So you got an offer at the venue you’ve been hoping to get into, but then you find out what their compensation package is.
“Sorry compensation is tips and merchandise. We don’t offer a guarantee.”
WHAAAAT! Oh my gosh. You can’t believe it. What do you do?
Playing for tips is not the end of the world. Although I believe that a performer should be compensated, there are many different ways you can get paid and it doesn’t always come from the venue. When it comes down to it, your entire journey as an independent artist is essentially ‘playing for tips.’ You learn an instrument, you write and produce music and you hope that people will buy it. You ask people to buy what you are hoping to sell. There’s no market value for art. You are constantly negotiating a value for your music. That value is a made up figure based on what you think you’re worth, how much time you invested, and what your current bills are. So if a venue won’t commit to a guarantee or some tangible form of compensation, learn to be flexible because the people coming to see you perform at this venue might make it worth your while. They may end up compensating you better than the venue would have in the first place. Consider how you can encourage patrons and your supporters to fill in the gap.
Here are some things you can do Before Your Show to encourage your supporters to bring you money…
Promote it as a Suggested Donation
Make sure you clarify on event pages, flyers, and in social media posts that the show is free but there is a suggested donation. If you have the space explain why there is a suggested donation. Usually a small line will suffice for example, saying that the venue doesn’t pay it’s artists, so you’ll be relying solely on tips to earn your compensation. Supporters see it as their job to support you, so they will bring you money if you ask. Don’t be afraid to ask. Amanda Palmer does a great job in her Ted Talk about the art of asking. She explains that by asking, you are giving them an opportunity to give and be helpful. It is a fair trade. You’re giving of yourself, your passion, your love for them to consume. They desire to compensate you for that gift. This video of Amanda Palmer is about 13 minutes. If you haven’t seen it yet, take the time to watch it.
When you depend on a fair trade of giving and generosity, you might actually make more money. A commenter on YouTube echoed this sentiment by saying she employed this tactic in her line of work and it has been amazing. She went on to say that more people should consider working for donations.
Send out an e-mail with a video to your mailing list subscribers of you talking about the show, why they should come, and why they should plan on bringing a donation. In the e-mail and video, you can really dive deeper into the subject and make it an opportunity to connect with your supporters.
+Sometimes It Pays to Take Low Paying Gigs
+5 Ways to Earn More Tip Money at Gigs
Here are some things you can do At the Show.
Make it COOL to Donate
I went to a free show in a park one day. The show advertised a suggested donation, however we were on a budget and were pinching pennies so we didn’t plan on making a donation. In fact our dinner that night was tacos from the dollar menu at Taco Bell. Yea, that’s how real it was. Right before intermission a guy got up to make some announcements and he asked all of the “Concert Friends” to raise their hands. About half of the audience raised their hands and the guy explained that these were people who made a donation to support and help make this show possible. Each of them were wearing a really cool little lapel sticker. He went on about how they couldn’t do the show without people like them, yada yada. The next thing he said though, was a game changer. He said he wanted to give everyone an opportunity to become a “Friend of the Show” by making a donation of their own. ‘It could be a quarter or $50, whatever you have and feel comfortable giving. We’ll come around and bring you a sticker and you will join the rest of the ‘Friends,’ he said. I honestly wanted to be a part of that! As I looked around, the other half of the audience that didn’t give before were reaching for their wallets. As I said earlier, we didn’t have much money, but I did have a bag of change left over from our taco dinner purchase and I was able to scrape up a few dollars in quarters and nickels. I gave. I got a sticker and it felt good. Imagine how much more money they made just by taking 10 minutes in between sets to do that. He presented an opportunity to give. He didn’t make anyone feel guilty, he just offered an opportunity and it made a huge difference.
As an independent artist, you could totally do something like that. You could get stickers printed up for cheap at VistaPrint. One sheet starts at just $4. You could make an announcement in between sets and pass around a tip jar with the stickers. It would be very simple to pull off and it could earn you a lot of money. Make tipping something your audience would want to be a part of to support you and look cool doing it.
