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The Devils Benefit.
I have quite a bit of experience with fund raising and benefit gigs. There is a down side to benefit gigs.
I have nothing against artists being paid for good work, charitable or otherwise. I have nothing against artists working for free either. I have done plenty of both.
However, I have found that some performers will go out once in a blue moon, spend of lot of time and energy, and raise a poor amount of money. I was recently involved in a concert which thanks to the disinterest and incompetence of some people involved, only raised £100. The bar made slightly less. The venue lost more than that by opening. 22 artists gave up a whole day. There were many reasons for this, and I had to learn from it and take some of the blame myself.
Some artists want to appear, want their name on the poster, they want the credit for doing the gig. They often care not where the money goes and care little for the cause. Having done the gig they feel that they have given in kind what it they might have earned elsewhere when in truth they could have acheived a lot more if they had thought more about the objective and less about what they were getting out of it.
I know lots of artists who will do the "big ones" in hope of free publicity but will not do the little gigs.
I know lots of fundraisers that make a lot of money for themselves (it's their job and a lot of these people are on performance related pay) and they will emotionally blackmail and bully artists into performing.
What they really achieve is leaving a taste in the mouth that hardens performers and in the long term reduces their desire to be charitable.
It is really easy for a performer to perform and so they should every now and then. What is really hard and unrewarding is the administration, publicity, unsung crap donkey work, behind the scenes tasks which a hidden army of tireless saints perform.
Then there are the cynical bastards that think "If we hold a collection at our company party for charity, maybe we'll get some free entertainers." I've been caught out with this one more than once. I've gone to an event beleiving it to be a fund raising event, and discovered it is the "Company Party" and there is a small raffle or something for charity which doesn't raise as much as the company saves.
I have been to gigs where the money collected at the end in the tin, helped cover the loss made at the door.
I've been asked to pay for peoples exotic holidays because any sum they raise aftewards goes to charity.
Despite all this I still do the charity fund raising and support the tireless armies of mums, grandads and other great people who work a hell of a lot harder than I do to raise magnificent sums for worthy causes. And when I do, I am embarrassed to say I get far more credit than I deserve.
I still feel mortified though when I turn up at a theatre and perform for a small audience and I can't help thinking it would have been better just to stick the money in the pot myself and save us all the hastle. There are few bums on seats at these gigs, simply because the cause isn't a trendy and well publicised one.
I once discovered that if you juggle to music on a sidewalk more money goes in the hat if people think you need it for you, than if you put a charity collection tin out. Bizzare but I can see their logic.
Then there are the bastards that refuse to give to charity because it only encourages the government to absolve themselves of the responsibility for whatever the charity is doing.
Happily I recently did a street show for a very good cause and I know roughly how much my hat would have got, but I announced the cause it was for, made a short speech and I got a much bigger hat than usual. I was delighted that people wanted to put in my hat, and even more joyous that they gave extra when they were aware of the cause.
I would be very interested in other peoples views on all this.
I have nothing against artists being paid for good work, charitable or otherwise. I have nothing against artists working for free either. I have done plenty of both.
However, I have found that some performers will go out once in a blue moon, spend of lot of time and energy, and raise a poor amount of money. I was recently involved in a concert which thanks to the disinterest and incompetence of some people involved, only raised £100. The bar made slightly less. The venue lost more than that by opening. 22 artists gave up a whole day. There were many reasons for this, and I had to learn from it and take some of the blame myself.
Some artists want to appear, want their name on the poster, they want the credit for doing the gig. They often care not where the money goes and care little for the cause. Having done the gig they feel that they have given in kind what it they might have earned elsewhere when in truth they could have acheived a lot more if they had thought more about the objective and less about what they were getting out of it.
I know lots of artists who will do the "big ones" in hope of free publicity but will not do the little gigs.
I know lots of fundraisers that make a lot of money for themselves (it's their job and a lot of these people are on performance related pay) and they will emotionally blackmail and bully artists into performing.
What they really achieve is leaving a taste in the mouth that hardens performers and in the long term reduces their desire to be charitable.
It is really easy for a performer to perform and so they should every now and then. What is really hard and unrewarding is the administration, publicity, unsung crap donkey work, behind the scenes tasks which a hidden army of tireless saints perform.
Then there are the cynical bastards that think "If we hold a collection at our company party for charity, maybe we'll get some free entertainers." I've been caught out with this one more than once. I've gone to an event beleiving it to be a fund raising event, and discovered it is the "Company Party" and there is a small raffle or something for charity which doesn't raise as much as the company saves.
I have been to gigs where the money collected at the end in the tin, helped cover the loss made at the door.
I've been asked to pay for peoples exotic holidays because any sum they raise aftewards goes to charity.
Despite all this I still do the charity fund raising and support the tireless armies of mums, grandads and other great people who work a hell of a lot harder than I do to raise magnificent sums for worthy causes. And when I do, I am embarrassed to say I get far more credit than I deserve.
I still feel mortified though when I turn up at a theatre and perform for a small audience and I can't help thinking it would have been better just to stick the money in the pot myself and save us all the hastle. There are few bums on seats at these gigs, simply because the cause isn't a trendy and well publicised one.
I once discovered that if you juggle to music on a sidewalk more money goes in the hat if people think you need it for you, than if you put a charity collection tin out. Bizzare but I can see their logic.
Then there are the bastards that refuse to give to charity because it only encourages the government to absolve themselves of the responsibility for whatever the charity is doing.
Happily I recently did a street show for a very good cause and I know roughly how much my hat would have got, but I announced the cause it was for, made a short speech and I got a much bigger hat than usual. I was delighted that people wanted to put in my hat, and even more joyous that they gave extra when they were aware of the cause.
I would be very interested in other peoples views on all this.