Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Office/Sideman Relationships Questions

Interested in hearing thoughts on the following scenarios...

1) An office hires a musician to lead a gig... then a day or two beforehand, when they send out the gig information, the band size has grown and another additional musician is now the leader.

2) An office books a gig for 6 hours, say 6-12. The gig runs 5 hours. Do they need to pay the musicians for six hours?

3) An office gives a musician a gig in a specific time/venue, then switches venues  for the dates (putting the musician on another gig) from the original one half hour away (or less)  to one an hour + away.

4) A musician is requested on a gig. The office books that musician for the gig without mentioning that they were specifically requested.

In all of these cases, what (if anything) is the office's obligation? How would you deal with these?

Here's how I would deal with them.

1) I usually lead my own gigs, but in the cases where I give someone a sub-lead, I pay them the promised amount, even if staffing changes.

2) I pay the musicians for the amount of time booked. I tell them in advance, and if the gig is under time, we all benefit.

3) I'd never do this without talking to the musicians involved and getting their agreement.

4) I'd tell them they were requested.

How would you address these situations?