My Fee

"If you're good at something, never do it for free."  

So says The Dark Knight's Joker, and so says I.  Except for the fact that, as musicians, as artists, we do it all the time.  We do it almost exclusively.  We practice, we write, we hustle - all with no immediate reward.  And we have done it our whole lives.  

We pay a private teacher to tell us to practice.  We pay a school to tell us to write.  We pay a band and we play.  We practice enough until we are good enough that someone will pay us - a tiny bit - once in a while.  But that is not good enough.  So, we practice some more, and we get slightly more gigs.  

We write some good songs, and maybe get paid a little less for not doing covers - but it's more satisfying and we get better in a more complete way.  We finally get to a point were we are considered a master on our instrument and an important thinker in our genre.  We are officially "good at it," but guess what?  We still have to teach to make ends meet.  We still have to do that summer camp.  We still have to practice.

If I were a hit-man, and good, I would never kill for free.  If I were a butcher, the best, I'm not putting on that smock without getting paid my fee.  As a musician I am almost always at work - and I almost never get paid.