Should we pay artists/musicians?

I have noticed in my years of playing and booking music and musical services that, other than those who have worked or are currently working in the music industry, people don't often want to pay for any type of music service. Or to take it a step further... people don't really want to pay for any type of artistic service.

A good friend of mine Bette Dickinson is a TREMENDOUS artist, most specifically as a painter. She has presented her work for various galleries including Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI and Art Hop here in Kalamazoo, MI. She has a bachelors degree with a major in Art from Western Michigan University and considers herself (as do those who know her) a professional artist. Despite this, people are often surprised that she charges for her paintings, or if nothing else, that she charges more than a few dollars or a nice hot meal or the opportunity to get some "experience"!

As I have worked in professional music, I too have noticed this. Many people have friends or family that play music for fun and will often entertain at gatherings and special occasions. This of course is a GREAT thing and I hope people learn and practice art for the fun of it for the rest of time. However, there are those who have worked their whole lives to be professional in their artistic skills. While most of us in the music/art world are aware of and OK with the fact that many of us may have to work a 9-5 job to pay the bills so we can afford to make our music, we have to put a high value on the skills we have, and have paid a high cost to get where we are.

Just like every other profession, artists have taken a great deal of time and effort to hone their gift and use their skill to the best of their ability. However, other industries have not had to deal with (or at least not as prevalently) the ease of intellectual property theft that is available on the internet. Napster kick-started the music sharing world and suddenly the sale of music dropped dramatically. Google came out with their image search and suddenly photo's with copyright protections were everywhere. Torrenting spawned an era of downloading whole movies and seasons of TV shows without paying a dime. While it would be easy to blame "the man" for this problem as production companies and record labels insist on charging for art, the biggest issue is that we as humans (myself included as I have done ALL of these illegal things at some point) have not felt any sort of moral dilemma when participating in these thefts. We have built into our culture that art should be free and that those who create art should not charge for it.

So when someone asks me to play for their special event, and they find out I want more than a free dinner, they are often appalled! At the same time, we as artists need to be aware that, for many people, art may not be the most important thing in life (I know, how can this be possible?)! So a balance has to be struck. We have to find a value on our art that is both reasonable for the time and effort we put into it but affordable to those who may LOVE music and art, but can't afford to hire Yo Yo Ma for their wedding or ask Steven Spielberg to run video for their concert.

We are constantly trying to walk this line with GvG Productions. How can we offer a product that is affordable to the average consumer of music and media services, while at the same time being able to pay our musicians and professionals well enough to have the best in our stable of artists (not to mention to be able to pay ourselves for the work we do!). Value is a tricky thing, and we all (both consumer and producer) have to be willing to find that perfect place where price is equal to services rendered.

On a separate note, GvG Productions offers a wide array of live, original, recording, and video services... :-)