In addition, signage helps a lot!!!
We designed and bought this banner from BuildaSign. It is very high quality, durable, and easy to set up. I love this banner because it is convenient to carry around. It comes with a tubular carrying case that’s super convenient to carry and store. In addition, it has more than paid for itself with tips and merchandise sales. As you can see, I’m featuring digital tip options prominently on the banner. We have gotten more tips since having this sign, and the digital tips that come in are, on average, higher than the cash tips we receive. The sign was less than $40 to purchase – good deal compared to alternatives. Currently BuildaSign is offering 15% off everything plus free shipping. Plus, if you’re a member with Rakuten (formerly Ebates) you can also get a 1.5% cash back on your purchase.
You can also pass out flyers or custom coasters with information about how to connect, buy merch digitally, and…..encourage people to donate! Check out this article where I talk about how I earned a $50 donation by passing out my custom coasters.
I recently started offering my CDs in exchange for a donation at my shows. I explain that the CDs are normally $10, but I really want them to have it if they are enjoying themselves. I say even if they don’t have $10, we’ll take whatever they can afford to give and we’ll send them home with a CD. Some people come up and offer me more than $10, others pay the $10, and others give me nothing. It all ends up balancing out in the end.
A word of caution here. Not all venues are comfortable with tip jars. If they’re not paying you, then asking to put out a tip jar should not be a big deal. However if they are paying you some form of compensation like a bar deal or percentage of the door, then they may take issue with a tip jar or you passing around a tip jar. It depends on the type of venue it is. In most cases though, they won’t mind. Use your best judgement and always do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, be considerate and put yourself in their shoes.
Here is 1 PERFECT thing you can do after the Show.
Reach out to those who came (hopefully you got their e-mail address) and say thank you. Give away some of your music for free and ask for a donation. It could be something as simple as mentioning that some people wanted to donate, but didn’t have cash so you wanted to send a link to donate electronically. Try a donation platform like PayPal to electronically collect funds or try using this connection opportunity as a launching pad to winning monthly support via Patreon.
+How I Get Subscribers on My Mailing List
Ultimately, deciding whether or not to take a gig based on a guarantee or lack thereof is a decision only you can make. Only you know what is best for you and your situation. Money is a major deciding factor for so many decisions, but the trick is learning that it doesn’t all have to come from one place. In fact, accepting donations from each of your supporters might actually end up being more profitable in the long run. What has been your experience with collecting donations? Do you have a special strategy when it comes to maximizing earning potential at tip only gigs?
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Solid points!
In all truthiness, though, I’m not a big fan of soliciting donations. Probably because of my formal business education. It relates to positioning. Do you really want to position yourself as a charity case? And put yourself in the same market space to compete with United Way, Red Cross, and Salvation Army.
I agree 100% with the principles of what you’re saying. But I think that musicians will be better served if they use their creative skills to come up with a different word for it. Then they will be in a wide open market space of just themselves without any competition! Music doesn’t HAVE to be a competition sport 😉
Hi Carlos. I think you would agree that every business functions differently using different business models. I think there’s a good argument for a mix of both donations as well as ticketed/for sale events/music. Sometimes you just don’t have a choice if you want to take a show and they’re not offering a good guarantee. Asking for donations is sometimes the only solid option and sometimes it ends up working out better than expected. I don’t agree that it’s a charity case. You are performing and putting on a good show, in exchange the patrons are naming their own price. It’s pay what you can in exchange for seeing a show. It’s not in the same space as charity cases.
In all actuality, whenever the exchange of currency is involved there will be competition somewhere. You’re competing for dollars. A patron is either going to give you their spending money or they will spend it with someone else whether you call it a donation or not. The beauty of music, though, is that everyone appreciates it in some form, so it could be said that we’re in a space of our own already.