Hi there!
There is a listening bar/restaurant in my town with Sonus Faber loudspeakers powered by McIntosh amplification, so I approached them that I would like to play some of my cinyl records there someday. After a very long wait they answered this week and could get me playing on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evening.
In a way I would really like to play there, but it is unpaid and i find it morally weird if I go there entertaining the restaurant guests while the restaurant makes money and I don’t. Besides, my record collection certainly wasn’t cheap, so it seems fair to me if they would pay me something.
Now I am in no way a professional DJ, nor does my career as an engineer, my family and my other hobby of extreme endurance running allow me to pursue DJing at any professional level; to me I like DJing just because I love my music collection and like sharing it.
So what do you people think?
Is it OK to do an unpaid gig or not?
KIO, I have so many thoughts I want to share! What a good question.
First off, I love Sonus Faber loudspeakers! I have them in my home and they sound so beautiful. I can see why you’d want to play a venue that has them. Do you mind sharing more details about the venue?
I’ve dealt with this whole paid/unpaid question many times. I recently moved to Denver so I could play more gigs. I found very quickly that the landscape was super saturated. There are way more DJs than there are venues. I was adamant that if I wasn’t going to get paid, I wasn’t going to play. And I have not played that often. Playing gigs is a prerequisite to getting paid gigs.
But more importantly, I’m reminded of the opening vocal from Before Paris by Tom Misch:
Starting to try and be a musician or an artist or something like,
Because you want to make money, because you want to do a job,
That’s the wrong way.
You have to do this because you love it.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re broke, you’re still going to do it.
…
You have to love this thing, man.
…
It’s your morning coffee, it’s your food.
I’ve totally come around and now I’m seeking venues and events that really feel like my vibe and where I feel like I can bring value to the table.
So far, that’s what feels best to me: do it for the joy and fun and let whatever will come of that come.
I think you answered your own question in your last paragraph:
“Now I am in no way a professional DJ, nor does my career as an engineer, my family and my other hobby of extreme endurance running allow me to pursue DJing at any professional level; to me I like DJing just because I love my music collection and like sharing it.”