Things were a little slower than usual over the holidays. Tips were smaller. It's taking longer for corporate customers to pay. In some cases, hours were reduced. In a few cases, long-standing gigs were canceled. A few corporate clients went out of business. One I'd been working for since the late 70's went bankrupt. The net effect was about a $3000.00 hit between Christmas and new Year's Eve, and, whereas I generally get about 50% of my checks during January, I still have $7,950.00, or about 65 % of my money "on the books" as of Feb. 1. A recent injury also necessitated the canceling of some of my customary holiday work.

How about you? See any improvement since Christmas?

Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 02-03-2010).]

The economy all around me is sinking..I have friends in business that have sold, closed long term businesses..The domino effect caught up to them...Their customers are unable to pay the invoices..and are carried as long as possible...banks will not support long term customers because the future looks dim..

Music venues are backing off....Club owners think nothing of cancelling bands if they think it will be a slow night because of weather (they seem to forget it is a 52 weeks a year business)...not like we see bonuses when we play to packed houses...

The folks that are doing well..seem to be politicians...in fact they continue to give themselves raises....

Where is Sarah?..I know she would have done a better job...

Business actually increased for me, personally. The more I try to cut back, the more the telephone rings and more new clients call asking for performance dates.

Those that I recently cut out of my schedule, 8 in all, have called and asked if I would reconsider and offered a 50 percent increase in hourly pay rate.

The flip side of the coin is that most of the guys I know that perform regularly in restaurants have seen a downturn in their business. I guess fewer folks are eating in upscale restaurants, which translates into fewer night where they have musical entertainment. Sure makes me glad I decided to get out of the bar and restaurant entertainment biz and switch to the senior circuit. Business is booming with the older folks, and the residents and staff are very appreciative.

Cheers,

Gary

We're busier than we have ever been.

I heard recently that some musos around our neck of the woods are finding it REAL hard to get gigs, but I honestly suspect that those are the ones that don't try too hard/aren't so great at what they do and have day jobs anyway.

It must be said, Australia did not have anywhere NEAR the same Economic woes that most of the rest of the World has had.

its been pretty harsh for many here in the uk, mostly those who work in the construction industry and those attached to it (carpenters and joiners for instance).

An awfull lot of music shops have gone under, which means their suppliers suffer too. Generally I think there is more interest in music in the UK than there has been for decades (due to X-factor, guitar hero etc), the main problem the retail end has is coping with internet discount sellers who do not have overheads or even carry stock, so those shops who sell boxed items suffer most. The ones that remain have adapted and supply more than boxed products (tuition and specialist service for instance). Its not just the music shops, a walk down any high street tells a similar story.

My families retail music business has been ok thankfully, last February was the best they had ever seen, and early signs indicate ths won't be so terrible. the end of the summer was tough but you just have to learn to keep the spending down and diversify into areas you may not have tried before.

One of my monthly gigs is an upscale CC ... they closed the lounge/restaurant part of the club for Feb and March ... the first time the club has been closed in over 100 years !!!
t.

I'm glad I was able to take the winter off this year...apparently the restaurant I used to play at isn't using entertainment...at least until the summer, when the tourist season begins.

First time they ever did that since I started playing there 15 years ago.

They aren't even having entertainment for Valentines or Mothers Day this year.

Actually, I don't mind a bit...I'm not fussy moving gear on slippery sidewalks, in frigid -20 Celsius, and unpredictable snow activity.

Ian

the CC(but open to public)lounge i have been
working duo in since March has steadily increased biz..in December they let me add a guest performer each Friday and it's now growing faster..this week we add Thursdays.
More and more small venues are now open to try entertainment since the recession, who wouldn't even consider it a year or two ago.
Their food/bev biz is down, they are now looking for ways top bring more people in. Jam sessions are abounding at an astonishing rate. I predicted all this. every recession has seen a spike in interest in jazz. when times are flush, people are into musical fads.


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Miami Mo

A lot of the same stuff is going on around Dayton...especially the Country Clubs...

Personally, my sales and number of performances keep increasing annually. I did 437 jobs in 2009, on pace for close to that in 2010, which will be the last year I work this much. I'd like to drop down to about 250 jobs a year and do 1-2 CD's per year to supplement my income. I've been getting requests for CD's for several years, but my schedule is too busy to permit it. Now that Patty is done with Grad School (June '10) things will be different around the Corfield Ranch...

I've had several discussions with clients who have commented their funds are shrinking and they won't be using entertainment as much, but so far...it hasn't effected me.

I can't comment on the local or state pay raises, but Congress will not be getting a raise in 2010, not even a cola...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/02/no_pay_raise_for_lawmak ers_nex.html


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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 02-03-2010).]

Bill, you know if you plug your mic into your Tyros 2, you can record everything you do on gigs. Just press record and it will do up to 80 minutes. You don't have to stop and start between each song, just let it run. I think you'd have a lot of CD's you could sell without having to go through all the extra work the other way.

Everything on this link I did that way, on the fly. Some may prefer more bass than on these recordings, but I decided at least for this purpose not to do that, but adjustments could easily be made.
http://ScottLMusic.com/Chuck_Wheeler