Freebie gigs are not a big talking point here. But, there are times I don't mind them at all. I have two coming up for people who have connected me with a couple of really good clients. One of them sheepishly asked me if I would do him a favor and play a house party for his anniversary. NO PROBLEM. He had previously connected me with a client that is worth an average of $2500 a year.

The wife of a bartender at the local Elks hooked me up with a very exclusive assisted living place which now contracts me for 5-6 gigs a year at top dollar. She asked how much for me to do a party at their house on a Sunday. I gladly said "ZERO dollars".

Genuine community service freebies are okay with me to...like helping to raise money for a local needy family.

Then there are the guys that ask for freebies for the sake of all the "exposure" you're GOING to get. That's where I draw the line.

Gotta' agree with you on this one. In fact, I'm doing a freebee on March 1 at a charity dinner to raise money for a friend's sister who just a lung transplant. The cost was staggering, her monthly medicine's alone run nearly $2,000 and while she paid for medical insurance for more than 40 years, her insurance company keeps saying "Oh! We don't cover that." Sound familiar. These kind of jobs I will play for free. As for getting my name out to the public, NAH!--Momma didn't raise no dummies!

Cheers'

Gary

I gotta be honest I never play for FREE, but I will give a substancial discount to a legitamate charity organization of which I have done many thru the years. My name on the billboard will be a huge draw for their cause.. so you see it balances out.



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www.donnypesce.com

Well, I think it depends on where you are in the journey of your musical career and what the cause is.

In the early days I would play anywhere for anything as long as I could draw some sort of crowd, Including street corners for tips.

I found that to be the greatest training ground for the paying gigs. I could try material, jokes and things to see if they worked or not. It gave me exposure that lead to many gigs. It also gave me the opportunity to polish my act and gain confidence.

In later years in bands although not as many we still played wherever we could get booked, you just never know who's going to wander by or be there to hear you and what it may lead to. Whereas if you're sitting at home playing to the walls, nobody is going to catch your act there, except the walls.

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 02-18-2003).]

Donny Who? I tried to get Mariah to work with me for a benefit[my birthday], but she declined!

Fran,

Now if you used the UPS girl in your act I'm sure you would draw Big Time!!!

The only freebie id do is if it was in a strip bar or loads of females on tap