music in a certain
type of venue, or how high-quality it is. So lots of gig rates are too low.

Whatsthebiggestmisconceptionpeoplehaveabouttheworkinglifeofamusician?

There are so many. Say I meet somebody in an airplane. First question I get is usually, Oh, do
you play in a band? My nephews in a band. Im thought of as someone who practices in a garage
and plays a show a few times a month or something. After I explain, theyre always surprised,
like, Wow, you do that all the time, like, thats your job? You dont have any real work? Whats
your day job? So the big misconception is that being a musician is like a hobby.

And then there are a lot of people who think music is about being famous, or trying to get
famous.
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The truth is that theres such a wide range of things that people do within the industry beyond
club shows and concerts: teaching, performing as a session person, being an engineer, or working
as a wedding band or a corporate group. In Chicago there are a lot of what are known as
corporate bandsa company has five or six bands that they run and hire out to perform for
certain clientele, for conventions or corporations throwing parties. The company handles the
business side. They can charge a lot of money and pay the musicians pretty well.

I sometimes tell people that if youve ever been somewhere that theres been live music, Ive done
that. Ive played in some very big shows: in small arenas, as an opener for big artists on several
occasions or at large festivals. But Ive also done weddings and restaurants; Ive played on a
movie set. Ive been in the studio for commercials, for records and for recording classes with guys
learning to engineer. Ive also taught: Ive done workshops at universities, high schools,
elementary schools and performed for students. Ive played at an airport beforethat was a weird
episode.

I played a funeral one time. It was definitely strange playing an emotional event for strangers. I
had never been to an open-casket funeral before. And I wasnt really aware it was a funeral before
I took the gig: Sometimes you dont ask enough questions when someone calls offering the gig
and you need the work. And then youre playing six feet behind a casket looking out at family and
friends mourning. I definitely didnt smile during that gig.

Areyoustillabletoenteracreativezonewhenyousitdownandbeginplayingatmostgigs?

I make that a goal of mine. If you start doing too many straight work gigs, then you can lose the
creative spirit. At corporate band gigs, for example, there can be a lot of extraneous noise to deal
with, and people saying youre playing too loud. Those gigs arent for being creative, theyre for
being wallpaper. Thats why I really prefer not to do those kind of gigs. I only do them to fill my
schedule, to keep me busy and bring in more money.

Luckily, because I invest so much time into creative projects and have created my own unique
voice, I dont necessarily get called as much for that stuff anymore.

Isithardtojuggleamixofcorporategigsandyourownbandsplayingoriginalmusic?

It can be surreal. Ive had that: the experience of playing a big festival in Chicago in front of five
or six thousand peoplemaybe morewith all the food you can eat and back massages
backstage. Then I get off stage and gotta rush downtown for a gig thats going to pay me just as
much as the festival paid me. But the accommodations and perceptions are completely different:
It will be a private residence for, like, the 65th birthday party of the brother of a news anchor or
whatever, and you have to ask the doorman to let you unload equipment in the back. You play
but cant mingle. Youre heard but not seen.

So you have to code-switch a lot. One day youre the guest of honor, the next day youre a
peasant.

Whatsthekeytomakingitonyourterms?

You have got to work hard. It pays to have a creative outlook and entrepreneurial approach
because nobody knows whats going to happen with the music industry. Like I said, the middle
class of musicians is shrinking. But at the same time, the Internet provides certain avenues for
independent artists. Of course, its hard to compete with the major labels, because they have the
Internet too! They have the Internet and they have the money, the marketing musclethe
capital.

So how do you create a decent life as a working musician? I really think its about being an
original artist: create a body of work and be hired for being you, rather than just being a musician
for hire.

You have to constantly create, collaborate with people and diversify the work. By doing that, Ive
been able to stay busy and avoid things Id rather not do. Some musicians would rather have a
day job and only do exactly what they want to do. But I look at it as a livelihood.

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ABOUTTHISAUTHOR

Jeremy Gantz is a contributing editor at the magazine. He is the editor of TheAgeofInequality:

CorporateAmerica'sWaronWorkingPeople (2017, Verso), and was the Web/Associate Editor
of InTheseTimes from 2008 to 2012. A graduate of Northwestern Universitys Medill School of
Journalism, he worked as a reporter for TheCambodiaDaily in 2007. After graduating from
Carleton College in 2004, he lived in Sri Lanka on a Fulbright scholarship, studying the
intersection of ethnic politics and public education. His articles have also appeared in Chicago-
area newspapers, Alternet and the Onions A.V. Club.

More information about Jeremy Gantz

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