The Grant Economy Of Music Distorts Perception Of Value

In my city (Montreal) there appears to be a few main ways artists can get paid to perform in Montreal. 

In some cases artists grind out a legacy, band together, market their names and they hustle those ticket sales validating a paycheck. In other cases, an artist will connect with a decision maker who has access to grant money that decides to book that performer, ensuring a check. Others will busk, find corporate sponsors and do other magic to make things happen.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that the people getting paid off that grant money, tend to fall back on other forms of monetization. 

There’s a bit of a disconnect between the number they receive from government funding and their actual value in the private market.

The Canadian art scene requires grants to exist

At one point I found a stat that said over 50% of Canadian book publishers only exist because of grants.

Our country lacks population density. The ability for artists to actually hustle their way into living wages through art is difficult. The rest of the world isn’t checking for us and we have so many artists that we can’t sustain them all. 

The fact that grant money flows to create events and festivals is a beautiful thing. So many people get to make a pretty penny off the sponsorship of our government, and other private entities. The fact is, without these systems, there’d be even less success among Canadian artists. 

To get grants, and to get in with the grant money givers, requires playing the game. 

You need to meet the right people and network your way into opportunity. 

If you aren’t getting booked you probably need to politick better. 

Asking for government money requires budgeting everything in advance

Before a single artist is even booked for a grant funded event, there is a budget set aside to pay them.

Our government requires artists to be paid decently. When the artists do get booked, it is with an understanding that part of the grant money goes to them directly. The city of Sherbrooke’s culture department has given me a few hundred dollars now as my split when performing with Plomberie.

It should also be said, a lot of the time the people picking artists have 0 reference points for their choice other than their immediate circles. 

Being good at what you do, and getting successful crowd reactions becomes a powerful way to get rebooked once you find your way in. 

The onus of selling tickets is not on you, often because these events will be free and highly advertised by the organizers.

The private sector is wildly different.

To get paid from private promoters you have to sell tickets

In a perfect world, putting your name on a flyer would sell the tickets and thankfully mine can sell a couple without me even asking.

That being said, it becomes a question of economics. A lot of the grant stuff is effectively investment in giving the people cake and circuses. In the private world, the event planners are trying to make a profit.

Let’s say I pay you 200$ to perform. You need to bring me back at least 500$ in revenue for it to be worth it. Here’s what that extra goes towards:

• You are paying yourself. If you can’t actually sell enough to cover what you are asking for, it’s never going to make sense.

• The DJ

• The Flyer

• The venue fees

• The time of the promoters

• The stage manager

• Etc.

The point is shows have a lot of money that goes into it before profit gets seen. You need to be able to generate money to be of value to a promoter.

If you are as good as you think you are, flipping some tickets won’t be a challenge.

Getting grant money creates false expectations of private market value

Let’s say you get paid 200$ off of money that comes from the government.

In your mind, you now have a value of 200$ you can ask for. And when it’s the right setting, like a festival, or public event, ask away. In that economy they need talent and you are there to entertain, not sell the tickets (the higher your brand value, the more you can ask for).

That doesn’t mean a local show promoter will find you to be worth 200$. 

I’ve seen quite a few people who get booked at city events fail to sell 5 tickets to events they are booked at. The second the word “free” is removed from the flyer, their ability to draw people in changes. Then you start hearing about how it’s the promoters job to sell tickets and whatever else they can think of to get out of building fans.

The truth is, it kind of is an artist’s job to sell tickets.

If you don’t like it, you can always throw your own events and discover the economics for yourself. 

Only an artist can grow their brand enough to draw people in

I think of someone like Sereni-T as a great example of someone who built up a brand after performing for ages.

Then she was able to migrate that into different opportunities. She does a lot of these city events now, but also goes hard on social media. Instead of being stagnant she hopped on over to Atlanta to invest further, keeping the attention on her in a positive way.

What I see with her is that she is able to make people want to pay money to support her. I’ve been at a lot of shows, where people came (myself included) in part because Sereni-T was performing. Everything she has coming to her she deserves but I also don’t see her whining about having to put the work in.

As an artist you need to get cool enough to make people want to spend money on you.

It’s on you to build your brand to a point where your name alone draws them in.

That my friends, is actually selling tickets and it is in fact your job as an artist.

Even if you can secure bags from cool moments, don’t confuse that with your actual draw as an artist.

Live Long and Prosper Everyone