Why are there so many people in the music business who think they’re owed freebies by everything around them? If your car tyres need changing, you don’t expect your local garage to do it for free. If you want to buy milk from the shop, you don’t expect you’ll get it for nothing.
Yet the music world is filled with types who reckon they’re entitled to pull a fast one over others. Boiler Room are like this – for years, they never paid a single DJ who appeared on their platform. This policy mysteriously changed in June 2020 – when no events were taking place – but they still emphasise the importance of exposure on the platform, as witnessed in their application for a bailout the same year.
It appears the same can be said of Possession, based in Paris. Because they put out an Instagram story on Thursday saying this…
Rigging up technical installations and scenery can be a difficult job to get right. Apart from physical demands, you also need to make sure that everything is wired up correctly – devices that are cabled incorrectly might not work properly. Worse case scenario is you could end up starting a fire.
So surely this level of responsibility should come with financial compensation, right? Er, apparently not. Whilst the DJs appearing are being paid, Possession are being paid and Boiler Room are being paid, the people who set everything up and make it all possible are not being paid.
In any other walk of life, they’d be dismissed as a bunch of cheapskates and mocked. But in music? Nobody bats an eyelid, let alone cares…
Tip of the hat goes to Dr Mathys for making me aware of this story.
